FINDING A LAWYER ON LINKED-IN
Many lawyers are looking for ways to have prospective clients look at their website to learn about their law firm and specialties. For example, I am the managing attorney at Penney and Associates, injury attorneys and I manage the Linked-In group “Personal Injury Lawyer”. This is an area where attorneys and legal professionals join and talk about the latest and greatest cases and share information that is going on in the legal community. Yes there are some sales people trying to sell something at times, but generally it is a good place to bounce off ideas about the legal issues of the day or even to find a lawyer that handles your specialty.
Linked-In is also a good place for clients to find a lawyer. If for example, you have been injured in an accident and are looking for a Personal Injury Lawyer, go to Linked-In and type in and search for the group “Personal Injury Lawyer” and see what group comes up. You can ask for a personal injury lawyer in your town or city and you will get many to reply.
For the lawyer trying to use Linked-In to promote his law firm, there are many ways that you can use it to your advantage. Review the following ways and make sure they can ethically be used in your state. One thing you have to be careful of is not to spend too much time on Linked-In.
Chuck Hester posted an article on the Social Media Today website discussing this topic. He believed that there were five major things one must do to utilize Linked-In. First, use the homepage as your Linked-In HQ. Don’t waste a lot of time allowing the e-mail notification system to bog down your computer. He advises that you go to your account setting and make it so you get “Web Only” notifications. Second, when possible log on the same time each day. Mr. Hester believes that makes your time more manageable and more efficient. I personally do not believe this, as it is best for me to look at my Linked-In group pages when I am between projects and then I only spend about 10-15 minutes on the site. Third, Mr. Hester thinks that you should update your status and say hello to your Linked-In network. Fourth, Mr. Hester states that one should always answer messages and invitations in a timely manner. He states that it strengthens relationships that can help others learn about your specialty. Well, that is something I do not do. Fifth, monitor the group activity, including the latest discussions. Be active on the group discussion boards. Now let me tell you as a manager of a Group, if you put too much on and it gets annoying, I don’t think people will want to use your business services. In fact the manager of the group (like Fred Penney’s Personal Injury Lawyer Group) might just take you off the group if you are too annoying.
Another article for NIH students found at a Word press site states that you can use Linked-In for looking for a job. There are even websites that will guide you to articles telling you where to look to get advise on how to affectively use Linked-In. One site is found at linkedinintelligence.com.
Why does linked-In work? Every person and attorney uses Linked-In for different reasons. I enjoy the opportunity to read about the latest legal issues. It is also a forum where clients can look to hire a personal injury lawyer, Real Estate Lawyer or any type of lawyer with a specialty. Whether you were injured in an auto crash or accident, electrocution accident, hunting accident, motorcycle accident, truck accident, boating accident, bike accident or any other serious injury case, Linked-In might be an alternative site to help you find a good lawyer. I recommend that you search “Personal Injury Lawyer” at the Linked-In search box and go to the aforementioned site that I (Fred Penney of Penney Associates, representing injured persons and their families) manage.