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Consumer segmentation
Wessing
Like Allen and Overy, Taylor Wessing
have separate Twitter accounts for dif-
ferent purposes - their main account, for
@TaylorWessing
example, is dedicated primarily for news
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updates and sharing useful articles.
Taylor Wessing are one of the most es-
Their second account (@TWMediaTe-
tablished and uniquely-cultured legal
ch), however, was created for the
firms in London. They are very much an
lawyers themselves to interact with their
international business, with offices in
followers. This isn’t just general conver-
(amongst others) Beijing, Dubai, Paris,
sation, though; the account is utilised to and Vienna.
discuss various business and technologi-
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cal developments in the industry.
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Overall, Taylor Wessing pride them-
selves in being a large company with a
This is a great use of social media and is small-business mindset; valuing excel-obviously very popular with their fol-
lence service, professional development,
lowers. In fact, Taylor Wessing has
and copious amounts of charity work.
some the largest numbers of Twitter fol-
With a 7% increase in profits between
lowers than any other London legal
2013 and 2014, they obviously have a
firm.
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business strategy which works for them.
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Quality Content
However, unlike other legal firms in
One defining characteristic of Taylor
London, Taylor Wessing benefit from
Wessing’s Twitter updates is that they
having an independent brand image be-
are interesting and immediately engag-
yond their legal services. Many people
ing. They don’t just use Twitter to tell
know the law firm from their continuing
their followers about the latest company
sponsorship of the National Portrait
news. Their @TWMediaTech account is
Gallery. This has a huge marketing po-
also utilised to share other interesting
tential for Taylor Wessing - allowing
articles and retweet useful content.
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them to attract a much greater audience
than traditional law firms.
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As a result, it’s not surprising to learn
that Taylor Wessing have a significant
This might seem mundane, but it shows
Twitter following and an established so-
that Taylor Wessing isn’t just interested
cial media presence.
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in using Twitter to promote their own
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material. Instead, they actively engage
Tech Law blog is a fantastic resource for
with other online users and create a per-
Taylor Wessing to discuss important in-
sonal platform for their employees to
dustry issues on a public platform.
make a valuable contribution to the
However, it wouldn’t be nearly as suc-
company’s public image.
cessful without the law firm actively
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promoting it on Twitter. This is some-
In addition to this, Taylor Wessing is
thing that Taylor Wessing is incredibly
quick to use Twitter for a very practical
good at achieving.
purpose: recruitment.
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How can this be replicated?
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If other legal firms want to achieve the
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same success as Taylor Wessing, then
This is a good use of social media, espe-
there are several steps that they should
cially considering that it allows Taylor
follow.
Wessing to communicate with prospec-
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tive employees on a personal level.
tweet engaging social content
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First of all, Taylor Wessing’s separate
Nevertheless, this isn’t always utilised
Twitter account is a fantastic platform to to its fullest potential. Like many law
promote their lawyers and their individ-
firm Twitter accounts, Taylor Wessing
ual interests. Legal firms often suffer
could benefit from being dynamic in
from owning overly-conservative Twit-
their social content. The use of images
ter accounts. However, Taylor Wessing’s
and more interaction would go some
account is more engaging and gives a
way to achieving this.
personal edge to the company’s public
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image.
Consistency
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One of the ways that Taylor Wessing
Promote regularly
succeed in using Twitter efficiently is
One of the most significant aspects of
through regular use and distribution
Taylor Wessing’s success is that they
consistency. In fact, Taylor Wessing are
promote quality content on a frequent
very good at sending out tweets several
basis. Rather than updating their Twitter
times a day. This is in stark contrast to
feed once a day, or less, they make a
many other London legal firms who
consistent effort to provide their follow-
simply don’t afford time to pursuing so-
ers with useful information. This is an
cial media.
important lesson for any firm who wants
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to improve their social media status.
One of the ways that Taylor Wessing
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produces consistent social content is by
How can Taylor Wessing improve?
promoting its Guardian blog. The Media
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Interacting more with users
tus as an avid supporter of the arts in
One of the ways that Taylor Wessing
London. If they had a separate Twitter
could improve is by interacting more
account dedicated to this topic, for ex-
with their users. Unfortunately, their
ample, Taylor Wessing would succeed in
Media Tech account is continually up-
accessing a far greater audience reach.
dating their newsfeed but they receive
At this moment in time, no other Lon-
very little in the ways of replies. This
don legal firm is doing this - giving Tay-
means that their content, while popular,
lor Wessing a uniquely advantageous
might not be engaging with users to its
position.
fullest potential.
