This is the latest in a monthly series of The Marketing Department, where Legal Marketing Association members get candid about growing your practice and raising your profile. Check back in the months ahead for the latest developments in PR/communications, business development, client relations, technology and other areas.

Thirty years after becoming widely available, the internet remains full of opportunity for those who embrace it as part of their marketing and business development strategy, and full of pitfalls for the unwary. Social media platforms are no exception. Lawyers and law firms have increasingly used LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and other tools to develop reputations as thought leaders and to grow their professional networks and practices. As with any communications media though, care is required to succeed.