Greentarget

While social platforms are making some inroads as digital information sources for clients of professional services firms, traditional media and other editorial-filtered options remain the top choices for both C-suite members and in-house counsel at those companies, according to a new study from Greentarget and Zeughauser Group.

The “2022 State of Digital and Content Marketing” report finds that eight out of nine (80 percent) of C-suite members think publications and websites covering their profession are either “very valuable” or “somewhat valuable” to them as online information sources. Traditional media (defined as sources such as the Wall Street Journal) came in right behind that at 79 percent, and trade publications covering industry news were cited by 69 percent.

Traditional media was the top pick for in-house counsel (78 percent), with trade publications and other publications or websites covering their profession both coming in at 68 percent.

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The top social media platform was LinkedIn, which was called a valuable source by 64 percent of C-suite members and 57 percent of in-house counsel. Twitter was named by 44 percent of those from the C-suite and 33 percent of in-house counsel, with Facebook coming in last with 41 percent of C-suite members and 23 percent of in-house counsel.

When it comes to the top pick for CMOs looking to market their firms, LinkedIn beat out all competitors, with 81 percent deeming it “very valuable” and the other 19 percent labeling it as “somewhat valuable.”

Traditional media snagged a “very valuable” ranking from 62 percent of the CMOs surveyed, but other social media platforms lagged far behind LinkedIn. Twitter was called “very valuable” by just 13 percent, with Instagram getting only seven percent and Facebook racking up no “very valuable” scores at all.

The highest number of CMOs (81 percent) also indicated that they gave LinkedIn a “high” priority when allocating resources for content distribution, topping traditional media (67 percent). Once again, Twitter, Instagram (both 13 percent) and Facebook (three percent) were far down the list.

Regarding what kind of content they want to see, respondents placed articles at the top of list, with conferences/webinars and research reports also scoring well. They also noted the increasing importance of thought leadership and credentialing activity.

Greentarget and Zerghauset Group conducted their research, which surveyed 100 in-house counsel, 100 various C-suite members and 30 law firm chief marketing officers, from April through August of this year.