Building and maintaining an effective social media strategy takes work, but the extent to which law firms are throwing bodies at the problem may still largely depend upon the size and scope of the organization.

A new Digital Marketing in Law Firms survey released last week by Calibrate Legal and Infinite Global collected input from roughly 100 law firm employees, the majority (68%) of whom indicated that they only had between one and five people on staff dedicated specifically to digital marketing.

When it comes to social media, however, some firms might have just gotten a little ahead of themselves.

Jennifer Scalzi, CEO of Calibrate Legal, said eight years ago she noticed that firms were hiring personnel specifically designated towards the handling of social media. But those platforms were still relatively young, and the need for that kind of attention wasn't quite there yet.

"It was just a little too soon, so those professionals wound up getting sucked into broader communications roles," Scalzi said.

Now the legal industry at large could be revisiting the need for roles specifically tailored towards managing online content, especially as firms seem to be embracing a more structured approach in general towards social media.

According to the Digital Marketing survey, 65% of respondents indicated their firms had instituted a social media policy, while 52% also identified the presence of a firm-wide social media strategy.

While those guidelines may not always be accompanied by a steady hand on the wheel, some firms have embraced the notion of taking a more organized approach to the use of social media.

Jennifer Manton, chief marketing and business development officer at Kramer Levin, said her firm not only has a digital content manager, but has engaged the services of an outside digital media content agency to help with them develop their strategy across platforms.

"You're absolutely seeing a rise in having a designated resource, I think for all digital content," Manton said.

However, Roy Sexton, director of marketing at Clark Hill, said it's still very rare that he comes across anyone in the legal industry whose job is entirely devoted to social media, chalking the instances where such a position might exist up to large firms.

That's not to say that smaller firms couldn't benefit from having a designated social media captain on staff too. Sexton pointed to engagements with platforms like LinkedIn that stretch beyond making the occasional post, such as following client activity, cross-promoting partner organizations or looking for online content ideas.

He thinks those activities could potentially prove more useful in reaching over-scheduled clients who have grown weary of face-to-face networking activities like golfing or three-hour dinners.

"People don't have the luxury of time to spend with us like they did once upon a time," Sexton said.

Still, reaching those same people on social media isn't always a given, and some firms remain squeamish about the possibility of leveraging more targeted advertising online. For example, while 61% of survey respondents said their digital marketing team spent time on organic social, only 8% indicated the same for paid social, which allows customers to essentially boost their post's reach on a platform.

Sexton thinks attorneys may be afraid of inadvertently violating American Bar Association guidelines around advertising.

"Because it's new, because it's uncertain, I think legal in particular shuts down around the paid piece of it," Sexton said.

But even if firms continue their organic social media push unabated, marketing professionals shouldn't count on having some of the more traditional event-related promotions being cleared from their plate any time soon. Manton said client entertainment is still very much part of the strategy at Kramer Levin.

"I don't think that social media will every really be a replacement for that one-on-one opportunity to build a relationship with someone," she said.