Vanderbilt and Marketing for Law Firms, Part I

Is there a connection between Vanderbilt University and marketing for law firms?  In addition to a stunning college football victory today over Auburn, Vanderbilt has been a pioneer in the use of social media.  (My father teaches physics at Vandy, so I am biased in favor of Vandy football and basketball).  A September 2008 article in Vanderbilt View (Vandy social media article) quotes Vandy's associate director of the Vanderbilt News Service and director of Web communications as noting that the concept of a "conversation" is key in social media, and that the old idea of just putting out news is outdated.  Communication must be a two-way street, and there is an expectation that both sides will be able to share their viewpoints.

For a major research university like Vanderbilt, there is the issue of what to do with the multitude of content that is produced every day.  According to the article, Vandy initially began sharing this content through podcasts.  Those podcasts were available at first on the university's website, and subsequently, on iTunes.  Vandy was one of the first universities to make content available through iTunes U.  The article notes that students and faculty were later able to integrate iTunes with Blackboard, which is a course management system.

As with a university like Vanderbilt, law firms have an audience that would like to be part of a social media "conversation," and which is already generally part of a multitude of conversations on the social Web; marketing for attorneys needs to take this fact into account.  It is not enough anymore for a law firm to simply issue a press release, a hard copy newsletter, or an e-newsletter.  Clients and potential clients need to be able to respond and to provide input through social media.  Those involved with internet marketing for lawyers need to realize that law firms - like universities - produce an enormous amount of content.  For non-proprietary content, law firms should share this information through podcasts and other new media means.

More in the near future on the connection between Vandy and internet marketing for attorneys . . . .