Social media marketing is a business development imperative for law firms, as evidenced by an interesting article titled “Data to Help Your Clients Strategize for 2012” published on Search Engine Journal.

Every 60 seconds on the Internet, the following Internet marketing activities take place:

* 100 new LinkedIn accounts are added
* 1,500 new blog posts are published
* 70+ domain names are registered
* 600 videos are posted to YouTube
* 79,364 wall posts are added to Facebook

That’s all in one minute! Think of how this translates to the 24 hours in a day. It’s difficult to comprehend how much new material is published on the Internet on a daily basis.

Here are the competitive advantages law firms and lawyers can gain by being part of this social media activity in 2012:

* Stay “top of mind” with substantive materials on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook
* Attract new prospects looking for your services
* Facilitate online referrals with the sharing features of social media
* Reinforce client relationships with your knowledge and use of technology
* Increase SEO visibility with high Google page rank and search engine placement
* Leverage Internet marketing results by blending your campaigns

Here is a link to the full article. Let’s talk about how these concepts can apply to the 2012 legal marketing campaigns for your law firm.

Margaret Grisdela is the author of "Courting Your Clients: The Essential Guide to Legal Marketing," now in its 2nd edition. She founded the national legal marketing agency Legal Expert Connections, Inc., which helps attorneys and experts with new business development.