Any place. Any Time. Any size. Any age.
When lawyers and other professional services providers are asked to develop more business, they often respond with a list of obstacles.
I'm in the wrong place. I don't have enough time. My firm is too small to compete. I'm too young/old to be taken seriously.
Social media tools help you demolish these obstacles and move ahead.
In social media, place is no longer an obstacle. The Internet operates around the world -- so your content can end up anywhere. Let's say you are a lawyer in Denver. Not so long ago, your article might appear in one print issue of The Denver Business Journal or your speech take place one time before a local business group. Today, using social media, your article or a podcast of your speech can be accessed by interested parties anywhere around the world -- spreading your reputation far beyong the boundaries of your geographic location. Plus, you can contribute and search content as easily from your home office or on the road as you can from the 45th floor.
In social media, time is no longer an obstacle. The Internet operates 24/7, so you can contribute or search for useful content around the clock, in any time zone, any day of the week. When you leave the office at the end of the day, on weekends or for a vacation, your online reputation is still on the job -- working hard to win new clients. With an investment of little time you can use the Internet to achieve expansive results. It takes much less time to write a blog post or a Twitter update, after all, than it takes to research and write a legal article.
In social media, size is no longer an obstacle. On the Internet, no one can tell how big you are. A savvy solo or a small firm can easily build an "online reputation" that rivals the reputations of much larger competitors -- at very little cost. Tom Goldstein -- as a solo -- created SCOTUSblog and used it to build his reputation as an appellate attorney. A decade later, he is head of the Supreme Court practice at Akin Gump. One lawyer I interviewed went from anonymous third-year associate to national expert the field of Canadian timber law -- in just one year of blogging.
Finally, in social media, age is no longer an obstacle. Not so long ago, young professionals were expected to stay in the office and leave business development to the partners. Today, now that place is no longer an obstacle, a young professional can jumpstart his or her career by using social media (from the office or from home) to build an online reputation. On the flip side of that equation, an older professional who understands how to use social media for business development can easily appear "ageless" and intellectually vigorous on the Internet.
Use social media to overcome the business development obstacles of place, time, size and age.
