Page 70 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (q)
P. 70
Create a strategy for each target audience you want to reach.
Decide what messages you want each target to hear and understand about you.
Create an editorial calendar.
Seek training for those social networking basics and practices that need to be in
place for all of this to work smoothly.
Final Words of Advice
Don’t overthink it.
By this, I mean don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. You want people to come
to know and trust you, and to understand how you can help them. That is one of the main benefits
of social networking. It can pave the way for advancing your business relationship. Remember to
act like you would anywhere else where you are in front of people.
Listen and speak to people.
Listen to what people are saying and writing online. Ask them questions, following up on
what they’ve written or said. Share their thoughts and content with others. Be interesting by
providing feedback and perspective on issues that have to do with your practice area. Have some
fun with your connections, which doesn’t mean throwing caution to the wind, but simply to show
a side of you that is approachable and easy to talk to. Then, every once in a while, after you’ve
done all of this for a time, you may have then earned the right and the trust to talk about yourself
now and then.
Play nicely.
Be sensible, kind, wise, and ethical in your online interaction with others. Don’t get
involved in heated debates and arguments unless that is the brand you have decided you want to
convey online, and only then if it serves your practice well. Many use their keyboard and the safety
of their digital screens as a buffer zone that allows them to engage people when they wouldn’t
otherwise do so if they were face to face. This is not a best practice.
Remember that social networking is a contact sport.
Social networking can’t survive on its own. It takes more than one person to be effective.
It is definitely not broadcast media where you shout and promote in a one-sided manner. It is a
process of consistent interaction with those you care about in order to discover ways to serve them.
Always strive to find ways to bring value to those you connect with, and you will earn a reputation
as a trusted advisor much more effectively than had you only promoted yourself constantly, which
can get very old very fast.
55
Decide what messages you want each target to hear and understand about you.
Create an editorial calendar.
Seek training for those social networking basics and practices that need to be in
place for all of this to work smoothly.
Final Words of Advice
Don’t overthink it.
By this, I mean don’t make it more difficult than it needs to be. You want people to come
to know and trust you, and to understand how you can help them. That is one of the main benefits
of social networking. It can pave the way for advancing your business relationship. Remember to
act like you would anywhere else where you are in front of people.
Listen and speak to people.
Listen to what people are saying and writing online. Ask them questions, following up on
what they’ve written or said. Share their thoughts and content with others. Be interesting by
providing feedback and perspective on issues that have to do with your practice area. Have some
fun with your connections, which doesn’t mean throwing caution to the wind, but simply to show
a side of you that is approachable and easy to talk to. Then, every once in a while, after you’ve
done all of this for a time, you may have then earned the right and the trust to talk about yourself
now and then.
Play nicely.
Be sensible, kind, wise, and ethical in your online interaction with others. Don’t get
involved in heated debates and arguments unless that is the brand you have decided you want to
convey online, and only then if it serves your practice well. Many use their keyboard and the safety
of their digital screens as a buffer zone that allows them to engage people when they wouldn’t
otherwise do so if they were face to face. This is not a best practice.
Remember that social networking is a contact sport.
Social networking can’t survive on its own. It takes more than one person to be effective.
It is definitely not broadcast media where you shout and promote in a one-sided manner. It is a
process of consistent interaction with those you care about in order to discover ways to serve them.
Always strive to find ways to bring value to those you connect with, and you will earn a reputation
as a trusted advisor much more effectively than had you only promoted yourself constantly, which
can get very old very fast.
55
