Peter Wilkinson Panther Social Media
Solicitors moving away from “traditional” (read “a little outdated” for “traditional”) avenues of business promotion are finding genuine results in the social networks. The social media sphere is increasingly being picked up by specific business types that have a more traditional bent to their public perception – hotels, golf courses, and now solicitors. The results are impressive as solicitors start finding new avenues for engagement, leading public thought and of course expanding their operations.
Establishing credentials and a real link with the public or the end consumer are the two areas in which legal firms measure the success of their campaigns. While the legal profession as a whole has been brought up to distrust social media (just consider the active role played by social media in discrediting or causing the collapse of court cases), attorneys and law firms willing to control the reach of Facebook and Twitter have developed some useful advice on how to use the social sphere to get results.
Blogging, if you do it right, is an outstanding way to bring yourself to the attention of a niche market. The blogosphere welcomes authorities on any subject – and there are few legal authorities capable of topping a solicitor or a law firm! Law by its very nature is segmented into areas of local expertise – accident and injury; divorce; tort; corporate; and so on. So the stage is already set for your company, or one of its employees, to shine – all you need is a unique voice that presents clear authoritative statements about current legal issues.
News aggregation has become a massive part of social media presence. A news page is a collection of news items deeply relevant to your area of law, which becomes the go to source of current information for your profession and its clients. Like a lot of social media presence creation this requires both research and time commitments – but its potential use as a tool to attract attention is excellent.
Don’t stop working as you always have – just translate some of your operations into the social sphere. The legal profession is less about walk in clients and more about referrals from respected professionals and professional bodies. So your real social network is your existing network of contacts, transferred into a digital medium.
As more and more law professionals take up the clarion call and start using the social sphere for their promotion and connection, the simple maths of social networking will start to take effect. Soon, you won’t be able to afford not to be on the social network, because that’s where your most valuable connections will be talking, connecting and most importantly of all, sharing contacts.
The social sphere has taken a year or two to delineate its real potential. The time has now come to explore that potential, get used to it and fully incorporate it – before it changes in a way that requires you to be already plugged in if you’re going to take advantage.
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