Someone’s Posted Negative Comments About Your Firm. Now What?

You work hard for your clients, spending countless hours trying to represent them in the best way you know how.  Most of the time… in fact, the vast majority of the time, your clients are extremely appreciative of your efforts. Some give you repeat business or send you referrals or post an online comment attesting to your legal proficiency.

But then, there are those times when someone determines, rightly or wrongfully that your efforts are not enough, that your turnaround time is too slow, that you made a mistake, etc., go online to a blog, or a legal directory or some other site to review, complain, criticize, and perhaps, even insult. Now when a potential client does an online search, up pops less than flattering content about you, your work or your law practice.

What should you do?

But before we address that, let me advise as to what you should not do… and that is, to let your emotions get the best of you. Social media and all the good and the bad that go with it are all part of the business landscape now. Hence, it is the wise professional who understands this and approaches negative comments with the cool, detached demeanor with which he or she would address any other challenge.

This means first taking the time to analyze the validity of the complaint.  If it is legitimate, the best thing you can do is publicly acknowledge the criticism and offer a way of making good on your mistake. Oftentimes, the best relationships are borne out of a problem or misunderstanding. By recognizing your part in the matter, those reading the posts will bear witness to the fact that you are trying to do the right thing – and are doing so in a rationale, calm and professional manner. In private, you may also wish to communicate with the individual who wrote the comment and offer to make amends.  You never know. You may just be surprised to see a follow up comment that is more “glowing.”

If the complaint is not legitimate, the process is not all dissimilar. While you do not necessarily need to concur with the post or the review, you should still convey your interest in resolving the matter. This is not the time to get defensive, but rather an opportunity to show that the interests of your clients are paramount to you. Again, the goal here is to offset the negative by communicating empathy.

A well-crafted response that takes the edge off the negativity is the right way to approach such matters. This is true even if the other party has resorted to nasty comments and name-calling. That being said however, it is generally not a good idea to engage in an extended “back-and-forth” online exchange with the other party.  Get across what you want to get across and then let it go. Otherwise it may take on a life of its own and blow up into an increasingly difficult problem.

Once you have determined the legitimacy of the complaint, addressed it publicly (and perhaps also in private), there remains another, albeit ongoing task to perform. In order to drown out the negative comment, it is always a good idea to generate positive content. Ask clients you know are satisfied with your work to post comments online. The more, the better. The rationale for this is simple. If you want you and your firm to be optimized online, you want it to be for good reasons. And few efforts are better for search engine optimization than content that is relevant and recent.

In addressing negative online ratings, evaluations or comments, it is really no different than addressing them elsewhere. Take an honest look at yourself, acknowledge (where appropriate) your role in the problem, convey understanding and empathy, and offer to make good. Then drop it.

One other thing… As with everything else, when dealing with these kinds of situations, common sense almost always applies.

Assessing the “Cost” of On-Line Social Marketing

About 15 years ago, we used to advise our law firm clients that unless they were prepared to invest heavily in developing a web site, it was probably not a wise idea to create one. We said this, not out of any doubt that web sites would some day play a big role in conveying information about law practices. Rather, our recommendations were based on limited budgets and the feeling that being a “pioneer,” should be left to the big boy advertisers with deep pockets who were inclined to experiment with new types of media. I still believe this was good advice at the time, with the operative words being “at the time.”

Flash forward those 15 years and I cannot imagine recommending that a law firm refrain from developing a web site. In fact, we are often in a position where we feel just the opposite, emphasizing to our clients the importance of not just having a web site, but creating a dynamic, interactive, portal of information that conveys the firm’s identity in the best light possible.

With the advent of social media, I find myself back to where I was when the internet was first all the rage. I understand social media. I can see its benefits. But I am also cautious in how I suggest law firms utilize the new promotional tools available to them.

The primary thing that bothers me is the misperception that somehow social media is “free” or something close to it. As I see it, nothing could be further from the truth.

