Originally published on May 25, 2009 in our free SmallLaw newsletter.
How did you pick your last office computer? Your doctor? Both decisions can have serious consequences, but one was probably preceded by research and comparison shopping, while the other was based on faith.
In fact the only thing these decisions probably had in common was that they most likely involved guidance from colleagues, friends, family, trade publications or, you guessed it, the Internet.
Welcome to the recommendation economy. Don't think for a moment that professionals can't be talked about, recommended into success or criticized into infamy. In the recommendation economy anything goes, and usually does.
Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Guess
Even the most independent among us constantly takes cues on how to behave, what to wear, and who to trust. Some cues arise organically from the environment. Others are specifically placed by companies to influence our decisions. The most influential cues of all come from ordinary experience with people who seem the most like us. It's a fact that most people who agree with us seem smart, and most who disagree seem stupid.
For instance, how do prospective clients choose a lawyer? Rates? Win/loss ratio? Articles published or seminars given? Most small firms and sole practitioners observe a "don't ask don't tell" policy on this point. And maybe that's best, because even when asked most clients don't know, aren't sure, or just lie about how they made their choice. So if you can't trust client answers, where can you go to get the straight story? Don't worry — the Internet is here to help.
Behold the Power of the Crowd
If the Internet is an ocean, Twitter is a raging, white rapids river of real-time impressions and feedback. It is also the rawest of feeds from the largest group of voluntary participants on the Internet. You might wonder (as I did) how this all came about. It's simple, really:
- 25% of Twitter users are voyeurs.
- 25% of Twitter users are exhibitionists.
- The other 50% heard about it on Oprah.
In fact, since Oprah's announcement last month the service has grown at an annualized rate of over 1000% per year. Never mind that most of these new users will be casual at best and most likely move on to something else in a month. The point is that Twitter is becoming the focal point for a nation of increasingly vocal consumers that share, and expect, instant feedback. Reputations can now be made or lost in days instead of years.
Go ahead and try a search in Twitter.
Instant Karma's Gonna Get You
Of course your last client probably didn't learn about you on Twitter. Instead, they most likely got your name from friends or neighbors. Maybe it came from another lawyer, a family member, or a Google search.
As it turns out, these sources are only once or twice removed from your Twitter reputation. Each of them is influenced by, and influences, the service. And as Twitter and its spin-offs gain traction in every corner of search-engineland, their impact is felt still more. The result is a vicious or virtuous cycle — depending on whether you are the recipient of good publicity or bad.
Just imagine: more search engines returning more Twitter-related posts about a given lawyer, which reach more people than ever, who in-turn are free to Twitter about their experience, and so on. The "I told two friends" shampoo commercial of our youth is now more like "I told 10,000 followers."
The result is unmistakably viral. Those who "get it" shoot up and up faster than ever, while those who don't are buried further and further in the rankings at light-speed. Twitter doesn't leave much room for "in between" or "middle-of-the-road" reputations.
So, how can you elicit recommendations rather than criticism? Provide your clients with quality work of course. But beyond that obvious strategy, I've developed some others that you and the other readers of this column can use to harness the power of Twitter and other tools to influence prospective clients before they pick up the phone. Stay tuned, and may the Tweets be with you.
Written by Mazyar M. Hedayat of M. Hedayat & Associates, P.C.
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