As a lawyer, do you rely on referrals and networking to get more clients? If you answer is yes, you know most of your competitors do as well.
When people think of referrals, they tend to refer to word-of-mouth referrals by current clients to potential prospects. In the absence of channels through which to find out which lawyers are good or bad, what you are told by a trusted person carries a lot of weight when deciding which law firms to use.
The Internet, and increasing use of various social media channels to search for information, is changing the way people make decisions about the value provided by various law firms. Word-of-mouth referrals still work, but more credit is now being given to the level of trust built up in social communities that share their views about the value provided by lawyers. All of a sudden, online reputational management is as important as that developed through individual relationships with clients.
The question you need to ask yourself is “Do I now need to use social media in addition to the word-of-mouth referrals I currently get?”
Lots of people are talking about social media, but there is a danger that it’s implementation is not planned well enough in a lot of cases. When this happens, there is a lot of scepticism about its value to law firm client attraction efforts with many lawyers casting it aside as a waste of time. For lawyers with this view, it is yet another fictional strategy that annoyingly gets in the way of providing great legal services.
This should not be the case. Social media is not just a case of setting up a blog and providing what are, in effect, press releases. Social media is only valuable to law firms if:
- It lets lawyers / law firms engage with readers in open two-way conversations;
- It allows lawyers to gather feedback about the specific questions prospects or clients are asking themselves, and the ideal solutions they desire;
- It lets lawyers develop trusted relationships with those in their social networks;
- It helps lawyers build positions of authority within targeted niche markets;
- It is measurable;
- It results in more profitable clients and increased law firm revenue.
There is a reality that needs to be addressed though…
Many lawyers only care about the quality of the legal services they provide and hope this stops clients going elsewhere. They don’t really see themselves as operating businesses as other firms would. As long as there are referral clients willing to come on board and pay for the services provided, marketing is not top-of-mind.
A lot of lawyers will undoubtedly survive for some time using traditional marketing strategies, and one has to be realistic about that. However, lawyers that embrace social media and realise the value it brings to their client attraction efforts (keeping in mind the 6 points I made earlier) will find it easier to operate in an increasingly social media-driven world.
The value of social media in client attraction efforts is not a myth. Getting noticed out of the hundreds / thousands of lawyers that are out there and have websites is one of the biggest challenges many lawyers face. Social media makes it easier to stand out, to build a position of authority and to develop trust with followers.
This means social media is not simply an add-on to core legal services – it drives the message about the value provided by lawyers and highlights the benefits that result from the relationship developed.
Law firms need social media…FACT!
