“It’s a Conversation, Stupid! Part 1″

Last week, I read some things that made me want to take our marketer friends by the hand, lead them away from the noisy city, sit them down in a tall grassy field and have a conversation–not a yelling match–a conversation about life, the universe and everything.

On Friday, the New York Times published an article discussing how law firms have started embracing social media by releasing videos for the “YouTube Generation.” In the piece, Karen Donovan tells us how a few firms have posted videos on their site in order to attract more summer associates. The videos, seen here (Choate Hall & Stewart) and here (Morrison & Foerster–Check “Summer Associates), offer two different approaches at reaching the same goal. The Choate videos are admittedly cute “Mac vs PC” spoofs. Other videos include highly produced, obviously very-coached, employee testimonials. The Morrison & Foerster videos, also employee testimonials, have a very “Real World” reality-show-confessional feel.

Both companies get mad props for trying to appeal to a younger crowd. The M&F videos, however, look more real; the employees seem a little nervous as they speak into a consumer grade video camera, making them more believable. Ultimately, however, the full use of social media could have been better utilized.

If the videos had been embeddable, colleagues and friends could easily share on Facebook, their personal blog, etc. Speaking of blogging, wouldn’t a Summer Associate blog be a neat idea? I know it’s a tad cliche, but it would give a peek into the day-to-day life of a Summer Associate. For a deeper glimpse, maybe a Twitter account. Better yet, how about a live Twitter chat with a few of the Summer Associates taking Tweets from the community.

Why is this important? Because social media is more than just shouting at your audience or even slyly trying to hook them in. You have to plan your campaigns with a different approach. It’s a conversation, stupid.

In the upcoming posts, we will discuss the history of social media, the best practices on how to prepare for your social-media campaign, the tools available and what not to do when executing them.

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