Expanding Your Social Network

If you recall your high school science classes, the Big Bang Theory purports to describe the universe as hot, dense and rapidly expanding. I cannot think of a better analogy to describe the universe called social media. For space cadets who want to conquer the universe of social networking and harness its energy for their use, the hurdles can be daunting. Social media provides an excellent resource to enhance your firm's reputation, provides management with useful information to improve the business and also provides many personal career enhancements to individuals. The questions for those who want to explore and conquer the expanding universe of social media are where to begin and how to be productive in doing so.

Plan Your Exploration

In order to maximize your network expansions and to do it in an efficient manner, you must first identify your objectives. What is it you hope to accomplish through expanded social networking? While the uses for social networking are limitless, the obvious ones for law firm marketers are:

• Increasing your law firm's profile in the social media universe. Some potential sub-sets of this goal can be: advertising to get more clients and business; using social media to enhance your firm's general reputation and image in the community; and using social media as a recruitment tool for both attorneys and staff. Use of social media by people at your firm, be they attorneys or staff, also increases hits in search engines and can drive additional traffic to your firm's website.
• Mining the universe to determine if there are other forms of intelligent life out there. By this, I mean that social networks provide invaluable access to information about your competitors. Social media can be used to spot industry trends and share information and ideas that can help you make better business decisions. Social media can also be used to see what is on the minds of your clients and use that to provide better and more meaningful services.
• Enhancing your own professional reputation: Networking in order to make yourself a better and more effective professional and enhance business and career opportunities, including but not limited to, finding other employment if that is what you seek.

How to Do It

Effective use of social networking for business purposes is not just a numbers game to see how many connections you can make and how many groups you can join. Unless you have all day to sit at your computer and network, the key to obtaining measurable results is in finding the type of high-quality contacts that will help achieve the goals you have established. Start with the people you know and connect with them. Then mine their sites to see who they network with and which groups they belong to.

If you know of particular leaders in the area you want to explore, utilize the search features of social networking to locate them and network. Similarly, you can choose to follow all the online activity of any forums you are interested in to see what they are doing, how they are doing it and when they do it. There are multitudes of affinity groups in which people come together under a topic to share their contact information, post questions and exchange ideas. Rather than just signing up for every group that has a name which seems to interest you, do some upfront analysis. Through searching, see which groups the thought leaders belong to. Check to see the vitality of the dialogue within a group before you join it. Once you make contacts, use them and communicate with them. Again, this is not just a game of getting a huge electronic rolodex but rather the key is establishing effective communications among a valuable peer network. You also need to be an active participant in the groups you choose, since effective social networking is a two-way street.

Keep Up with the Technology

The types of social media one can use are also subject to the Big Bang Theory. Before there was Facebook, there was MySpace. Today, Pinterest is the rage. Additionally, the ability to easily use all forms of social media on mobile devices and tablets provides additional uses that were not foreseen even a few years ago. Staying up on the technology can be challenging but if done effectively, can put you in front of the space race.

Conclusion

When used in a conscious and planned manner, social networking sites can offer a number of benefits to the firm as well as individual attorneys and staff. Social networking can also be the great equalizer where those just starting out in a career, those looking to build a book of business and seasoned players all have access to the same information and contacts. Planning and utilization is the key to a successful result.

Mark Neuberger is Of Counsel at Foley & Lardner, where he practices management-side labor and employment law, representing a wide array of businesses including professional service firms. E-mail: [email protected].

If you recall your high school science classes, the Big Bang Theory purports to describe the universe as hot, dense and rapidly expanding. I cannot think of a better analogy to describe the universe called social media. For space cadets who want to conquer the universe of social networking and harness its energy for their use, the hurdles can be daunting. Social media provides an excellent resource to enhance your firm's reputation, provides management with useful information to improve the business and also provides many personal career enhancements to individuals. The questions for those who want to explore and conquer the expanding universe of social media are where to begin and how to be productive in doing so.

Plan Your Exploration

In order to maximize your network expansions and to do it in an efficient manner, you must first identify your objectives. What is it you hope to accomplish through expanded social networking? While the uses for social networking are limitless, the obvious ones for law firm marketers are:

• Increasing your law firm's profile in the social media universe. Some potential sub-sets of this goal can be: advertising to get more clients and business; using social media to enhance your firm's general reputation and image in the community; and using social media as a recruitment tool for both attorneys and staff. Use of social media by people at your firm, be they attorneys or staff, also increases hits in search engines and can drive additional traffic to your firm's website.
• Mining the universe to determine if there are other forms of intelligent life out there. By this, I mean that social networks provide invaluable access to information about your competitors. Social media can be used to spot industry trends and share information and ideas that can help you make better business decisions. Social media can also be used to see what is on the minds of your clients and use that to provide better and more meaningful services.
• Enhancing your own professional reputation: Networking in order to make yourself a better and more effective professional and enhance business and career opportunities, including but not limited to, finding other employment if that is what you seek.

How to Do It

Effective use of social networking for business purposes is not just a numbers game to see how many connections you can make and how many groups you can join. Unless you have all day to sit at your computer and network, the key to obtaining measurable results is in finding the type of high-quality contacts that will help achieve the goals you have established. Start with the people you know and connect with them. Then mine their sites to see who they network with and which groups they belong to.

If you know of particular leaders in the area you want to explore, utilize the search features of social networking to locate them and network. Similarly, you can choose to follow all the online activity of any forums you are interested in to see what they are doing, how they are doing it and when they do it. There are multitudes of affinity groups in which people come together under a topic to share their contact information, post questions and exchange ideas. Rather than just signing up for every group that has a name which seems to interest you, do some upfront analysis. Through searching, see which groups the thought leaders belong to. Check to see the vitality of the dialogue within a group before you join it. Once you make contacts, use them and communicate with them. Again, this is not just a game of getting a huge electronic rolodex but rather the key is establishing effective communications among a valuable peer network. You also need to be an active participant in the groups you choose, since effective social networking is a two-way street.

Keep Up with the Technology

The types of social media one can use are also subject to the Big Bang Theory. Before there was Facebook, there was MySpace. Today, Pinterest is the rage. Additionally, the ability to easily use all forms of social media on mobile devices and tablets provides additional uses that were not foreseen even a few years ago. Staying up on the technology can be challenging but if done effectively, can put you in front of the space race.

Conclusion

When used in a conscious and planned manner, social networking sites can offer a number of benefits to the firm as well as individual attorneys and staff. Social networking can also be the great equalizer where those just starting out in a career, those looking to build a book of business and seasoned players all have access to the same information and contacts. Planning and utilization is the key to a successful result.

Mark Neuberger is Of Counsel at Foley & Lardner, where he practices management-side labor and employment law, representing a wide array of businesses including professional service firms. E-mail: [email protected].