Business development | Joining the social media dots

At last, the legal market is embracing social media. Not with all guns blazing but, at least, to the extent that it gives me cause for renewed hope. Perhaps, much like websites, there is sufficient groundswell where the message is getting through to the partners that social media is more than just a nice to have option. You only need check out a few websites to recognise the ubiquitous Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn logos. Of course, most of these have a corporate feel where the firm's newsfeed is being syndicated but you have to start somewhere.

The majority of firms have adopted a hub and spoke model where the website or microsite is the central focus of the social media spokes (the idea is to 'drive' the social media traffic inwards to whatever remarkable content or otherwise you want people to engage with). This is sensible if only because the firm's existing digital capital is having a light shone upon it. And, if the necessary call to action exists i.e. 'please call us', then it presents a sensible way to measure the return on investment.

Social media aside, please go and look at the landing pages for your website, and make sure that it is clear what you are asking people to do. Too many firms rely on the goodwill or patience of their (new) clients to get in contact. Make it easy for them with a bold telephone number.

You might think the story ends there. Regretfully, this is only the start. Firms need to think much more carefully about how they join (all) the social media dots. For a start, where does social media fit within the organisation? Is it a communications issue? Or marketing? Or human resources? In reality, it is a mixture of all three, and, in fact, it goes much wider - social media is everyone's responsibility. The trouble is, especially for the smaller firms, no one person has overall responsibility, and, as a consequence, it gets done piecemeal, on a when and if basis. As to where it sits, if firms are not careful social media will go the same way as partners - silos rule.

Social media will never work if it is consigned to one particular department or aspect of the firm. That means even for firms that have a dedicated resource, they should still think how they might ensure that at every opportunity the discussion around social media is opened up and recorded. The starting point might be the monthly team meeting. But it needs to find its way into PR, content planning, web management, risk and HR. It would be as well for firms to notionally appoint someone to take the social media reigns even if that person says they don't know enough. Ideally that person should have a voice at a senior level, and not just from a reporting perspective but to continue to explain the relevance to the partnership.

Social media should also follow in the wake of the firm's business objectives. That being so, have you looked lately at your business plan(s) to consider where social media might drive forward your next actions, whether focused on client wins, brand awareness or developing your unique selling proposition?

At the very least, social media should be looked at in terms of coordinating the pre and post marketing events programme (and live Tweeting?), PR and news syndication to make sure that it is used to make the most of the available opportunities.

For the more enlightened firms, they may have decided that social media needs to lead from the front. In other words, it should drive everything in the firm including corporate social responsibility, recruitment, marketing and PR. And what about training? Most firms have stopped going outside for their training and tend now to bring in external help, if for no other reason to get best value.

The thing is with social media, the technology and functionality moves so quickly it is critical to make sure that everyone is kept up to date. It doesn't have to be done by face to face training. It could be a link to an external video or a webinar. But, again, someone needs to monitor '¨the situation.

But perhaps the biggest 'dot' to connect with is the firm's internal culture. At its simplest, social media is a democratising tool. This means the moment the lid is lifted on adoption, it opens up the firm like never before. Where once it was the partners who were setting the tone of the firm, now everyone has the opportunity to put their own spin on the values, position and approach to business.

There are no easy options to make sure that everyone is on message, but it is key that a consistent message is articulated internally. Policies and procedures help, but best practice is usually created where enough of the right people lead from the front. And, perhaps, as circuitous as it might sound, this is still one of the major obstacles to overcome.

If, generationally, you don't have enough senior people tweeting or sharing remarkable content on LinkedIn then '¨you may find it hard to get traction across the firm.

I suppose my parting shot is simply this. For those firms who have wrestled with distinguishing their offering for all these years, social media still offers one of the true game-changers if done right. And, of course, this isn't going to happen by itself. It will require a budget and proper resourcing. Convinced? I hope so. In time there will emerge some great stories to share but for now the field is still open to you to create '¨a little magic.