The Business Of Law

Evan Brown, who’s a well known legal blogger recently published a great piece over at Law.com.  He outlines 5 reasons why lawyers should use social media.  His list is as follows:

1.     TO LEARN
2.    TO EXPAND AND MAINTAIN A NETWORK
3.    TO BECOME A BETTER COMMUNICATOR
4.    TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE PROFESSION
5.    TO HAVE FUN

You’ll notice that Brown leaves off one obvious one: “To get clients”.  That might seem a bit counter-intuitive given the importance of digital and social media to the marketing world.  But let me explain a bit (with Brown’s help).

Here’s what Brown says:

“(Getting clients) is intentionally absent from the list because all the other reasons merge into that one. By learning, networking, helping others, communicating better and having the appropriate amount of fun, you will become a better lawyer. Clients want good lawyers. You see the connection.”

He goes on to write:

“Avoid thinking of — and using — social media strictly as a means to get clients. This looks phony, and your readers and contacts will see through it. Just be yourself. Be genuine and authentic, and people will read and follow you.”

To be sure, he’s 100% correct on both of these points, but I’ll take it a step further.  I would add to Brown’s list “Connect with your customers”.

As I’ve said before, as Sokolove Law, social media is a vital part of how we stay engaged with the two audiences who matter most to us, our co-counsel firms, and our clients.  Social media allows for an engagement and exchange of ideas that was simply not possible before.  That’s why it’s so valuable.

But to be fair to Brown, lists always sound better in groups of five not six!

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Sokolove Law, I spend a good deal of my day thinking about the two audiences we care about most.  Our co-counsel firms—essentially our customers, and the people who come to us seeking legal assistance—our clients.

As the largest marketers of legal services in the country, we know a lot about how to reach potential clients, and that’s why so much of our marketing is now done online.  Whether it’s through traditional internet advertising, or community sites like our award winning Mesothelioma Resource Center, of the hundreds of thousands of potential cases we vet each year, more enter the pipeline from the internet than from television advertising.  That’s pretty astounding when you think about it.

But Internet marketing is about more than just web sites and banner ads.  Instead, social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and emerging technologies like Google’s recently launched Sidewiki are changing the way people get their information, make their purchasing decisions and how they interact with companies.  Consider some statistics:

Facebook
•    There are more than 200 million active users of Facebook.
•    100 million of them log on at least once a day.

•    All told Facebook users spend 2.6 trillion minutes on Facebook daily. source

YouTube
•    There are more than 70 million videos on YouTube.
•    It would take 412 years and 4 months to view all the videos on YouTube.
(sources here, here and here)

Blogs
•    There are more than 346 million people who read blogs.
•    77% of active Internet users read blogs.
•    There are more than 900,000 blog posts in a 24 hour period. source

Twitter
•    There have been more than 1 trillion Tweets to date, (see an up to the minute count here)
•    There are more than 3 million Tweets per day.

While these stats are enough to make any marketer pay attention, the real value of social media is a little more nuanced.

There’s a great article that I came across recently that makes a very basic point about social media:

“Social media is more than just communication, it’s customer engagement. If you’re not engaging with customers using social media, you’re not maximizing your effort.”

That really is exactly the point.  Social media has made it possible for savvy companies to engage and interact with their customers instead of just communicating at them.  And that can make all the difference.

One of the things that makes the Sokolove business model unique is that we seek to develop deep relationships with our co-counsel and our clients rather than just churn the lead machine.  These relationships are based on trust and partnership.  For our clients, we are the trusted source of legal advice and the last safety net in a system that has likely failed them tremendously.  For our co-counsel we are a valued partner providing them with the marketing tools to grow their practice and expand their business.

Over the past thirty years, our success has been built on these relationships, and they are critical to our growth, which is why we are constantly on the lookout for new ways to interact, not just broadcast at them.   If you’re engaging with your customers, and in our case our clients, then you’re deepening that fundamental relationship.

Kudos to our very own Dave Weineke Director of Digital Marketing at Sokolove Law who will be leading an upcoming discussion on lead generation at a conference organized by Marketing Sherpa.

Dave is also featured in a recent article on the site.  Dave, who helps Sokolove stay at the cutting edge of digital marketing offers his insight into how Sokolove manages its databases and CRM to produce customized email messages that improve subscriber engagement.

Dave will also be talking about lead generation in a digital age on BlogTalk Radio on September 24th, and speaking to the Direct Marketing Association in Palo Alto on September 25th about the Four Emerging Pillars of Digital Marketing.

While we do a lot to promote that Sokolove is the leader in marketing legal services, we often don’t get a chance to share the spotlight with the people behind the scenes. We’re happy to see Dave get a shout out for the great work he’s doing!!  His advice is spot on. Ask him about it.