Reason #1: You actually blog about what you are doing. Reading your catalog of what you are actually doing throughout your day is boring. For example:

• Just woke up. Making coffee.
• Sitting down with the morning paper.
• Leaving for work. Lots to do today!
• Sorting through the mail. Lots of bills, no checks.
• Eating a turkey sandwich from the corner deli. Yum!

Not reading that.

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Time seems to be one of the most-common reasons why attorneys who do not use social networks do not start. In the world of hourly billing, all time has a value, and many attorneys seem to believe that (1) networking online will take a lot of time and (2) may not be worthwhile in the end.

The second belief may or may not be true, just like having lunch with a potential client or colleague may not result in a new client or referral to the firm. The first belief is a misconception, at least partially.

Networking takes time, whether that networking takes the form of a bar association event, a happy hour with colleagues, or online social networking. Just like “regular,” offline networking, time spent networking online is up to the person doing the networking online. Networking online is “real” marketing. It should be a necessary part of your job, not just frivolous web surfing. But you do not need to spend more than 15-20 minutes a day to benefit from networking online.

So let’s take a look at three major online social networking tools—LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter—and how much time you will probably have to spend to see some benefit.

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So there’s this social networking, Web 2.0 site—Twitter—that a lot of people are talking about, me included. It is a great site, if you use it well. But most attorneys are as confused by Twitter as they are by more “full-featured” social networking sites like Facebook and mypractice.

Be confused no more! Jon Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing does a great job laying out the dos and don’ts of twittering (PDF link) in his guide, Twitter for Business. Check it out, register for your Twitter account, and profit!

I picked up a bucketful of new Tweeters during June, and there are two Twins vouchers sitting on my desk for one lucky Twitterite. I used the list randomizer at random.org, and one name rose to the top, which, lacking dramatic theme music and a commercial break, I will announce just after the jump:

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To play, go to twitter.com/samglover and follow me. I will select one winner from everyone who adds me by tomorrow.

To play, go to twitter.com/samglover and follow me. I will select one winner from everyone who adds me between now and June 30th. The tickets are two vouchers for the lower reserved section, and you can use them at any home game.

To play, go to twitter.com/samglover and follow me. I will select one winner from everyone who adds me between now and June 30th. The tickets are two vouchers for the lower reserved section, and you can use them at any home game.

To play, go to twitter.com/samglover and follow me. I will select one winner from everyone who adds me between now and June 30th. The tickets are two vouchers for the lower reserved section, and you can use them at any home game.

I know the Twins are not exactly hot right now, but hey, maybe they just need you in the stands.

When it comes to marketing, what Web 2.0 tools are part of your plan? Jon Gordon asked me how I would describe Twitter’s usefulness to a group of communications lawyers, and I told him I would recommend it as a way to help create an “ecosystem” around a law practice (or, sans buzzwords, to help build one’s online relationships and reputation).

Twitter is a sort of reductio ad absurdum of the blog and the social network. But the end result is not absurd, it is potentially very useful to the attorney-marketer.

Twitter is the essense of personal blogging: it provides a simple space to answer the question “what are you doing now?” and see what others are doing (or thinking, or saying), as well. While blogging and online social networking take a lot of time, Twitter does not. And since many lawyers are tempted to wax poetic, Twitter posts are nicely limited to 140 characters.

In other words, Twitter is one way to build one’s reputation 140 characters and a few seconds at a time. And keep up with colleagues, as well.

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Hosting provider? Check. Website? Check. Advertising plan? Check. Now it is time to talk more advanced online marketing: blogs and social networking.

Starting a blog or participating in an online social network is more advanced in the sense that both require more time and a bit more comfort with online interaction. But blogging and social networking also offer new, more direct ways to reach potential clients.

A static website is just a fancy billboard or calling card. But a blog or a social network profile allow you to meet your clients before they pick up the phone to call or walk into your office. You can establish your ethos with people you have not yet met, so that when they have a legal problem, they are not calling a stranger, but someone they already know.

Many lawyers, however, seem afraid to say anything online (or in public) for fear that it will come back to haunt them. To this I have two pieces of advice: (1) stop saying things that might come back to haunt you; and (2) get over it. If you cannot get over it, then blogs and social networking are not for you.

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