Outside Help

• Author: Danielle Braff
• Pages: 33-34

When National Public Rad io mentioned that a

company had been dumping toxic chemic als into

the ground for 25 years in a S an Diego suburb, Toby

Danylchuk knew he’d be working overtime at the of fice.

Danylchuk wouldn’t be speak ing with potential

clients about the effec ts of those chemicals on their water, nor would

he be in court expla ining how the chemical is associat ed with certain

types of ca ncers.

Instead, his fi rst task would be to help his client, a major law firm ,

attract v ictims of the toxic dumping.

“We ran paid social ad s in Facebook, covering citizens liv ing in the

affected s uburb, creating awareness of the disast er, and letting them

know that if any of these pe ople had cancer in their families f rom

growing up there, the y potentially had a case,” says Danylchuk , head

of San Diego-base d 39 Celsius Web Marketing Consulting.

The result: The Facebook adver tisement was seen in 130,000 resi-

dences in the affec ted area. It made more than 120,000 impres sions

and more than 78 0 engagements.

“Many of the engagements in the ad wer e

people tagging others i n the area to help notify

them, sharing it and com menting,” Danylchuk

says, explaini ng that this type of specific t arget-

ing would cost thousands of doll ars in print,

radio or TV. But he charged just a few hundre d

for this social med ia campaign.

Businesses have been pay ing for outside

social media help for year s, but attorneys are

just start ing to supplement their social media

needs—and it appears to b e paying off.

TO TWEET OR NOT TO TWEET

A 2016 study found that potential client s are

increasingly using so cial media to inform their

hiring dec isions—including those who nee d

attorneys. More tha n half of consumers say

they’d be likely to hire an at torney who is active

Outside Help

Studies show most lawyers don’t know how to advertise effectively

on social media, so some have hired specialists

By Danielle Braff

MAY 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 33

Business of Law

PHOTOGRAPH BY WAYNE SLEZAK

Technology

“I spent years studying how other law firms use their voice in social media,” says Jessica Hoerman, an attorney with

TruLaw. “Some do a good job, but most do a really bad job.”