A Conversation Among Legal Marketing BrandsAs lawyers continue to navigate the unchartered waters of social media, online networking, and social media legal marketing, it is inevitable that as these new and evolving tools will engender considerable debate as to their most effective use.
A controversial position in two recent blog posts by legal marketing consultant Larry Bodine,
Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing and
Twitter Defenders Miss the Point together with his subsequent presentation at the
Get a Life Conference sponsored by Total Attorneys has created considerable uproar and debate on the issue: “Is Twitter an Effective Law Firm Business Development Tool.”
Unfortunately and maybe understandably, Mr. Bodine was thrown under the bus for his opinion by many members of the legal Twitterverse.
A look at the
#GAL09 hashtag (which tracked conversation on Twitter about the Get a Life Conference) or a
Twitter Search of “Bodine Twitter” shows that many legal tweeps view his philosophies about business development as outdated, if not simply off-target.
Certainly, Bodine's arguments ring familiar to lawyers and legal marketers who have been swimming upstream on lawyers' view of the usefulness of social media legal marketing for some time. Nearly a year ago stories like
"Lawyer Social Networking Not Just a Craze" were skeptically reviewed, and Bodine renews this attack on the value of social media before legal marketing programs which seek to leverage this technology have gotten off the ground.
However, Mr. Bodine is not only a nice man by many accounts, but he has solid reputation, a track record of success and he may have forgotten more than most legal tweeps ever knew about law firm business development. As I discuss below, this is just the kind of dialogue that gives consumers on social media the ability to get past company advertising in order to get a more transparent look at the nature of a given brand.
Consider the following points made by Bodine:(Twitter has) “always been a good place to learn what sandwich someone had for lunch and when someone changed a baby's diapers.” – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point. There is a lot of noise and useless drivel on Twitter. Twitter made an excellent business move by adopting “What are you doing” as the prompt on the Twitter interface in order to help first time users, folks without content to share, and social media newbies learn “to use” Twitter in the sense of gaining a basic literacy and sending a tweet. This attempt to draw a large percentage of the general population into opening a Twitter account should not be mistaken for a mini-tutorial on how to effectively use Twitter, even if few resist the urge to tell the world about their coffee.
Although it may be interesting to learn what
Aston Kutcher,
Britney Spears, or
Shaquille O’Neal had for breakfast, Larry Bodine is right – you’re likely not going to develop new business for your law firm either tweeting about what you made for dinner, or reading what other self-absorbed tweeps had for lunch.
Many users do drop out of Twitter when they are unable to advance past the “having a cup of coffee” stage, however let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Twitter has a multitude of practical and productive business development uses, to include: lead generation, relationship enhancement, professional branding, demonstration of expertise, and viral marketing – discussed further below.
“At the recent Total Practice Management Association in Chicago, I debated ABA Journal Editor Ed Adams. Ed asserted that the 40% who stay on Twitter are the influencers and key people who are worth following. I responded that I'd rather focus on an online resource where most people remain, as opposed to drop out.” – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point.
Users are dropping out of Twitter, but what are the alternatives? LinkedIn and Facebook are online resources where most people remain as opposed to drop out, but both of these social media platforms are weak where Twitter is strong.
LinkedIn is unrivaled in the professional online environment it creates, however it is nowhere near as quickly interactive as Twitter, nowhere as immediate as Twitter, and assisting others in your Twitter network is far less clunky than helping out fellow LinkedIn connections.
Facebook has a huge number of users, is wonderfully interactive, and users seem to not only remain but feel comfortable after a short time of using Facebook. However, Facebook can be rather limited for lawyer marketing in its historical perception as the domain of “college kids,” the focus of most Facebook applications on fun rather than professional uses, and the
privacy issues involved with taking on unknown “friends” into your online world of family photos, romantic relationships and college drinking buddies.
