11 Reasons Why Big Law Should Experiment with Social Media (Part 2)
Yesterday I shared my first five reasons why large law firms should evaluate if social media can play a part in their marketing strategy…here are six other reasons to consider it:
- Understand demographics: A recent study of Corporate Counsel noted that 37% of the 30-39 year old age group had used Facebook in the past 24 hours and 48% have used it professionally in the past week. Do not forget that your senior partners – and their contacts – will retire sooner than you might think. Marketing will not always stay the same, even if you really, really want it to.
- Harness LinkedIn: There are probably more lawyers on this network than any other group combined. Your firm needs a profile and your partners need to take advantage of the networking opportunities, which will only increase over time.
- Deploy a targeted Search Engine Optimization (SEO) pilot: Your attorneys may not want to leap onto Facebook, but almost anyone is interested in the efficiency of their website traffic. What kinds of visitors come to the site? How long do they stay? What kind of content moves them to action? Take a look at what your Google Analytics are trying to tell you, then pick an important practice as a test case. Create content, deploy the right keywords and see if the traffic grows – that will get the attention of more than a few within the firm.
- Improve your alumni and recruiting efforts: If you are a large firm, this is likely to be where you have a social media investment, if you’ve made one at all. Are they just a group you send information “at,” or are you building a genuine community?
- Harvest analytics from every place you can find them: Email blasts, websites, search engine rankings and social networks each offer law firms a chance to finally analyze and “own” quantitative marketing information. Seize it!
- Leverage legal marketing resources: There are lots of great thinkers in this space – set up a Google Reader so you can listen in. Some of my favorites are Jane Navarre, Heather Milligan, Nancy Myrland, Adrian Dayton and Kevin O’Keefe.
I’ve spent most of my career thinking about public relations for law firms…Now I wonder if I’ll spend the rest of my career thinking about social media for law firms? What about you?
To reach Elizabeth:
Phone: 212.840.0017
Email: elizabeth@blisspr.com
Twitter: @elizabethsosnow
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