Attorneys: My personal LinkedIn challenge to you!
Attorneys are still behind their corporate counterparts in LinkedIn usage, and it’s time to get on board!
I recently read a great article by a fellow blogger, FellSoft Blog, that backs up – and even refers to – what I said in my post entitled, “Legal Marketing: Big Surprise! Legal profession is the least represented on LinkedIn.” Attorneys are woefully behind in their adoption and usage of LinkedIn. Interestingly, business development professionals at law firms indicate that LinkedIn is the most appropriate social networking tool for attorneys, and it can be very useful for building and strengthening relationships with clients and prospects. So why the disconnect?
I’m really not sure. Is it because attorneys are still not convinced that LinkedIn is a worthwhile way to invest their limited time? Think about how much ground you can cover in an hour. If you are meeting someone in person, you will only get to talk to one person in that time. With LinkedIn, you could connect with many people, converse with them online and even set up meetings or comment on group posts to increase your awareness with a much larger pool of people. Not that you should eliminate in-person meetings, but my point is that you can reach a lot of people in the same time that you have that coffee meeting with one contact.
Here’s the thing…LinkedIn announced in March that they now have over 100,000,000 users, so chances are your clients and the people you would like to do business with are already on there. It’s not enough to just have a page and accept the occasional connection request. You have to use it to get value from it. So why not try it for a month. Set aside 10 minutes a day to really build out your page, connect with your colleagues, clients, referral sources and prospects. Join some groups and post comments and articles of interest. Write recommendations and get some back in return. I can nearly guarantee that you’ll see value in this investment and then wonder what took you so long to get on board.
Why do you think that attorneys are late to the LinkedIn game? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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