I have coached 25 lawyers over the last two weeks, and the most frequent questions I received, especially from the younger lawyers, was how can I more effectively use social media.

I posted this blog last year, but given the questions I thought it was worth posting again,

On Tuesday this week Shawn Tuma and I did a webinar for the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) titled: Simple Ways to Effectively Use Social Media to Help Build Your Law Practice.

I focused on blogging and Shawn showed participants how to use the social media tools to share blog posts, engage and build relationships.

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Here is a link to our Prezi slides.

In 2010, a national law firm marketing department asked me to go cross country and spend a day in four of their offices giving a presentation on blogging and social media and then meeting with practice groups in those offices.  I knew I had been asked to do this task because of the color of my hair (white) and my experience practicing law (35 plus years).

At the time, the firm was not blogging and only a handful of lawyers were using any of the social media tools. Now, the firm has 11 blogs and several lawyers in leadership positions are using social media very effectively. So, I must have made an impression on a few lawyers over 50.

In one of the offices, during a meeting with a practice group, the youngest partner asked:

Cordell, suppose we tell you we do not want to blog or use social media. In five years will we be behind our competitors?

I replied:

Suppose in the 90s your practice group told firm leaders. We do not want to have our group on the firm webpage and we do not want to use email. Do you think in five years you would have been behind your competitors?

The LMA members use social media effectively. I have met several of their members on Twitter.  I thought I might  share with you some of the tweets that members generated during my part of the presentation.

Gail Lamarche @gaillamarche
blogging is different than any other legal writing — @cordellparvin sharing tips/best practices #LMAMKT 3 potential audiences

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
Who are your blogging audiences? Your clients, social media sharers, Google search engines — @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
Think before you post: Who is your intended reader? Why should they care? What is the takeaway for reader? #lmamkt @cordellparvin

Lindsay Griffiths @LindsayGriffith
A blog is a conversation with your reader whereby you are trying to build a trust-based relationship (YES!!) per @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Gail Lamarche @gaillamarche
your blog is a conversation with your reader and trying to build a trust based relationship #LMAMKT via @cordellparvin build a connection

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
Lawyers, your blog readers skim your posts. They read down, not across. High % never finish. Do’t bury the lead. — @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
Lawyers, you need a great headline for your blog posts. Will it be found if someone searches for that legal topic? @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
Lawyers tend to write linearly. Your clients don’t need the entire history. — @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Lindsay Griffiths @LindsayGriffith
“Clients don’t care about the history of Swiss watch making; they just want to know what time it is” – GREAT metaphor @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Nancy Myrland @NancyMyrland
“Use persuasive words when blogging. The words ‘you’ and ‘because’ are incredibly important.” — @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Laura Toledo @lalaland999
Start w/ your lead: the inverted pyramid – alluded to by @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Lance Godard @lancegodard
RT @lalaland999: Start w/ your lead: the inverted pyramid – alluded to by @cordellparvin #LMAMKT

Thanks to each of the LMA members listed above for sharing their thoughts during the presentation. As a quick aside, I have never met any of them in person, but have gotten to know them on social media.

If you are interested, you can find the slides Shawn and I used here. Look carefully at Shawn’s slides and you will learn how his strategic use of social media generated new clients and writing opportunities.