Social Media: Do it, Do It Now

Firm Issues

By Bob Weiss
May 2009

Venerable Martindale-Hubbell has entered the online legal social networking fray with Martindale-Hubbell Connected. When an organization with that kind of institutional status embraces such progressive strategy, particularly on the heels of the equally careful American Bar Association, which is now beta-testing it own Legally Minded social networking site, it's time to join in.

We recommend all of our clients actively participate on at least one social networking site. Another reason: our clients report obtaining substantive work from the personal profiles they regularly maintain on LinkedIn and Facebook. (Note that regularly updated profiles help your search engine rankings.) Our recommendation is confirmed in several recent articles detailing business development results for attorneys. These articles have run in numerous respected publications, including the ABA Journal. Social networking is an effective marketing tactic, one providing unlimited audience reach. However, it cannot go unsaid that it raises issues involving firm technology, ethics and human resources. Twitter, as yet unprofitable but in negotiations for acquisition by Google remains a bit unproven for professionals. It's immediate, but can be generating traffic that most attorneys would find overwhelming. It's on our "wait and see" list. (Note to litigators: someone should be monitoring traffic on Twitter during hearings, jury selection, trial and other proceedings.)

Some operational and ethical concerns are discussed in detail at www.themarketinggurus.com/social_media.php. Albeit nettlesome, these issues must be dealt with quickly. Failing to employ social networking means you are simply giving work you could have had to other lawyers, and limiting your own access to information and resources that may help you serve clients.

Also, in these economic times, how can you ignore a new, proven marketing tactic that's free?

Of course, it takes time. Figure on spending 90 minutes to an hour, at a minimum, and probably that much time twice monthly, to send messages, respond and update your profile. (Figure in the time your administrator/marketer will consumer working with key partners to update firm profiles, which you should have on LinkedIn and Facebook, too.) Find that time by attending one less community or trade group function you feel has been diminishing in value. Recognize this as an efficient decision- social networking allows to connect with, well, everyone you know, everyone you have ever known, and everyone who knows them but does not know you. That's a big number. (And, you don't need to speak before an audience, walk into a roomful of strangers, those activities the majority of professionals would prefer to avoid.)

Which network should you choose? As of this writing, we say LinkedIn is best. It was developed specifically to support the needs of working professionals. Every lawyer should be in this network.

If you have a practice driven by referrals from non-professionals, Facebook profiles and video on YouTube would be good additions to LinkedIn. If you get nearly all of your work from other lawyers, who also get the majority of their work from other lawyers, we say you should choose between the now in beta-testing Legally Minded from the ABA and Martindale's new venture. (If you get most of your work from general counsel, consider getting invited onto Legal Onramp by an in-house lawyer you know who is using it.)

Some statistics of which you should be aware:

• The Pew Center, which studies media trends, reports average age of LinkedIn users is now 40+.
• Neilson reports that 24 million people ages 35-49 joined the network in 2008-triple of the number of those ages 18 and under. About 15 million people ages 54-69 joined. Facebook isn't a kid toy.
• One of the most effective personal injury commercials, licensed to firms using it in many cities, features actors Robert Vaughn and Williams Shatner. They dramatically urge injured listeners to contact a lawyer saying: "Do it. and do it now." That's my message when it comes to social networking.

ALYN-WEISS & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Marketing | Business Development
1331 - 17th Street, Suite 410
Denver, CO 80202

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