them.
!
Bird
In this respect, Bird and Bird are paving
the way for other legal firms to follow
suit.
@twobirds
!
!
International appeal
Bird and Bird are a truly diverse and
Bird and Bird have offices across the
global brand, with 26 offices based
globe and they use the same Twitter
across the world and a wide range of le-
which actively reflects this diversity. For gal expertise. Their projects in the past
example, the firm will commonly tweet
have involved working within a plethora
out updates in either Italian or Spanish:
of sectors, including in banking and fi-
nance, media, and even the automotive
industry.
!
In terms of social media, Bird and Bird
have an established presence on Twitter
and have amassed a strong following:
This is very unusual for a legal firm, es-
pecially considering that separate ac-
What do Bird and Bird do well?
!
counts can be created to target foreign
audiences directly. However, this
Frequent updates
method obviously works for Bird and
One of the reasons that Bird and Bird
Bird. It means that their Twitter account
are so successful on Twitter is because
has mass appeal and can used by a wide
they’re good at updating their account
range of audiences from across the
regularly. In fact, they will often send
world.
out new tweets once every few hours.
!
This takes up a lot of time and energy,
In doing so, Bird and Bird help to en-
but the firm are definitely seeing the re-
sure that their corporate material is
wards.
!
shared over a large social platform. This
also goes some way in increasing their
It’s vital for firms who want to develop
brand awareness throughout a variety of
their clients relationships and lead gen-
countries.
eration to tweet regularly. Regular social
!
updates help to increase brand aware-
Engaging content
ness; something which is vital for any
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Overall, Bird and Bird are consistently
As many firms continue to open more
good at producing tweets which are in-
offices abroad, they may wish to consid-
formative and engaging. The language
er creating different accounts which ap-
they use on Twitter is intended to be
peal to their most prestigious foreign
very personable:
markets.
!
!
This type of social content is a welcome
Take the time to speak to prospects
Bird and Bird are well versed in using
social media on a frequent basis. This is
something which is incredibly important
and helps to establish a business on a
global network.
!
change from many other legal firms and
Overall, Bird and Bird are very consis-
their use of Twitter. Bird and Bird don’t
tent in updating their account regularly.
possess the overly-conservative and de-
There is still room for improvement but
spondent tone of voice that many other
this is something that nearly all the firms businesses do. This is one of the reasons
in this report need to replicate across the for their success on Twitter.
board.
!
!
How can this be replicated?
How can Bird and Bird improve?
!
!
If other legal firms which to emulate this Create different accounts for different type of success, then there are several
offices
useful tips they should consider.
It’s difficult to measure the success of
!
Bird and Bird’s attempt to appeal to in-
Communicate with international users
ternational clients on one main Twitter
Bird and Bird are one of the few firms in
account. However, they may wish to
this report which tweet in languages
consider creating separate accounts if
other than English. This helps to ensure
they want to ensure that all their content that the brand has mass appeal over a
is readable.
much wider audience than just those in
!
the UK and US.
Although the majority of their Italian
!
and Spanish clients will be able to speak
There are potential downsides to this
English, its less likely that firm’s British approach, as this report will examine,
counterparts will be as well-versed. As a
but Bird and Bird have fully taken ad-
consequence of this, there is a good
vantage of their global appeal on Twit-
chance that much of the social content
ter.
written in Italian and Spanish won’t be
!
legible by all their followers.
Prominent London Legal Firms and Their Twitter Accounts 56 of 63
Online Ventures Group, an Inbound Marketing Agency
!
To combat this problem, it would be a
good idea for Bird and Bird to create
separate accounts for some of their in-
ternational offices. This would allow the
firm to target these audiences more ef-
fectively and ensure that all content can
be understood throughout the corpora-
tion.
!
Increase their brand awareness
Although Bird and Bird have a solid
Twitter following, they don’t have the
same volume of numbers as their com-
petitors. This could be due to a variety
of reasons, but the firm could benefit
from sending their content regularly di-
rectly to prospects. Overall, this type of marketing strategy could potentially increase their publication shares and make
the brand more widely known across
Twitter.
Prominent London Legal Firms and Their Twitter Accounts 57 of 63
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In this sense, their tweets are always