Talking points

Social media now plays an integral role in the lives of employees, firms, clients, and the communities in which we live. To think otherwise is naive. Law firms are faced with a difficult reality. On the one hand, they are under increasing competitive pressure to grow revenues, win more clients, and be creative and innovative, all of which can be supported by social media. On the other hand, they are operating in an uncertain environment surrounded by technologies that are understood by some, yet feared by many, and which, if used without planning, monitoring or control, could land them in hot water.

This article follows on from the ‘Careless talk’ piece I wrote in the February edition of Managing for Success. In that, I focused on the risks of using social media, particularly for those in professional services and regulated environments. I outlined three key types of risk:

• relationship capital management;
• reputational damage and damage to your brand (both personal and business); and
• regulatory and legal risk – regulatory misconduct and legal risks.
• The ultimate risk is that firms lose focus on their central purpose – to serve their clients – and become distracted by the latest shiny tech toy or trend.
• This article explores three key areas of how to mitigate and limit the risks identified above:
• culture, strategy / purpose and design;
• governance and process; and
• education and training.

There are, of course, additional areas, which may be more relevant to some firms than others. Each firm is unique in its journey and strategy, and may need to place more emphasis on a particular point. However, focusing on these three key areas will not only provide a robust basis for further consideration of these other areas, but also help you to identify and address any other areas you may not yet have recognised as being relevant to your business.

The business benefits of social media engagement and participation are substantial, and not getting involved may mean losing business and losing touch with your clients and important trends within the sector

1. Organisational culture, strategy and design

I am frequently approached by professional service firms that say they want to get into social media, and get training for their people on how best to do so. But surprisingly few firms have considered first whether social media is a good fit for the firm’s culture and environment. Instead of asking how they can get going with social media, firms need to start by asking themselves if they are sufficiently collaborative, connected, open and transparent for social media to actually work in practice.

Social media and other connected technology platforms are not like what has gone before. They require different thinking and methods of implementation if they are to lead to adoption, and hence become really effective. Traditional ‘top-down’ and push methods will simply not work. And if you don’t have the appetite, a clear vision and strategy, supportive leadership and stakeholders who ‘get it’, then the other elements are more likely to fail.

If you want to introduce social media in your firm, start by asking yourself the following questions.

• Are you moving towards becoming a social business? Do you have, and use, internal collaborative technologies effectively at present? If not, why not?
• What’s your business and social strategy? How will social media help you? How will it help your clients? Why should your business care about it? If you can’t articulate those messages and the brand story, then why bother?
• What would success look like in the future state, and how will you measure it? What are you trying to achieve (outcomes, deliverables, key performance indicators)?
• Do the senior leadership teams and committees really ‘get it’? Is there sufficient appetite for it across the firm?
• Does the firm have a collaborative culture? Are people in the habit of connecting and sharing, or do teams work in silos?
• How will social media affect how the firm runs and is successful?

What are the organisational roles and responsibilities required to achieve your level of social media activity and risk (including marketing, IT, HR, communications, audit, legal teams and secretarial)? Which key players and stakeholders need to be involved in order to champion your activity?

If some of the answers raise alarm bells, not all is lost. Changing organisational culture and ways of working will clearly be challenging, but social media can provide you with a useful central point around which to focus that wider mission and objective, if that’s your aim and there’s appetite to do it across the firm. After all, social media presents a great opportunity to work across departments, practice areas, support functions, clients, external suppliers and partners.

2. Governance and process

If you’ve got past point 1, you’ve done the hard bit. Everyone has bought in to the idea and the business has the culture and commitment to implement it. Now you’ve just got to build in some sound control mechanisms. These fall into four key areas, outlined below.

Knowledge

Know the law. I know that sounds obvious for legal professionals, but you may not know the legal risks that could apply to this space. In ‘Careless talk’, I outlined some of the key areas of risk around defamation, libel, IP, copyright and employment. The relevant people in your firm need to understand how these and other risks apply to social / digital media and other forms of digital communication.

You also need to get to grips with the terms of service / use of all the social sites that your firm chooses to use. In particular, you need to pay attention to the terms around promotions, competitions and endorsements. Put in place a process for regularly reviewing and being alerted to changes in those terms of use.

Policies and guidelines

Perhaps some of you are tempted to skip ahead at this point – you have a policy in place, so you think you’re covered. But before you do, ask the following questions.

• Who wrote the existing policy?
• Have the people who wrote it considered the social sites’ terms of use?
• When was it last updated?
• When is it due to be next updated, and how many times a year? Once a year is not enough for a policy regarding something that moves at the speed of digital light.
• How are the policy-owners made aware of changes to social media sites / functionality that may be contrary to your strategy or could amplify some of the legal areas of risk highlighted previously?

If you have answers to all the above questions, then skip ahead. But if not, you need to review your policies to ensure they are fit for purpose. Start by reviewing their ownership. Are those people the best-placed people? Do they have the required level of knowledge, skills and expertise? Don’t just rely on the same people who have owned and written policies in the past. And consider spreading ownership to ensure nothing slips through the cracks, by setting up a cross-functional reviewing group, including input from the organisation’s HR, legal, IT and communications departments.

In terms of internet and social media use policy, you should review both the global policies and any local differences, particularly if operating in and acting for clients who operate in different countries and jurisdictions, who may take a different view of social media.

Also, clarify some specifics around access and usage. Should posts be marked as the personal views of the employee / staff member, or as comments sanctioned and endorsed by the firm? Is access to social media for staff locked down, limited or blocked, and for all or just certain sites?

