Debunking Law Firm Social Media Myths

Debunking Law Firm Social Media Myths and Building a Plan That Works was presented at ALM’s LegalWeek in New York as part of the LegalMarketing track. Social media has changed the way lawyers communicate and connect with each other and with their target audiences. While it remains a valuable legal marketing tool, social media can be difficult to navigate. In the legal community, there are a number of social media myths that keep attorneys from accepting the value of social media. The four panelists from both agencies, mid-size and large law firms, share their perspective on social media myths.

The presentation was given by Gina Rubel, Esq. (@ginarubel), President and CEO of Furia Rubel Legal Marketing and Public Relations; Jennifer Simpson Carr (@jsimpsoncarr), Senior Business Development Manager at Lowenstein Sandler LLP; Amy Juers (@amyjuers), CEO of Edge Legal Marketing; and Christopher Postizzi, Director of Communications at WilmerHale.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 1: “No one trusts social media so why should I even bother?” (said by an attorney) False. Relationships and trust are important to landing new clients and social media is an excellent tool for establishing and maintaining relationships globally.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 2: Attorneys need to be on EVERY social media channel. False. While not every social media platform will align with your legal business development strategy, they are worth exploring for growing relationships with current and potential law firm clients.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 3: “Any content will do and it’s okay to duplicate content exactly across-platforms.” False. Content is clearly king today and the content has to be quality, original, timely, relevant and of value to the target audience.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 4: Social media is just another vehicle for sending out thought leadership, nothing more. False. Not only is social media a vehicle for thought leadership but also validation (focus on your targeted audience), retention (post actively and frequently), and lead generation (share links to gated content).

Lawyers Social Media Myth 5: Social media takes too much time, is hard to manage, and complicated. False. Social media platforms are based on the same core principals of informing, educating and entertaining audiences. Having good content on the right platform is a universal requirement if you want to make the best use of your time.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 6: “Social media is too risky for lawyers / law firms and presents unnecessary risks.” False. There is risk for lawyers on social media. Marketers should act as thought leaders in their firm by addressing the risks and non-risks and explaining the value of social media to the attorneys by developing and implementing a social media policy.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 7: GC aren’t looking, attorneys aren’t interested, and it’s impossible to convince them of value. False. Even if you do not see in-house counsel posting to social media, they are there listening, particularly on LinkedIn because of its reputation as a credible and trustworthy source.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 8: Social media metrics are meaningless and/or hard to track and measure. False. A social media profile is very inexpensive to run and a recent survey found that more than half have won business as a direct result of social media engagement.

Lawyers Social Media Myth 9: Social media doesn’t work, drive new business or positively affect the bottom line. False. Eighty percent of social media B2B leads come from LinkedIn. The key is establishing a credible presence and creating relevant and valuable content to effectively reach your target audience and then engaging with that audience.