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 By Larry Bodine, Esq., a business development advisor based in Glen Ellyn, IL. With the Apollo Business Development Program, he has helped law firms nationwide get new clients and generate millions of dollars of new revenue. He can be reached at 630.942.0977 and www.ApolloBusinessDevelopment.com. He teaches a class in online social networking -- see http://bit.ly/2C5TUe
We've all been sucked into the black hole of buzz about Twitter, which attracted 32 million global unique visitors in April, 2009, according to comScore. It's even surpassed Digg (23 million), LinkedIn (16 million), and the NYTimes.com (17.5 million) in monthly unique visitors. But that doesn't make Twitter an effective law firm marketing tool.
Consider that:
- 60% of Twitter users drop out after one month, according to Neilsen Wire.
- It is the least effective way to boost traffic to your website, compared with SEO, email promotions and blogs, according to Marketing Sherpa.
- Twitter will generate leads, but not necessarily sales, according to research for the Social Media Success Summit.
- Twitter can get lawyers and firms in a lot of trouble in the event of litigation, according to Jones Day partner Steven C. Bennet, a partner at Jones Day writing in the New York State Bar Journal.
- Twitter is a powerful distraction from getting real marketing work done, according to Business Week writer Linda Stone.
- 34% of all clients block access to Twitter (see Fulbright & Jaworski survey, http://www.fulbright.com/litigationtrends19), so they can't read a lawyer's tweets at work.
After months of using Twitter, I've learned that it is a shouting post for relentless self-promoters, a dumping ground for press releases and advertising, a competition to amass followers, and a target for computer-automated Tweets. It's always been a good place to learn what sandwich someone had for lunch and when someone changed a baby's diapers. (See below.) But Twitter is supposed to be "all about the conversation," and I see few conversations that lead to new business.
Miserable 40% retention rate
According to the Neilsen Wire, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, or in other words, Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent. For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.
The lackluster retention rate of 40 percent suggests many people don't see the point in spending time on Twitter, which allows anyone to write about what they're doing or what's on their mind in messages, or "tweets," limited to 140 characters. There simply aren’t enough new Twitter users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point.
This article has created a furor among Twitter defenders. At the recent Total Practice Managment Association in Chicago, I debated ABA Journal Editor Ed Adams. Ed asserted that the 40% who stay on Twitter are the influencers and key people who are worth following. I responded that I'd rather focus on an online resource where most people remain, as opposed to drop out.
Neilsen says compare Twitter to the two heavily-touted behemoths of social networking when they were just starting out. Doing so below, we found that even when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter is now, their retention rates were twice as high. When they went through their explosive growth phases, that retention only went up, and both sit at nearly 70 percent today.
Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty. Frankly, if Oprah can’t accomplish that, I’m not sure who can.
 Twitter weakest choice to generate web traffic
The main drivers of website traffic are the known quantities of search engine optimization, email, viral video, blogs and profiles on online social networks, like Linked in, according to Marketing Sherpa's 2009 Ecommerce Benchmark Report. Twitter is the least effective choice, except for RSS, which twitter has killed.
"At this stage, most marketers rate social tactics as being better for the more abstract roles of building brand awareness and enhancing/influencing brand reputation. In fact, when we asked marketers how social media matched up with common goals, generating leads and increasing online sales were at the bottom of the list," Marketing Sherpa states.
Twitter is just a blip on the radar right now. Findings of an Online Harris Poll, conducted between March 31 and April 1, 2009, show that 51% of Americans do not use Twitter or have a MySpace or Facebook account. 48% of adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page, with 16% of adults updating their page at least once a day. While the media may have found Twitter, only 5% of Americans are currently using it.
Only 8% of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7% of those 35-44 use it, 4% of those aged 45-54 and just 1% of those 55 and older. The older people are the decision-makers, not the kids.
Twitter generates leads, but sales -- not so much
According to a social media study by Michael Stelzner for the Social Media Success Summit 2009, 88% of marketers in a recent survey say they are now using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less.
