Law Firm Social Media

Pretty much every week I get asked about about social media, and what it means for law firms. Never one to automatically jump on a band wagon, I’ve been holding out on giving the definitive answer. Until now.

UPDATE: City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner has launched a new feature that follows some of the ideas proposed in this article. You can read a review of their efforts along with detailed recommendations for improvement on our blog in the post “Law Firm Social Media Revisited”.

Two of my favourite events - the annual TED conference and the Winter Olympics - are running back-to-back this year, so its surprising that any work is getting done around here at all. But inspiration come at the most unexpected times, and it was while watching Jamie Oliver collect his TED Prize that it hit me. The TED conference is precisely the approach law firms should be taking to social media.

For those of your that don’t know what TED is, here is a brief introduction:

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has expanded to include science, business, the arts and the global issues facing our planet.

Over four days, 50 speakers each take an 18-minute slot. There are no breakout groups and everyone shares the same experience. Following the conference, all the talks are published online under the strapline “Ideas worth spreading”.

I’ve compiled a list of recommended viewing. You might want to go and have a look at some of the TED videos before I talk about how this applies to law firm marketing online.

There are all sort of talks by people like Bill Clinton, Bono, Jamie Oliver, and David Blaine, but the list below all feature either lawyers, or marketing topics, so you can legitimately call it work if your Managing Partner happens to walk by!

• Mena Trott on Blogs
• Seth Godin on the tribes we lead
• Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity
• Jonathan Zittrain: The Web as random acts of kindness

What does this mean to a law firm?

All law firm marketing should communicate unique expertise, demonstrate exceptional levels of service, or help you build a relationship. Social media should, at least in theory, be able to meet all three of those needs. How one goes about it, however, seems to be the million dollar question. In my mind the real question is one of appropriateness:

How can law firms leverage the social media tools available today, while maintaining a level of flair and sophistication we expect of a firm of expensive expert professionals?

The TED model of social media gives us an approach that is highly appropriate to our needs, because it operates on several levels.

Level 1: An exclusive live event

The live event is an exclusive invitation only affair. In that respect it is very similar the client seminars you probably already run. By working on the quality of your seminar programmes it is possible to transform them into highly desirable occasions.

To run your events programme in the style of the TED conference invite speakers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Concentrate on high-level cutting-edge topics. Ask speakers to give 15 minutes of super high quality content, instead of spinning the same content over an hour session like normal.

Think about inviting influential clients to give talks too. The talks don’t have to (perhaps shouldn’t) be all about legal developments.

At this level you are communicate unique expertise, demonstrating exceptional levels of service, and building relationships with clients and other groups you already know about.

Level 2: An online showcase

Supporting the live event is the online showcase. This is where you make edited recordings of the event available, free-of-charge to the public at large. Videos would be posted according to a schedule according to the quantity of content available to you. TED publish a new video every day, but you might opt for weekly, or even monthly publication. Posting this sort of material online takes guts. Your work will be available for everyone to see, and that includes prospective clients, competitors, your staff, and the press. It takes a confident firm to be so open about their thinking. The bravery aspect is partly what makes this so effective. It is also the cornerstone of great, effective social media.

At this level you can communicate unique expertise to people who know your firm, and you start to build awareness with those that don’t.

Level 3: Spreading the ideas

The final level on which this model works is the on going dialogue that will take place after you set your content free. By providing sharing and discussion tools you enable content to spread far and wide. People who are really engaged by what you have to say will continue the discussion and invite people they know to join in.

Here you have the opportunity of building relationships with groups you don’t already know you.

What does firm social media look like?

The diagram below shows the key components of a website that acts as a repository for video content, and provides social media functions.

1. Video Player

Video player for viewing footage. Choose a custom designed player for true professionalism, or opt for an embedded video using a service like YouTube or Vimeo if your budget is tight.

2. Make it personal

Give key biographical details about the person speaking. If it’s one of your lawyers then don’t forget to include contact details as a way of generating leads.

3. Encourage sharing

Social media buttons enable visitors to quickly share your content on a wide variety of different websites. Services like AddThis give you cut and paste code for this functionality.

4. Enable and Encourage Debate

First write your community guidelines and link to them at the top of the comments section. The aim is to encourage serious intellectual discussion, so it is useful to be able to point to a set of rules if someone steps out of line.

The debating aspect is just like the comments feature you find on most blogs. Most systems allow you to screen comments before they go live in order to keep control over what is said by others on your site.

5. Build a relationship

The reason for publishing the videos over a period of time is that it keeps people coming back to see what’s new. Use an email sign-up form to collect leads and to alert people when new content becomes available.

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