Iceni Talks Social Media To… Louis Hilldrup-Boorman

Louis Hilldrup-Boorman, Marketing Manager at Clapham & Collinge Solicitors.

Marketing Manager at Clapham & Collinge Solicitors.

What does your role within Clapham & Collinge Solicitors as Marketing Manager involve?
I work alongside all departments across the firm, managing all marketing activity both on and offline. Working closely with Andrea Smith, Marketing executive at Clapham & Collinge, we manage a busy schedule of events (legal seminars, networking events, fundraising events), the firm’s website development, social media, all marketing literature (from design to print), advertising and much more.

It’s been an incredibly busy year for Clapham & Collinge – In February 2015 we departed from ‘QualitySolicitors’ a national legal network and re-established ourselves as a completely independent law firm, marked with a new company website and a fresh new visual identity. We relocated our North Norfolk branch and opened a third branch in Brooke, all of which coincided with our 60^th Anniversary – so it’s been a busy year for the marketing department!

Can you give us a brief run down on how you use social media to interact with potential clients?`
Our social media channels enable us to actively engage with the local community and businesses, this interaction supported the launch of various projects, e.g. our third office opening in Brooke and the move in Sheringham. Clapham & Collinge are also involved in various community initiatives and we regularly hold ‘Dementia Awareness sessions’, ‘Family Advice Mornings’ and ‘Planning for Later Life Advice Mornings’ at our offices. We use social media to highlight these events to the local community by engaging with a larger audience, many people attend these events through the promotion on social media.

How do you use social media as a tool for your existing clients?
Using social media means our existing clients have the opportunity to contact us 24 hours a day. Together, Andrea and I manage our social media networks which means we’re always able to engage with existing clients.

Which social media platforms do you use and and why? i.e Hootsuite, TweetDeck, etc?
We use Hootsuite as this allows both Andrea and I to manage and monitor multiple social media networks at the same time, although we generally don’t use the auto-scheduling facility as we prefer to engage and interact in live-time. Hootsuite provide weekly analytics reports which are very useful as this helps us to identify top interactors, our most popular links and analyse our social media activity.

There are quite a few networking hours on Twitter, which is your favourite and why?
For me, it has to be a combination of #NorfolkHour and #NorwichHour – These networking hours are a great opportunity to network with local companies, share good news, promote upcoming events and keep up to date with all things Norfolk. Another great networking hour is #SolicitorHour – this is more industry specific, where we are able to actively engage with individuals looking for legal Q&A’s

What is your favourite social media campaign you have managed?
Clapham & Collinge recently hosted The Benjamin Foundation’s ‘Sleep Out’ event, a fundraising event to highlight the issue of homelessness and raise money to support The Benjamin Foundation’s fantastic work with homeless young people in Norfolk. Together, we ran a social media campaign on the ‘Sleep Out’ to spread the word, encourage businesses and individuals to participate and to generate sponsorship for those taking part. The level of interaction and engagement across all of our social media channels from individuals and local businesses was incredible! With the help of this campaign the event was a great success, with 70 people taking part and over £16,000 raised.

Which social media experts and/or influencers do you follow?
Chris and Sarah Greenfield from Bright Yellow Marketing are well known in Norfolk for their expertise on social media. They frequently post valuable top tips on how to maximise social media activity and I find these very useful.

What kinds of skills/qualities do you think you need to possess to be a Marketing Manager?Marketing managers often work towards tight deadlines, so it’s important to be confident, have strong communication and decision making skills, whilst being adept at keeping your cool under pressure. My role at Clapham & Collinge is very broad, with responsibilities which vary from website development, social media, PR and advertising, to event management, internal communications and brand management. It’s important to be flexible, adept to change and have the ability to ‘think outside the box’. Creativity, attention to detail and determination are also essential qualities to be successful as a Marketing Manager.

What are your competitors doing on social media?
Many of our competitors have a social media presence in one way or another. Our competitors use social media in a variety of ways – from sharing the latest industry news and updates with their audience, to showcasing customer feedback, CSR and community engagement. Whilst not all businesses have a social media strategy, they certainly all have a presence.

And finally, what one piece of advice can you give to someone starting out into the world of social media?
Content is key – Make sure you are offering valuable information that your audience will find interesting. Where possible, use images and infographics in addition to text-based content as images are powerful in conveying a message. Your social media channels represent your firm, so it’s important to be professional, personable and update regularly.