Like other industries, the legal field must understand and master the social media platforms their clients and opposing parties are using as a matter of standard operating procedure. Leveraging social media collection through e-discovery has become an essential element of much of today’s litigation. Savvy law firms recognize the need to develop and maintain a potent social media presence to position themselves in the digital market.
Advantages of Social Media Marketing for Attorneys
Social media marketing carries substantial advantages for attorneys. Specifically, social media can reach a wider audience than other marketing strategies, which significantly facilitates efforts to build brand awareness and name recognition.
This is especially advantageous for smaller firms with limited marketing budgets that don’t allow them to run expensive television commercials. While paid social media advertising and marketing are available options, the basics of creating a social media profile and posting content are free for nearly all social media platforms.
Prospective clients often conduct online searches before hiring an attorney. Informative, high-quality social media content improves a firm’s placement in online searches and helps position a firm as an authority within its field of legal specialization. Proper timing and optimization of social media posts can reach thousands of potential clients within a designated area when they are most likely to see a firm’s posts.
The Importance of E-Discovery and Social Media
Social media is increasingly important as an element of the e-discovery process. An opposing party’s social media profiles often contain a wealth of relevant information, especially in physical disability or emotional distress cases.
E-discovery has many functions in the process of obtaining vital case and client data, including demanding the preservation of data from opposing clients or defensible deletion of potentially detrimental data for a firm’s clients. Social media investigation methodology can significantly facilitate the process of obtaining social media data through the e-discovery process.
Incorporating Social Media into Legal Practice
Bottom line – establishing and maintaining a social media presence should be prominent in a law firm’s marketing efforts. Likewise, it is essential to recognize the value of an opposing party’s social media posts when conducting e-discovery. SMI Aware works with our clients to conduct effective online discovery and provide valuable guidance on successfully leveraging social media marketing and client outreach.
