(@CC_UK_PR) is used primarily to
promote interesting corporate and legal
Chance
news based in Britain. This means that
they aren’t sending out irrelevant infor-
mation to their followers who don’t nec-
@CC_UK_PR
essarily attach value to non-UK news. In
!
doing so, Clifford and Chance are able
Clifford Chance are undoubtedly one of
to target prospects in a more effective
the most established and prestigious le-
way.
!
gal firms in London. They pride them-
selves on being a global brand with a
This system obviously works; their ac-
client-focussed approach to working -
count has over 8.5k followers at this
meaning that they are a genuine
current point in time.
!
thought-leader in legal sector.
!
In addition to this, Clifford Chance are
Clifford Chance have a wide area of ex-
one of the few legal companies to have
pertise, including in finance, real estate, an overseas Twitter account which isn’t
and litigation. Their success has allowed
written in English. To compliment their
them to open several different offices
offices in Amsterdam, they have a Dutch
across the world - from London, to Mo-
Twitter account which is used to pro-
rocco, and even Brazil.
mote EU and international news up-
!
dates. The account is somewhat success-
Overall, Clifford Chance have a very
ful, with roughly 2000 followers, and it
good Twitter strategy and they have
sends out social content on a much more
succeeded in creating multiple influen-
regular basis than its US and UK coun-
tial accounts across the world.
terparts.
!
What do Clifford Chance do well?
Valuable content
!
Clifford Chance are very good at using
Different accounts per country
social media to effectively promote their
Clifford Chance are one of the largest
newsletters and corporate updates. Their
law firms in the world, so it makes sense
individual accounts are used for differ-
that they have separate Twitter accounts
ent purposes, meaning that they typical-
for different locations. This is a fantastic ly share content which is specific to that way for Clifford Chance to segment
country. This is much more useful than
their customers and meet their needs in
sending out articles and newsletters
a more pragmatic way.
which aren’t relevant to that locale.
!
!
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They make a relatively consistent effort
demonstrates the firm’s commitment to
in doing this, but they need to use Twit-
producing quality content and distribut-
ter more than once a day if they want to
ing it effectively.
see real results.
!
!
Overall, Clifford Chance have realised
that different audiences (across separate
continents) have individual customer
needs. By segmenting their customers
according to geography, Clifford Chance
can promote content which is relevant to
!
the client.
!
Regular distribution
Other international legal firms should
In recent weeks, the UK Clifford
consider doing the same.
Chance account hasn’t been updated as
!
regularly as it has been in the past.
Update your content regularly
However, last month, Clifford Chance
One of the key methods in increasing
were sending out tweets several times
your Twitter following is through regu-
everyday. This is a much more effective
lar content distribution. This helps to
use of social media and helped to gener-
build client relationships and develop
ate more interest in the Clifford Chance
consumer trust - when regularity is
brand.
!
pushed to the side, that trust begins to
deteriorate.
One of the reasons that Clifford Chance
!
have such a strong following on Twitter
How can Clifford Chance improve?
is because of their regular and useful so-
!
cial content updates.
!
Create more engaging tweets
Like many legal Twitter accounts, Clif-
How can this be replicated?
!
ford Chance could benefit from being
less conservative in their social content.
If other companies want to replicate this
Take this tweet, for example:
success, then there are several useful
!
tips they can follow.
!
Target your audience directly
Although there is room for Clifford
!
Chance to improve, they have succeeded
This tweet is being used to promote a
in establishing for themselves several
company newsletter written by Alastair
prominent Twitter accounts across three
Mordaunt, a Partner at Clifford Chance.
countries. This is no small task and
This is obviously an important piece of
Prominent London Legal Firms and Their Twitter Accounts 20 of 63
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content and should be promoted through
their tweets are used primarily to give
various social media channels in an at-
news updates. This is very useful infor-
tempt to entice readers. However, the
mation, but it lacks any personal in-
tweet is uninformative, uninteresting,
volvement between the business and its
and lacks any enthusiasm. As a result, it
customers.
generated very little engagement with
!
audiences.
If Clifford Chance want to increase their
!
lead generation, then they should make
To combat this problem, Clifford
a consistent effort to communicate di-
Chance need to use social media to its
rectly with their prospects. Clifford
fullest potential and generate meaning-
Chance could send their newsletters to
ful social content. Only by doing so can
specific individuals who are interested
they maximise their sharability and de-
in their work; helping to increase their
velop client relationships.
status as a thought-leader and potential-
!
ly generate more business.
Achieve consistency across the company One of the challenges for Clifford
Chance is to produce social content
which is consistent in quality and distri-
bution across their accounts. The UK
and US PR accounts are a good example
of this problem.
!
Both are intended to promote articles
and news updates related to Clifford
Chance, but they vary considerably in
terms of quality output. The UK account
is updated roughly once every few days,
whereas the US counterpart only tweets
around once a week. This means that
neither account is being used to its
fullest potential. Furthermore, it sug-
gests that the company cannot achieve
consistency across the board.
!
