Law Firm Reputation Management via Social Media
It has been said that Social Media is the new word of mouth in law firm marketing. Thanks to ongoing Facebook, Twitter, blog, and now Google+ updates, former clients receive frequent reminders of attorneys who helped them in a time of need; then they recommend lawyers who have earned their trust.
Social Media gives clients the opportunity to offer attorney reviews by posting on the law firm’s Facebook wall or sending an @ message via Twitter. Pleased clients can praise the attorney who has helped them in a time of need, and these positive comments can do wonders for attracting new clients. Even the simple act of “Liking” or “Retweeting” a post offers a law firm valuable marketing exposure.
However, as in all businesses, not all reviews can be pleasant.
What Should I Do When My Social Media Site Receives Negative Comments
At Consultwebs.com, we are now offering a broad approach to addressing this problem through a customized Law Firm Reputation Management Package. The package includes content development, online law firm profiles and search engine optimization (SEO) services in addition to Social Media efforts.
To discuss a Web-based reputation management strategy for your law firm, contact us today by calling our legal marketing consultants at (800) 872-6590 or using our online form.
As far as dealing with negative online reviews specifically in the Social Media context, the first thing to remember is all businesses receive negative comments eventually. You cannot please everyone. And while negative reviews on Social Media sites can leave an immediate mark on your firm’s reputation, damage control is possible, thanks to several settings and tools on social networking platforms.
It is highly unlikely that a negative comment will go unnoticed by the account’s administrator. Not only will notifications show up inside your account (for Facebook in the upper left-hand corner, etc.), you can also arrange for notifications to come directly to your email via account settings.
So, when that negative comment inevitably happens, take a deep breath, relax, and keep the following steps / suggestions in mind:
- Utilize Social Media tools to manage your reputation. For example, derogatory messages and comments can be deleted, and if they persist from the same user (if they are spamming your page), that user can be blocked.
- Does the message call for a private discussion? Social networking allows attorneys to reply to derogatory comments through public or private messages. Perhaps an understanding can be reached. Either way, the message can be removed. However, be aware that any private posting may show up in a subsequent public post.
What Can Consultwebs.com Do to Help?
At Consultwebs.com, our Social Media Consultants monitor accounts closely, via the notifications described above. Our clients’ reputations are important to us! Aside from receiving various notifications, we actively engage with your account each day, sharing links and blurbs relevant to your geographical or practice areas, seeking followers on Twitter, and monitoring analytics across multiple social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Our main focus is to provide an attorney’s profile with high-quality, relevant content and posts, such as trending news, links to the firm’s website to help drive traffic, and links to the firm’s other social media outlets / blogs.
However, the ever-watchful eyes of our team also look for negative feedback / comments. In the event that we see a derogatory comment, we notify the project manager of the concerned client immediately. If the client feels that the comment merits a discussion, we let the client handle the interaction with the disgruntled user. In certain cases, commenting from other users can be disabled. However, this is generally discouraged because it limits the interactivity of your page and can present a negative or unapproachable image.
Contact Consultwebs.com Today
For more information on Social Media reputation management and for additional information about the variety of Social Media marketing packages offered by our Social Media Department, please visit Consultwebs.com’s Social Media page. In addition, visit our site to see our Law Firm Reputation Management programs. To learn more about Social Media opportunities and how they can help your law firm’s marketing efforts, contact us at marketing@Consultwebs.com or (800) 872-6590.
Andre Millman says:
August 18, 2011 at 2:42pmThank you social media for helping the law firms to improve the business.This will be very much helpful, also thank you for this information.
Paul Millman says:
August 4, 2011 at 5:26pmSocial networking eased up the work of posting,messaging and timely updates of news which a group can check-in all together.Negative comments no longer can be seen because of various methodlogies to restrict its publish in the page.Great article,loved reading it.