I'm going to deviate a bit from the usual blog topics to point you to a recently-published book about the use of social media by lawyers.
The book is social.lawyers: Transforming Business Development (West 2010), by legal marketing expert Jayne Navarre. It is available for purchase through West here.
First off, this will not be a full-blown book review. In the first chapter, Jayne was kind enough to include my experiences using social media as a legal marketing tool, so I'm not exactly objective about her book. I like it.
With that disclaimer, social.laywers is a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any lawyer who is interested in developing social media tools such as blogging, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and JDSupra. She also covers podcasting and the use of on-line video.
Here's how Chapter 1 starts:
Robert H. Thomas has been practicing land-use law in the State of Hawaii for 30 years. During that time he has published articles, given presentations, been active in the American Bar Association, and hit the local cocktail circuit as often as possible. Then in 2006 he published his blog, inversecondemnation.com, and everything changed. Inquiries accelerated and his workload intensified. Today he traces almost all of his new business and all of his contact with journalists, including national and global media interests, back to his law blog.....Contrary to his prior networking experiences at Bar association events, after his blog gained traction people began approaching him as if they already knew him. They read his blog, knew his voice, knew his work, making him much more approachable. His networking effectiveness increased noticably.....Not everyone's story will mirror Robert's experience. Success in any marketing or business development initiative will vary, as it is generally proportionate to the hard work and time an attorney is willing to invest. Still, in Robert's case, that one change -- moving from static tools to dynamic tools available on the social Web -- made a transformational difference in his ability to develop new contacts and ultimately new business. Robert's story makes a strong argument for change.
Page 1-2. The book contains practical tips and other case studies showing how lawyers are using these new forms of communication to broaden their reach to new clients and audiences. At the same time, Jayne stresses that the fundamentals have not changed, even if the technology has. It is still about being interested and enthusiastic about what you do, and being able to convey that to others. A blog won't give you passion about your work, but it will give you a means to communicate it to a larger audience. "If you want to play tennis like Roger Federer," Jayne writes, "simply buying a high-tech racket or latest style of shoes will not be enough. You have to focus on how you play."
social.lawyers walks the reader through mapping out strategies, and teaches the uninitiated how to get started, how to discover and develop the appropriate social media "voice," and how to avoid some of the downsides of participating in the social web (and there are more than a few). Most importantly, Jayne tells her readers how to actually take theory and put it into action.
One additional thought: as I've noted before, I didn't start this blog as a conscious effort to generate clients, but rather because it is rewarding in its own right, and because it gave me a vehicle to interact with readers and subscribers. If over the years I hadn't garnered a single client from these efforts, it would still be worth it.
