Podcast Ep. 42: Using Social Media and Content to Build Relationships with Ivy Grey

Lawyer and legal techie, Ivy Grey, joins us to talk about using social media and content to build relationships: figuring out what to be on the social channels, how content plays a role in engaging and building meaningful relationships, and informal mentoring in the space.

Advice for lawyers or legal techies wanting to get started?

Give first. Mention other people first. “Like” other people first. Share their content first. Promote other people first. Listen first. When you give first and give freely, then you’re more likely to create deeper, lasting relationships. 

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Shownotes

Ivy B. Grey is a lawyer, writer, and legal techie. She is the author of American Legal Style for PerfectIt, a proofreading and editing application for lawyers. Ivy is also a Senior Attorney at Griffin Hamersky LLP, and has been named a Rising Star in the New York Metro Area for four consecutive years. Connect with Ivy on Twitter: @IvyBGrey.

How do you figure out what to be on social media, and Twitter in particular?

Participate as yourself, not as a generic company logo. Represent yourself and the organizations you’re associated with, with integrity. Display elements of your personality. Pick a subject matter you’re interested in or are passionate about and engage around that.

What role does writing and content play in building relationships?

Use Twitter to engage in quick bursts of activity. It’s more of a banter. It’s not long, thoughtful conversations. Developing content is how you get your full thoughts out there and it can be more nuanced. You can then put out that content on social media to promote engagement.

When developing content, reference others. Bring people in. Quote and cite their articles, mention them on social media and engage with them around that piece of content. Engage your competitors, view them as complimentary.

How do you engage on social media?

Key goal when engaging on social media is to be authentic. Focus on building trust in the interactions you have by speaking about what you know. Before disagreeing with someone, first check to see if they’re an expert in the field so you don’t end up mansplaining to someone who knows better. There is no quicker way to lose credibility in the legal tech community than to speak about something you don’t know to somebody who is an expert.

Be mindful. Show that you’re relatable and reliable.

What about social media as a platform for informal mentoring?

Informal mentoring is key. Making introductions, connecting people, and genuine endorsements, really make a difference in who is willing to give that person a chance and hear them out on what they’re going to say. The result can be people following them on social media, sharing their article, feeling confident in “liking” what they’ve written.

Informal mentoring and relationships help to give you credibility. It doesn’t need to be a big thing or formal, but does need to be decisive and clear. In return, pay it forward, and don’t be wishy-washy with your endorsements and introductions.

Remember to go outside of your often narrowly defined network to discover and mentor people who are not like you.

Advice for lawyers or techies wanting to get started?

Give first. Mention other people first. “Like” other people first. Share their content first. Promote other people first. Listen first.

When you give first and give freely, you’re more likely to create deeper, lasting relationships. Some of those people will give back, but even if they don’t, you feel good and you’ve promoted the community and what you want to see in the community.

Twitter shoutouts in this episode: @rightbrainlaw, @catherinereach, @bobambrogi, @AdrianaL, @DCaseyF