Wednesday
Sep302009
Tweeting in convoy
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10:14PM Looks like we got us a convoy...
Image by coverbrowser.comIn my last post I touched on some of the difficulties which law firms face (or think they face!) in using Twitter effectively. I also suggested that I had some thoughts about a solution.
The problem is that a law firm can't really Tweet effectively. In fact it can't Tweet at all - any more than it can telephone a client to say hello or take a regular referrer out for a long lunch.
The Twitter account will be operated by a person... whether it is the managing partner or an assistant in the marketing team. You can't have a conversation with a law firm so it will be this person (or several of them) who engage with your followers, take part in discussion and promote the business.
On this basis, why have an Average Solicitors LLP account on Twitter? Why not Tweet as Jane Doe, with a note in your bio that you are an assistant in the marketing team of Average Solicitors LLP?
In fact, I do believe that there is a role for these "corporate" accounts provided that they are not your firm's only presence on Twitter. They can be a useful supplement to your website's RSS feed and email marketing campaigns for getting news, updates and articles out to your audience.
There are relatively low "barriers" to following someone on Twitter, but the chances are that people who follow your firm have taken a look at your stream before doing so and decided that they might have some interest in your Tweets. If the material and links you Tweet are relevant and interesting then you may extend your audience beyond those who have bothered to sign up to your firm's RSS feed or made it onto your email list.
The problem is that you are unlikely to harness the full potential of Twitter in this way. I think it makes sense to see the firm's Twitter account as the giant battleship at the centre of a convoy. What is really needed is some more nimble destroyers, which are perhaps less powerful, but can dart around and engage the enemy where needed.
There are firms who are using this type of approach. Inksters (the first Scottish firm on Twitter!) have a corporate Twitter account backed up by founding partner Brian Inkster's personal Twitter account which he uses for less formal Tweets (see Brian's full comment on my recent post).
This is a great approach and some much larger firms would do well to follow his example. My advice would be to identify two or three people in your organisation who are really interested in getting involved (not necessarily who are already on Twitter - it is the attitude which is key here any not the attitude) and encourage them to set up accounts. Make sure their bio makes it clear that they work at the firm, but let them know that provided they are professional they are not required to act as a mouthpiece for the firm or to act as salespeople. Get them an iPhone!
Their mission is to build up some quality, relevant followers... network with other lawyers... see which clients and contacts they can engage with... and listen. People may follow your firm on Twitter, but it will be these individuals who they converse, engage and develop a rapport with and it is these relationships which will show you the real value of Twitter. Plus, everyone will be as jealous as hell of their shiny new iPhones!
Encourage them to follow up on the contacts they make where possible and meet up for a coffee. As Eric Hearn pointed out at the talk I attended last week, when it comes to relationships online is good, but offline is even better!
There is obviously a need for trust here, but these are the same individuals who you trust to represent your firm at networking events and black tie dinners (when the booze is flowing). The same ones who you trust to bring in work, maintain the confidentiality of your clients' matters and inspire their confidence. They are committed, grown-up professionals (of at least I hope for your sake they are!) and they won't turn into morons just because they are using a new channel of communication.
Twitter needs to be part of your marketing strategy (like any other form of activity you undertake), but provided this is the case then this type of approach is likely to be of considerably more value than just another legal update from the the Average Solicitors LLP feed.
Reader Comments (9)
[...] may be a mix up of chimpanzees or battleships, either way it is a tool that with a bit of thought can produce some very interesting results and [...]
That is a good point Brian... if you have more than once key practice area then there is definitely a lot to be said for dividing your "firm" feed into a few sub-feeds. If people find 70% of your tweets (or RSS feed) relevant then they will probably follow or subscribe and skip over the non-core bits. However, if you have two or three very distinct practice areas then one general feed will probably put everyone off!
Much better to take your approach and split it down so that people can choose which bits to follow. We are looking at a similar thing with our RSS feed from the website at the moment.
[...] is some relevance to all of this (I promise) over and above continuing the nautical theme of my recent posts. I heard a great version of the song at the Liverpool Sea Shanty festival and recently found a [...]
[...] you read my tweeting in convoy post then you will know my personal view on this (although this is just a personal view and not [...]
This is a comment from Brian Inkster of http:www.inksters.com, which for some reason was not imported from the original Wordpress.com blog:-
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Brian Inkster (originally posted 2009/10/01 at 10:00 pm)
"What I did not mention in my comment to your last (LawChimp) post was that at Inksters weactually do have a ‘convoy’ of twitter streams in addition to the battleship: http://www.twitter.com/inksters and the command vessel: http://www.twitter.com/BrianInkster. We have specific legal streams for two areas of law we specialise in: Family Law: http://www.twitter.com/ScotsFamilyLaw and Crofting Law: http://www.twitter.com/CroftingLaw. We are also Estate Agents as well as Solicitors (unlike in England this is common place in Scotland) and we have two dedicated property streams: http://www.twitter.com/scotsproperty and http://www.twitter.com/shetlandhomes. These all have specific purposes and there are always opportunities for cross referencing between them.
However, I accept that these extra streams may not be the destroyers you have in mind but perhaps aircraft carriers. Whilst two members of Inksters’ staff have their own twitter streams they are probably not using them quite in the way you have envisaged as yet. I agree with your suggested approach in this regard and will be directing my staff to read your post tomorrow morning."
Originally posted by me on 2 October 2009 in response to Brian's comment above
That is a good point Brian... if you have more than once key practice area then there is definitely a lot to be said for dividing your "firm" feed into a few sub-feeds. If people find 70% of your tweets (or RSS feed) relevant then they will probably follow or subscribe and skip over the non-core bits. However, if you have two or three very distinct practice areas then one general feed will probably put everyone off!
Much better to take your approach and split it down so that people can choose which bits to follow. We are looking at a similar thing with our RSS feed from the website at the moment.
Great article. We are currently floating a bunch of destroyers, but we don't have the battleship deployed. I'll be taking this back to our marketing folks. Thanks!
Think you summed up how to proceed with Twitter really well - am making all the lawyers at our firm read this!
Nice post. It's intersting in that a lot of focus by most businesses is being placed on how to use Social Networking as a marketing medium, and yet it seems to be a very difficult question for solicitors and legal professionals to answer. Is it because SM is for building relationships, and people don't really have 'relationships' with lawyers? Possibly. At best it is current;y being used to complement other marketing activity, and whether it has the potential to play a bigger part than this remains to be seen.
What is interesting, as a bit of an aside, is how much more common it is becoming for SM to be used as part of Family Law and Divorce disputes - with an increasing number of solicitors using it as a source of information about their clients partners/spouses.
Family Solcitors Leeds