"You can generate far more business than it costs you," said Rosenblum.
Statistics can be illuminating for web-savvy lawyers, too. Carl Shusterman, an immigration lawyer based in Los Angeles, launched his website in 1995 and also uses Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. The data from Avvo Ignite showed that LinkedIn wasn't yielding many inquiries. His YouTube videos created a lot of buzz, but Shusterman decided to tweak his content on that channel anyway. He now ends each video by encouraging viewers to schedule consultations.
"The data brings certain business considerations to the very fore of your consciousness," he said. "If I'm spending tons of time on something, I should find out how to use it more effectively or scratch it because you can't practice law and do all of this."
Some consumer-oriented lawyers already use social media to generate the lion's share of their business, Dayton said. For lawyers who are just starting to dabble online, Avvo Ignite may motivate them to keep at it by showing them the results, even if they are small at first, he noted.
"The reason most lawyers don't make it past the first 48 hours using social media is because they don't see anything happening," he said.
