Time is money - it's a great saying - which can be cross referenced anywhere
from fee-earning to marketing. It may even have been muted a few times in
some firms' financial assessments for 2009-2010 when deciding their
marketing budgets.
So why is it then that many firms (not all I hasten to add) have been so
slow and reluctant to embrace social media? Some have, and are reaping the
benefits of a focused effort to open up new communication avenues with their
client base - channelling the opportunity to gain even more knowledge of
their clients' needs and opinions.
In my experience, having spoken to a) firms that have already taken the
first few steps and b) those who completely dismiss it as a fad, the common
misconceptions of initially engaging ( and thereafter maintaining) an active
social media campaign is two fold.
1.'I Haven't got the time for it'
Now, this is a common excuse that has been heard time and time again,
Which, in the current economic circumstances, it both understandable and
noted. However, it takes no time at all (barely a lunch break) to set up a
Twitter account (without even having to do a fancy background) and start
providing a set of value messages of latest legal content and opinion.
Why not check out our Twitter account to see what yours COULD look like.
A Tweet a day will provide the opportunity to get your message out there and
drive traffic to your website (less than five minutes to create and send a
daily message)…surely you can make time for that in your busy day? Combine it with your morning “coffee & YouTube break”.
2.'We've allocated our yearly marketing budget'
Ah! Another gem of a denunciation to the helpful marketer - law firms need
to get a LinkedIn company profile set up - it's the largest single network
of professions online and it's only going to get bigger. In addition, there
are groups/discussions that are relevant, topical and create a host of
valuable connections that may prove indispensable moving on in the coming
months.
Once again, you needn't spend a huge amount of time gaining connections -
these can be picked up gradually - its quality not quantity of numbers in
your connections lists. Enhance your reputation - offer a recommendation
to a previous or current client or even a supplier and wait for the“pay it forward principle to exert itself. Never heard of the pay it forward principle? Check out Wikipedia’s definition at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward
At a time when marketing budgets are being stretched to their limits can you
really afford to ignore the most effective way to promote your business at
this time?''
If you need help, read about our Social Media strategy service.
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