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If Taylor Wessing want to increase their
Given that their Twitter account also
brand awareness and diversify their so-
contains very little in terms of visuals,
cial media following, then they should
Taylor Wessing could benefit from cre-
exploit their unique position within the
ating a more image-heavy social media
arts sector.
campaign. This would be more appeal-
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ing to users and help them to increase
Nevertheless, Taylor Wessing obviously
the firm’s social media outreach.
have a strong Twitter presence. Their
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Media Tech account, moreover, is a
Take full advantage of their business
great example of consistent and useful
connections
social content being distributed to a far-
In addition to this, Taylor Wessing do
reaching audience. It’s just their primary not currently take advantage of their sta-account that requires further work.
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ever been one tweet. Even though this is
DLA Piper
almost entirely useless for consumers,
there are still nearly 4000 people follow-
@DLA_Piper
ing this Twitter account. This would
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strongly suggest that there’s an audience
DLA Piper are undoubtedly one of the
who wants to hear about DLA Piper’s
biggest names in the London legal sec-
news updates, but they simply don’t
tor. They have endured enormous finan-
have the energy or resources to com-
cial success and have been a major
plete this.
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competitor in various areas of expertise,
including banking, corporate finance,
Unfortunately, this reflects very badly
and real estate. DLA Piper are also one
on DLA Piper and it’s a wonder why
of the largest legal firms in London,
they’ve maintained the account this
with offices in over 30 countries
long.
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throughout the world.
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Nevertheless, the DLARealEstate ac-
In terms of Twitter, DLA Piper have
count is a good example of Twitter be-
managed to cultivate for themselves a
ing used in an audience-driven way.
substantial following. They also update
With nearly 2000 followers, DLA Real
their social content regularly and have
Estate has managed to attract users who
created individual accounts dedicated to
turn to the firm specifically for news and different topics.
shares. However, this relationship isn’t
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just one-sided; this account also follows
What do DLA Piper do well?
a substantial number of users and fre-
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quently retweets useful updates.
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Consumer Segmentation
DLA Piper have realised that online
Sharing Content That People Want
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users turn to Twitter for different rea-
sons. That’s why they’ve created indi-
vidual accounts to suit separate purposes
- such as their news account
(@DLA_Piper_News) and dedicated
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real estate account (@DLARealEstate).
This should allow them to promote dif-
Like some other legal firms, DLA Piper
ferent types of content with the separate
is good at sharing relevant and useful
audiences, but there is an immediate
articles with their followers on Twitter.
problem.
Not only are they just concerned with
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legal matters, they also distribute con-
Their @DLA_Piper_News account is
tent relating to the media, entertainment, entirely inactive - in fact, there has only and technological industries.
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This might seem like DLA Piper lack
Achieve consistency
any focus on social media, but it’s actu-
One of the most important ways of
ally very useful for improving their con-
building brand awareness and develop-
sumer outreach. Even if an online user
ing long-term consumer relationships is
isn’t interested in buying services from
through regular social media interac-
the firm, they might still follow the ac-
tions. Consistently producing tweets is
count because of its interesting shares.
much more useful for users who want to
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learn more about a company. If your
All of these efforts help to make DLA
brand is boring, then they’ll simply
Piper a thought-leader in their industry
move on elsewhere.
and reinforce their brand image across a
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multi-sectored platform.
Build Trust
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Although there are many commendable
How can this be replicated?
areas of DLA Piper’s Twitter activity,
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there is still the issue of trust. The inac-There are several key points for busi-
tive DLA_Piper_News account suggests
nesses who wish to replicate the success
that the firm doesn’t have the energy to
of DLA Piper and their social media
complete the task it set out to do. This
strategy.
gives an incredibly bad impression and
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doesn’t reflect on the firm’s elite status.
Know your audience
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DLA Piper have legal expertise in a va-
How can DLA Piper improve?
riety of industries, but they have chosen
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to create a Twitter account dedicated to
Be less conservative
one of the most competitive sectors -
DLA Piper suffer many from the same
real estate. This serves the double pur-
social media problems as their competi-
pose of allowing DLA Piper to solidify
tors. Their tweets are somewhat conser-
their status as a premiere provider of le-
vative and lack any immediate sense of
gal real estate advice; while also in-
personality. Overall, there is very little creasing their brand awareness and
in the way of photographs and visual
skills amongst the general public.
engagement.
