Legal marketing for attorneys is perhaps one of the most fiercely competitive fields of marketing across the web. Whether it’s pay-per-click, email, or social media marketing, lawyers should be prepared to face stiff competition for keywords they want to rank for and advertising space they want to buy.
Social media is a great place for attorneys to get started because it’s relatively easy to set up and offers both organic and paid marketing options that lawyers can use to get ahead of the game. Below, we discuss top social media tips for lawyers to help you develop a smart social media strategy that works for your firm.
Why Is Your Social Media Presence So Important As A Lawyer?
As an attorney, your presence on social media is more important than ever. No longer is having a profile on major platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok isn’t a bonus – it’s a requirement for attorneys who want to engage new clients. Here’s why:
- People use social media to discover new brands. According to Oberlo, 75% of all internet users utilize social media platforms like the above to research brands before they purchase a product or service. And nearly as many businesses said that their social media marketing efforts have been somewhat or extremely effective.
- Clients expect your firm to be active on social media. Oberlo also reports that there are nearly 4.9 billion users on social media today, a staggering increase from years past. This number is expected to climb by a billion more through 2027. For comparison, there were just 2.73 billion users on social media in 2017.
- They’re looking for what their peers have to say about you. Search Engine Journal suggests that 84% of young consumers no longer trust conventional advertisements, and almost all of them look for a company’s negative reviews before deciding to do business with them.
- They want to see examples of success. Potential clients want to see how other clients have succeeded with your law firm. They want to know what types of cases you’ve won and the kinds of clients you’ve represented so they can decide if your experience is relevant to them.
- They also want an insider view into what their experience with your firm will be like. Oberlo reports that 81% of consumers make a point to research a business online before making a purchase with them. Just a year earlier though, Statista reported this number at just under 70%. More consumers are going online – and to social media specifically – to get an idea of what to expect during their experience with your firm before contacting your office.
Top 8 Social Media Tips For Lawyers To Build Your Legal Brand
Social media marketing is an excellent resource for attorneys in every legal field to build trust between themselves and potential clients. It can help you lay the foundation of your legal brand and let clients know what they can come to expect from their experience with your firm.
These simple yet effective social media tips for lawyers can help attorneys strengthen their presence on various platforms and start generating more local awareness for their brand:
1. Post Consistently
One of the most important but difficult-to-achieve aspects of great social media marketing is posting frequently enough. How often you’re posting not only directly impacts whether users follow you, but it also changes how the algorithm promotes your content.
For example, on TikTok, the more content you make, the more the algorithm will promote it. If you’re not sharing content regularly or there’s a lot of time in between your posts, the content that you do make won’t get pushed out to as many users.
It can be tough for lawyers with busy schedules to post content every day, but it’s consistency that’s key to growing your audience and overall brand presence on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. One way to make this easier is by using a social media scheduling tool.
A scheduling tool like Surefire Local can be used to schedule your posts in advance. Instead of logging into each platform every day to post, you can input all your content at once and schedule each post to publish at a different time and day.
2. Share High-Quality Media
Users scroll their social media news feeds quickly and your content needs to catch their attention fast. Make sure you’re sharing high-quality photos, videos, and other interactive media designed to appeal to your target audience. Avoid using your social media as just an advertising platform.
Instead, make sure the content you’re posting is engaging and offers value to users who come across your page. Some examples include quizzes or polls, infographics, behind-the-scenes posts, and video answers to user questions. This kind of dynamic content gives users more reason to interact with your brand and helps your law firm feel more genuine and organic in the different places you appear online.
3. Make Unique Content For Each Platform
While recycling content across different social media platforms can help you trim the time spent on managing your social media content, it could be costly in terms of devaluing the user experience. Clients don’t want to see the same posts on your Facebook that they just saw on your Twitter. Instead, create unique content for each of the social profiles you have to give users a reason to follow you on all of them.
For example, you can use Instagram to post graphic quotes, Tik Tok for short video promotions, and LinkedIn for blog articles. You can still recycle content between profiles, but be sure there’s something unique for users on each platform that they can’t get on another.
You should also be clear about what users will get when they follow you on different platforms – for example, if you’re using YouTube for educational videos, let people know that your Tik Tok is for more casual, laid-back content.
4. Regularly Respond to Questions & Comments
Posting to social media is only one part of your overall social media marketing and management strategy. You should also be responding to comments, answering questions, and replying to negative feedback or concerns. Your social networks should be a place where users can connect with you at a grassroots level and in a more informal way than, say, calling your office or filling out your contact form.
5. Educate Your Audience
Social is a great place to educate your audience about your practice areas, what they can expect from the legal process, and more. This adds a lot of value to your social profiles and increases user engagement while decreasing the burden of educating potential clients on your front desk staff.
Use social media platforms to share infographics, big think pieces, informative videos, and how-to guides that get users involved with your brand while learning about the topics that are important to them.
6. Be Authentic
A big part of the appeal of social media for users is that it offers them the opportunity to interact with a brand on a more personal level. Traditional advertisements are always aimed at consumers, but social platforms allow consumers to engage with the businesses that offer the services they need.
Make your social media presence feel authentic to users by using high-quality images and natural-sounding language. Give potential clients a behind-the-scenes look at your firm and don’t be afraid to jump in the comments for one-on-one conversations with users. This helps your firm look genuine and gives clients an idea of what engaging with your firm offline might be like.
7. Set Achievable Goals
When setting goals for your law firm’s social media marketing initiatives, make sure they’re achievable and practical. Don’t set goals so high you couldn’t possibly reach them regardless of how hard you work — this will have you spinning your wheels and putting in a lot of effort for very little return.
Instead, make sure your goals are SMART — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant/Realistic, and Time-Bound. You should be setting specific goals that are actually attainable, relevant to your legal practice, and that have measurable results. This helps you make sure your legal team’s efforts in your social media marketing campaigns are being applied in a practical, results-oriented way.
8. Be Strategic With Your Time
With only so much time in a day, it’s important to be strategic and apply your availability where it matters most. Put more time into social media initiatives that are performing well and less into campaigns that are struggling. Look for ways to automate menial tasks so your time can be spent on things like strategy, implementation, and analysis.
Get Started Today – Attend A Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
Legal is one of the most competitive areas of digital marketing and for many attorneys, managing all the various aspects of their web presence can be overwhelming. That’s why we created the Surefire Local business intelligence marketing platform.
Contact us today to request a demo of our advanced marketing software or to ask questions about how the Surefire Local platform can help you keep your marketing initiatives organized and effective.