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.
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.
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.