Firefly Legal

As I was checking the news feed on my Linked In account, I came across an excellent article, “10 Reasons Your Social Marketing Initiative Will Fail.” Being in an industry where social media marketing is typically not accepted with welcoming arms, I was intrigued. The article exceeded my expectations with what it included. Usually the “X # of reasons why… ” can either go one of two ways– the first way would be ideal; the article really provides some insightful information in an easy to read and time conscientious format, or the second way (which is definitely not ideal)  it totally fails because it’s uber-formulaic and doesn’t really offer much that hasn’t already been said before.

That’s why I really liked this article. Everyone focuses on why social media should be incorporated in their business (myself included), and the process serving industry is no different. From process servers in Chicago to process servers in Florida and beyond, they’re beating the social media drum. But does anyone know how to really use it? The problems identified in this article are serious– and they’re real. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to find some people to tweet with or get involved in a conversation and really get social media going, but in the grand scheme of things, many of my efforts have fallen flat. And sometimes, there wasn’t anything worthwhile to interact with. What was I doing wrong? What are my peers doing wrong?

A few people in the civil process service industry and in the legal field know how to do social media well. Some completely knock it out of the park- engaging conversations that get multiple people involved and spread the word- but still, there are so many who just don’t get it. And the rest of us are left, the in-betweeners struggling to heed the advice and championing small successes.

One thing is for sure that this article conveyed is that it’s absolutely imperative that we don’t become automaton robots just bouncing echoes off walls within the barren wasteland of an unpopular social media outlet or start cramming an agenda– hey! we offer process serving nationwide (in case you didn’t know, we offer civil process service… and it’s nationwide! NATIONWIDE CIVIL PROCESS SERVICE)– in a  Twitter news-feed with as much room to breathe as a subway at rush hour. These are things to avoid– according to the top ten things that cause marketing efforts to fail, “Looking at social as a one-way, “push” messaging model” is near the top of the list. Not having anything valuable to say is just as bad. And then there are the people who just don’t fit in. Hiring someone who is just a social media person who doesn’t understand or care about the business is just someone who wants to play on the internet all day– and at the end of that day, they aren’t going to do anything better for your business. Or the opposite– hiring someone who is in so deep with company operations that they can’t see the point of social media– or see it’s worth, or read about how to make it better. These things also made the list of social media no-nos.

What I can say is that we’re not perfect, and this isn’t meant to bash everyone in the industry. There are individuals who are leading the pack and doing it well. But this article brought forth the very reasons that so many companies- law firms- process servers- fail at social marketing– and it gave us reasons to step up our game and do better.At Firefly, we try hard not to employ these tactics in our social media campaigns, but we are guilty of occasionally posting inconsistently. When things get busy and we’re on the road, social media interaction suffers.  But with how technology is connected, this is no excuse. So, keep your eyes peeled because we’re getting connected.

There is much to be learned from this article, and I’ve only touched on a few of the bigger tidbits of advice. Read it, and heed its advice. It will be worth it!