Keeping up with the Joneses is something we sometimes feel compelled to do. There’s something deep within us (me anyway) that drives me to do what they’re doing and have what they’re having.

They got a new car? I guess I need a new car. They’re moving to a bigger house? Well, maybe we need a bigger house?

Law firm videos are often driven by the Joneses. They’re made because the law firm across town made videos. That’s probably not a good reason.

Why isn’t it important to keep up with the Joneses? After all, they’ve got videos. Shouldn’t we have videos?

The video sales guy told us we need videos. He explained that YouTube is the second-biggest search engine behind Google. Shouldn’t we be on YouTube like the other law firm?

Come on. The Joneses have video. We’ve got to have video, right?

It depends. But, unlike most of my “it depends” responses, this one comes with an objective, scientific test. We can determine with certainty whether we need video if we’re trying to keep up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones.

The Surefire “Do You Need to Add Video?” Test

Many law firms host their video on YouTube. Look for the YouTube logo on the bottom of the video player. Click on it, and you’ll land on the YouTube page for the video. Information awaits you there.

YouTube has a “view” count feature. We can tell how many times the video has been watched. The view count indicator records all views, regardless of whether the video is watched on YouTube or on some other website where the video is embedded. The YouTube view count is pretty accurate unless someone is paying low wage workers (and sometimes computer bots) to watch the videos to increase the view count artificially.

Go over to the YouTube channel run by your competitor. Look at the list of videos it’s made. Check the view count. What does it say?

It’s not extraordinary to look at dozens of videos on a law firm’s channel and find that many of them have minimal viewership. In fact, I’m looking at a law firm right now that has many videos with fewer than 20 views, and that’s for videos posted more than a year ago.

One firm I reviewed had about 40 videos with nearly no views. One video had a bunch of views. That video turned out to be one embedded on the firm’s website homepage, and it’s auto-playing when someone lands. I’m not sure that’s particularly significant.

Having video is nice, but it’s much more important to provide helpful answers to your prospective clients’ questions. It’s far more valuable to provide detailed information that helps visitors understand the legal issues surrounding their circumstances. Video can add some value, but if no one is watching, it’s not essential.

Make your decisions based on market data and intelligence. Don’t make emotional, reactive decisions based on the activity of others in your market.

Let the Joneses own the inconsequential marketing tactics while you focus on building trust with your site visitors. Do what needs doing. Don’t do what the Joneses do unless there’s some evidence that it works.