On the other hand, the “follower” nature of Twitter allows users to establish relationships with previously unknown professionals and potential clients without the foul smell of spam or the discomfort of a cold call. It is flattering for many people to gain a new “followers” who they have never met on Twitter, when that person may question or even become hostile towards people previously unknown to them “friending” them on Facebook.
During his presentation at the
Get a Life Conference in Chicago Larry Bodine “did not recommend” cold calling, but offered nothing in its place as 2009’s version of lead generation. Twitter (along with LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, and viral marketing) can fill that void for lead generation, and social media marketing as a whole is a creative response to the distaste most people have for cold calls, junk mail, and other old-school interruption advertising.
Finally, there are business development applications of Twitter that cannot be found elsewhere – for example if there is a more effective
microblogging platform out there I’m not aware of it. Lawyers may have put food on the table before anyone worried about microblogging, but in today’s competitive environment educated consumers often seek a demonstration of a law firm’s expertise – and not just take the marketing department’s word for it.
Microblogging is a very important step that lawyers should take as they develop content for their own blogs, as finding and rebroadcasting high quality content demonstrates how a given lawyer is current with the law and public opinion in a given area. Keeping abreast of such legal news and jurisprudence acts as an ongoing “literature review” before a lawyer blogs and publishes his/her own “journal.”
“You know that I am online and talking to lawyers and law firms every day - on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, by email, even - gasp - sometimes by telephone ... Real marketing is getting face-to-face with people.” – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point.
Social media doesn’t replace the telephone. Social media doesn’t replace in-person meetings.
However those who say social media does “replace” the telephone and in-person meetings may be making reference to the vast number of contacts around the world that we would not otherwise have were it not for social media – I’m in Boston and I just can’t get over to the guy from California I just met on Twitter for lunch. Twitter and other social media provide networking and business development opportunities that we simply did not have previously.
Twitter is a big deal. Although Jaffe Legal Marketing's approach with the article "
Quit Fretting About Twitter!" doesn't target Twitter as a potentially counterproductive activity like Bodine does, their position is hardly an endorsement of the power of this new technology. Jaffe's view that Twitter is not a "silver bullet" of legal marketing may be true, but like Bodine's analysis of Twitter as a sales closing tool (see below), I don't think any prudent law firm marketers believed that to start out with.
Jaffe seems willing to add Twitter use (like Bodine's "Twitter is an add-on") to the mix of traditional legal marketing approaches, but given the worldwide buzz about Twitter and its obvious persuasive communication potential this hardly seems to be an approach that actively and intelligently leverages the power of this new technology.
Even for business development with other professionals and potential clients locally, Twitter and other social media can be a great way to initiate new relationships. No one likes cold calling, and I have often found that a relationship can start on the rather static media (i.e. LinkedIn) progress to an interactive online media (i.e. Twitter or Facebook), continue to a well-prepared telephone call, and finally blossom as a very productive business lunch or professional in-person relationship.
Frankly, I’m a little surprised that Mr. Bodine would even think that anyone would seriously consider Twitter to be a tool used to close sales – might it “help to close sales” – sure and 35% of those marketers surveyed in Mr. Bodine’s data assert that it does help. But I really can’t imagine anyone closing sales on Twitter, and pointing out this fact borders on silliness.
Twitter with worthwhile to lawyers only if they actively marketing face-to-face, have a website that generates leads, write a blog, send out e-newsletters, and have a brand in the marketplace. Once all that's in place, use your remaining time for Twitter. – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point.
However the world today is not so one-dimensional. As this debate was raging on Twitter, legal marketer Nancy Myrland was capturing the debate in her article "
Twitter Not Effective for Law Firm Marketing - Not So Fast !!!" which artfully expresses one of the most important marketing uses for Twitter - monitoring what is being said about your brand.
