Is social networking really appropriate for lawyers?

Here are some of the typical comments we hear as we talk to lawyers and their in-house marketing teams: I’m not sure about all this hype around social media. I'm not sure if social networking has any relevance to a law firm. I can see that more and more business people are active on the networks, but are they really appropriate places for lawyers to be seen? LinkedIn is becoming quite popular with lawyers, but I can’t see how Twitter is relevant. Does anyone get any business from any of this networking? What’s the return on investment? Help! My managing partner has asked me to develop a social media strategy for the firm and I don’t know where to start!

There seems to be a general presumption that when it comes to social media, different rules apply – that somehow the social networks exist in a different space from other communication channels, and thus the usual methods used to assess the appropriateness of one media channel against another should be suspended. Gut feel seems to take over entirely from rational logic: Are we the sort of firm that should engage with social networks? As if the only question to ask is whether you want to appear up with the latest trends, rather than assessing these new media channels as potentially very useful tools. They are not something you choose to ignore or embrace en masse, any more than you would choose to boycott all broadcast media per se. The assessment needs to be altogether more detailed and you might arrive at very different answers for each of your different business or practice areas.

The simple truth is that social networks are communications channels just like any other and their usefulness is assessed in exactly the same way. The potential is for them to be used as effective channels for communicating messages to your target audiences with the aim of increasing your visibility in their eyes or influencing their view of you – even their behaviours. Placed appropriately in the marketing mix and supported by other marketing activity, as with any other well-chosen communications channels, they have a key role to play in bringing in new business to the firm.

So how does the logical assessment go? It will not surprise you to learn that communications planning is not rocket science. It is in fact very simple, but where people most commonly go wrong, and waste money on activity that delivers very little reward, is in not doing the simple things diligently. And, as implied above, it is important to assess social media options alongside other media channels, rather than seeing them as something especially separate – integration is key to the success of any marketing and comms strategy after all.

The classic communications planning process goes something like this: first, an analysis of the business’s overall goals and purpose, and how in broad terms the PR activity is expected to help with this. Next, focus on your various target audiences, analysing these by sector, job description, geographical base or other factors to get a precise fix on their profile. Next, a discussion should take place about key messages to be communicated to these audiences – whether to do with raising profile, communicating specific areas of expertise or correcting ‘misperceptions’. Only at this stage should you start thinking about the most appropriate media channels (that is, those with best reach and influence) for communicating with each of the target audience groups. And, of course, today this includes social networks as much as print, broadcast and online media. Once the key channels have been identified you can start seeking out the best editorial and online discussion opportunities by which your messages can be communicated to the key audiences, typically via media work (for example, news stories and thought-leading opinion pieces on technical or commercial topics) and via contribution to relevant debates on the social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter. You will also need to consider some regular routines to support your media work and social networking:

• monitoring how your firm is portrayed across the print, online and broadcast media, as well as on the social networks – what are people outside the firm saying about it?
• opportunity spotting – proactively surfacing topics for media comment and live discussion on the social networks
• network building – weekly or monthly prompts to remind everyone to continue building connections on the social networks
• controls – review/creation of media policies and guidelines

Certainly, there are special characteristics of social media channels that mean they require handling in a particular way – as is the case with any broad category of media. With social media the main points to bear in mind are that they are ‘immediate’, capable of reaching mass audiences in milliseconds, and also they incorporate public/market feedback as a story grows. This is what makes them so powerful. Today, what a firm says about itself on its website can be far more easily eclipsed by opinions expressed in the media than ever before. This has particular implications for news/crisis management – that is, the more ‘defensive’ aspects of reputation management. The increasing power of social networks means that news, and the world’s reaction to it, can be pushed out to mass audiences at the speed of light. The news management game has changed fundamentally and to ignore the social networks in crisis management planning could be fatal.

There are other complex issues that need to be worked through, such as how do you manage ‘brand’ and ‘reputation’, and how do you maximise business opportunities for the firm in an environment which is, on the face of it, less about ‘corporate’ identity and more about individuals and individual relationships. To what extent should a firm’s managers seek to control what individuals do on the networks, given the fiercely protected culture of ‘authenticity’?

Surveys continually show that business people are increasingly allowed access to social networks in working hours and are expected to use them as part of how they do business, which means lawyers wishing to engage with these individuals increasingly need to be active on social networks.

Social networking is clearly no longer just for children and its appropriateness for your business needs to be properly considered. It is time either to skill-up – and there is no substitute for trying a personal project on Twitter under a private name, perhaps around a personal hobby, to learn what it’s all about and open your eyes to what its possibilities are – or call in some expert help!

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Clare Rodway is managing director of specialist legal PR consultancy Kysen

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