By Brendan May and Hannah Veldre -
Snapshot
- New media is affecting the practice of law in many ways, from social media pages being tendered as evidence to live posting from court.
- This article provides a quick snapshot of what is happening with new media across the industry.
For a number of years now, law firms have employed new media to market themselves to existing clients, reach out to new ones, and recruit new talent. Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles, and Twitter pages are common. They provide opportunities for firms to describe what their lawyers have been up to (such as high profile cases, awards and nominations), profile new employees, and share pro bono and community initiatives that the firm is involved in. New media is certainly a useful tool that will continue to be part of the business development strategies of many firms.
How are lawyers using new media?
Many practitioners are now using new media as part of their individual marketing strategy. Legal blogs were initially the tool of choice, however as publication of case updates and articles has increased exponentially in recent years, there appears to be a move away from blogs towards ‘feed’ platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn as a way to share content with subscribers. The reason is simply convenience – rather than having to navigate to a particular blog, a member of the public can simply subscribe to a practitioner’s Twitter feed in order to see the practitioner’s thoughts and publications. This way, they only need to open their home Twitter feed to see all their content in one place. Podcasts are one of the more recent platforms that are gradually being explored by practitioners. They are useful in that they allow a practitioner to develop an audience in a niche market by giving regular updates and presentations on an area of specialist expertise.
