Page 52 - MASTER COPY LEADERS BOOK 9editedJKK (24)_Neat
P. 52
Leaders in Legal Business
More Control Over Your Messages
Another very important aspect of social media involves controlling your messages in public spaces, in
media, and in the marketplace, which has been and always will be critically important to communicating your
brand. I remember my days as an in-house director of marketing at a law firm and the frustration I, our department,
and many lawyers often had when we would work to place a story in the media, finally earning a mention in a
story, and then discover that neither the firm’s name nor any sufficient information about the attorney involved
were included in that story. All that work for no mention! We understood why this happened, as journalists often
shared that it was not their job to promote our law firm, or any firm. Their job was to tell the story.
Given all of that, one of the most important and most powerful reasons I can give you to spend time
learning how to use social media is that you can now take better control of the messages that you and your firm
need to send. No longer do you have to rely solely on publications to write and speak on your behalf, hoping that
your 30-minute interview ends up with more than a five-second sound bite, or a sentence, or even a blind mention
in an article. When you do get those, that will be gravy, but you can now craft those messages, and decide where
and how you would like them to distribute them on self-owned media. You get to control the message and the
medium much more than ever before. You become the publisher of your information, your brand, and your
message.
The Process of Implementing a Social Media Plan for Your Firm
In the perfect world, your social media plan should fall out of a larger marketing plan, which then gives
birth to a content marketing plan, which then helps build your social media plan, but having all of those pieces in
place in a law firm is often a luxury. It is my job to eliminate the inertia that can come from not having all of those
pieces in place first, which is why we need to discuss how to move ahead with a social media and social
networking initiative in your firm even if all of the other pieces are not in place. Progress can often be made by
taking baby steps, and is often accomplished through a side-door strategy such as the introduction and efficient
use of social media. We can tackle Rome later!
Here are the concepts I’d like you to keep in mind as you create your social media plan.
To get started:
Establish need. Sell your firm based on the knowledge and need we have discussed here.
Strengthen your weaknesses. If skills and knowledge are needed, hire them.
Make sure commitment is secure. To go this alone with no support is a surefire recipe for frustration
and even disaster.
Decide who will be in charge. Too many cooks managing this process can cause frustration, a lack of
focus, conflicting messages being distributed, and a lack of common vision. Conversely, many cooks
moving in the same direction are a recipe for success.
Build social media guidelines. These don’t have to be rocket science, but they do need to take accepted
ethical restrictions into account, as well as best practices for effective online networking.
Practice the 3 Cs: Communicate, communicate, and communicate! You need to let everyone in the firm
know what is going on at every step of this process in order to achieve buy-in and consistency. If not,
dropping a social media plan on everyone after it has already been decided can cause dissention and a
lack of ownership in the effort, which can be destructive.
Adjust expectations: Know that using social media is not a cure-all for internal weaknesses. You can’t
communicate what you wish was happening in your practice or at the firm because it will come back to
haunt you when your prospects discover otherwise.
45
More Control Over Your Messages
Another very important aspect of social media involves controlling your messages in public spaces, in
media, and in the marketplace, which has been and always will be critically important to communicating your
brand. I remember my days as an in-house director of marketing at a law firm and the frustration I, our department,
and many lawyers often had when we would work to place a story in the media, finally earning a mention in a
story, and then discover that neither the firm’s name nor any sufficient information about the attorney involved
were included in that story. All that work for no mention! We understood why this happened, as journalists often
shared that it was not their job to promote our law firm, or any firm. Their job was to tell the story.
Given all of that, one of the most important and most powerful reasons I can give you to spend time
learning how to use social media is that you can now take better control of the messages that you and your firm
need to send. No longer do you have to rely solely on publications to write and speak on your behalf, hoping that
your 30-minute interview ends up with more than a five-second sound bite, or a sentence, or even a blind mention
in an article. When you do get those, that will be gravy, but you can now craft those messages, and decide where
and how you would like them to distribute them on self-owned media. You get to control the message and the
medium much more than ever before. You become the publisher of your information, your brand, and your
message.
The Process of Implementing a Social Media Plan for Your Firm
In the perfect world, your social media plan should fall out of a larger marketing plan, which then gives
birth to a content marketing plan, which then helps build your social media plan, but having all of those pieces in
place in a law firm is often a luxury. It is my job to eliminate the inertia that can come from not having all of those
pieces in place first, which is why we need to discuss how to move ahead with a social media and social
networking initiative in your firm even if all of the other pieces are not in place. Progress can often be made by
taking baby steps, and is often accomplished through a side-door strategy such as the introduction and efficient
use of social media. We can tackle Rome later!
Here are the concepts I’d like you to keep in mind as you create your social media plan.
To get started:
Establish need. Sell your firm based on the knowledge and need we have discussed here.
Strengthen your weaknesses. If skills and knowledge are needed, hire them.
Make sure commitment is secure. To go this alone with no support is a surefire recipe for frustration
and even disaster.
Decide who will be in charge. Too many cooks managing this process can cause frustration, a lack of
focus, conflicting messages being distributed, and a lack of common vision. Conversely, many cooks
moving in the same direction are a recipe for success.
Build social media guidelines. These don’t have to be rocket science, but they do need to take accepted
ethical restrictions into account, as well as best practices for effective online networking.
Practice the 3 Cs: Communicate, communicate, and communicate! You need to let everyone in the firm
know what is going on at every step of this process in order to achieve buy-in and consistency. If not,
dropping a social media plan on everyone after it has already been decided can cause dissention and a
lack of ownership in the effort, which can be destructive.
Adjust expectations: Know that using social media is not a cure-all for internal weaknesses. You can’t
communicate what you wish was happening in your practice or at the firm because it will come back to
haunt you when your prospects discover otherwise.
45
