The “magic” of social media is almost overwhelming! Are you Linked Up with LinkedIn? Is your face or your law firm on Facebook… have you claimed your AVVO profile, are you writing a blog… or are you waiting for the fad to pass? Nobody is going to fly over law firms and sprinkle fairy dust that removes the need to get with the times so if you’re waiting—you’re letting opportunity pass you by.

When you have an chance to put your toe in the water with other opportunities what does the little voice in your head usually say?

I’m too busy
This will never work
I don’t know anything about that, let me stick to what I do know
This newfangled idea is for the new guys just getting out of law school
What will other attorneys think if they see me doing this
My staff will revolt if I expect something new
I’m not interested new inventions that may not work out

The voice in our heads is an important voice to listen to. The main benefit we might get from listening to that voice is that there is an opportunity to hear the same thing over and over. It’s either telling you to JUMP or WAIT. Sometimes jumping too quick isn’t necessarily good if it causes you to let go of more tried and true results activity in exchange for a new untried idea. But then again, if you just WAIT, what are you waiting for? Are they good reasons to wait?

A recent survey said that 70% of business people did not want to get involved with Social Media because it just took too much time. You’re right in thinking this could be time-consuming. This is the type of activity that could easily become a black hole and take you away from the core business that is already working for you. The trick is to focus the amount of time you’ll spend on this. Budget your time wisely, but don’t ignore the effort. It is free and powerful law firm marketing—and worth figuring out!

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Don’t think you’ll tackle all this in a day. Look at the big social media picture. Get clear on what you where you want to be seen and active online then chip away at all the steps, delegate some (not all) of the steps. We feel strongly that estate planning law firms need a presence by having a:

Website
Blog (that is linked automatically to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn)
Professional Facebook account
Facebook fan page for the law firm
LinkedIn account for the attorneys in the firm
Profile on AVVO and appropriate activity to rank highly on the AVVO directory

If you want to measure what could come from social media without jumping in, at least put your toe in the water. Open a Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter account for work related contacts. Post a photo of yourself with an accurate and interesting “profile,” make other professionals your “friends” and watch what they do. Look to see who their friends are, what are they saying and how are they generating business and relationship with those in their networks? You don’t have to post witty and wonderful postings, just watch. Little by little various benefits to your firm will show themselves.

Set a time each day to at least look at what others are doing. When you are ready to dive in—you’ll be all set with some confidence and the basics will be in place for you!