Law Firm Marketing - My Latest Thoughts on Twitter

I have been carefully monitoring Twitter over the last several months. Instead of sharing my opinion, I have been reading those of others. I have listened to the perspectives of marketing and law firm marketing luminaries, both supporters and detractors of the service.

Click here for a Wikipedia refresher if you first want to understand more about the application and its recent growth.

Here are the general conclusions that I have come up with based on the information that is out there. Again, note that this is less gut feelings and more compilation of aggregate feedback that I have come across.

1) Twitter, has been used to effectively distribute information and connect with peers.
2) Celebrities have found it valuable for increasing relationships with fans and creating buzz
3) Corporations have found that it is a useful tool for listening to customers and impressing with a cuting edge customer service approach. Some have also found value in its ability to disseminate product and event information to clients, prospects and industry peers and increase traffic to its blogs and Web sites
4) In essence, Twitter is yet another tool that facilitates the commoditization of information. If you want to make money, it might be better to use the energy you would otherwise spend on acquiring 10,000 random followers and use it to open a hot dog stand.
5) Quality of followers is much more important than quantity - very important for lawyers to remember this. If they don't care about you, they will tune you out - Twitter is about building a community, it is not modern day SPAM e-mail.
6) Twitter is important enough that you should get an account and learn to use it. Start by following other lawyers and industry experts - some have valuable information that can make you more competitive in your business.
6) Twitter is not important enough that you should be spending more than 15 minutes a day on it today - so don't get hooked on useless (or even seeming useful, but distracting) information.
7) The 2 most important benefits I see for consumer oriented law firms are: (a) the ability to connect with existing clients to build lasting relationships that extend beyond the representation and will lead to increased referrals and (b) the ability to network with other professionals (lawyers in the same and different areas of expertise, as well as other potential referral sources - accountants, financial advisors, etc...) and to send periodic updates on the law, as it pertains to your area of expertise.

So remember the following point well: Twitter is a referral enhacement tool for law firms, that will add some value if and when the service becomes more mainstream. It is nothing like the panacea that ranking #1 on Google for "New York Mesothelioma Attorney" can be.

The service is not sufficiently mainstream today and therefore, consumer oriented law firms will not be able to speak with enough of their clients this way - I would still stick with e-mail / newsletters for the time being, but definitely start exploring Twitter. If for no reason other than the fact that it never hurts to be more connected.

LitigatorEdge - Law Firm Marketing