More ideas from the Met: Be user-friendly
Last Saturday, I attended the Metropolitan Opera's live broadcast performance of Madama Butterfly at my local movie theater. I've seen my share of live productions of Madama Butterly over the years and, at this point, it takes a lot to persuade me to see a new one. In this case, the production is by film director Anthony Minghella, the costumes by Han Feng and the child Trouble is played by a Bunraku puppet. Reason enough.
I've written before about how these broadcasts are a magnificant marketing move by the Met. New York Magazine sums it up nicely: "The aloof old Met, which once deemed promotion unnecessary, has suddently turned positively manic about reaching out and becoming user-friendly."
My friend John, who is a media executive, was blown away by the concept of the live broadcast: "It just seems like common sense that everyone would do this." Common sense, indeed.
Lawyers and law firms are comfortable with the use of traditional "aloof" spoken and print venues for demonstration of their expertise and thought-leadership -- but traditional venues are limited to a single audience and a single readership. Social media, in comparison, are user-friendly and offer access to an unlimited audience and an unlimited readership.
Print content can be posted to blogs and user-contributed content sites and linked to social networking sites -- but so can audio and visual content! If you give a speech, record it, edit it and link it to these sites -- and post it to YouTube. Post photos of attorneys and law firm activities on Flickr and other photo sites. All of these contributions will be picked up in a Google search.
Don't be an "aloof old" law firm. Use new tools to reach out and become user-friendly.
For opera buffs, there will be a re-broadcast of the Met's Madama Butterfly Wednesday evening, March 18, 2009. Check your local movie theater!
