Are You #Listening? Tweets that Grow Your Bottom Line

Many lawyers simply do not get Twitter. Perhaps it is because they feel it isn’t worth their time and effort. Perhaps they don’t really understand what it is and what it can do for them. The fact is Twitter and your tweets can grow your bottom line. Aren’t we all interested in that?

Twitter is the vehicle many use to communicate today. It is how they keep up with the latest news and gossip and it is how they share news about themselves. It is how they get questions answered and how they find things. That should be of great interest to you.

A Twitter Analogy

I have heard some false rationale for not using Twitter. They may say their prospects or clients don’t use it, it is not effective, or they don’t have time for it. Let me ask you a question. If you were sitting in a restaurant next to a large group and you heard the name of your firm or that of a competitor mentioned, would you attempt to catch more of that conversation? In the vast majority of cases I believe you would want to know what was being said. On Twitter, these conversations are being held every minute of every day and guess what? You can listen in.
Do you think it would be valuable to be aware of a tweet that said “Anyone know of a good lawyer in your hometown”? Do you think you might have a lead if someone tweeted “Landlord won’t fix my furnace”

It Starts With Listening

Like in any social situation, you wouldn’t just walk up to a group having a discussion and force your way into it. The prudent thing to do would be to listen for a while, introduce yourself, and then contribute when the conversation turns to an area where you have expertise. This is the way you should view Twitter. You should adopt a strategy of listening first, and when appropriate, making a response.

If you just watch the main Twitter feed, you will be missing out an opportunity to “tune-in” to groups that have better potential to improve your bottom line. Your streams may include categories such as tweets that mention you by name, customers, competitors, legal news and so on.

Using Twitter Search

Twitter offers an easy to use, and potentially very lucrative search feature. You will find it at www.twitter.com/search. Here you can submit a variety of terms you may be interested in. These can include the name of your firm, your name, or your hometown. You can also enter terms that will be related to your practice. Some examples may be:

• “Injury Lawyer city”
• “Divorce”
• “Starting a business”
• “Lawsuit”

Twitter search is part art and part science. For me, I use “social media lawyer”, “San Diego”, “immigration” and other terms directly related to my practice.

Other Ways to Monitor Twitter

Beyond Twitters own search, there is a wide-array of Twitter monitoring tools available for your use. Here are a few.

• Hashtags.org
• Twellow.com
• Monitter.com
• TwitterFall.com
• Trendistic.com
• NearbyTweets.com
• TweetScan.com
• AskTwitr.com
• Twithority.com
• Twitscoop.com
• TweetMeme.com

Responding to Tweets

When it comes to tweets about your specific practice you will want to respond whether the tweets are negative or positive. You will want to take care of negative tweets properly, and positive tweets you will want to acknowledge and re-tweet. You will also see tweets that may pose a legal question you can address. There will also be tweets that aren’t necessarily directly related to the law, but offer potential for an insightful attorney. These may include tweets about buying a home, involvement in an accident, a divorce or issues regarding an estate.

Let’s test it out

So I have performed a quick search for people looking for lawyers, in this case Child Custody and Divorce. None of the twits out there, were answered by lawyers. None. I have responded to a few and got a wonderful feedback. See an example below of a person seeking a lawyer in Tulsa. Listening and responding to tweets is really important and should be part of an overall strategy. Since not too many lawyers are familiar with the secrets of Twitter, this may be your secret weapon.

Are YOU Listening?

If you are not listening you are ignoring a valuable resource that will only continue to grow. Many experts expect Twitter to become a major search engine. The attorneys who understand and utilize it in their social media marketing will be much better poised for the future and to increase their bottom line, expand your reach and show expertise.