The post references Andrew Hammp’s Ad Age critical book review, and I wanted to make it very clear to my readers that no book is going to provide a legal marketer or any other business owner the time, effort or effectiveness to generate business quickly with social media, solely on their own.

The truth is, if you’re running a law practice or marketing firm, or media relations company, as you perform the daily operations of your business, you’re probably going to discover that you don’t have enough time to manage your online platform effectively; nor will you want to.

Lon Safko, is a brilliant entrepreneur, inventor, speaker and innovator, and no one is disputing the informative value of the book’s content. Mr. Hammp and the other people who commented on his Ad Age post, take issue with Mr. Safko’s insinuation that anyone can succeed on this platform on their own, by using his 820 page book, written by a multitude of specialists.

One of the items I caution my clients about is not thoroughly researching, before making comments, particularly negative ones.

In my blog post about the Social Media Bible, not one word of negativity did I say. I repeated the commentary of one of the most reputable advertising and marketing sources in the industry.
Also, I don’t have an “MBA in social media as Mr. Safko references. If ‘Lou’ had taken time to research, ie: join me on the social media platform Linked In, or actually searched on this platform before making comment, he would see that I have an MA in Media Studies….

Unfortunately, Lou Saflko’s rebuttal he posted on his own blog, wasn’t anymore tactful …
http://socialmediabible.ning.com/profiles/blogs/advertising-age-censors
(Incidentally, he told me to reference this post in order to see why his comments were censored, both on my blog and on Ad Age…)

Regarding the “censorship” he’s referenceing on the Karasma Media blog,
the delay with his comments posting really wasn’t that deep… I simply needed to adjust the settings on my blog to send me e-mail alerts as soon as they hit.

Also, from a PR standpoint..it appears that Mr. Safko is not acknowledging two things:

In certainly appears as though Mr. Saflko could use some social media public relations guidance.

One of the things I advise my clients on, is when or if they should respond to negative comments. See Handling Negative Comments On Your Legal Marketing Blog

Two of the comments made by Mr. Safko:

“I truly hope that I never get to the point where I believe that I can’t learn something new and that I know it all.” (On his blog)

“Then please reconsider the title of your blog.” (On mine…)
**Did you mean “blog post?

I shudder to think what didn’t appear on the Ad Age blog…

Regardless of your level of expertise, qualifications, or “marketing strategy”, rebuttal that reflects covert hostility, can easily backfire, as it can cause readers to question your validity.

It is paradoxical that Mr. Safko acknowledges Ad Age’s negative commentary is generating traffic. Correspondingly, in making comment on my blog and writing the rebuttal, he’s doing exactly what he needs to do to keep the conversation flowing.

The bad news:
Mr. Safko is utilizing the same strategy he’s critical of Ad Age for using, and the obviousness of this could be perceived as hypocritical or misleading…

This conversation is turning out to be a case study, although perhaps not the kind Mr. Safko envisioned…

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Please see other related articles:

Social Media as PR in Legal Markerting is Underused and Under Funded

Public Relations for Law Firms and the Mastery of Web 2.0 Social Media

Legal Marketing Execs, in a back-to-basics down economy, you can’t only target who you did last year

Social Media Is Public Relations for Legal Marketers

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Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.