Years ago, one of my clients asked to speak with me about their law firm’s social media. We’d posted educational content (blogs, videos, relevant articles), quotes, and calls to action. That last one was geared toward getting readers/viewers to book a consultation.
When we got on the phone, he explained that he had a younger employee who told us we were doing his social media all wrong. He said she just “got social media” more than we did due to her age. Where were his likes and comments? Many clients express similar concerns because their kids see what their firm posts.
Here Are the Two Questions I Ask
I first ask who their kids/younger employees are following. Primarily, they seek out entertainers, large companies, and influencers. You can’t compare your law firm’s posts to them because you are after different things. (Larger companies want engagement and user-generated content rather than followers.) But you’re not a large company. You can’t afford to be like Amazon or Lululemon.
The other question I ask my clients—who typically run small or solo firms—is how frequently they comment, like, or engage with anyone else’s posts. Most lawyers are not interested in social media in their personal lives. They see the need to use it for marketing, but they are not scrolling for hours when they get home. The people they are reaching out to are more like them than they realize. Considering their audience, they can’t expect to go viral when creating educational content centered around revocable trusts and prenuptial agreements.
Then Why Bother with Social Media?
Please recall that I mentioned that you are after different things than a larger company, entertainer, or influencer. If one of your posts goes viral or you suddenly gain a large following, that’s wonderful. No one is against that. But that is a bonus; it’s icing on the cake. The purpose behind social media, at least in terms of how it applies to lawyers, is to nurture and stay in touch with your existing audience. Your existing audience is likely past clients and people you’ve met throughout your career (networking).
The attorneys I work with have thousands of past clients. Instead of going out and hunting for new clients, get more referrals from your existing network. Every law firm I have worked with lives off referrals. Occasionally, they’ll get someone who found them on social media or through a Google search, but this is not the norm. Because their referrals greatly outnumber their cold leads, they figure they need to invest more in the latter. They don’t.
More people are willing to refer an attorney to a friend, family member, or colleague than they do because they forget who you are. After my divorce, someone asked me if I knew a family law attorney, but I’d forgotten his name. The sad part is that I would have happily referred him had I remembered. Conversely, I always recommend my clients to people who need legal services because I work with these lawyers. They are at the top of my mind. You’ll stay at the top of your network’s mind through social media. It works.
100,000 Followers Doesn’t Equal $100,000
Don’t chase followers; you need results. Followers are not a valid metric of your success on social media. Use these instead:
- Am I getting more referrals since I began posting regularly?
- Am I getting more referrals from a broader range of people?
- Am I getting more of the clients I want to work with?
- Am I able to charge more for my services because of my branding?
I will point out that “branding” for attorneys means credibility. These are the types of metrics that matter infinitely more than followers or likes. The best part is that you don’t need a lot of followers to see results. If you want more referrals, grow your audience. Ironically, this will happen naturally as you get more referrals. Add them to your list, nurture that relationship with social media (and newsletters), and get more referrals.
Social media is not failing you because you aren’t going viral. We could post cat and fail videos and get more followers, but how many of them will call you for legal services? Those posts don’t work because they do nothing to further your credibility (branding!). Sit back, ignore the vanity metrics, and measure your social media’s value through the right metrics.
Spotlight Branding
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