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Social media and marketing don’t mix

Advertising Age’s David Teicher had a good piece making the rounds on the net this week on why media agencies ought not to be involved in social media. It got me wondering why marketing departments are leading blogging and other social media efforts in so many law firms.

It was news of Universal McCann, an ad agency, building out an entire division dedicated to social media that motivated Teicher to make his point.

Universal McCann’s expertise is in media buying and planning, an agenda wholly antithetical to everything that is social-media marketing. Yes, media planning should encompass outlets of all types, and thus must take into account planned activity in the social space when allocating funds. However, it’s what UM represents — buying increments of attention through which brands broadcast messages to consumers — that I find so contradictory to the dynamics of social media and, consequently, marketing on social platforms.

Namely, in order to generate the buzz and really tap that word-of-mouth potential, the best investment a brand can make is time. It takes living, breathing, human beings devoting their time to converse with consumers to get a feel for what they want from the brand. It takes time to win their trust. Only after the relationship is built can the strategists and creative teams jump in to leverage that rapport for the purposes of a marketing campaign (or customer service). And even then, the goal is to earn the attention of your audience by providing something valuable, functional, or entertaining, not to buy it.

Blogging is all about listening to one’s target audience and joining in the conversation by adding one’s insight and commentary. It’s about engaging people, networking, building relationships, and building trust. By it’s very definition, blogging involves personal involvement and engagement. The result is relationships that lead to business.

It’s the same with other forms of social media, whether it be Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

When it comes to the Internet, marketing departments can drive websites. Websites are all about advertising a law firm’s capability, who they represent, the type of work they do, delivering contact information, and they like.

But when you get to networking through the Internet, which is what blogging and other social media are all about, that’s a different story. Marketing needs to have lawyers lead the way and be fully involved in the process.

Law firm marketing departments seeking to protect their lawyers’ time by keeping them from learning what it means to blog and use social media are doing their lawyers and firms a disservice. They’re also costing their law firm a lot of business.

The legal profession needs to get over the fact that social media, including blogging, isn’t just a pipe to get your name in front of people or to drive people to your website. It’s about personal relationships, developing trust, and business development.

  • http://www.myrlandmarketing.com Nancy Myrland

    Kevin, I think many law firm marketers are trying to lead the way so the lawyers will begin using these media. Law firm marketers are the champions of all marketing tactics, including social media, and are trying to understand and implement best uses so they can then coach their attorneys to do just what you’ve described. Absent full-fledged, fully functioning social media use by all attorneys, marketers are helping their firms establish identities by jumping in on their behalf. I’ve watched several then train attorneys, one by one, on how to engage, how to converse and how to establish relationships. The adoption rate is another challenge they meet, just like other networking, marketing and relationship-building practices. If they sit back and wait for all attorneys to be trained and comfortable, there’s no telling how long it might be before firms establish a meaningful presence. If they are not training attorneys to do just what you’ve described, then yes, there is something missing.

  • http://www.dsdlawsitesolutions.com Randy Wilson

    Hi Kevin, I think your post misrepresents what law firm marketing departments are attempting to do for their attorneys. It isn’t to keep them from learning about blogging etc but to coordinate those efforts with what the firm as a whole is doing.
    More here: http://rlwilsonconsulting.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/it-isnt-law-firm-marketing-vs-social-media/

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    The problem is Nancy thay very few legal marketing professionals really understand what social media is all about. My gut tells me the reason why is that they have never done business development themslves by networking and engaging people to build relationships.
    Legal marketing professionals would serve their firms well by getting their lawyers, who have an interest in networking through the Internet (not all will or should), education on the subject of social media. That education should drill home that social media requires not a marketing professionals involvement, but a lawyers involvement.
    Marketing professionals have no choice but to wait for their lawyers to understand how to use social media. Social media like networking at a country club, speaking at industry events, or serving on civic boards requires personal participation. Marketing can tell lawyers these things have value in business development, but marketing cannot go out and create a presence through social media for lawyers.

  • http://kevin.lexblog.com Kevin OKeefe

    You’d be susrprised Randy. Many legal marketing professionals stand in the way of their lawyers learning what it means to network through the Internet via blogging and other forms of social media.
    I’m not talking of efforts to arrive at a coordinated approach. I’m talking of situations where after the law firm has decided to use blogs to just use them as a way to distribute content — and then actively prevent lawyers whose content is being published from understanding why such a content distribution approach is flawed. Many marketing pro’s would prefer to save a lawyers time than to learn what blogging is all about themselves and to make sure that their lawyers learn as well.