Follow a Lot of People but Don’t Spam

Twitter is only one aspect of Social Media that Legal Professionals need to master. My Project Social Media presents my thoughts regarding the impact of social media marketing on the practice of law. See my page to for more information.

For Legal Professionals: Follow a Lot of People but Don’t Spam

Besides tweeting 24/7 an easy way to get followers is to follow people that interest you. Since people get notified via their email and activity feeds when you do follow them, they’re more likely to notice you and follow back. This is a natural part of reciprocity. If you follow someone first, they’ll feel more obligated to reciprocate than if you didn’t follow them at all.

Though it is perfectly natural to reciprocate, do not do it automatically yourself. When someone follows you, make sure they are someone you want to follow. When I first started to use Twitter, I quickly gained some dubious followers. They were young pretty ‘professional’ women. I blocked them from my twitter account.

You should still only follow people you actually care about. Definitely don’t follow more than a couple hundred users per day, otherwise Twitter might mistake you for a spam bot and suspend your account.

You can find people to follow by:
• Importing or inviting your email contacts. Please check to see if they are already twitter users. Twitter does not tell the difference between current users and those that never have joined when you have imported your contacts. I have received several invitations to join twitter from colleagues. A better idea is to only follow your colleagues that are currently using twitter.
• Using Twitter’s “Who to Follow” tool found in the “Discover” section of Twitter.com;
• Looking at who your followers are following. This is one of the best ways.
• Browsing a Twitter directory, such as Twellow.com or WeFollow.com.

Attend a Hashtag-Friendly Conference

Attending a Hashtag event will result in an increase in followers because attendees are more tuned in to the conversation. By participating by tweeting, your tweets reach an attentive audience with greater frequency. Though this my look like a major commitment of time, we in the legal profession naturally attending more and more hashtag events. Most Bar conferences, MCLE presentations already have their own hashtags. If they do not, you can start your own hashtag. This can be done in two ways: either by suggesting it to the conference organizers or simply creating your own hashtag.

When you have plans to attend a conference, make sure you monitor the event hashtag, follow other attendees, and respond when you have something meaningful to say. Each interaction is like a targeted advertisement to follow you.

**Why the picture of flowing water? Twitter is a constant flow of information and communications.

About the Author: Ken Strongman (www.kpstrongman.com) has years of experience and a growing national reputation as a mediator and arbitrator. He has successfully resolved more than a thousand disputes in the fields of construction defects, real estate, intellectual property, and employment. He is also a Mediator and Arbitrator for FINRA.