When it comes to social media for legal teams, it’s really about defining why you’re wanting to market online, choosing the right places to do it, and engaging wit community.
Let’s start with WHY you’re waiting to market your law firm on social media.
As with any marketing, there is a cost. Whether in your own time, money, and effort, or someone else’s, social media management is going to cost your firm. Understanding your WHY will help you see the value of your efforts.
- Are you seeking to generate leads?
- Do you want to expand brand awareness?
- Is it important to connect with the local community?
If your why is one of these or something different, take time to talk to people and research what you want from social media.
When it comes to social media for legal teams, generating leads should NOT be the #1 reason.
Social media creates brand recognition. You get to know your community and they know you whether that’s online exclusively or a combination of online and in-person. From that relationship there will come leads but it takes a while to get there.
Would you rather have 10,000 likes and no engagement on your page or 1,000 likes and lots of interaction?
People want to do business with others they know, like, and trust. Personally, I’d rather have a smaller number of likes with more interaction because that means I’ve got the right folks paying attention.
When they like a page because of an ad, they may not even be a real person or they may be someone who just clicks on ads and likes pages. They are likely not your ideal client.
Develop the description of who you want as a client and market where they are spending time.
Estate planning attorneys may market more on Facebook than say a criminal defense attorney because family decision makers are on Facebook with their friends and family. A court reporter may network on LinkedIn, a platform built for professionals, in order to meet prospective clients because they’re seeking to work with attorneys or business people. It’s about reaching people where they already are, not pulling them to where you want them to be.
Once you define who your prospective clients are, you can be selective of where you market.
I recently attended a networking event where the social media expert said, “We’re focused on Facebook and Instagram because those are the most popular.” I wanted to stand up and tell the attendees that is NOT the person they should have managing their accounts.
The reason is that just because they are popular doesn’t mean that’s where your target market is! Here’s how I see the breakdown:
- Facebook is business to consumer (B2C).
- LinkedIn is business to business (B2B).
- Instagram and Pinterest are for visual businesses like real estate agents, interior decorators, and photographers.
- Twitter is for content heavy businesses like professional bloggers and media.
When it comes to social media for legal teams, LinkedIn is really the best choice. It’s designed to connect professionals with other professionals. Estate planning attorneys and financial advisors refer business to each other and may meet on this platform, for example.
Leverage your experience to develop content that attracts the people with whom you want to work. Show them you know about your specialty whether it’s business law, estate planning, or another area of the law. LinkedIn is a perfect place to publish articles, share your own blog posts, curate and share the best of the best articles that others have written.
When you’re focused and strategic, social media for legal teams can expand your network and create opportunities you didn’t even know existed until now.
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