Eight top-notch tips for the Twittering attorney

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Boston — It’s the micro-blogging Web site that’s all the rage for marketing attorneys. Twitter and its 140-word allowance has become a quick and easy networking machine for lawyers who have taken advantage of it.

Here are eight tips to help you get the most out of your Twitter experience:

1. Fill out your Twitter bio. It doesn’t have to be the complete story of your life, just a quick paragraph including your name, firm size and specialties. Twitter, unlike other networking sites such as LinkedIn, is more personal, so adding some out-of-court interests can boost your appeal to potential followers.

2. Remember to use a photo of yourself, not an avatar, and especially not the logo of your firm. Doing so will make you look like a dehumanized corporate entity, and will repel potential followers who are looking for information, not a referral.

3. Consider search engine optimization when writing your tweets (Twitterspeak for short posted comments). Think of what you would look for when conducting your own Twitter search and include those keywords in your tweets.

Highly searched keywords may include your general location, your practice area, your specific interest and easily found proper nouns, such as the name of your bar association or favorite legal publication. Keep an eye on the search propensity of keywords with an analytics application such as Tweetburner.

4. You don’t need to follow everyone. In fact, try to limit who you follow to those most relevant to your practice area or particular interest. This will make your feed less cluttered and increase how useful you are to followers, who may be using your feed to open an umbrella of other users with similar interests.

5. Follow the tree of your followers. Don’t limit yourself to merely one other Twitter connection. Odds are if there is one attorney who specializes in what you’re looking for, he is doing business with a wide variety of other such attorneys.

6. If you have a Blackberry or iPhone, use the Twitter applications for each. If you’re stuck in court or a deposition searching for quick information, having mobile access to Twitter is an absolute necessity.

7. If you have a blog, attach the Twitter widget. Your blog is the primary source for all information about you, and blogs have virtually replaced the law firm Web site as a go-to source for information about an attorney.

8. Use Twitter as you would your blog, not as inexpensive public relations, but as a quick and helpful source of information.

Law bloggers are taught to show off their expertise without sounding like a press release. The same should hold true for lawyers using Twitter.