According to the survey, 81% of all marketers indicate that their social media efforts have generated exposure for their businesses. At least two in three participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in social media marketing. Owners of small businesses with 2 - 100 employees are more likely than others to report benefits.
Improved search engine rankings were most prevalent among those who've been using social media for years, with nearly 80% reporting a rise. However, at the bottom of the list was "helped me close sales."
By a long shot, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were the top four social media tools used by marketers, with Twitter leading the pack. All the other social media tools paled in comparison to these top four.
For those just getting underway with social media marketing, LinkedIn is ranked as their number-two choice, pushing blogging down one notch. Facebook jumps up to second place for marketers who have been using social media for a few months. Additionally, even more of these folks use Twitter. Twitter is used by 94% of marketers who have been using social media for years, followed closely by blogs.
 Tweets can cause legal liability
"Such messages can get individuals (and companies) in a lot of trouble in the event of litigation," wrote Steven C. Bennet, a partner at Jones Day in New York and Chair of the firm's E-Discovery committee, in the May 2009 New York State Bar Assocication Journal.
Bennett pointed out that lawyers must pay particular attention to:
- Revealing privileged or confidential information in Twitter messages.
- Exposing the law firm to claims of defamation or harassment.
- Sending messages that appear to be legal advice, which can create an unintended attorney-client relationship.
- Violating ethics rules against solicitation of legal work.
- Receiving messages that contain malware or illegal materials.
He advised lawyers about avoiding "anything but general professional news in their Twitter communications, restricting the group of recipients of Twitter communications and/or providing periodic notice to recipients of the conditions under which the Twitter communications are made."
To the extent that Twitter messages are findable, they will need to be produced in litigation discovery, just as emails are now. "Such messages may become potent evidence in the event of litigation, just as e-mail has become," he wrote.
Twitter is a distraction
Twitter has addictive properties and is causing marketers to waste a lot of valuable time. Steve Rubel wrote in his blog Micro Persuasion, "That brings me back to Twitter. Despite its lack of management/search features, Twitter is downright addicting. I love it. Its brevity lets me blog more actively and at the same time engage in real-time conversations with my "followers" (as they call it). If things have seemed a little quieter over here, it's because I have been busier over there."
People give Twitter "continuous partial attention." Business Week writer Linda Stone explains, "Continuous partial attention and multi-tasking are two different attention strategies, motivated by different impulses. When we multi-task, we are motivated by a desire to be more productive and more efficient. Each activity has the same priority – we eat lunch AND file papers.
"In the case of continuous partial attention, we’re motivated by a desire not to miss anything. There’s a kind of vigilance that is not characteristic of multi-tasking. With CPA, we feel most alive when we’re connected, plugged in and in the know. We constantly scan for opportunities – activities or people – in any given moment.
"Continuous partial attention is an always on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that creates an artificial sense of crisis. We are always in high alert. We reach to keep a top priority in focus, while, at the same time, scanning the periphery to see if we are missing other opportunities. If we are, our very fickle attention shifts focus. What’s ringing? Who is it? How many emails? What’s on my list? What time is it in Beijing?
In this state of always-on crisis, our adrenalized “fight or flight” mechanism kicks in. This is great when we’re being chased by tigers. But how many of those 500 emails a day is a tiger? How many are flies? Is everything an emergency? Our way of using the current set of technologies would have us believe it is. But more and more, many of us feel the “shadow side” of CPA — over-stimulation and lack of fulfillment. The latest, greatest powerful technologies are now contributing to our feeling of being increasingly powerless. Researchers are beginning to tell us that we may actually be doing tasks more slowly and poorly."
Research bears her out: A significant 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week and 39% for 10 or more hours weekly. It is interesting to note that 9.6% spend more than 20 hours each week with social media, according to Michael Stelzner's Social Media Marketing Industry Report.
For business development purposes, it's time to give Twitter the bird. |
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