Business Development in the 21st Century
In the wake of all the unrest both here in the US and worldwide it amazes me how different and more connected our world is then when I was growing up because of social media. I know and you know about what is happening within seconds of it happening (not hours or days). However, as lawyers our antennas go up and flash red when we even think about using social media because we do not like things we cannot “control”! That is called risk management – HELLO!
Well, just because we feel we cannot control it doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t use it! So what did we do here at Diversity in Practice, we found an expert…Guy Alvarez. Guy who started Good2bSocial is someone we worked with here at Diversity in Practice to bring us into the digital age! And he has written a free e-book called “How Lawyers Can Use Social Media to Make It Rain” 
where he talks about the tools and the most effective ways to leverage social media to build your practice. Now one of the things I like about his message is that he himself is a lawyer and he gets that social media does not replace relationship building but it enhances things you are already doing and allows you to bring your message to people who may not even know they need you or what you really do for a living!!
One of the tools he explains in detail, which I need to learn better to use myself, is LinkedIn. Guy focuses on how to efficiently manage your current connections and then join groups to connect to people you do not know. He emphasizes the need to connect to people in your current network about things that help them with their careers so that they can do the same for you. Guy says specifically “With a well-crafted social media strategy, your message can be delivered to hundreds or even thousands of people…without leaving your desk.” So…do I have time to even do this? I have enough on my plate! I argue that you can’t afford not to! When you have the tools and the ability to use them it should become part of your overall business development plan!
Check out the link(s) below for excerpts from the expert! Guys books and teachings make it easy for you to move into the digital age and possibly, just possibly… make it rain!!
Which Social Media Tools Should Legal Marketers Use?
Why Law Firms Need to Think Beyond Linked In
How Lawyers Can Use Slideshare as a Business Development Tool