Ms. Myrland is using Twitter to listen to her potential customers, and this should not be written off as inconsequential. Marketing has changed and evolved for good, and we don't need Twitter as an example - consumers throw out junk mail, statutes are written to prohibit cold calling and electronic mail spam, television viewers use Tivo to get around the commercials, and news readers are so adept at finding their own content online that the entire newspaper industry is crumbling. Listening to one's potential client base, and engaging in conversations that lead to delivering products that building on their existing knowledge is something traditional broadcast marketing can not do. If Bodine says people can better "listen" without Twitter and in a face to face meeting, he's confusing marketing and sales.
“Tweets Can Cause Legal Liability” – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point. What law firms publish on social media should be taken as seriously as what law firms publish in law journals, in print media or in the yellow pages. Irresponsible use of social media can cause big headaches for law firms.
This report by the New York Bar Association touches on some of the traps for the unwary, and if a law firm can afford malpractice insurance – the same firm can afford some interaction with a social media consultant.
Peter Berge directly addresses Bodine’s argument head on in his article
Response to Larry Bodine on Twitter“I haven't heard of a lawsuit yet, but litigation trouble can be found in emails, telephone calls, letters, and words shouted in anger - I don't see how Twitter is different.” While Mr. Bodine continues to make his case based on a fictitious worst case scenario – a law firm without a
social media strategy, without a
social media firm policy, and individual lawyers Tweeting away about confidential issues instead of working to produce billable hours – “Twitter is different because it creates another discoverable record, just like email.”
Sure there are plenty of solo and small firm lawyers going “on their own” to experiment with Twitter, and there have been some mistakes made. However, dumping Twitter altogether is like advocating the use of horse-drawn buggies because automobiles are too dangerous.
Cars can also cause legal liability too, but when used responsibly cars can be very effective and a low litigation risk. Don’t drink and drive, and also importantly –
don’t drink and tweet. Hire a
law firm social marketing consultant, get a
marketing plan, develop a social media strategy, adopt a social media policy, and get everyone in the company on board.
“Twitter is a distraction.” – Larry Bodine
Larry Bodine has a point. I for one was semi-addicted to
www.espn.com well before Twitter came along. Computer addiction is real for sure, and many
lawyer support groups have set up workshops to help those who have let their computer use adversely affect their professional and personal lives.
Mr. Bodine provides a very interesting analysis about “continuous partial attention” but if you put the computer addicted aside, I would suspect the majority of lawyers could relate better to the continuous partial attention they give to their upcoming vacations, their romantic relationships, or the need to pick up the kids from school rather than any continuous partial attention given to Twitter.
In his
conference presentation, Mr. Bodine explained that “four hours spent on Twitter would be better spent going out and meeting with people in real life” and he is correct. ROI diminishes significantly for Twitter users who do not have a marketing plan, do not have a social media marketing plan, who have a low-level of computer literacy, and who generally have no clue or direction about what they are supposed to be doing.
However, just because many lawyers waste time on Twitter, it does not mean that all time spent on Twitter is a waste. Social media consultants can help professionals identify a lawyer’s particular goals for social media, and how to effectively leverage social media to help achieve the organizational mission. Once the goals are identified, individual tasks can be systematized to fit into the regular routine of the professional work day, and even broken down into tasks that can be delegated to administrative staff. Social media can be a very effective "
virtual handshake" and can lead to productive telephone calls, focused in-person meetings and other business activity that is generally better informed.
“I like Twitter, have a few hundred followers, but I read the research and act upon it. Twitter is a competition to amass followers.” – Larry Bodine
Someone missed the point, and it isn’t the Twitter defenders. 
Sam Glover on the
Lawyerist blog challenges whether Bodine knows enough about Twitter to be a critic by looking at this Twitter history, and many Tweeps in the 140 character conversations on this topic declare Bodine "just doesn't get it."
Obviously Bodine took himself out of the running for new Twitter consulting contracts with his articles, but the "competition to amass followers" comment is not only sour grapes. That comment indicates he in fact doesn't understand what can be the unparalleled potential power of social media marketing, viral marketing. Turning millions of social media users into volunteer marketers for a particular business has been accomplished frequently, and a simple look at
Wikipedia explains how people with large social networks, or a high "Social Networking Potential" drive viral marketing messages. If you have your own community of followers, well primed with a high opinion of you because of all the high-quality content you provide them every day, you do not need to look elsewhere to get viral marketing campaigns started.
