Social Media as a Resource for Your Professional Tool Box

05
Oct
2011

Natalie Huha

Have you seen the Social Media Revolution 2011 video by Socialnomics09 on YouTube? If not, then go ahead and check it out.  This video, although not legal specific, gives you the scope of how social media has changed our world.  The underlying message in this quick two minute video is that social media is about many things: revolution, commerce, tragedy, memories, government, business but most of all people.  It’s about people and the platforms or channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and the hundreds of others that serve as the medium to reach out, communicate and connect us on a global scale.

Social media channels are now being used for some very interesting practices.  For example, during the Casey Anthony Trial, social media was used to tweak her trial strategy.  Another example is a hedge fund investment company, Derwent Capital Markets, the traders are using Twitter to predict price movements in the stock markets by evaluating whether people are happy, sad, and anxious or tired.  Social media has infiltrated every aspect of our news consumption. Twitter is not just about what you ate for lunch, really, it’s a fact.  With over 100 million active users and 40% being listeners, Twitter is used for building relationships and sharing information across any state, border or country.  Think about the magnitude of that for a minute.  It’s impressive.  You can find just about anything you are interested in on Twitter, just do a search for a hashtag (search term) of your choice, for example: #legalchat or #lmamkt or #legalit.

Nielsen just released its Q3 social media report for 2011 and several of the statistics were eye opening.  Here are some of the recapped stats they shared:

• Social media has grown rapidly – today nearly 4 in 5 active internet users visit social networks and blogs.
• Social networking apps are the third most used among US smartphone owners.
• Internet users over the age of 55 are driving the growth of social networking through the mobile Internet.
• Although a larger number of women view online video on social networks and blogs, men are the heaviest online video users overall streaming more videos and watching them longer.

So what does this mean for you and your firm? A lot.  Administrators, managing partners and executive staff will most likely ask, “What’s the ROI?”  The bigger picture is that if you are going to measure social media, then you must put as much effort into measuring other initiatives such as meetings or those coffee mugs your firm gives away as freebie’s.  The bottom line, your return on social media represents your investment, and that’s true for any project or initiative your firm is planning.

Another question you are going to get is, “What about a social media policy? We need one.”  Yes, you need one and you need to be fully educated when creating one (as well as educating everyone else once your policy is created.) When creating a social media policy, keep these things in mind: it should be realistic and be developed by several people in a focus group or committee; those creating the policy should have a strong foundation and understanding of social media and be users themselves; adherence to the policy needs to be consistent and most of all easily accessible to everyone in your firm.  Oh yes, it was mentioned above, however, it’s worth re-iterating. All employees and attorneys should be fully trained and educated on the policy.

Today we have multiple generations in the workforce.  Millennial’s have been brought up in a world where they think the web and sharing first, communication in your firms, as well as succession planning needs to incorporate social media strategy’s.  Law students going to Harvard (as well as other law schools) are encouraged to blog and share. So when they enter your firm and social media sites are blocked and the innate way they communicate is forbidden, it raises many issues and questions about how the future of law firms need to operate to stay competitive.  Another great video that shows and demonstrates how the next generations are learning is called ‘Learning with ’ and it can be found here http://youtu.be/BxfloSNpujI.  Take a moment to watch it, and then ask yourself, is my firm prepared for the next generation? What do we need to be doing to prepare for our succession in years to come?

There are many enterprise 2.0 tools available for streamlining social communications in your firms: SharePoint, SocialCast, ThoughtFarmer, Lync, Yammer to name a few.  If you need to listen to your firm’s social presence or monitor its social presence, you can use tools such as Google Alerts, NextPoint, Radian6, HootSuite, TweetDeck or Shoutlet. Social media tools are not just good for the external presence of your firm’s brand, but can be used internally for firm-wide initiatives and to surface the tacit knowledge that exists with your employees.

Lastly, you may want to know, what are other firms doing? Two thoughts, one good thing is that firms are recognizing that they need a plan and a strategy with regard to social media.  The other good thing is that the internet levels the playing field regardless of your firm’s size to compete.  With that being said, firms are creating blogs, which in turn are creating ‘community’ for their clients, tweeting, and connecting on LinkedIn.  Firms are creating presences on the different social channels depending on their goals and attorneys are being coached on social media channels.  Last but not least, firms are creating social media policies and starting to collaborate using social media for internal daily workflows and learning.

What is your firm doing with social media? What tools are your favorites? What workflows have you created using social media tools or channels? I’d love to hear your thoughts and insights!