LONDON, Dec 12, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
LexisNexis (
www.lexisnexis.com ),
a leading provider of content and technology solutions, today announced
results from its latest study on law firm engagement in social media
methods. The report, ‘Global Social Media Check-up: A global audit of
law firm engagement in social media methods’, reveals that whilst social
media has changed the way that millions of people communicate in their
personal lives and that many international B2B law firms have registered
their presence on the networks, the legal profession overall has a
reticent approach to social media engagement.
The survey of 110 law firms around the world showed that LinkedIn was by
far the most popular social media platform for law firms to participate
in, followed by Twitter and Facebook. These findings are based on a
global audit of social media usage among some of the world’s leading law
practices. Commissioned by LexisNexis(R) Martindale-Hubbell(R),
the research was conducted by Burson-Marsteller, a leading public
relations and communications firm. Five leading legal practices were
evaluated in 22 major cities across seven world regions.
Adoption by platform
Aside from the sector-specific channels, LinkedIn emerged as the channel
with the highest penetration among legal professionals, with 85 of the
110 firms audited using the network. However, despite the 77%
penetration LinkedIn has, a significant proportion of those firms have
simply registered a Company Page, rather than using the network to
engage with other users and fully utilise the channel for client
development, recruitment or reputation management opportunities. The
audit also revealed a medium degree of registered profiles on social
media networks that are not being actively used. This mirrors the early
dotcom years, whereby companies registered their website domain to
prevent ‘brand jacking’ – unauthorised registration or use of their
branding online by other parties until they were ready to use it.
Derek Benton, director of International Operations at Martindale-Hubbell
commented: “Registering a profile is a step in the right direction, but
not doing anything with it is like renting a shop on the high street and
never opening the doors. Moving from registration to broadcast and on to
conversation are the steps of social media engagement — and law, just
like any other sector can, and I believe, will engage for the benefit of
business development. The most evolved social media strategy is one that
provides an open line of communication between parties, but that
unfortunately is a long way off for the majority of law firms today.”
Adoption by region
Worldwide, it is perhaps no surprise that North America is leading the
way among law firms for social media engagement, with the highest
registration of social media profiles and overall engagement. Western
Europe is also fairing well, although usage and depth of engagement
across the continent varies greatly with U.K. and Amsterdam-based firms
having high levels of social media usage in contrast to the lower usage
in Zurich, Paris and Moscow and no usage in Istanbul.
In Africa, Johannesburg-based law firms tended towards a more proactive
approach to social media than other firms in the region, with many of
them being visible on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. This contrasts
with those surveyed in Dubai and Lagos, where LinkedIn was the only
channel where the firms audited had a notable presence. In reflecting
the prevalence of traditional marketing methods, Latin American firms
tended towards profile registration on various networks, with a much
less notable programme of active engagement.
The report also found that social media usage among law firms in the
Middle East and Asia Pacific, with the exception of English-speaking
Sydney, is very low. The Sydney firms surveyed appeared on both LinkedIn
and Twitter, as well as being open to using Facebook, blogging and
integrating their social media platforms into their websites. Although
both of these regions showed very limited use of the main
English-language social media networks as a business channel, this may
be in part explained by usage of local language social networks, such as
Orkut in the Middle East, QQ in China and Mixi in Japan. Furthermore,
non-access to networks, such as Facebook in Shanghai, prevents
widespread adoption.
Ongoing engagement
Benton concluded: “Social networking was once thought to be just for
socialising — for sharing your social life with your friends and for
making new ones — but it has gone far beyond that. With some notable
exceptions, now is the time for law firms to adapt their business models
and experiment with social media as part of their client acquisition and
retention programmes, or risk being left behind.
The audit also notes the dangers of half-hearted engagement in social
media by law firms. The transparency of social media is one of its
strengths, but also one of its downsides for those law firms who merely
‘dabble’ and fail to update their content regularly. Followers tend to
be quite ruthless about seeking out sources of the freshest and most
interesting content. As such, law firms who do not maintain their social
media presence run the risk of losing their followers to those firms who
do.
To obtain a free copy of the summary or full report visit
www.martindale-hubbell.co.uk/socialmedia .
Additional resources available for download include an infographic,
video clips discussing the audit and a white paper about social media
usage by law firms.
About LexisNexis Legal Professional
LexisNexis Legal Professional (
www.lexisnexis.com )
is a leading global provider of content and technology solutions that
enable professionals in legal, corporate, tax, government, academic and
non-profit organizations to make informed decisions and achieve better
business outcomes. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to
bring legal and business information online with its Lexis(R) and Nexis(R)
services. Today, LexisNexis Legal and Professional harnesses
leading-edge technology and world-class content, to help professionals
work in faster, easier and more effective ways. Through close
collaboration with its customers, the company ensures organizations can
leverage its solutions to reduce risk, improve productivity, increase
profitability and grow their business. Part of Reed Elsevier, LexisNexis
Legal Professional serves customers in more than 100 countries with
10,000 employees worldwide.
Martindale-Hubbell International
Martindale-Hubbell helps international law firms to enhance their online
presence and drive more prospect enquiries through professional profiles
on martindale.com(R) and coordination of Martindale Hubbell(R) lawyer
ratings. Martindale.com is a leading online law directory with over 8
million unique visitors every year.
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SOURCE: LexisNexis
Lansons Communications for LexisNexis
Sarah Tye
+44 207 2943633
saraht@lansons.com
Copyright Business Wire 2011
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