Law Firms Will Integrate Social Media in Their Websites, Consultant Predicts
Updated: Lawyers using online social media are finding that it is most effective at creating offline relationships.
Social media such as Twitter can help lawyers find clients or even other lawyers interested in collaborating on a project, Mashable.com reports. Blogs can showcase expertise and create a brand identity. But it’s important to be honest and foster real conversation, social media consultants told the publication. Social media sites are not sales platforms, Mashable says, even though they can help generate business.
One of the consultants interviewed, Great Jakes partner Robert Algeri, is integrating social media into a website for the McManimon & Scotland law firm in Newark, N.J.
The new site, which isn’t live yet, will incorporate lawyer “microsites” for each lawyer in the firm, Algeri tells the ABA Journal. These smaller websites will have biographies that can be customized for each lawyer. “One attorney may be a wonderful writer and needs a place to put up all the articles and case studies that he has generated,” Algeri says. “But his partner, she may grow her practice through networking, and she needs a place to put a photo gallery, or multiple photo galleries, or she needs a place to show the video of her speaking on television.”
Algeri says law firm websites have traditionally focused on branding law firms—and that’s a good thing. But in today’s business environment, websites also have to help individual lawyers communicate their expertise and build their reputations.
Algeri told Mashable.com that social media can be a critical part of a firm’s identity, and he sees this as the next logical step. “It’s definitely where law firms will be going with their websites,” he said. “It’s an absolute.”
Updated story clarifies that Algeri is working to help law firms integrate social media into their websites.
