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Do you share your law firm’s publications on Facebook?

Facebook for lawyers

Facebook for lawyers

October 24, 2015

Law firms produce an awful lot of content. Blogs, newsletters, mini-sites, alerts, you name it.

Though some bloggers have built a healthy list of RSS subscribers, most law firm publications are distributed to users by Google search, email subscription and, in the case of larger law firms, distribution services.

Law firms may be missing an opportunity to extend the reach of their publications.

Look at the most shared media sites on Facebook for the last month. These media sites largeley represent leading news sources, not quirky entertainment sources.

Facebook sharing of legal publications

For the news media, Facebook is becoming their most important means of online distribution. No wonder, 71% of adults use Facebook today—and not just for exchanging pictures and social notes.

Per the Pew Research Center on Journalism and Media, 63% of Facebook users now say that the platform serves as a source for news about events and issues outside the realm of friends and family. That share has increased substantially from 2013, when about half of users said they got news from Facebook.

It’s not easy to get your firm’s publications shared on Facebook. No one appreciates you auto-sharing each post or alert. Posting to a law firm Facebook page garners little traction.

Writing interesting and timely pieces comes first. Second is the personal use of Facebook by the law firm’s publisher—the lawyers. The lawyers share to their personal Facebook account their posts with an excerpt of the post and, in some cases, the entire post.

Seeing how important Facebook had become, The New York Times has begun requiring its reporters and editors to use their personal Facebooks to share media—their own stories and others’ stories.

It’s the sharing of others’ stories that gives one credibility—it’s not all about you and your publishing.

I have befriended on Facebook reporters and editors from The New York Times, National Geographic, Digiday, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and the like.

I do this not because I am their beer buddy, heck I don’t know them personally. I do so to improve the quality of information and news I receive on Facebook. They befriend me as Facebook is a means for them to distribute their content, personally.

I also befriend on Facebook bloggers from the legal, publishing, technology and marketing verticals. Again, these folks are looking to distribute their posts and I am looking for valuable news and information.

In addition to distribution alone, lawyers distributing their content on Facebook will grow their influence as Facebook users like and share their content and comment on what the lawyer is sharing. Over time, those lawyers who establish influence as an authority on Facebook will have more of their content displayed in others’ News Feeds, when relevant.

Bottom line, Facebook represents an increasingly important method of distributing your legal publications.

Rather than dismissing Facebook as something to be used for only personal exchanges, law firms would be wise to follow the lead of the news media.

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