Practical and Ethical Use of Social Media for Lawyers
1. Using Social Media Tools in a
Practical and Ethical Way
David Whelan
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
2. Identifying Social Media to Use
THE SOCIAL MEDIA ECO-SYSTEM
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
4. Where are Your Clients?
Statcounter.com: http://gs.statcounter.com/#social_media-CA-monthly-201111-201204
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
5. 7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way
Where are the Lawyers?
2011 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, Vol. IV: Web
and Communications Technology [Question 25, p. IV-28 “Does your firm have
Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
a weblog/blog?”; Question 28, p. IV-29, “Do you personally maintain a legal
topic blog for professional purposes?” ]
6. 7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way
Where are the Lawyers?
2011 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, Vol. IV: Web and Communication
Technology [Question 27, p. IV-28 “Does your firm maintain a presence on Twitter or similar
microblog services?”; Question 35, p. IV-33, “Do you personally use or maintain a presence on
Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
Twitter or similar microblog services for professional purposes?” ]
7. Where are the Lawyers?
2011 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, Vol. IV: Web and Communication
maintain a presence in?”; Question 31, p. IV-31, “Which online communities / social networks do
Technology [Question 26a, p. IV-29 “Which online communities / social networks does your firm
• LinkedIn is most popular professional profile
you personally use or maintain a presence in for professional purposes?” ]
site
– 37% of law firms are on LinkedIn
– 84.8% of lawyers are on LinkedIn
• May or may not be client-facing
• May or may not also reflect activity by lawyers
• Can raise same issues as Facebook, other
profile sites
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
8. 7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way
What are Marketers Doing?
Infographic courtesy of Vizibility Inc. Represents data from survey conducted by
Vizibility and LexisNexis of Legal Marketing Association members in late 2011.
Full infographic available at http://vizibility.net/blog/social-media-in-the-legal-
Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
sector-infographic/
9. Define What You Are Going to Do and How
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
10. Create Connections, Not Money
http://mashable.com/2012/05/23/social-marketing-infographic
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
11. 7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way
Create a Social Media Policy
Infographic courtesy of Vizibility Inc. Represents data from survey
conducted by Vizibility and LexisNexis of Legal Marketing Association
members in late 2011. Full infographic available at
Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
http://vizibility.net/blog/social-media-in-the-legal-sector-infographic/
12. Measure: Blog RSS Followers
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
13. Measure: JetPack for WordPress
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
14. Measure: Google Analytics
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
15. Measure: Bitly.com Links
Add a + sign to any bit.ly link to see the statistics:
bit.ly/about-david-whelan+
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
16. Search Engine Optimization
• Improve the visibility of your Web site, blog,
or social media accounts in search engines
• Basics
– Create unique, accurate page titles
– Use “friendly” Web page names:
http://thetrialwarrior.com/2012/05/11/i-hate-rss-
scrapers-who-breach-my-copyright/
– Offer quality content
from the Google SEO Starter Guide: http://bit.ly/google-seo-starter-2010
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
17. Search Engine Optimization
• Promote yourself appropriately
– Make your Web site / blog easy for search engines
to index
– Contribute comments to other blogs (usually
provides way to link to your own)
– Don’t over-re-use other people’s content
– Integrate your activity so that, for example, blog
visitors can find you on Twitter and LinkedIn
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo
18. Questions?
• Antonin Pribetic
@APribetic
• David Whelan
@DavidPWhelan
Using Social Media Tools in a Practical and Ethical Way Antonin Pribetic & David Whelan
7th Annual Solo and Small Firm Conference and Expo