I’m a big fan of social media because I’ve seen the magic in works in being an essential component of building my law practice. What social media means for me was starting a conversation with my content. It built my name recognition, started some great business relationships, and eventually got me clients.
So I was rather perplexed by what an organization was claiming in their materials. They said that unlike the competition that pays for ads and use social media, they relied on word of mouth to build membership. It was a rather dumb thing to say.
Social media and word of mouth aren’t mutually exclusive. While word of mouth is the best form of building your business or organization, social media can allow you to amplify that word of mouth for you. For example, there are many of these community groups on Facebook where people ask for recommendations. This is an example of how social media can amplify positive word of mouth. Even better, that social media costs nothing. I remember when I was Vice President at the synagogue, I used these community groups to build awareness for my events and our Hebrew School where previously the only thing they did was pay money for ads in newspapers that didn’t have the greatest return on investment.
Positive word of mouth is the best form of advertising, but that doesn’t mean you should rely on that exclusively. Word of mouth is just one channel you can use to build your practice as a retirement plan provider. Social media is another channel. Networking is another. Advertising in publications or on the web is another. You should never rely on just one channel to build a practice and good worth of mouth isn’t mutually exclusive of social media or any other channel used to build your practice.