Other policies which need regular review include employment contracts and employee handbooks and guidelines, including those relating to external contractors and consultants, and HR policies, especially around plans for social recruitment, leavers, and ownership of contacts (for instance, on LinkedIn).

Monitoring the conversation

Recent years have seen an exponential increase in the range of technology tools that help firms manage, monitor and analyse the social channels and conversations that are taking place. These can be very powerful in their own right, but many organisations have built their whole social media strategy around them, focusing on ‘social listening’ to help develop client insight without necessarily being noisy and pushing out content. This is a very valid approach and one worth considering in law firms.

Such technology tools enable you to monitor content and conversations created externally and internally. For example, you could monitor: mentions of the firm and / or the firm’s clients; brand-affiliated accounts; and tweets and hashtags to ensure no product or trademark infringement. You can also monitor, analyse and respond to posts on social media sites.

These tools also allow you to build workflows to manage and approve posts, help classify and tag content, and monitor compliance.

Finally, they help you develop systems for archiving social media communications, as you would other forms of electronic communication, like email, and instant messaging.

Crisis response and resolution

Social media is about connecting and communicating with people – and as we know, people make mistakes. Robust plans, policies, systems and controls can help you move forward with more confidence, but it is still worth planning for the worst scenarios.

How would you respond if, for instance:

• your firm was at the centre of a legal row being played out in the public eye?
• one of your employees were to post unacceptable pictures or videos of lewd behaviour at the office Christmas party, which then got re-tweeted several hundred times?
• a client of yours was to receive a fine for a regulatory breach, and it was well known that you acted on their behalf?

Such things have obviously happened since time immemorial, but the amplification and velocity that social media provides means they can reach more people than before, potentially in an instant. Law firms need to be aware of, and prepared for that. You therefore need a ‘circuit breaker’ or ‘black out’ steps and measures to either pull the plug or respond quickly and effectively to get ahead of any negative exposure. You may even be able turn a crisis into an advantage with open and transparent dialogue.

Below are some actions to take now to prepare for potential crises.

• Complete an audit and / or assessment based on particular scenarios and possibilities. Plan for the worst.
• Run some simulations to play through how they may work in practice.
• Develop a crisis response and resolution plan, including a team that knows what to escalate, to whom, and how.
• Add social media to your risk registers.
• Build connections between the risk and compliance teams and marketing, communications, and HR, to ensure a joined-up approach to any social media-related crises in future.
• Form a social media steering group and / or committee to continually discuss issues and potential scenarios.

3. Education and training

A comprehensive education and training programme is vital to the success of any social programme and to mitigate risk. Your programme should address:

• the why – strategy, purpose and vision;
• the what – the different platforms and tools available; and
• the how – how the tools work; risks; policies and guidelines; processes and monitoring; and crisis and escalation.

Unlike traditional learning and training topics, social media continues to change rapidly. The content is extremely volatile, with new features and functions released all the time. It’s difficult to keep track, let alone keep everyone up to speed. It is therefore essential for firms to implement a continuous education and communication methodology, rather than just have one-off training when the business introduces social media channels.

You also need to consider how to tailor the training. All employees, stakeholders and third-party business partners will require a base level of knowledge. Those who use, or are expected to use, social media regularly, will need to progress to intermediate and advanced levels. You could also offer the option of special training in different social platforms. You will need to tailor training depending on the individual’s role, function and / or department, such as the risk and compliance team, HR or marketing. Practice area for legal professionals may also be relevant: how will the needs differ between those working with, say, private clients, and those working with corporate clients?

The complex, fast-moving nature of social media may also mean that the ownership and delivery of the education and training programme needs to differ from your usual approach. Your HR team may be the experts in learning design, but they may not have the subject matter skills. Consider a more collaborative design and delivery team championed by super-users and subject matter experts.

In terms of delivery, you need a blended approach that engages people on the very platforms they will be using. This could include:

• combining online and offline training;
• building and developing an online training community;
• creating closed discussion groups for your people on LinkedIn or Facebook;
• leveraging your employees and experts; and
• using roadshows and other launch events to create a buzz.

As mentioned, the involvement and support of key stakeholders and leadership teams is key to success for any training initiative. Indeed, a separate engagement and digital leadership training programme may be required for these individuals, to avoid the risk of clients, trainees, staff and the outside world moving faster than the leaders of the firm. If the senior leaders aren’t engaged and competent, then it will jeopardise the success of any initiative across the firm.

Why it matters

Social media is still a relatively new phenomenon, but is now so ubiquitous and moving at such a pace that it is becoming more ingrained across the professional services sector. The area of social media risk and compliance is even newer still; many firms have become active on social media without the necessary planning and controls in place, thereby exposing themselves to regulatory, legal and reputational damage.

There are risks at play whether you actively engage in online and social media activity or not. The business benefits of social media engagement and participation are substantial, and not getting involved may mean losing business and losing touch with your clients and important trends within the sector.

It is therefore critical that all departments and individuals within firms work together to build and maintain systems, processes and controls that mitigate risk, while allowing the individual and unique strengths and character of the firm and its employees to shine through, in order to get the best return on the investment made.

Needless to say, the journey is long, complex and involves many people, both internally and externally. It can take many months (even years) of planning in order to be able to communicate effectively and confidently in ‘real time’, but the benefits for your people and your firm will be well worth the effort. To do nothing is not an option, and perhaps the riskiest strategy of them all.