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By creating a Twitter account which is
Develop quality followers
driven entirely by the audience’s needs,
In addition to this, DLA Piper have an
DLA Piper have succeeded where many
issue with their follower numbers like
could not. Their account has a strong
Allen and Overy. 10% of the followers
following and exists purely to provide
which subscribe to their primary ac-
useful and meaningful content to people
count are fake. Furthermore, 45% of the
who are interested in real estate.
rest are inactive accounts. This is ex-
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tremely bad for DLA Piper because it
It’s not the case that DLA Piper doesn’t
means that their customer outreach is
have enough followers - they have thou-
much lower than previously anticipated.
sands - however, the firm need to pro-
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duce social media content that entices
To improve this problem, DLA Piper
people. Regular interaction would go
should develop meaningful relationships
some way in achieving this.
with their consumers to build upon their
customer base. Other than making your
brand look better, fake accounts achieve
nothing for a company from a business
and marketing perspective. Quite sim-
ply, there’s no point in creating social
content if over half of your followers
won’t even see it.
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Engage better with prospects
In terms of their content on Twitter,
DLA Piper could benefit from engaging
better with their consumers. Although
nearly all of DLA Piper’s tweets are al-
ways retweeted, they receive almost no
replies on a regular basis. Users are see-
ing their Twitter updates, but they sim-
ply aren’t interested in engaging with
the brand on a meaningful level. This is
a huge problem for their
DLA_Piper_News account - in which
the administrators only follow one user.
As a result, the communication is entire-
ly one-sided and lacks any basic interac-
tion.
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With regards to their main account, this
shortfall in the business-consumer rela-
tionship is extremely detrimental. They
are failing to maximise the potential of
their customer outreach and promote
their content in the most effective way.
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legal twitter account directly communi-
Freshfields
cating with a user. It’s much more en-
gaging than simply sharing an interest-
@freshfields
ing article with no comment or personal
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opinion.
Freshfields is a somewhat unusual case
Furthermore, Freshfields uses Twitter to
for a large-scale legal firm with regards
promote video content; creating an en-
to their presence on social media. Al-
gaging platform to communicate with its
though the company is frequently re-
followers. Many Twitter accounts from
garded as within the top 5 legal firms in
the legal sector are somewhat conserva-
London, it doesn’t have the same sub-
tive and fail to create visually interesting stantial Twitter following as its competi-content that users want to share.
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tors.
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This is not the case with Freshfields.
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On the face of it, this seems extremely
problematic for Freshfields. However,
Useful shares
the firm produces some of the best
It’s always refreshing to see a profes-
tweets amongst London legal firms.
sional Twitter account which actively
They don’t have a disproportionate
followers other users too. It suggests
number of fake followers, unlike other
that the account isn’t just used as a
companies, and they produce genuinely
waste bin for news updates, but is
engaging social content.
utilised in a more meaningful way.
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Freshfields is continually retweeting ar-
What do Freshfields do well?
ticles and news items that its followers
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might find interesting.
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Great content
Freshfields is one of the few legal firms
Overall, this is a much more useful and
in this report who have a genuinely in-
engaging way of utilising social media
teractive and interesting Twitter account.
content.
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It’s much more engaging with its fol-
lowers compared to other accounts; with
Communicating with followers
plenty of catchy headlines such as:
In addition to this, the Freshfields Twit-
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ter account is good at replying to users
who contact them.
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This might seem like a small point to
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dwell on, but this is a rare example of a
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There is more of a dialogue between
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Freshfields and its consumers compared
They have also helped to establish
to other legal Twitter accounts. This
themselves as thought-leaders through
helps to inject some personality into the
their promotion of ‘how to’ videos on
firm - but more still needs to be done.
Twitter. Here is an example:
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How can this be replicated?
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If companies want to create a Twitter
following based on real accounts and
distributing meaningful content, then the
Freshfields example is a useful place to
start. Here are some useful tips on how
to replicate Freshfields’ success.
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Engage directly with users
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As has been previously suggested, the
Freshfields’ Twitter account is quite
Videos are incredibly useful for engag-
good at enticing people to communicate
ing with users and encouraging them to
with them. For instance:
share your content with their followers.
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They’re easy to understand, cheap to
make, and much more memorable than
written text.
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If you are a business who wants to culti-
vate your Twitter following, then videos
This is a positive example of social me-
and quality content are an excellent
dia being used in a much more engaging
place to start.
way than simply sending out news up-
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dates. It directly communicates with the
How can Freshfields improve?
audience and offers a useful way to do-