By Nicole Weinacht and Maureen Farr
As the St. Louis City Group reflects back on our first year as an official LMA city group, we have many to thank for a successful inaugural year. We are also excited that one of our local members, Anne Schuster, Chief Marketing Officer at Thompson Coburn, LLP, is now serving on the LMA Midwest Board as Member-at-Large – City Group Liaison.
St. Louis professionals recently revisited an ever-evolving topic, started in April 2011 during one of our first meetings as a group. In “The Great Social Media Debate,” Paul Atkinson, Proposal Manager at Thompson Coburn; Sue Sassmann, Communications Manager at Armstrong Teasdale LLP; and Kelly Annis, Owner of Branch Communications, led a discussion on the application of social media in the law firm environment. Participants shared what was working in their own firms, along with obstacles each have overcome along the way.
While no one can debate the corporate branding use of social media, this fast-developing technology can be tricky to keep up with. Panelists agreed that the key to successful social media use is not only to be sure you are cognizant of your audience, but also to recognize that this is a tool for pushing out content, and can’t replace traditional business development. This is the essential difference between social media and social networking.
Although a relationship may begin with an online meeting, as Atkinson pointed out, it can’t replace the face-to-face meeting. Nonverbal cues are lost with online networking. These cues are a crucial part of the development of the attorney-client relationship. However, social media does narrow the playing field, according to Sassmann. One of the unique benefits is that others cannot immediately tell what size firm you are, and online media consumers are often looking for content to establish the attorney’s credibility in the area they are seeking assistance.
The audience debated the issue of the best way to approach a blog originating at a firm. Although continually pushing out new content is essential, the setup of individual blogs varies widely from firm to firm. Some firms have very narrowly focused blogs dedicated to a specific practice area such as employee benefits, while others allow the entire firm to participate in the blog and cover a variety of topics throughout the year. All panelists agreed that whichever way the firm chooses to approach the blog, it’s essential to be sure someone is regularly contributing to it. Also, monitoring the analytics of the blog is important to help track what is working well and help those involved to adjust content as necessary. It’s also a good idea to categorize content as the blog grows, to assist followers in finding what they are looking for.
Another important consideration is being sure content is pushed out along all channels. Someone in the firm should be designated to push information to the firm’s LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter sites, as appropriate. Attorneys should also be encouraged to post and link to content on their own social media profiles, to disseminate the content to their individual networks as well.
One other key issue discussed was the internal approval of the blog posts. While some firms have internal compliance officers who review each post, other firms have a social media policy that dictates how social media is approached. One essential item that Sassmann pointed out was to establish who owns the content, so your firm can be sure to keep content live.
Social media and social networking add to the myriad tools legal marketers have in their tool boxes. The challenge for law firms is to determine how to best allocate limited resources to be sure they are making the best use of each tool available.
We look forward to more discussions on this always-changing area as we finalize our programming for 2012. If you are interested in more information about the St. Louis City Group, please don’t hesitate to contact either Nicole Weinacht or Maureen Farr.
Nicole Weinacht is the Marketing and Client Relations Manager at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C. and is Vice-Chair, Programs — St. Louis. She can be reached at nlc@greensfelder.com.
Maureen Farr is the Business Development Director at Husch Blackwell LLP and is Vice-Chair, Programs — St. Louis. She can be reached at maureen.farr@huschblackwell.com.