Is social media as important as references for buyers of legal services?

More so, per a report (pdf) from Hinge Research Institute on how purchasers check out professional services firms before hiring one.

Before the Internet, things were pretty simple, buyers of professional services, including legal services, turned to colleagues and references. Buyers talked to individuals they trusted or others in the industry for information on a professional’s strengths and weaknesses.

Buyers of professional services still use referrals and references, but the amount of information available online means buyers now have options in evaluating professionals.

Hinge surveyed 1,028 buyers of six types professional services, including accounting and legal, to find out how buyers were checking out sellers today.

Online resources dominated with websites (first), Googling the professional (second), and social media (fourth). Asking friends or colleagues (third) and talking to a reference (fifth) no longer dominated, and arguably took a backseat.

What does this mean for you as a lawyer or law firm? First, it’s imperative that you get with it in creating an internet identity that’s at least the equal of your offline identity.

Second, a website alone is not enough, buyers of legal services are checking you out with what they can find on Google and social media.

They’re not necessarily looking for dirt, they’re looking for evidence of your skill, passion, and reputation. Can they see your writings via blogging? Can they see others sharing and citing what you’re saying (blogging)? Do they see that you regularly speak at conferences and are quoted by the media?

Third, remember that when prospective clients turn to a colleague or a reference, as they did in the past and still do, those folks are in turn influenced by your Internet identity. No one lives in a vacuum uninfluenced by the Internet.

A combination of skepticism, laziness, and comfort with the legal industry’s slowness to adapt has held lawyers and law firms back in the use of social media.

Reports like this one from Hinge ought to serve as a wake up call that social media is no longer a option for lawyers and law firms.