Twitter Tips for Lawyers

By Tyson Snow on April 10, 2012 in Legal Marketing, Networking, Reputation Management, Social Media

Home » Legal Marketing » Twitter Tips for Lawyers

• Tweet

I am sure that if you typed the title of this post into the search bar of any search engine, you would end up with thousands if not tens of thousands of results. So why another “top Twitter tips” post for the search engine spiders to crawl? No real reason other than the fact that I have never posted my list. So, without further adieu:

• Length. Although you get 140 characters for your beautiful prose, make sure your tweets are sufficiently short that they can be re-tweeted without having to be revised by the re-tweeter. (Remember that RT @[Your Name] will / should be added.) Keep your tweets short enough that they can be re-tweeted in their entirety.

• Attribution. If you tweet about another’s article or post (which is basically what all of us always do), take the time to find out that person’s Twitter handle and include it in the tweet. Not only will the attribution be appreciated, but you are also likely to pick up a new follower or get a mention by the person you’ve acknowledged. Use this to help build your network.

• Adding Substance. I’ll admit that I am guilty of not always following this tip. But we should all be better at adding a little commentary on our tweets and re-tweets. Include a brief statement of why you are sending the tweet out. It can be as simple as “Found this interesting:” followed by the title of the article or post. Too frequently, I see tweets (and send tweets) that have nothing more than the title of a post and a link. Take time to offer up a few words explaining why your followers should be interested in what you are sending.

• Frequency. Except in extreme circumstances, I would not worry about tweeting too often. I know there are many who disagree with this and suggest you purposefully refrain from flooding the twitterstream too frequently. But I don’t see it as a significant problem, especially when you are sending helpful information. Even with re-tweets–don’t hesitate to send out five re-tweets in a matter of minutes, assuming of course, that all five are worthy of being re-tweeted.

• Repetition. When you publish a new blog post, article, or something similar, you most certainly will send notice of it to your Twitter followers. But remember that not all your followers are paying attention to their streams at the same time. Some may say it is bad form, but feel free to tweet about the post or article several times (at different times of the day) so that your followers won’t miss it.

Finally, a bonus tip. Don’t forget that search engines are now indexing your tweets. This is significant. Be purposeful in your word choice. Remember that specific words and phrases are more likely to be search-friendly. Use those words and phrases.

Agree or disagree with my suggestions? That is what the comments section is for. Let’s hear what works for you. Hopefully a “More Twitter Tips for Lawyers” post based on your feedback will provide even deeper and better insight than this.

About the author: Tyson B. Snow is a founding partner at Mumford Rawson & Bates, LLC, in Salt Lake City. His practice focuses on management-side employment litigation and all facets of tech-related and IP litigation. He regularly presents and writes on the interplay of social media and the law and authors the Social Media, Esq.™ blog. You can follow him on Twitter at: @tysonESQ.

About Tyson Snow

Tyson B. Snow is a founding partner at Pia Anderson Dorius Reynard & Moss, LLC, a premier litigation boutique firm in Salt Lake City. His practice involves all areas of federal court litigation with an emphasis in employment litigation, commercial litigation, and intellectual property litigation, including trademark disputes, cybersquatting, copyrights, and other technology related issues. With a background in computer science and significant experience in human resources, he possesses a unique set of skills to help today's employers and businesses. You can follow him on Twitter at @tysonESQ.