Social value: The top 10 in the UK Social Law Firm Index

In autumn 2013, we conducted a study to assess the state of adoption of social business technologies and practices by the 50 largest law firms in the United States. In early 2014, we published the results of that study together with the inaugural Social Law Firm Index, a ranking of the most effective users of social media.

After the results were published, we were approached by Managing Partner to gauge our interest in writing a book on the state of social business strategies by large global law firms. That book, Outperform the Competition: Business Strategies for the Social Law Firm, was published in July 2014.

As part of our research for that book, we decided to conduct a similar study to the one we conducted for US law firms and partnered with Managing Partner to co-publish The Social Law Firm Index, UK Edition. This study outlines the results and general findings from our research, which was undertaken between March and July 2014.

The purpose of this joint study was to assess the extent to which UK law firms are currently using and relying on social business technologies and practices as part of their business operations. Furthermore, we took the opportunity to compare the UK findings to those established in our study of the US
legal market.

Our research was particularly focused on the large law firm segment, specifically the 100 largest firms in the UK. We reviewed their websites and social media profiles across all public platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Slideshare. We measured each firm's publicly available substantive content, as well as its social reach and engagement, assigning a point value based on the number of followers, friends, likes, comments and so forth.

This enabled us to rank the overall effectiveness of each firm's efforts in social media. Furthermore, since we used the same methodology for this research as we did with the prior US study, it allowed us to make rational comparisons between the UK and US social law firm index findings.

In order to make the comparisons more meaningful, we have divided the UK law firms into two segments:

1. larger law firms, consisting of the top 21 ranked firms in the UK, which are roughly comparable in size to the 50 law firms covered by our US survey; and

2. smaller-sized firms consisting of the second segment.

In addition to this research, we circulated a survey; each firm was presented with the option of submitting it anonymously in order to collect information regarding the extent to which firms are currently using social technologies and practices internally. The survey gathered data about the deployment of internal social networks on the enterprise or practice group level as well as the use of similar tools to foster collaboration and teamwork.

We also collected information more generally across the legal market through an online survey conducted by Managing Partner to over 4,000 legal professionals
in the UK.

Research findings

Our research on the UK legal market revealed a number of surprises. Perhaps the single most striking finding is that larger UK law firms have established a significantly more effective presence on social media than similarly-sized US firms. This is evident in terms of owned properties, reach and engagement, where large UK law firms substantially outscored their US counterparts on both measures.

What is also clear from the research is that UK firms have shown a greater willingness to experiment with emerging social technology and have embraced its use in various ways that goes well beyond the level and type of usage we found among US firms. We believe the experimentation and broader deployment by UK firms have contributed directly to improved performance in reach and engagement, although just how much
of a contribution is impossible to say.

Figures 1-3 detail how the top UK
law firms rank in their use of social
business technologies and practices.

Visual content

The UK firms' willingness to incorporate visual or multimedia elements into their content strategy was one area in which we found a notable difference. We found UK firms are much more active in using visual social networks such as Instagram, Pinterest YouTube and Slideshare as additional channels of distribution for
their content.

While most law firms we audited are still at the experimental stage with visual content, their active participation in these networks indicates that UK firms are taking a more innovative approach, compared to US law firms, in developing their social strategies. We single out this one factor because it has been well established that using visual content significantly boosts engagement.

Humans process images 60,000 times faster than text, which makes
visual information more memorable
than any other type of information.
This is largely what makes images so critical online, where time is at such a premium in grabbing an end-user's attention. When information is presented via small, easy-to-consume visual content,
it goes a long way to break through
the information clutter.

Internal collaboration

Another area in which we found a substantial difference between UK and US firms is in the use of social technologies for internal communication and collaboration. Here, too, the study shows that UK firms are well ahead of their US counterparts.

While greater internal usage of social technology should not directly impact reach or engagement, the greater emphasis on internal usage indicates that UK firms are on their way to developing a fuller understanding as to how social technologies can be deployed throughout a law firm.

This trend is not limited to elite magic-circle firms. In fact, more than
half of all UK firms surveyed reported
they have already or are in the process
of deploying an internal social network
of some sort. This strongly suggests
that the UK market in general may be
on the brink of realising significant
further value from its use of social
business tools and practices.

Engagement levels

One of the most interesting findings
from the study is in the ranking for engagement. While the ranking for
reach is fairly consistent with the overall rankings and could be attributed to
the size of the firm and the number of
lawyers within the firm, engagement rankings do not follow that pattern.

Here, firms like Brodies, Mishcon
de Reya and Freeth Cartwright have
had significant success, even though
they are smaller firms compared to the others. What this shows is that a law
firm, regardless of size, can effectively compete with larger firms in creating valuable and useful content.

UK vs US law firms

While UK law firms seem to be outperforming US firms, the study also shows that UK law firms on the whole are still at a relatively early stage in the development and deployment of social business tools and technology when compared to large and mid-sized companies in most business segments outside the legal market.

This early stage is characterised by broad-scale usage and a growing recognition by law firms of the importance of social technologies for external marketing and business development purposes.
But, at the same time, most law firms seem to be using social technologies inconsistently and are failing to realise marketing benefits commensurate with the substantial resources that are being devoted in creating valuable, non-promotional content to populate their
social media properties.

The study also makes evident that smaller UK law firms, by and large, have been less effective than larger law firms in their use of social media, achieving lower levels of reach and engagement. Presumably, this finding simply reflects
the lower level of marketing resources available and the more narrowly-defined market segment served by smaller firms relative to the larger firms.

Nonetheless, the levels of reach and engagement for smaller UK firms are roughly comparable to the levels recorded in the US large firm segment, indicating
that the level of adoption in the UK legal market as a whole exceeds the level of adoption in the US.

In sum, our research shows that UK law firms are actively experimenting and deploying social business technologies more effectively than US law firms, but are still lagging behind the level of deployment in the general corporate sector. The data further suggests that
the UK law firm market may be on the verge of a significant increase in the
use of social business technology, particularly with respect to fostering collaboration and other internal uses.

Guy Alvarez is founder and chief engagement officer at Good2bSocial (https://good2bsocial.com), Joe Lamport is partner and chief strategic officer
at Good2bSocial and Robin Sosnow
is principal of the Law Offices of
Robin Sosnow.

The Social Law Firm Index, UK Edition (£50) was published in August 2014 and Outperform the Competition: Business Strategies for the Social Law Firm (£245) was published in June 2014. Pick up both today for only £250 - email publishing@ark-group.com or call +44(0) 207 566 5792 quoting code 'SLF-C' to place your order.