Yesterday was a shock to my system for a few reasons:
1. It was the 1st November – ALREADY!
2. I had to get up at 5am to drive to Manchester (MAJOR shock to the system!)
3. And someone told me that they see social media as a waste of time and they can’t have their employees spending the majority of their day “messing about on Facebook”.

Now, let me put that into context for you. I was presenting to an audience made up of professional services firms about social media, and the importance of the professional services sector understanding how they can engage with their audiences across social media platforms.

It’s fair to say that the professional services sector is further behind the curve than others in terms of understanding and utilising social media, and maximising their presence online through SEO. My presentation highlighted the importance for managing their brand reputation online, and how they can engage with conversations taking place.

The Q&A session was great as the audience posed insightful questions and shared ideas of what they were each doing as a firm. However, I was shocked when one legal partner said his firm didn’t have time for social media and that he didn’t want his fee earners “messing about on Facebook”.

He very much saw social media as something that got in the way of the day-to-day job and he viewed it as a trivial thing, rather than an integral part of his marketing and communications strategy.

I asked him if he actively encouraged his fee earners and business development team to go out and network face-to-face. He said yes. However, with the birth of social media, conversations are no longer only taking place offline. And in a tough business market place, companies need to be embracing every relevant platform where conversations are taking place and build a presence.

The professional services sector needs to start embracing and thinking about their online presence, and quickly. Some are doing it much better than others, but all firms need to stop thinking that social media is ‘just for kids’ and put it at the core of their marketing strategies. New tools can be an asset for the future and help firms accelerate growth – no easy thing in the current climate.
But ultimately firms need to remember that conversations will be taking place online with or without them. For the future of their business, they need to need to part of them.
Sandrine.powell@ptarmiganbp.co.uk

 

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