24 Oct Top 5 reasons solicitors are not using social media
Three quarters of people buy from those they follow on social media, so why is it that huge numbers of solicitors totally neglect this rich avenue of leads?
There are, of course many possible reasons, but as legal marketing experts, we can at least provide fairly weighty, anecdotal evidence on this paucity of legal representation in the daily multi millions of posts in cyberspace.
For several years now, we have been there to assist many firms, as they take their first steps into the social media terrain, and whilst law firms vary greatly in their structure and culture, there is amongst them, a reticence about using various online communication channels, such as Twitter and Facebook.
However, it is a mind-set that needs to change because so much business is done via social media these days.
A survey, in late 2016 on the website, Social MediaToday reported that 75.3 per cent of people buy after using social media platforms.
For example, a legal client of ours swears by Twitter, which has helped them promote and sell a range of standard legal services, whilst there are other clients who field many enquiries from their website that have arrived their via their social channels.
From our experience, in legal marketing these are the main reasons solicitors neglect social media:
- Patience. Our lives are very busy and the initial forays into social media require great effort without much initial reward. Setting up the accounts and developing a following takes time, let alone then having to populate them with interesting and engaging content – its hard work. Too many want instant results and would sooner stick to more expensive but less effective marketing like newspaper advertising and leaflets because it’s what they’ve always done.
- Lack of resources. Most people appreciate the good things about social media – increasing profile amongst clients and attracting new business, but many, justifiably see it as resource heavy. The initial outlay of time and manpower again renders it something that would be nice to have, but not impractical. This is frustrating as done well, with quality support it need not be the case.
- Fear of saying the wrong thing. It’s true that there are many faux pas every day in social media, but with a measured and planned approach, these can be pretty-much eradicated. A strong social media policy, a careful pair of hands at the keyboard, and an ability to see the opportunity rather than imagine the worst case scenario will soon have your social media activity moving in the right direction.
- Lack of understanding. Despite there being over 30 million Facebook users in the UK alone, there are many who still can’t get their heads around it and just don’t want to get involved. These tend to be practices whose decision making in regards to social media are partners rather than marketing professionals. Too many law firms of this ilk do not want to bother with social media mostly because of mis-information.
- You are doing fine without social media. Many law firms have been around in some shape or form for generations, long before the internet existed. Therefore, they may have plenty of work without social media. If that’s the case, then great, but the concern is always when you stop being able to reach people through the marketing methods you’ve always used. If this and future generations are on social media, then you need to be there too!
So there you have it. These are our views based on conversations with probably more than 200 partners in law firms in the past five or so years and lots and lots of experience in marketing for legal firms.
We hope this blog has provided you with some food for thought and if social media for your law firm is something you are interested in, then we are more than happy to have an informal chat and explain how we can help.
