1. 48 the Parchment
Lesley Moore points out the importance for law firms and
solicitors to have a social media presence
Social Media- a positive impact on your business
A
few years ago, I carried out a
benchmarking study across different
types of professional service firms such
a solicitors, accountants, advisory, HR,
etc to assess how they used online
information tools to communicate internally and to
market themselves externally with clients. The results
showed that it was the law firms who were the most
under-developed in this area.
Since then, economic and market pressures have
changed the landscape, the professional services scene
is much more competitive and clients themselves are
demanding more from their advisors. Clients now have
more choice when selecting a legal practice and are
much more informed buyers thanks to Google. Apart
from asking around in their network for opinions of
your firm, they can find out about you online, checking
out how you represent yourself, see who your clients
are, what you specialise in and if you are a leader in
your field. So, what you say online and how and where
you say it, is critical for your reputation.
The real art of marketing legal services is no longer
passive. This is where using social media tools can
bring a huge advantage to your firm, large or small, if
you get it right. The opportunities to engage directly
with clients and potential clients are very real and to
realise the benefits of this, solicitors must now do one
thing. Become social.
Networking and engagement through online
commentary and sharing is becoming increasingly
more important for solicitors looking to build word of
mouth and lasting relationships. People hire solicitors,
not firms. Therefore relationships matter (as they
always have offline) and this is all the more reason for
individual solicitors to use social media effectively.
Which Tools Should You Use?
Social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
and blogs provide fast and cost effective ways to
keep in touch with clients and prospects, keep an eye
on competitors and keep up-to-date with industry
trends. But how do you know which is the best tool
to use? Maintaining a presence on social media is time
consuming so making a careful selection of the most
relevant tools for your firm is critical.
The top tools currently used by law firms (there are
many others) are LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogging
and Google+ (although rare). Many law firms start out
by assuming that the best social media platform for
them is LinkedIn but that’s not necessarily the case. It
is a great B2B marketing tool but for sheer number of
users, Facebook has far greater reach with 1.35 billion
active monthly users. That’s not the total number
of users worldwide, but active users which is more
important. LinkedIn has 187 million active users and
Twitter has 284 million.
Facebook is often dismissed by solicitors as a place
for personal networking and where younger people
chat and socialise but in fact, of users aged 35+years,
80% are using Facebook for both personal and
professional networking. Of this age group, only 66%
are using LinkedIn.
Networking savvy solicitors are finding Facebook a
good choice when it comes to building relationships
and word of mouth. Consumers and businesses, at all
levels, want to get to know their lawyer – personally
and professionally – and Facebook provides the
opportunity to do both. Twitter fits alongside LinkedIn
and Facebook and is a more immediate marketing tool
for announcements, promoting content and generating
leads. It is also an invaluable tool for monitoring your
competitors and industry developments and finding
influencers who you may want to engage with.
Tailoring Your Content
To give an example of how social media is used to great
effect, one Irish law firm that seems to use social media
well is Matheson. It’s the only one using Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn. Other large firms are tending to
use one or two tools and many smaller firms are not on
social media at all.
On Facebook, Matheson focuses on recruitment.
They use promotional videos and open day
announcements and include student testimonials. They
048-050_Parchment_Spring_2015.indd 48 19/03/2015 15:47

2. the Parchment 49
Practice Management
Spring 2015 dsba.ie
understand that Facebook is a much more personal
place than other social media sites and they use this
to attract potential recruits. With Twitter, the target
audience is different. The firm tweet about conferences
and talks they organise, their charity work and
promoting their own content. On LinkedIn, Matheson
works on maintaining its credentials as a thought leader
by posting links to their online newsletter, podcasts and
other material of their own.
Understanding the demographic of each social
media tool and tailoring your content to your different
audiences ensures that you are getting the right
message to the right people and that they will be
interested in what you have to say, developing a positive
opinion of your brand. It also allows you to attract the
type of business you want to expand your client base.
Earlier this year, I carried out a project with Allen
& Overy in London, assessing how they use their
information resources. They use LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook. Again, they have segmented their markets
and have several Facebook pages, e.g. a specific one for
graduates, several Twitter accounts, including ones for
corporate social responsibility, an anti-trust group and
jobs. On LinkedIn, they have separate pages for their
global offices, the UK office having 36,000 followers.
During the project I was interviewing partners and
other senior fee earners in the firm, asking how they
use the many costly information tools placed on their
desktops. Although well used, their main port of call
is to use Google as their first port of call. If they have
a meeting coming up with a client, they will search
to see what that person is saying and doing and they
are checking social media tools to do this. LinkedIn is
checked to find out current and past activities and to
understand the client’s key areas of interest. Twitter is
being used extensively to see what clients are talking
about, who they are engaging with and the issues they
may be facing.
Social media works both ways. It’s a great research
tool to find industry and people information but it is
also an important place to be found. This applies to
all sizes of practice, not just the big firms. Using social
media effectively is just as important for small local
practices to help them stand out from the crowd and
create a distinct advantage.
What Should You be Sharing?
Having selected the social media tool you want to use,
the next challenge is what to say, what to post, how to
engage your audience. Content falls into three main
categories:
1. original written content
2. curated content from respected others
3. visual content such as photos, videos, infographics
Maintaining
a presence
on social
media is time
consuming
so making
a careful
selection
of the most
relevant tools
for your firm
is critical
Lesley Moore helps Irish businesses with digital marketing
and the use of social media. Visit www.lesleymoore.ie
048-050_Parchment_Spring_2015.indd 49 19/03/2015 15:47

3. 50 the Parchment
All three are important but according to recent
research by Marketo.com original written content is
the most highly valued by both clients and Google
alike. Google will bring the most relevant information
to the searcher and measure relevance by how much
content is viewed, shared and cited. The best way
to deliver this content is by writing a blog. It is still
the most effective way to increase your visibility on
Google and it allows potential clients to know you and
like your personality which builds trust before you
even meet.
When you write great blog content that displays
your unique subject matter expertise, others will share
it on social media, helping to extend your reach even
further. The trick is to use a blog to enrich your social
media and to use social media to promote your blog.
When you write well with passion and authority, your
blog will succeed as will your online reach.
Benefits of Social Media
There are some huge benefits to engaging with social
media as part of your marketing mix. They are:
Practical:
• Increased exposure online
• Increased traffic to your website
• Improving search rankings
• Reduced marketing expenses
Business:
• Generating leads and finding the work you want
• Developing loyal fans and followers
• An insight into your marketplace
• Building your reputation
….which ultimately leads to improved sales with the
type of business you want to attract.
Of course the benefits come with key challenges
and the biggest one of those is time. One of the
most important success factors with social media is
consistency. Posting to the sites regularly, blogging
regularly, it all takes time and effort.
However, if you take a strategic approach, perhaps
starting with one social media platform and plan
what and when you want to write, then you will have
a greater chance of success. Your consistency will pay
off by receiving feedback and comments from people,
allowing you to engage with them, build relationships
and deliver the content they want. This can only help
you to develop a more effective law practice meeting
the needs of your target audiences.
Are you ready to make a positive impact on your
business? P
When you
write great
blog content
that displays
your unique
subject matter
expertise,
others will
share it on
social media,
helping to
extend your
reach even
further
048-050_Parchment_Spring_2015.indd 50 19/03/2015 15:48