/CEPACLaw.com/Kevin Quinlan/ 06/09/2009
Social media is all the rage right now and sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been garnering a huge amount of press both online and offline. Everyone from movie stars to local morning news shows that tweet trivia and traffic/weather related comments has seemingly adopted Twitter. With all of this buzz, on the surface it would seem that this social networking site where your firm could post short messages might be a must-have weapon in your marketing arsenal.
While social media is a valuable tool for marketing your firm and for supporting your web marketing efforts, the question arises, should your firm be tweeting?
Statistics provided by a Harvard study and Nielsen Online show that visitors to the site rose from less than a half a million to nearly seven million in the year starting February 2008. That said the research also shows that the site has a high degree of trial without subsequent usage. Unfortunately, it seems that for now there is more sizzle than steak when it comes to its use as a two-way communication tool. On social networking sites like Facebook content is provided more evenly by users, but on Twitter ten percent of users produced ninety percent of the content. Evidently, everyone that tries Twitter does not instantly become an advocate, let alone a user. Most people tweet once but never return and a majority of those that did return did not update their page more than once every few months.
Although Twitter has been portrayed as a site for social networking and a means of communication, it actually is being used more like a broadcast medium where small numbers of users communicate their message to many. So the answer to the question is that for now, there are other more effective social media sites that can benefit your law firm’s marketing program and your posture should be wait and see. It will be interesting to see whether Twitter develops a sense of direction and purpose; marketing, communication or just freedom of expression.
For more information on how to integrate social media into your web-marketing program, contact Rene Perras at www.cepaclaw.com
