Legal professionals often struggle with how much of the social media hype to heed, adopt or ignore. If you are debating whether or not to have an online profile, the decision is about to get easier thanks to new research indicating online absence can be very detrimental.
BTI Consulting Group’s 2011 survey of buyers of legal services, “How Clients Hire: The Role of Legal Directories and Online Lawyer Profiles,” confirms what we know—referrals are the single best source of law firm introductions.
The new news in BTI’s research is that the use of technology is increasingly important to in-house counsel after the referral. Specifically, 70 percent of in-house legal counsel and staff use social media profiles or legal directory listings to identify, evaluate or validate credentials of outside counsel.
Say, hypothetically, a colleague, client or professional associate refers you to a potential client. That in-house decision maker heads to the Internet to learn more about you and finds your bio on your firm’s website. But a search of Google.com, legal directories or social networks comes up empty.
This potential client wants more information to make a hiring decision … and your info isn’t there. According to the survey, the absence of an additional online presence/profile may cause more than half of potential clients to hesitate.
So if you opt out, they may as well. The process occurs without your involvement and a business opportunity can be lost without you ever knowing it existed.
If you choose not to create an online presence beyond your law firm’s website, you do so at your own risk. Take your online reputation in hand and create a professional profile on a reputable business/legal resource.
Watch this space for more tips around managing your online reputation, or feel free to contact Michael Webb at mwebb@jaffepr.com or 214-212-2187.