Retweeting is one of the best things you can do to build a following on Twitter.

Following is a guest blog post by Andrew Stucky of Cardiff, UK.

When it comes to Twitter followers, glory is not solely reserved for celebs, sport stars and Justin Bieber. For practicing lawyers and law firms, a healthy following on Twitter can have a enormous influence for your legal PR. By following a few simple rules, you might just find that you too can become a hit with the #twitterati.

Be Generous with Other People's Content

If you think that Twitter success revolves around promoting your law firm's content and yours only, prepare to fail. Interacting with the wider law community is integral to gaining a firmly fixed follower base. How to approach this? Respond to industry specific questions, reply to tweets, start discussions and share others tweets, opinions and wisdom. Retweeting is one of the best things you can do due to the referral traffic which emerges off the back of this.

Listen to others, share information and be yourself if you want to succeed. Create a social strategy that combines your content, original content and personal tweets to strengthen your identity and mix the content up.

Optimize your Content for Search

Using keywords in your tweets and profile description is one way to make your content more searchable. Keywords and hashtags will make your profile and content accessible to a wide audience and you'll be more likely to gain followers. Share links to your blog content but don't overdo it, and only use a hashtag when and if it's relevant to your audience.

Follow your Target Market

Even the most influential media moguls tend to follow a range of twitter accounts -- you have to give before you can expect to receive. Follow anyone and everyone who fits your target market, this includes clients, partners, local businesses, competitors and co-workers. These users are likely to follow you back and/or share your content which could seriously boost your kudos. Engage with the accounts you are following, learn from your competitors and find your niche.

Consistency on Twitter

In the same way that a novelist adopts a writing style, consistency on twitter is important and will set you apart from the pack. Gain recognition and followers by being reliable in content, style, tone and approach. Whether you're a litigator or corporate lawyer, determine a range of words which define your brand and stick to them.

Read Before you Post

Read before you post. Don't tweet willy-nilly, send out tweets with typos, personal rants or nonsensical wording. Reputation is everything when it comes to online presence, so before sending anything out make sure it is consistent, factually correct and on-brand. One last word of advice, make sure that all the tweets you publish are relevant, interesting and useful to your audience.

Author Note: Byfield Consultancy is a London-based team of esteemed reputation management consultants. Specializing in legal PR, Byfield works behind the scenes to raise the profile of businesses by using a variety of cutting edge techniques.