An introduction to social media marketing.

• Author: Schiffman, Caren M.

Social media can be a low-cost and highly effective way to connect your firm and its attorneys with the community at-large. Although it is all the buzz, many attorneys are still unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable with how to use social media tools in a professional setting.

This article will provide a high-level overview of social media marketing and the advantages of integrating some popular social media tools into your firm's overall marketing and business development strategy.

Why Should Law Firms Implement a Social Media Program?

Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention, generates on-line conversations, and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. (1)

Increasingly, organizations are implementing social media programs into their overall strategic marketing plans. Unlike some traditional marketing initiatives such as advertising and print publications, which are valuable tools, social media provides a real-time, interactive dialogue between the writer and the reader.

A recent survey published by Greentarget, in conjunction with ALM Legal Intelligence and Zeughauser Group, asked in-house counsel, the primary purchasers of outside legal services, about their reliance on social media. (2)

53 percent of in-house counsel expects that their consumption of industry news and information via new media platforms will increase over the next six months to a year. As the survey indicates, social media is here to stay and law firms cannot afford to ignore this medium if they want to remain competitive in and current with the marketplace.

In general, attorneys frequently ask their legal marketers, "How will this (whatever the "this" is) bring me new business?" Social media, like press relations, speaking engagements and social outings, will rarely produce an instant client.

Rather, social media is another tool in your marketing and business development toolkit to help build brand awareness, raise the visibility of the attorneys and the law firm, and connect with potential and existing clients and referral sources. With 70 percent of journalists turning to social media to assist with reporting, (3) social media is also a great way to capture the media's attention.

Getting Started

Establishing a presence on one of these social media sites is only step one. The key to success is not simply being there, but learning how to effectively use, manage and leverage the benefits of these...