[The ninth in a series of twelve year-end posts by our friends in the Legal Marketing Association's special interest group on Social and Digital Media. Stop by for additional posts as the LMA publishes them:]

We are nearing the last few posts for the 12 Days and we thought it was only appropriate to have Molly Porter, Director of Marketing at Seyfarth Shaw LLP share her wisdom. It is always beneficial to have the sage advice and predictions of Molly. She keenly outlines what's to come for all of us marketers faced with a demand for better content, a more strategic approach to messaging, and a more encompassing view of digital media. Enjoy!

What has shifted in the last 12 months in social & digital media generally?

I am an avid consumer of US presidential campaigns. They allow us as legal marketers to observe a branding and communication problem similar to the ones we encounter in our day-to-day work: the need to express the best version of the candidate’s personality alongside simple and direct communication of inherently complex ideas. Doesn’t this sound familiar?

This cycle, we saw two very different approaches to social media: one more mediated and traditional; the other more spontaneous and unscripted. The effectiveness of the latter approach calls into question so much of what we thought we knew about campaigns, both political and marketing.

 And now with our President Elect, social media is front and center as means of real-time, direct communication with the electorate that completely overshadows traditional media. This ability to cut out the middleman, once and for all, is the biggest shift and it has huge implications for traditional media moving forward.

What has caught your eye recently as a smart use of social & digital media in legal or outside of legal?

The versatility and modern quality of Hillary Clinton’s campaign branding really caught my eye. The logo is an excellent example of a “logo system” in which the logo is not static, but is instead a graphical framework for multiple brand expressions that speak directly to the audience, content or channel being used. A logo system could lend itself quite well to a law firm which has a number of functions that require unique identities for external audiences, such as recruiting, pro bono, diversity and even practice groups.

What’s the biggest challenge for law firms trying to be active in the social & digital media space, and how can they overcome it?

Law firms have two major challenges that have almost nothing to do with social media and everything to do with substance: messaging and content. It’s no longer a question of “are we going to use social media?” - any firm still struggling with this question has missed the boat.

Law firms have two major challenges that have almost nothing to do with social media and everything to do with substance: messaging and content.

Now the questions are more strategic in nature and deal with everything from legal substance to firm culture:  “What makes us distinct, memorable and stand out from the crowd? What are we going to say and how are we going to say it?”  Lawyers struggle with simplicity in messaging; this is where savvy marketers can add tremendous value through deep understanding of the audience, coupled with a human-centered approach to storytelling.

 To meet these challenges, smart firms are focusing their marketing teams on the digital space, with an emphasis on content strategy, user experience design and customer journeys. This ensures the right content gets to the right audience in the right channel, always with a call-to-action to deepen the relationship, either online or offline. Speed and agility of content teams are critical, as is the need for tight internal communications and processes to provide direction to influencers within the firm.

What’s the next big thing in social & digital media marketing for law firms for 2017?

Live video is everywhere now. Periscope and Snapchat began the wave, and now Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all feature integrated live video capabilities. The challenge for firms will be to find something newsworthy to broadcast and to become comfortable with “live” video production values.

Social media platform algorithms are also critical to consider in 2017. Algorithms are data-driven rules that affect how content is displayed in our followers’ feeds. Earlier this year, Instagram introduced an algorithm-driven that favors “interesting” content and accounts the user has previously interacted with. To ensure our place on our followers’ feeds, we must always publish content that drives interaction with a strong call-to-action.

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[Molly Porter is the Director of Marketing at Seyfarth Shaw, where she oversees the firm’s brand, channels and content strategy. She is a recognized leader in digital marketing and content for the legal industry and has worked for several of the top law firms in the world.]