Seattle personal injury lawyer creates Facebook Fan Page for a pamphlet?
Just when you think you've seen it all from lawyers who have not a clue how to use social media or how to network through the Internet, I get this.
An email from someone apparently associated with a Seattle law firm inviting me to become a 'fan of The Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Wreck Your Washington Accident Case on Facebook.' I'm not joking. Look at the below.
.png)
It gets crazier. Look at this Facebook 'fan page' the lawyer posts links to. Posts such as a car accident location where a teen was injured in a rollover.
.png)
Nice. Take text from a police report or news story referencing someone's child being seriously injured with the apparent goal of getting more face time on Google or Facebook. I wonder what law school or CLE program teaches you that.
Marketing like this is why I've decided not to handover LexBlog's social media marketing to the 7th grade class at Sakai Junior High on Bainbridge Island.
Fortunately, 90% of people will see this type of stunt for what it is. An over zealous lawyer who is in over their head when it comes to social media.
Unfortunately for our profession, this type of lawyer marketing is just feeding the public's perception of lawyers as the least trust worthy of any profession. That's a shame as it means injury victims and their family members are less likely to seek help from a good plaintiff's trial lawyer - they don't trust us.
I practiced as a plaintiff's trial lawyer for the better part of 20 years. Being a board member of my state's trial lawyers' association and active in ATLA I came to know trial lawyers as some of the finest and most caring people in the world.
When I got active on the Internet while still practicing I was blown away by the opportunity trial lawyers had to show what we were made of. I answered 4 to 7 questions a day posted on AOL legal message boards by injury victims and their family members. I hosted AOL legal chat rooms a couple nights a week answering more questions.
I saw the Internet as a great equalizer for plaintiff's lawyers. Without having powerful lobbying groups and PR campaigns we could influence public opinion. Good lawyers without huge advertising budgets could get the best work by word of mouth generated by helping people. Wow!
Seeing this lawyer use Facebook like this is terribly, terribly disappointing. Maybe he's a great lawyer. Maybe he has tremendous care for injury victims and their family members. But please learn how to use the Internet and social media.
Other lawyers doing things the right way deserve better. The people we seek to protect and serve deserve better.
This is funny. And, I hate to be such a *lawyer* about it, but I think that facebook page probably violates Rule of Professional Conduct 7.2(c) (Advertising), which requires "Any communication made pursuant to this Rule shall include the name
and office address of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content."
Kevin,
I'd like to know more about this part of your article:
"Unfortunately for our profession, this type of lawyer marketing is just feeding the public's perception of lawyers as the least trust worthy of any profession. That's a shame as it means injury victims and their family members are less likely to seek help from a good plaintiff's trial lawyer - they don't trust us."
A major part of my mission is to change the way the American public thinks about lawyers and I'm not seeing how the page you referenced breeds distrust.
I believe the intention with this page is to open dialogue and educate the public. What do you see it as?
Let's give some constructive feedback to help Chris and Mischelle Davis, who I know have their heart in the right place.
How can we help them?
Alexis
Nice catch, Kevin. This is excatly the kind of bad press around social media that many firms will use to avoid the conversation all together. One bad apple...
Alexis, I'm not I sure I buy that 'the intention with this [Facebook] page is to open dialogue and educate the public.'
I could be wrong, but I don't know if this lawyer cares whether he gets his next client off an ad on a urinal wall or a Facebook page. There's nothing that leads me to believe the lawyer is seeking to engage people in a positive way through social media.
Pictures of wrecked cars and truly meaningless text about a teen, who it appears he does not know, being flown to Harborview Medical Center (our lead trauma center). Where do you see the effort to educate and dialogue?
I see this as if I get my name on a billboard, any where/any place, maybe you'll look at the references to dollars on my website.
Kevin:
What you are seeing is just a symptom of the bigger issue, the Dan Kennedy-ization of the legal profession. There are groups out there that promote link exchanges between members, their members review each others "books," they become fans of each others Facebook pages and LinkedIn groups, and they rate each other on review sites... among many other things. An argument can be made about the validity of some of these initiatives, and I'm not specifically commenting on the content of the page that is the focus of your post. But, it's being marketed using a technique I call reciprocity without merit (I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine), which is a hallmark of these groups. And unfortunately, I think we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
In my humble opinion, there are some professions that just can't use social media like FB and retain any dignity. That attorney should have set up his own website and/or blog, Twitter or LinkedIn. I would never in a million years contact an attorney based on a FB fan page...instead would actively avoid him.
Jan,
Your humble opinion is a limited one. Don't confuse the platform with this example of it being poorly used.
Amazing that you would suggest using Facebook lacks dignity but then say: go with Twitter.
What exactly gives one more "dignity" than the other?
These are tremendous communications tools - good for retail, good for service professionals.
Go where the people gather - that's where you'll find your audience. Facebook is exploding with growth AND happens to be the largest platform already.
There are a ton of bloggers whose blogging is lame. Says nothing about the platform.
At the end of the day, the Internet is nothing magical or new; it is just a high-speed network of people. We're all on there, good and bad, professional and unprofessional.
Yes, facebook (twitter and friendfeed) allows someone to instantaneously represent themselves (and our profession) poorly to the entire world. It also allows lawyers to keep in touch with old contacts and network with one another. It allows us to positively present ourselves as well. One amazing opportunity for lawyers is the dissemination of information. You used to need a law library, then a Westlaw (Lexis) account; now you can find a wealth of knowledge online (often produced by attorneys).
I think the days of social media being cheesy or lacking dignity are largely behind us but perhaps there's still a little ways to go.
I know Chris Davis. He is a top notch attorney and a class individual. I have read several of his books. They are well written, informative, and provide value to his clients. Perhaps you do not like his Facebook approach. We all have opinions. My opinion is that Chris on a daily basis is representing people and doing an excellant job. He should keep up the good work. It is easy to sit on the sidelines and second guess everyone.
Chris may be a fine lawyer Charles. But I think he's embarrassed himself and given the professiona a black eye in using Facebook this way.
The public has a far better idea of how social media like Facebook is used than many lawyers. When lawyers show they are willing to use high profile mediiums without knowing how, lawyers run the risk that people will wonder how prudent they are in handling other matters - such as someone's legal work.
No one is sitting on the sidelines here. The easy thing to do would be for me to say nothing and let lawyers go on making foolish use of social media like facebook. However, I care enough about lawyers and our profession to call a spade a spade.