I just took a random sampling of 82 lawyers, of whom 54 reported that they have a LinkedIn account. However, most of them admitted that their use is ineffective. Respondents wrote: “I am a member of LinkedIn, but don’t really see the benefit of that site;” “I do have a LinkedIn account but have done nothing with it;” or “I still have not figured out how to effectively use LinkedIn.”

The Managing Partner Forum conducted a more formal online survey of 122 law firm managing partners in June and came up with similar results. While 77 percent of the respondents reported having a LinkedIn profile, 40 percent admitted that they rarely (if ever) used the site and another 31 percent described themselves as “occasional users” (visiting three or four times per month).

Here are seven simple techniques for reinventing the way you use the social network:

1. Updates Are Easy

One of the reasons LinkedIn offers so much potential is that everyone who uses it has opted in to receiving notifications about what everyone else in his or her network is doing, who they are meeting and where they are going. As such, it is an effective yet subtle form of broadcasting your schedule and activities.

Each time you have something of note to share (a new article, a public presentation or a blog post), provide an update that the site then will distribute to all of your connections. You may not receive an instant response, but you can be certain that others are aware of your activity.

2. Study Status Updates and Share Resources

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]