Among the many social media platforms, Twitter is probably the easiest for busy lawyers to get on board with. Twitter for lawyers is a way to share and digest small amounts of relevant information. In just 280 characters, lawyers can showcase their expertise, share news, and connect with their colleagues and prospective clients. With a growing number of lawyers using Twitter and even coining the hashtag #lawtwitter, here are 7 tips to help lawyers master the art of the tweet and increase your law firm’s digital presence.
Making a Twitter Account
Setting up your account is relatively easy and requires very little time commitment, something most lawyers will appreciate. However, there are 3 major components of your profile that can make or break your account.
Profile Picture
Putting a face to your tweets will help your profile stand out and allow others to easily find you. Since you’re using Twitter for business purposes, your profile image should be clean and professional. In this case, you may want to opt to use your headshot or the image you have on your LinkedIn.
Bio
The bio on your profile needs to be short, sweet and to the point. It should give enough information for viewers to know who you are, what you do, your interests, etc. For example your profile could say: “Litigation Attorney at Example Law Firm focused on #employment and #labor within the pharmaceutical industry | Board member on @Children’sFund | 5 year @SuperLawyer”
This example is a good balance of telling what you do for work, but adds a personal touch and highlights your achievements. Taking it a step forward, your bio is also a place to add links to your website or a side hustle, like an authored book.
Making your bio is really about what you want to portray about yourself and what people could expect from your tweets. If you need more examples, browse through the #lawtwitter page or view other lawyers accounts to get an idea of the framework.
Header Image
Header images are often overlooked but they add an extra personalized touch to your profile and help it stand out. You could add your law firm logo or have a designed image created with your photo, a quote or logo. The possibilities are endless when it comes to your header image, but you want to make sure it’s professional.
Using Twitter
You’ve created a profile that makes you stand out and now it’s time to tweet, retweet, comment and like! If you’re asking what all this means, we’re here to help. Twitter for lawyers can get overwhelming since it’s a never ending feed of information and the content you want to see can get lost quickly. These tips will show you how to tailor your feed to your interest, what to tweet, hashtags, and more!
Make a list
We’re not talking about your groceries, but things like interests, news, friends, even law firms. This will allow you to skip through clutter and get right to the content you want. This can be perfect for trying to catch up during those quick power luncheons.
Customize your feed
Your profile and feed are designed by you, so take advantage. Follow every news outlet, law firm, lawyer, colleague, any accounts that give you the content you want to keep a pulse on. Twitter, like any platform has ads, but they also have algorithms that will display content based on who you follow. To keep your feed clear, you can find other related content under the “discover” tab.
Develop Relationships
Twitter for lawyers is a little more informal than LinkedIn, making it easier to string up conversations in the comments. This is a great avenue to showcase your expertise and get your name out there. If you notice an article or news that you have professional knowledge on, you can chime in the conversation. You’ll want to keep it authentic, neutral and informative. It can come off unprofessional if you’re commenting in a negative or pretentious fashion.
Liking and Retweeting
It’s important to mix up your activity feed with your own tweets and retweets. If a follower posts information that you find valuable, you can reshare it. This tweet will appear on your feed, so make sure it’s appropriate. On the other hand, you should also be liking tweets. This also shows your interests without it showing up on your feed. However, it’s also important to remember that thought likes aren’t visible on your feed, others can see what you like.
Reschedule tweets 3 times
The world of international law never sleeps, but you do. So you can post a tweet and reschedule it up to 3 more times. As mentioned before, tweets can get lost in the shuffle. If you’re creating targeted content and want the most exposure,this will allow different people in different time zones to get your message.
Hashtag with a purpose
Lawyers are frequently directly or indirectly affected by trending issues. So how can you quickly connect your tweets to these issues? By putting ‘#’ and then listing the cause or issue. If you’re unsure what to hashtag, you can search for them within Twitter to find one that’s trending. For example, if you’re tweet relates to immigration, you can search ‘#immigrationlaw’ or ‘#immigrationattorney’ and see if that pulls high results.
A rule of thumb: never put more than 3 hashtags in one tweet. Hashtags can get cluttered and even look spammy if there are too many. If appropriate, try to incorporate them naturally within your tweet. An example of this would be, “Check out this article on new #employmentlaw that could impact your business.”
The Advanced Search
From hashtags to people, Twitter has you covered with their advanced search feature. This will allow you to search using exact phrases, tweets, or other users. You can search between certain timeframes or dates to narrow your search even further. The general search in Twitter can be too broad and this is a great way to weed out results you don’t want.
Twitter for lawyers and the legal industry
Technology hasn’t always been welcomed in the long-standing profession of practicing law. Many lawyers feel tools like these might undermine the integrity of this proud industry. However, as we rely more and more on digital platforms, lawyers must learn to adapt with the times to stay competitive in an already saturated industry. By utilizing these research shortcuts, busy lawyers like you can make apps like Twitter work for them.
