Law firm social media success is being measured like a video game
The problem with scoring by numbers is that people will always want the number to go up.
Look at what we’re getting from the use of social media by the majority of law firms. Scoring success by page views, subscribers, followers, and friends to make sure their shouts are being heard.
Per Seth Godin this morning, the problem is more noise is not better noise. Conventional wisdom is broken.
- Follow a ton of people to get people to follow back.
- Focus on the # of followers, not the interests of followers or your relationship with them.
- Pump links through the social platform (take your pick, or do them all!)
- Offer nothing of value, and no context. This is a megaphone, not a telephone.
- Think you’re winning, because you’re playing video games (highest follower count wins!)
New York City Lawyer and insightful blogger, Scott Greenfield, weighed in on Grodin’s thoughts, by saying that the majority of lawyers using social media are creating nothing but noise.
They do not produce thought, insight and expertise, despite the guarantee of the social media gurus. They produce only noise. And in the process of desperately trying to catch up on this phenomenon, they sacrifice their dignity, integrity and intelligence. That’s the price of noise.
Of course there are many lawyers using social media to demonstrate their skill, passion, and expertise is how I intended to reply to Greenfield and Godin. Many lawyers are using social media and the net to enhance their reputations, engage people, and build relationships.
Then I read an article by Adam Stock, the marketing and business development director for Allen Matkins, and Adrian Dayton, an author and social media strategist, that web traffic will tell a firm what’s working when it comes to social media and the Internet.
Law firms need to understand a similarly vital calculation when it comes to digital marketing: How much are firms paying for each set of eyeballs that web site? How can knowing this help firms make better strategic decisions in their marketing spend?……
The calculation [is] a simple one. …[divide] the amount spent on the Web site, blog or aggregator by the number of visitors to each particular destination. This calculation [gives] a per–view or per-impression cost.
Telling law firms to measure what’s working principally by numbers is only going to add to the noise.
Per Godin:
This looks like winning (the numbers are going up!), but it’s actually a double-edged form of losing. First, you’re polluting a powerful space, turning signals into noise and bringing down the level of discourse for everyone. And second, you’re wasting your time when you could be building a tribe instead, could be earning permission, could be creating a channel where your voice is actually welcomed.
Leadership (even idea leadership) scares many people, because it requires you to own your words, to do work that matters. The alternative is to be a junk dealer.
Are lawyers too afraid to do the work necessary online to build a reputation that’s worth having? Are legal marketing and business development professionals too afraid to make the case, without reverting to the false safety net of numbers, that the Internet and social media when used effectively can accelerate relationships and a lawyer’s reputation?
If that’s the case, legal professionals are using the Internet and social media like a soapbox, “a free opportunity to shout to the masses,” as Godin puts it.