But Twitter is supposed to be "all about the conversation," and I see few conversations that lead to new business. – Larry Bodine
Someone missed the point, and it isn’t the Twitter defenders. Apparently Larry Bodine doesn’t see even THIS conversation – between himself and potential customers - between various law marketing brands – and between groups of potential customers and the brands they have to choose from. His recent Tweets acknowledge that he is listening, and after staking out such a controversial position it may be hard to re-engage with this conversation.
This conversation isn’t a
“bad rash that won't go away” but rather this conversation (via Twitter, blogs, and online video) is what social media is all about – consumers have an opportunity to converse and interact with various brands in order to gain a better understanding of which brand they would like to select.
Consumers who use social media are sophisticated. These consumers will not only find a legal marketer's web page using Google, but they will check out the people involved with that company on LinkedIn (and look to see if they have professional references that are worthwhile or from friends). These consumers will learn about a company or a brand by reading the company blog, subscribing to the company Twitter feeds, and possibly even friending the brand on Facebook. Consumers have their own education (often considerable education) and expertise that they bring to this brand evaluation process, and any sales pitch is reviewed with considerable skepticism.
Is Your Legal Marketing Brand Moving Towards the Future or the Past? 
Using Twitter in the context of effectively operating the business of a law firm is complex. "Adding on" social media tools to traditional marketing approaches not only ignores why social media marketing has gained momentum in the first place, but a band-aid type approach fails to effectively leverage the power of social media.
After the Get a Life Conference in Chicago,
Stephen Fairley of
The Rainmaker Institute and
LinkedIn Lawyer David Barrett got together for two days of meetings to form an unparalleled partnership, and to talk about how legal marketing in 2009 needs to bring together lessons from both traditional approaches and new media in creative, intelligent ways that leverage the special power of emerging technologies.
The results of these meetings will be rolled out over the next few months as educational products and legal marketing services, and lawyers can rest easy that there is a legal marketing brand that builds on
what we all know to be true,
1. that traditional marketing techniques are proven, AND
2. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and other social media can be used to leverage a super power previously unseen, in ways that match customers' preferences for gaining information about products and brands. Stay tuned.
Articles that are Part of This ConversationTwitter Not Effective for Law Firm MarketingResponse to Larry Bodine on Twitter Twitter Not Effective For Law Firm Marketing - Not So Fast!Twitter Defenders Miss the Point What Twitter can–and can’t–be for legal marketingTwitter for Lawyers: One Benefit You Might Not Have ConsideredQuit Fretting About Twitter!Legal Marketing, Statistics and Hard WorkAren't you on Twitter yet?Law Firm Marketing: Does Twitter Change the Game?Legal tweeters respond to recent barbs at TwitterBodine to Twitter: You Ugly and You Dress FunnyMore Reasons for Lawyers Not to Use TwitterTwitter's Growth Screeches to a Halt - It Was All HypeTwitter is like the Macarena?Other Related ArticlesTop Reasons for Using Twitterwhen was the last time you had a conversation with a brand?ThreadedTweets: Turn Your Twitter into a Realtime ConversationLawyer Twitter Practices: 29 Do’s and Don’ts10 Awesome Ways to Integrate Twitter With Your Website BusinessWeek: Learning, and Profiting, from Online FriendshipsContinue this Conversation on TwitterDavid Barrett on TwitterStephen Fairley on TwiitterLarry Bodine on TwitterNancy Mryland on TwitterJaffe Associates on TwitterPeter Berge on TwitterLawyerist on TwitterEdward Adams on TwitterJDSupra on TwitterHeather Milligan on TwitterLance Goddard on TwitterLawyers USA on TwitterDavid Barrett on Twitter for Law Firm Business Development - The Blog Talk Radio Show
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