This last week I was asked this question on Twitter:
How can I use social media in an area that is relatively small and many clients don’t use Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin?
Good question, one I hear often- so I thought I would write a quick response.
The easy answer is, if your market is small and composed mostly of late adopters to social media, than spend your time and energy somewhere else. Even for the practice areas that have high social media usage – using social media alone doesn’t make much sense unless it is combined with traditional offline networking. You have to go where the people are, if they aren’t in social networks- than it may be a waste of time.
To dig a little deeper, you need to understand your market- what do you mean when you say the area of law is “relatively small?” What to you mean by “most clients don’t use” social media in your practice area? In a number of industries that seem less inclined to use social media (i.e. Real Estate Developers, Trust & Estates, Elder Law) you have very few attorneys using the internet effectively because they don’t think there is any business there. This may be an opportunity to jump into an online niche that isn’t being marketed to.
Ready Response Survey 2010
Remember the rule of contrarian marketing- market where your competitors aren’t.
This rule only make sense though if SOME of your ideal clients are using social media. If your industry doesn’t use social media in high enough numbers, the return on your time invested may not add up.
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Good post Adrian! From what I’ve observed it comes down to whether or not someone is willing to put the time in, and where the time is most effectively spent. Whether it’s networking offline at an event, or engaging and building a community online, or both, time needs to be spent somewhere building relationships. For some that might mean the golf course or football game, for others it might mean lunch or coffee one on one, while others are successfully building online relationships locally and globally. There are countless ways and places to network and build relationships, and I advocate “Just Do IT!” Spend some time, monitor the results and adjust where needed. I’ve gotten results wherever I spend my time after showing up, learning/listening, engaging, and being available as a resource and confidant. Lori T. Williams, Esq., Owner/Managing Attorney Your Legal Resource, PLLC
Good points, I think that the average lawyer needs to do a certain amount of traditional networking in the first instance and once they are doing that effectively it may make sense to add social media to the mix. It all depends on the market and the aptitude of the lawyer though.
If people are not in these sites today they probably will be soon or they ARE using the internet. “social media” is not just the big sites. Digital presence is increasing. 700,000 new users a day on FB is not a fad. I just listened to Scott Roen speak this morning and security is a high priority for them. Eventually everyone will be using digital/social services in one way or another.
Great post!
You make a good point, they will get there eventually. Strategically though, for an individual attorney with limited time- it may not make a lot of sense to devote very much time to social media if the market isn’t there yet.
I just stumbled upon your blog, early this morning as I was looking for articles on internet marketing strategy. As a B2C, trying to figure out which medium to use has been an ongoing struggle. It seems a local-based strategy is best, but I have not found much focus on how to combine local search efforts with mechanisms like Facebook, Linked In, Twitter. Facebook appears to provide an opportunity with its ads, but what about those small law offices who do not have the resources to engage in paid advertising on a long-term basis? These considerations should be part of a firm’s strategy and tactic. Yet, I don’t see much emphasis on such matters by the gurus.
By the way, great posts.
I am not in the law business. In fact my business is entirely different. I find it highly interesting that I have many leads and facebook friends who found my business & website, but only one or two of them have ever purchased from me. The majority of my clients don’t have any interest in being facebook buddies. They want their service and to have a relationship, but not through facebook. In my experience the people that see your business and want to be facebook friends are the people who aren’t serious about buying from you in the first place; they are as I’ve seen again and again, however, the people that want something for nothing.