As a legal services support firm, we at DLE Court Reporters have clients Florida-wide as well as across the nation; we work wherever our clients need us. Twitter makes it easy for attorneys to network with clients – current and potential – and stay on the cutting-edge of topics, business development, technology, and news relevant to the legal industry.

Twitter sounds easy enough. As you probably know, it’s a free online platform that allows users to share text-based posts called tweets that can be up to 280 characters. But that’s where the ease ends.

You see, Twitter is a space where everyone can voice their thoughts, opinions, and every mood or meal in between. But should they? It depends.

Here are some of the best suggestions for creating a social media stream that will attract new clients – not scare them away.

• Don’t get cute with your username. Make it memorable, brand-oriented to correspond to your firm’s name, staying far away from underscores, asterisks, or your lucky number since high school.
• Add a friendly yet professional photo. Followers want to see your visage, so they can imagine you speaking your tweets and also representing them forcefully if they ever need your services.
• Your bio should be short and sweet. Well, not exactly sweet but definitely concise. You have approximately five seconds to catch their attention, so mention your specialty and link to your firm’s site. We also recommend keeping a pinned tweet at the top of your timeline that links to an article you’ve written or in which you’ve been featured.
• Balance your follows. The goal is to avoid alienating potential clients by only following one political perspective, contentious comedians under fire, or your personal friends and family. You’re more than welcome to create a personal Twitter account for those follows, but it’s highly advised to keep your professional account professional.
• Think before you tweet. Maintain client confidentiality and avoid tweets that may violate ethical issues or attorney advertising rules. Stick to self-promotion only 15-20% of the time, spending the remainder of your online time linking to other people’s content and interacting with others.

Most importantly, remember that tweets never die. Actually, online content in general sticks around forever, so make sure you avoid posts that won’t pop up in five years and embarrass you – or worse, jeopardize a client you represent.

Remember: Twitter is all about engagement.  If you use it to build your reputation and provide insight into your interests and passions, Twitter can increase your word-of-mouth networking substantially.