Engage better with prospects
Like many of the legal firm Twitter ac-
counts in this report, Clifford Chance
could benefit enormously by actively
engaging with their prospects. Too often
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!
Linklaters
Unlike many other legal firm Twitter ac-
counts, there’s much more personality to
@LinklatersLLP
Linklater’s social content. The same can
!
be said for their Graduate Twitter ac-
Linklaters are one of the first companies
count which has plenty of engaging up-
that people imagine when they think
dates:
about legal firms in London. They work
!
on a variety of multi-jurisdictional cases and have won a variety of awards for
their excellent work; including Law
Firm of the Year (Poland) over this past
year.
!
!
It’s not simply the case that Linklaters
Overall, Linklaters carry this profes-
have more time to create exciting and
sional excellent into their social media
regular tweets. Instead, they have
campaign with rigour, enthusiasm, and
recognised that personalised social con-
commitment. They have one of the best
tent is much more likely to grab a user’s
Twitter accounts of this report and con-
attention. In fact, Linklaters is so good
tinue to set a positive example for their
at tweeting quality content, it’s worth
competitors to emulate.
following their account even if you have
!
only a slight interest in the legal sector.
What do Linklaters do well?
!
!
Targeting graduates
Exciting interactions
People use social media for a variety of
Linklaters are one of the few companies
purposes. For legal firms, it’s vital to
in this report who don’t embrace con-
create a public platform so that prospec-
servatism in their tweets. Their updates
tive employees can contact you. It’s also
are frequent, consistent in quality, and
a useful way to keep close contact with
very engaging. In addition to this, the
prestigious universities and get involved
Linklaters Twitter account is good at
with local events.
communicating with other people -
!
rather than just sharing interesting arti-
!
cles.
The Linklaters graduate account is a
!
very good example of a legal firm tar-
Here is an example:
geting graduates in a meaningful and
productive way. For example, Linklaters
frequently produce webcasts in conjunc-
tion with the international University of
Law:
Prominent London Legal Firms and Their Twitter Accounts 22 of 63
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Their business strategy is obviously
working; both accounts currently have a
!
combined following of over 7000 users.
!
This is a great example of Linklaters
How can this be replicated?
utilising social media to its fullest poten-
!
tial. The tweet is useful, informative,
There are many lessons which can be
and demonstrates the very reason why
taken from Linklaters’ use of social me-
separate graduate Twitter accounts are
dia. Here are some of the most impor-
vital: to target young audiences directly.
!
tant points to consider:
!
This type of tweet isn’t useful for
Encourage users to get excited about
prospects or building prestigious client
your brand
relationships. It’s for future recruitment Linklaters excel at using social media to
purposes.
!
entice users and get them interested in
their brand.
Frequent tweeting
!
In addition to this, the Linklaters Twitter Create dialogues
accounts are excellent at producing fre-
In addition to this, Linklaters have set a quent updates. They tweet several times
high standard for taking the time to re-
a day, over both platforms, and engage
spond to online users. This is problem
directly with audiences. This is some-
that many other legal firm Twitter ac-
thing that many legal firms fail to do.
!
counts struggle with. However, Lin-
klaters have a much more personalised
In this sense, Linklaters are paving the
approach to social networking and excel
way for London legal firms in terms of
at communicating with others online:
social content and online communica-
tion.
!
Quality Content
Don’t be fooled, however; Linklaters
don’t just use social media to chat with
other online users. They also provide
their followers with very useful content.
The main account, for instance, is used
to advertise any publications or newslet-
ters that the firm produces. It’s also used
!
to share other interesting articles; help-
It’s much easier to build client relation-
ing to increase Linklaters’ status as a
ships and develop prospects if compa-
thought leader.
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nies take the time to communicate with
For example, Linklaters are a global
their online audiences.
brand with 29 different offices based the
!
world; from Germany to Hong Kong.
Linklaters are one of the best legal firms However, they only have a Twitter ac-at doing this; so many other businesses
count for their London base - meaning
could learn from their example.
that there’s no Linklaters platform to
!
communicate with their international
Give a platform to students
clients. This is unfortunate and poten-
It’s now common policy for legal firms
tially limits the firm’s global reach.
to develop close working relationships
!
with many of the most prestigious uni-
Other than this, Linklaters just need to
versities throughout the UK. This is ex-
continue with their social media strategy
tremely profitable, for a variety of rea-
and increase their brand awareness con-
sons, but it cannot be achieved fully
sistently across the globe.
without a comprehensive social media
campaign.
!
Twitter is a great tool for students to
contact prospective employers and learn
more about a firm. Linklaters have re-
alised this and created a separate Twitter account just for their graduates. To make
things even better, they update it regular and communicate directly with their followers. You couldn’t ask for more.
!
How can Linklaters improve?
!
Overall, Linklaters have a very good
presence on Twitter (on both of their ac-
counts). They are consistent in their dis-
tribution and have a genuinely engaging
online demeanour.
!
There is not much that Linklaters can do
to improve their social content, but there are some points they may wish to consider.
Consider creating more accounts
Prominent London Legal Firms and Their Twitter Accounts 24 of 63
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Given that Herbert Smith Freehills in a