Whilst delivering a series of training sessions for a leading law firm last week, something that I’ve known implicitly to be true for some time became even more clearly apparent: in professional service industries, use of social media by staff can deliver a real competitive advantage.
By professional services, I mean firms that primarily sell people’s expertise (usually by the hour). So think accountants, architects, lawyers, management consultancies and public relations consultancies. It was whilst working in the latter back in 2005 that I came across the potential of social media, creating the first blogging community from a professional services firm (still going strong long after my tenure ended) and – in turn – one of the first employee social media policies.
I’m not talking here about how the company or brand projects itself through social media (although that’s also important), but specifically how the company encourages and empowers its employees to engage online. In the professional services world, it’s akin to letting the product do the taking.
So why doesn’t every professional services firm follow the kind of approach that our legal client is?
- Ignorance – let’s face it, B2B isn’t the sexiest sector when it comes to social media success stories. So in many cases, the marketing and communications directors of these firms simply don’t know what’s going on and why it might benefit them. The problem is that often their employees do, and are already active, without any guidance or governance.
- Arrogance – some professional services firms suffer from, dare I say it, a bit of a superiority complex. They sometimes lose sight of the fact that their experts are their brand. They say things like “our employees are our biggest asset”, but for whatever reason don’t feel willing or able to allow these assets to engage online with potential customers. Again, the problem is that the smart ones already are, without guidance or governance.
- Internal conflicts – another reason for the inertia is that the company, usually driven by the supposed security risks presented by the IT department, are actually blocking employee access to social networks. It’s like having a group of prospects in a room and locking the door so your salespeople can’t talk to them. How can employees be the best advocates for a brand when their employer won’t actually let them?
- Fear, uncertainty and doubt – this is often connected with the internal conflicts above. Firms are worried about what might happen if they encourage a greater dialogue. Like any business risk, this cannot be overlooked but like any business risk the answer is a mitigate it, not bury heads in the sand. Competitors who have done their due diligence and put process in place to mitigate the risk will gain the advantage.
- Capability – finally, there’s a very simple reason, that the firm doesn’t have the knowledge, money or time required to create the strategy and guidance required, or to educate and support their experts to be good ambassadors for the brand and demonstrate their domain expertise in relevant ways online in order to ultimately generate business. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be expensive, but it does require a grown-up approach. It’s too important to do ‘on the cheap’.
If your firm falls into one of these categories (and even if it doesn’t), what can you do? Here’s our four suggestions (we do like alliteration, if you hadn’t noticed already).
- Educate: educate yourself, your CEO and your client-facing staff (in that order)
- Encourage: develop guidance that combines any industry/regulatory requirements with the needs and desires of the firm
- Empower: provide employees with training, tools and support to maximise their individual value and in turn improve the reputation and business benefit for the firm
- Engage: but it’s not all about turning professional services consultants into online ambassadors. There needs to be a corporate engagement strategy too, that aligns the differing needs of practice areas/offices with those of the people they are trying to communicate with.
Is your professional services firm suffering or succeeding with social media? Share your story in the comments below.
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