Category --- Social Networking
Grow Your Practice: Referrals Through Social Networking
I GET MOST OF MY BUSINESS FROM REFERRALS, HOW WOULD SOCIAL NETWORKING BENEFIT ME?
Social networking is online business referrals. More people turn to the internet first to find a lawyer than to any other medium, and when they see that a lot of people have a lot of good things to say about you, it could make them more inclined to hire you as their attorney, as compared to an attorney that has no social networking presence.
The end.
Well, not really.
It is more complicated than that, but that is the basic principle. Take all the talking to people, all the elbow rubbing at cocktail parties, all the handing out business cards to friends and family, all the times you try to get your name and number to the people that could need your firm’s services, the constant maintaining of client relationships, now apply that to an online setting, and you have social networking. Technology now exists that allows people to directly communicate and interact with each other on the internet, and this presents an amazing opportunity for attorneys that rely primarily on referrals to grow their practice further than just the people you meet offline.
The (real) end.
Alright, well still maybe not the end. There is the business of actually going about the mechanics of building a social networking presence on the internet, and at times it can seem easier said than done. After all, you can’t just scan a bunch of business cards and email them out of the internet (well, actually you could, but that wouldn’t be that effective, as we will see). Just setting up a page on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter is not enough. Attorneys looking to grow their practice and expand their referral base, need to utilize social networking as a marketing tool.
One of the beautiful things about the internet is that it allows you to directly target the demographics of the potential clients you want to have. You can create a forum and facilitate communication between people with similar needs, and use your years of knowledge and experience to help others pursue the right course of action. They then talk online to their friends about your firm, and their friends to other friends, and so on.
You want to get your name out there, you want people talking about you and your firm both on and off the internet, and harnessing the power of online social networking is the way to go about doing this. This market is virtually untapped as attorney marketing goes, but it’s not going away and it is growing…FAST. The attorneys that get their name out in the nebulous and constantly changing world of the internet first will benefit more than those that fail to take advantage of this opportunity to network and get more referrals.
Getting more referrals is good, right?
If you want to Grow Your Practice, it is.
Social networking is online business referrals. More people turn to the internet first to find a lawyer than to any other medium, and when they see that a lot of people have a lot of good things to say about you, it could make them more inclined to hire you as their attorney, as compared to an attorney that has no social networking presence.
The end.
Well, not really.
It is more complicated than that, but that is the basic principle. Take all the talking to people, all the elbow rubbing at cocktail parties, all the handing out business cards to friends and family, all the times you try to get your name and number to the people that could need your firm’s services, the constant maintaining of client relationships, now apply that to an online setting, and you have social networking. Technology now exists that allows people to directly communicate and interact with each other on the internet, and this presents an amazing opportunity for attorneys that rely primarily on referrals to grow their practice further than just the people you meet offline.
The (real) end.
Alright, well still maybe not the end. There is the business of actually going about the mechanics of building a social networking presence on the internet, and at times it can seem easier said than done. After all, you can’t just scan a bunch of business cards and email them out of the internet (well, actually you could, but that wouldn’t be that effective, as we will see). Just setting up a page on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter is not enough. Attorneys looking to grow their practice and expand their referral base, need to utilize social networking as a marketing tool.
One of the beautiful things about the internet is that it allows you to directly target the demographics of the potential clients you want to have. You can create a forum and facilitate communication between people with similar needs, and use your years of knowledge and experience to help others pursue the right course of action. They then talk online to their friends about your firm, and their friends to other friends, and so on.
You want to get your name out there, you want people talking about you and your firm both on and off the internet, and harnessing the power of online social networking is the way to go about doing this. This market is virtually untapped as attorney marketing goes, but it’s not going away and it is growing…FAST. The attorneys that get their name out in the nebulous and constantly changing world of the internet first will benefit more than those that fail to take advantage of this opportunity to network and get more referrals.
Getting more referrals is good, right?
If you want to Grow Your Practice, it is.
Comments
Posted by Tom Hedges on January 13, 2010 - 3:24pm
V. P. Marketing
Networking the old way, shaking hands, cocktail parties, bowling, whatever - works. However, you'll never be able to reach the numbers that social networking via the internet produces. It's the ol' numbers game.
A friend of mine has been in San Diego less than two years and has already built up his business, using the social networking systems on the net, to a point that he and I can call his business a success.
And he has no intention of letting up on the social networking on the internet. He has established himself on at least three different networks. And diligently works at meeting new poential clients via each system.
Now that it can be done from his handheld computer/phone, it's practiacally non-stop.
Heather is right again.
A friend of mine has been in San Diego less than two years and has already built up his business, using the social networking systems on the net, to a point that he and I can call his business a success.
And he has no intention of letting up on the social networking on the internet. He has established himself on at least three different networks. And diligently works at meeting new poential clients via each system.
Now that it can be done from his handheld computer/phone, it's practiacally non-stop.
Heather is right again.
