How to Use Social Media for Your Law Firm, Part 2

March 9, 2017
Daniel Decker

Last week we covered several critical goals for an effective law firm social media presence. I recommend that you read the entire post if you haven’t already, but here’s a recap of the “big four” goals you should accomplish on social media:

1 – Build top-of-mind awareness with clients and referral sources.
2 – Enhance your credibility and reflect your status as a highly-educated and skilled professional.
3 – Create brand consistency – make it crystal-clear who you work with, and how you help them.
4 – Educate and engage your audience – which attracts good clients while filtering out those that aren’t a fit.

Again, please read the entire post because it’s critical that we’re on the same page about what you should accomplish with your social media presence.

Now, let’s talk about where to begin. We recommend that all small law firms have a presence on the following social networks:

Facebook. You should have a branded business page for your law firm – this is different than your “personal” Facebook profile.

Twitter. You definitely want a presence for your law firm, and if you personally enjoy using Twitter, you should likely have a separate profile for yourself.

LinkedIn. Every attorney should have a personal LinkedIn profile. Frankly, not having this will create huge credibility problems. And we also recommend a separate LinkedIn Company Page for your firm.

Google+. Google+ doesn’t get as much buzz as it used to, but we recommend that your law firm have a page there. The fact that a Google+ page can impact search visibility on Google’s search engine is a sufficient reason to create a presence, in and of itself.

These 4 platforms are foundational and we recommend them for every firm. In addition, platforms like Instagram and Pinterest can be excellent marketing channels for a law firm, but they require a little bit of extra creativity and outside-the-box thinking to leverage. So I highly recommend that you start with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

The first step is to set-up and brand your profiles on each platform. There are obviously differences from platform to platform, but the format is basically the same – a photo or two, and basic information about your firm. I highly recommend that you use the same photos across all platforms – and that those photos match the branding of your website. You will have to crop them differently of course, but it’s important to create brand consistency and these visuals will help you accomplish that.

Once your profiles are set-up, it’s time to start posting content. I’ve written an in-depth blog entry on that subject, which you can read here. But today, we’ll keep it brief. The first point is that you need to post content consistently. You can’t build any sort of engaged following if you disappear for weeks at a time. We highly recommend that you post daily, or at the very least every other day.

The other point I want to emphasize here is that your content should be value-based. You can’t simply post promotional content over and over and expect your audience to stay engaged. Instead, mix it up and post content that your audience will care about. Blog entries that provide practical advice for your target market. News articles that matter to your clients and potential clients. Quotes that inspire your audience – or simply make them laugh. Give your followers a reason to pay attention and they’ll stay engaged… meanwhile, you’re educating them, pre-selling them, establishing your expertise, and creating top-of-mind awareness.

And finally, think about growing your audience. If you’re posting genuinely helpful content and promoting your social media channels via your website and elsewhere, your audience will grow organically with time. But you can accelerate the process through paid advertising or through other organic strategies. On Facebook, we suggest a combination of running ads specifically to generate “Likes” for your page while also “boosting” posts to ensure they reach your target market. On Twitter, you can grow your audience without paying a dime by simply “following” other users who are in your target market. When you follow them, many of them will check out your profile and if they like what they see, a percentage of them will reciprocate by following you back.

This is a brief and high-level overview of the social media landscape as it relates to your law practice. If you have questions or want some more information, feel free to shoot me an email – daniel@spotlightbranding.com.

And if you’d like our team to create and execute this strategy for you, click here.

 

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Daniel Decker

Daniel Decker is a co-founder and Partner at Spotlight Branding. In addition to helping lawyers stand out from the crowd, he spends his time writing, dreaming up new marketing strategies, and coming up with catchy subject lines. In his spare time, Daniel enjoys playing sports, guitar, politics, and Minnesota sports.