Vanderbilt and Marketing for Attorneys, Part III

In the third and final installment of the series, this post examines the example of Vanderbilt University's recruiting efforts as they relate to marketing for attorneys.  While attracting new work and new clients is a key element of marketing for attorneys, another important element is attracting talented lawyers to a law firm.  The Vanderbilt View article that I reference in my two previous posts notes that the younger generation is especially receptive to new media and comfortable with using it.  Thus, the Vanderbilt admissions department is using new media to attract candidates who will be a good fit with the school.  For example, admissions officials sometimes respond to questions on the College Confidential website.

The article notes that rather than using sites like Facebook or MySpace, Vanderbilt's admissions department targets sites like Cappex.com and Zinch.com, which deal with college applicants.  Those sites allow prospective students to draft profiles of their achievements and backgrounds, then to control which universities view the profiles.  The Vandy admissions department also maintains a blog about the process of college admission, and the blog contains posts from current students.

During 2007, the Vanderbilt admissions department and the Vandy News Service produced a video called "Getting Into College: An Insider's Guide," which is a question and answer session with Douglas Christiansen, the Vanderbilt Dean of Admissions.  In true social media fashion, the video focuses not just on getting in to Vandy, but on getting into other universities.  The video has had over 14,000 hits and has garnered a five-star rating on YouTube, according to the Vanderbilt View article.  The article also notes that Vandy is preparing another video addressing financial aid and how to afford college.

Finally, the article profiles a Vanderbilt class on virtual communities where students build a wiki on the class and input notes into the class wiki.  The class also examines companies' blogging policies, after which students do blog posts about those policies.

As mentioned in the previous two posts, law firms engaged in internet marketing for attorneys can learn from Vandy's example.  Law students and young lawyers are relatively savvy in the social media arena, and law firms should employ social networking in their recruiting efforts.  Facebook groups and fan pages are a prime example of recruiting tools that law firms can use.  Similar to the Vandy video on "Getting Into College," a law firm could produce a video on "Working in a Law Firm" or "Getting a Job Offer from a Top Law Firm," with a focus not only on that firm but on other top firms.  Internet marketing for lawyers and marketing for attorneys are all about meeting prospective clients and recruits on the media where they want to be met, whether it's video, blogging, etc.

Please let me know in the Comments section below whether you agree.