Measuring a Lawyer's Use of Social Media Marketing

By Gina F. Rubel
Special to the Legal

On the legal marketing and public relations side of social media, the industry is abuzz with trying to determine how to measure the value of engagement. There are a ridiculous number of articles, blogs, conversations and metrics surfacing -- all trying to tell us how to measure the return on investment (ROI) as it relates to an attorney's time spent online networking.

So let's do the math. Attorney A works in the area of business transactions. She writes a blog called BizLawTrends (a fictitious and available URL at the time I drafted this post). The marketing department helps her market the blog. The blog is cross-linked to the firm website and vice versa.

Attorney A blogs about the legal issues facing businesses today. She then shares those posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, JD Supra,  Google Reader, etc. There are links added in the firm's electronic newsletter sending traffic to the firm’s blog.

Attorney A receives comments and queries to which she responds. Journalists call for interviews because she appears to be a subject matter expert. Eventually, all this lands two new clients who, when asked how they heard about Attorney A state that they read her blog but have no idea how they got there.

Now, in the first year of the engagements, those two clients are worth $80,000 in billable hours to the firm collectively. How does one go back and measure the ROI? What are all of the touch points and how much time and money was invested to land those two clients? Suffice it to say that we don’t know exactly how they heard about the blog to begin with. Sometimes this can be discerned, sometimes it cannot.

In this scenario, the ROI is virtually impossible to measure, but Attorney A landed two new clients worth substantial revenue in the first year. Those clients then become referral sources because they are so satisfied with the legal services provided. More new clients come in the door. Are you still trying to measure the ROI?

Think of it this way: every time you attend a networking function, do you track every minute of time spent, along with the cost to attend? To some extent you should -- but the question is, do you? Then do you compare that to every person you spoke with and everything that happened as a result of every single conversation? If you answer yes to these questions, you are absolutely in the minority. Again, I'm not saying lawyers shouldn’t track. I'm saying that many don't and many won't.

Ask the following questions. As a result of our social media efforts:
- Are we getting more hits to our website (i.e. where is the traffic coming from)?
- Does our website rank higher (this can be measured)?
- Are the lawyers in our firm being invited to speak at more events?
- Are our lawyers being asked to share their opinions with the media?
- Are others sharing our content via social media (re-Tweeting, sharing, commenting, etc.)?
- Have new relationships formed?
- Do our attorneys’ names come up when typed into a search engine query in places other than our website (I truly hope they come up on your website -- if not, you have even more work to do)?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then your firm's time is well spent in social media engagement.

Gina F. Rubel is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications Inc., a public elations nd marketing agency with a niche in legal communications. A former Philadelphia trial attorney and public relations expert, Rubel is the author of "Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers." Rubel and her agency have won numerous awards for legal communications, public relations, media relations, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog at www.ThePRLawyer.com and is a regular contributor to The Legal Intelligencer blog. You can find her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ginafuriarubel or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ginarubel.  For more information, go to www.FuriaRubel.com.

Comments

[Postma Findley]

There are really offers that are true good to be true. Good that there are blogs talking at this situation because it is so true that there are a number of people who sham just to earn money. Everybody should be careful. If the offer gives an unbelievable offer, then, don’t trust on a snap of the fingers, think, research, ask and be smart, tactful and most of all clever.

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The marketing department helps her market the blog. The blog is cross-linked to the firm website and vice versa.

[Social Media Marketing Research Report]

It really needs to recognize four different kinds of clients on social media: supporters, loyalists, clients and product lovers and that is really fantastic.

[Staci Burruel]

That is a very interesting set of questions, Ms. Rubel. With regards to your queries, I think the answer to that is to use analytic tools. Nowadays, many companies use these tools to measure the efficacy of their social media campaign. Although it still needs some improvement, you can use the stats and data as a reference.

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This is my first time at your blog and I've really enjoyed looking around. I will come back again in the future to check out some of the other articles.

[ListGIANT.com]

Which social media platforms will you use in your law firm’s social strategy? This can seem large an enormous decision when first dipping your toe in the social media pool.

[Seattle Lawyer]

This blog has really a very well content, i appreciate with this. Lawyers advise and represent individuals, businesses, as well as government agencies on legal issues.seattle lawyer

[Calgary Real Estate Lawyer]

The ethics and solicitation requirements with regards to social media are not yet well understood, and unfortunately this has a chilling effect on social media use within law firms.

[Elder Abuse Lawyer Riverside CA]

It is a great post author wrote nice explanation about Social Media Marketing.

[San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney]

Thanks for sharing this type of information.Its really a great post.Very solid questions and bullet points are presented here.San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney

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Nice blog.Very informative questions and bullet points.Thank you,Gina for this informative post.Foreclosure Defence Lawyer

[Toronto Divorce Lawyers]

Blog contributor Gina F. Rubel offers insight on how to determine if your firm's time is well spent in social media engagement.

[Richard Pettet]

Good post. In the UK there is a slow dawning of realisation that social media is going to play a vital part in how law firms market themselves, but this has more to do with the way the UK legal market is heading with all kinds of new entrants coming into the market -supermarkets, banks, estate agents etc - that have a greater marketing prowess. Social media is not expensive, other than time (I know, a crude metric) but for firms that will be up against the likes of Tesco (like a UK walmart) social media channels offer a real opportunity to gain exposure.

[Gina Rubel]

Thank you Lisa and Cooper - I appreciate the feedback. Lisa, congratulations for doing such a great job on your client's behalf and for sharing the link here with us. I hope it generates even more social media traffic and PR buzz. Have a great day. - Gina

[Lisa Buyer]

Great post Gina! I have a Social PR agency and your article hit the mark on what social media measuring. My client just one Best of Blogs for his law blog I have been editing and managing since January 2009 and the blog now generates more visits than the law firms website! http://southfloridalawblog.com/

[Cooper Smith Koch]

Great insights and the bullet points are very helpful. I think this translates well to other professional services industries as well, such as architecture.

[Gina Rubel]

Aden, It is my pleasure. At the LMA National Conference in Orlando earlier this month, there was so much more talk about social media engagement than in 2010. Lawyers and legal marketers from solos to big law firms are starting to understand the value of engagement - in both measurable and not-so-measurable terms. By the way, the example with Attorney A is a true story. I'm looking for Attorney B for another case study. Any takers?

[Aden Dauchess, Director of Digital Media, Womble Carlyle]

Very solid questions and bullet points Gina regarding ROI. I think most of us in law firm marketing knew this day was coming -- we can use the tools but quantifying the results, monitoring and tracking are the next big challenges. Thank you for this well-thought out and focused post.