By Laura Morris
Tired of playing 20 questions with your legal team? Let Lizzie help.
As Digital Web Lead at Allstate Insurance, Lizzie Schreier has faced her share of legal battles. After jumping through hoops to persuade Allstate’s legal team to embrace (or at least accept) social media, she’s ready to share her key lessons learned.
Here’s her advice on how you can make the marketing / legal partnership a little less painful:
1. Don’t Share Anything Before They Do. (7:59 – 11:06)
- Don’t proffer your strategy. Use the first meeting with your legal team to do some reconnaissance to understand what (if anything) you’re up against.
- Ask those leading questions: Who knows what a message board is? A blog? Who knows the difference? What are your biggest concerns with social media?
- Remember, you’re not there to answer their questions – yet. Use this session to listen; if you let them, legal will tell you exactly what objections you need to overcome to convince them it’s a good idea to get involved in social.
2. Don’t Say the Words “Social Media”. (12:30 – 14:10)
- Avoid the term “Social Media.” It’s a foreign concept that’s loaded with negative sentiment for your legal team – worry, discomfort, incompetence. Allstate uses the term “Content Syndication” instead since it’s a concept that legal understands (more people sharing your content = good) and appreciates (more people sharing your content = better SEO).
- To secure buy-in from the leadership team, don’t have them all in the same room when you do your pitch. Meet with execs 1:1 so you can tailor your language/verbage to match how each stakeholder talks about his team’s goals.
3. Walk Before You Run. (14:11 – 16:00)
- Look for little victories as a way to build confidence and garner momentum for social media investment. If your legal team is incredibly skeptical, start with social media monitoring as a way to show value. What would you not have known about your customers if you hadn’t been listening? How have those insights changed the way you message or market your products?
- In the case of Allstate, Lizzie’s legal team initially said she could start a forum – as long as she didn’t talk about insurance. So Allstate set up a discussion forum where people could talk about things they valued (and insured), like their cars and their houses. After a month of swapping tips on vinyl siding and tire selection, Allstate’s legal team had gotten comfortable enough with how the forum worked to allow the conversation to turn to insurance.
MLC members, want to learn more tips for working with legal? Lizzie will be joining panelists from Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart on February 18th for a teleconference on strengthening the marketing / legal relationship. Click here to register!
Related posts:
- How To Take Advantage of Social Media in Highly Regulated Environments
- Your 3 Biggest Social Media Questions, Answered
- Social Media | Is Marketing the “Tip of the Spear” in a Corporate Cultural Revolution?
- Eating the Social Media Ratings Dogfood
- How Social Media Will Change Your Job | Member Predictions
on 25 February 10
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[...] Revisit: Once your social media initiative gets off the ground (perhaps in a more restricted form than you’d like), be sure to keep Legal in the loop on its early returns. According to Allstate’s Lizzie Schreier, a bit of “safe” success can lower their guard and give you more license to expand your efforts. You can check out Lizzie’s full story on MLC’s blog, Wide Angle. [...]