For the most part, social media consists of three main parts. There are blogs, networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Linkedin, etc.), and online groups (listservs) in which one can ask questions and/or exchange thoughts and ideas on specific issues. Let’s take a look at each in turn.

Writing a blog has proven to be a great generator of leads for many – particularly those that started early, found a niche, and most important, kept at it all the time. Blogging has many advantages in that not only are you conveying expertise on a certain subject matter, but you are also, hopefully, also developing followers. Further, the more people who connect to your blog (and perhaps indirectly to your firm’s web site as well), the more likely you are to see your name, your blog and your web site ranked high in the search engine, all for a very small financial investment. But, and it’s a big “but,” blogs take an enormous amount of time and tremendous discipline to maintain. You will need to not only write a piece at least once a week (and probably more), but will also need to keep coming up with fresh, new and relevant topic ideas. Hence, if you spend 2 hours each week, just about every week of the year, and multiply that times your billing rate, you’ll get a good sense of the real investment that’s involved. Further, if you also include the time spent following and commenting on other people’s blogs as a means to attract more visitors to yours, that investment goes up even further.

The networking sites such as Linkedin also require a considerable time commitment. Here, you are connecting with all of your contacts and hopefully connecting with their contacts (and the contacts of their contacts) as well. Obviously, the opportunity here to meet, be introduced to, and interact with potential new clients is great as the exponential nature of these sites gives you exposure to hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses, as well as them to you. However, even if one knew 100 people in a filled Yankee Stadium, where over 50,000 “potential” clients sat, one would be hard-pressed to make a case that being introduced to the most promising of those 50,000 by the 100 one knew, was the best use of one’s time.

There are situations of course, where pursuing the online contacts makes good sense. For example, a large law firm may hire an individual whose singular responsibility it is to pursue new business. This individual, not charged with actually servicing clients, has the luxury of time, and hopefully a far-reaching online rolodex to make such an effort pay off. The solo practitioner probably does not.

Another concern I have is to where exactly do such social media sites go from here. Last I checked, Linkedin had over 80 million subscribers. That’s a large number, but as it gets larger and everyone becomes a member, with everyone (including your competitors) pursuing the same agenda, how much more difficult will it become to work the names and the numbers efficiently.? (I have the same concerns with search engine optimization as well, by the way. How many law firms can be listed #1 on the search engines at any given time?).

Third, while the concept of such networking makes good sense in theory (and in many cases, in practice as well), how eager are you to hear from your second grade classmate asking you to refer him/her to a prospect whom you know? And if this becomes the norm, we will get to that point ad nauseum. The reality is that networking is a very personal activity, requiring individuals to not just meet, but also make a good impression on new as well as old acquaintances. Much as the internet minimizes the need to get out of one’s seat, and however good a writer one may be, it simply cannot replace the firm handshake, the pleasant smile, or the well-placed comment that comes with carrying on an face-to-face conversation.

Last, we come to the online groups, also sometimes referred to as listservs. These are essentially forums for people with similar interests and/or in the same industry, who wish to share information, get answers to questions and hopefully display their expertise. Again, like the two examples noted above, from a dollars perspective, they usually cost very little, if anything at all. From a time commitment however, they are tremendously expensive. Even if one provides all of the relevant links to one’s web site, blog, etc., the opportunity to become recognized as an “expert” can sap one’s “sweat” resources – particularly as more and more groups are created and more and more people join them. As a tool for perhaps getting an answer to a particular question, they can be quite useful. But if one is enticed by their potential as a means for replacing more traditional marketing tools, one needs to be careful about exactly where the trade-off of time versus money becomes less than beneficial.

The point of all of this is not that on-line social marketing is useless, deficient or in some ways, unworthy. That would hardly be true. And the way we use them may improve over time as well. But as with all marketing tools, from advertising to public relations, they do come with very clear advantages as well as drawbacks. Law firms must remain aware of both and remember what has always been true. Nothing is ever free.