I knew it had to happen. Up until this point I wholeheartedly believed that any business could benefit from greater exposure by participating on the social Web, but today I advised a company that the social web is not the right place for them to be investing their time, at least at this time.

As a marketing strategist, I believe it’s my job to counsel holistically.  After carefully listening to my clients talk about what they do for their clients and how they do it, who their clients are and how their clients find them, I arrived at my recommendation: no social, not now.

Why not social networking?

1. It was not because they weren’t interested; they were very eager to understand the underlying principles and tools.
2. It was not because they are “un-teachable.”
3. It was not because they work “in the field” and are not in front of a computer all day.

Why?

1. Because the work they do for their clients is highly sensitive and confidential.
2. Because their business relationships are built upon an extremely high level of trust. Because they must be very cautious about the footprint they leave on the Internet.
3. Because they are very successful. Their new business comes from steady personal referrals by clients who have received discreet, confidential service from them.

In my opinion, the kind of trust this company develops among their clients and referrals is not the kind that you can build via status updates, publicly sharing interesting articles, or websites, discussions on trending topics, quizzes, posting family photos, pushing out a blog post, or any of the other “stuff” we do on social networks. In fact, it would be counterproductive to their reputation as confidants if they were to participate even generically. At least until the wild social web settles down a bit and is more predictable. (The larger my Twitter network becomes, the more spam I’m getting! UGH!)

This situation is not all that different for lawyers who counsel highly visible businesses and individuals requiring extreme measures of confidentiality.

I know, first hand, that many marketers are eager to tap into social media and networking as an extension of their firm’s business development tactics; especially now when new clients are a precious discovery. And, I’m a big proponent of bringing lawyers, even reluctant ones, into the social online fold.  But…..

Sometimes it’s just not the right fit and I believe we have to fight the urge to fit everyone into this latest media trend in order to serve our clients well.

How are you working with your lawyers or professionals to help them to decide if social online is right for them?  Are you listening to them? Are you familiar with their clients? Or, do you think its right for everyone?

Law firm markerters, this one’s for you!

Part of the VirtualMarketingOfficer’s mission is to pass along ideas to make your job easier. So, if you’ve been tasked with setting up or directing a social Web program in your firm, here are your first 4 steps.

1. Establish the rules of the game; e.g. policy, guidelines and training.
2. Survey attorneys and staff. Who is participating, where they are participating, what they are conversing about? Are there any influential voices in the bunch? Do they know of each others participation and do they collaborate, cross post, backlink, etc.?
3. Manage your RSS feeds, blogs, news services, and social networks using a tool like iGoogle (there are others, this just happens to be my favorite). Then, train your attorneys to do the same.
4. Mine for content and synergies that already exist within your firm.

For the purpose of this post, let’s focus in on #4.

Within every law firm there are people already doing interesting things and producing useful information. Often the stuff they know or have already produced is hidden, but it’s there, and it’s your job to aggregate it and help them to re-purpose it on the social Web to easily build reputation, establish expertise, and forge new connections that can lead to business relationships.

1. Start with the annual report, practice group newsletters and press releases (even the ones that weren’t printed in full). Look for content patterns that can be organized in categories. Cross reference all firm attorneys by categories.

2. Reduce the categories to areas of focus (not practice groups). For example, your law firm’s strategic and marketing focus could be “practice innovation” or “bet the company casework,”  “legal risk management counsel,” “controlling costs in litigation.”  These are all potential themes for blogs, or for publishing articles on peer to peer networks.

Keep in mind that key words and themes associated with a lawyer’s name are one way to help them rise to the top of search results within networks or the Web search engines. Help them gather up 50 keywords or kw strings that serve as a reference to stay focused –across all networks and services.

Next, add categories for  “fellows” programs,  rankings, or honors. Associate attorneys with these categories. These attorneys obviously have made a name for themselves and have something interesting to give back to the community. Consider creating a jointly authored blog, with a theme of course, and an editorial calendar.

Is your firm involved with an alliance with other law firms or professional services firms? Bring individuals from those alliances in to the mix. They all have a vested interest making a referral network work, so why not consider creating a group, forum, or discussion board within one of the existing online networks, or again, a jointly authored blog. A simple monthly email sent to alliance members with jointly authored and themed blog post excerpts will surely increase activity and keep your contributors top of mind.

These are just a few off the top of my head ideas. I know there are other ways to leverage existing content, so in the spirit of inspriation and sharing, leave yours in the comments.

More often than not these days, I am speaking with law firms who are interested in renovating their Web sites –getting a face lift or adding search friendly content instead of rebuilding it. Makes sense.

Hey, many law firms and marketers are still skeptical that they “get clients” from their Web sites and hesitate to pour more money into a new one. Frankly, I’m still skeptical that a lawyer “gets” a client from anywhere except from their own wits.

Engaging someone to quarterback your legal needs is a high involvement purchase. It’s not like purchasing a book download for your Kindle. Before signing the engagement letter, a client will likely do a lot more checking on a lawyer than a quick browse of a Web page or two.

I previously blogged about the power of a referral in the development of new business, here.

People use a variety of sources to find trustworthy information prior to engaging a lawyer, including that which comes from the lawyer’s own mouth. Certainly their win/loss record is of interest, and certainly the number of successful deals they’ve done can be convincing.  It’s also pretty certain that you can’t underestimate the touchy feely stuff like presentation, demeanor, tone, and even chemistry.

So, if you think about it, a Web site can actually be a decent proxy for a referral. At the very least, it serves a purpose in the decision chain. I’m almost positive that even if Uncle John, the Mayor of Our Town, or a law school classmate refers a client to your firm, that prospect still does a search of your site to learn more about you.

Why wouldn’t you want that proxy to be as engaging and thorough as it can be? It hedges a solid bet in your direction if it is modern, well-executed, answers the right questions, speaks to the client, and represents your value proposition clearly and accurately without cliches.

Often these touch ups do not require an extreme make over. But, it is not a simple project either. It may cost less cash, but takes more staff and attorney time to get the messaging right and adjust the look and feel to the improved content.

If you’ve got decent architecture and a serviceable content management system, a face-lift or resurfacing may be just enough to get you through till the next generation of technology hits the Web.

There are more hidden gems in that pile of Web code sitting on your server. It just takes focus and creativity to make gems into valuable jewels.

I plan to write a follow-on post with suggestions on how to convince your firm to invest in the face-lift. Stay tuned.