Social media the elephant in the room

A fear of social media and an associated lack of training have the potential to cost law firms dearly as the digital era unfolds, writes Carl Olson.

Like it or not, the communication landscape of the legal profession is changing. It is no longer enough to simply network with your clients and market your firm through the traditional channels – increasingly, social media will become the source of competitive edge.

For many Australian legal practices, social media is perceived as the elephant in the room – complicated, unnecessary or elitist and firmly the domain of Generation Y. Our own research among large law firms supports this view. While the majority of firms have adopted social media strategies to some degree, a significant 25 per cent of all practitioners still do not use social media in a professional capacity at all. That is surprising when you look at how sophisticated these firms are in other respects, as well as the very real benefits that can be gained from exploiting this channel.

Most Australian firms using social media do so for three main purposes: networking, positioning themselves as forward thinking and for business development. This is consistent with how social media is being used globally by the professional services sector and this approach makes sense because social media is all about relationships. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn bring people with shared interests or personal connections together, and allow practitioners to transfer and expand their real-world relationships, online.

More and more, social media is also being used by legal practitioners to share knowledge and information. Blogs and twitter, in particular, have become a valuable resource for news aggregation and information sharing, especially given the emergence of business and industry ‘thought leaders’ in the online space.

The American experience
It is also useful to look to America, where the market is more mature, to see where social media in the legal profession is going. For some years now, firms of all sizes across the Pacific have been waking up to the very real benefits of social media as a means to broaden their reach and improve their visibility, build relationships with professional contacts and potential clients and, most importantly, build connections and generate leads.

Social media among American legal practices is now commanding a much greater slice of the marketing budget, particularly among those who deal with consumers directly; for example, plaintiffs’ firms. In the business-to-business space, attorneys are using social media as a means to position themselves as experts and thought leaders in their respective fields.

It does not end there because we are also seeing a wave of innovation, with firms developing their own enterprise web applications to allow their staff to work in new, more efficient ways, and to support new ways of engaging with their clients.

Time to ramp up training
So far so good, but one issue that needs tackling here in Australia is the lack of board level buy-in from many firms, especially when it comes to formal social media training and strategy. Of those using social media in a professional capacity, just 39 per cent of firms actually provide any training in this area, and 24 per cent do not have a social media policy or strategy in place.

This lack of familiarity is translating into a creeping fear of the unknown, with our research showing that 73 per cent of Australian lawyers are ‘afraid of saying the wrong thing’, while 36 per cent are worried about accidently exposing confidential information.

Risk management issues aside, formal training has a significant role to play in increasing the effectiveness and economic return from use of social media. Lawyers may be skilled communicators, but social media rewards firms that project a desire to interact and enter into a conversation. Remember – you can be boring, your topic can be boring, but you cannot be both.

Clearly, these fears need addressing. For legal practices to truly embrace the many benefits presented by social media, the platform needs to become part of company culture, from junior staff to managing partners. It is not going away, and those firms dealing with clients and consumers, in particular, will increasingly use social media as a key means to drive point of difference, and gain a competitive edge. While there remains this lack of buy-in to social media, or lack of commitment to training and developing staff in its usage, then the potential presented by social media will never be unlocked.

Building a ‘personal brand’
Ultimately, over the next few years, every lawyer will be expected to have a grasp of social media and how it can be applied effectively in the workplace for themselves, as well as their clients.

Lawyers will be required to build a ‘personal brand’ and ensure that it aligns with that of their firm. The market is not going to suddenly get less competitive, so that means legal professionals need to look at every available route to achieve point of difference. Those who do not simply will not succeed in the evolving legal industry.

Carl Olson is commercial director of legal and tax publisher, Thomson Reuters.
www.thomsonreuters.com.au