Not many lawyers would admit to treating clients and prospects poorly. Yet, this is something many clients feel their lawyers do
Some lawyers have added social media to their communications strategy as a way of building relationships with prospects or clients, but got more frustrated as their efforts didn’t appear to sway any negative customer opinions that already existed about them.
Fundamentally, any hope that social media is a magic brush that will suddenly improve client relationships is misplaced if excellent client service is NOT part of the law firm’s DNA in the first place.
In fact, social media strategies will simply unmask poor client service if lawyers are not careful.
Imagine having a fantastic social media campaign that generates leads and leads to loads of introductory calls. If prospects sign up to be clients and feel the experience they then have is poor, they will start to share their views with others which could be extremely damaging to the law firm’s brand.
This is because social media gives customers and prospects more power to share their opinions about you just as easily as you might have found to attract them in the first place.
Social media works best when it complements excellent client service that already exists, and where everyone in a law firm understands the importance of giving clients great experiences with each contact made.
I’d argue that one of the reasons many lawyers don’t want to use social media is because they are not absolutely confident about giving clients and prospects fantastic experiences when they deal with them.
Lawyers that get great feedback all the time will feel more confident about social media because of the opportunities it provides for positive views to be shared via multiple networks.
Not only would it help them generate leads, but it will help convert leads into clients because prospects will use social media to validate the credentials the lawyers have before asking for their services.
This ultimately comes down to knowing your sales funnel, customer lifecycles and how to communicate with them over time. If this is mapped out and planned, and specific behaviours encouraged to support any client / prospect outreach, then it is easier to figure out how to use social media effectively to support the building of effective authority marketing campaigns.
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