On a near daily basis the marketing community posts about the importance of having social media accounts. While we may debate the efficacy of one platform over another, what seems to be lacking is the element of education: we forget to explain how these platforms benefit business.
For those of us that are too busy wearing many hats as a small business owner, this conundrum may make it seem as though social media is inaccessible. This is particularly true for clients in high-stress fields with long hours, such as attorneys.
After 20 years in the digital marketing industry and a long list of legal clients I have helped along the way, I want to provide a crash course on some of the concrete reasons why having a law firm social media strategy gets you clients.
How Social Media Builds Your Base
Before we get into what you should be posting, let’s take a look at the three main ways social media helps build your visibility and client base.
1. A Place to Find Your Niche
For individuals who are not well acquainted with the marketing side of social media, they don’t always understand that it can be a surprisingly accurate lead generation tool for future clients. In fact, based on a 2018 study from the American Bar Association, 35% of lawyers earned new clients through their use of social media with 96% of all lawyers having some kind of social media presence.
2. Write and Share the Content that Relates to Them
Once you define your niche (for example: middle class families looking for a family lawyer), it’s time to put yourself in their shoes, learn what is important to them, and create or share the content that will be most useful to their greatest concerns.
This not only makes you an area expert, it helps build trust that you, more than any other attorney, can help them with their specific needs.
3. Social Media Builds Relationships
As a lawyer, working on the case is just as important as making your client feel like they have an advocate in their corner. They want to make sure they can trust you not only with their case, but with their time, money, and outcome. Social media, through your own posts and sharing articles that are relevant to your reader, is a great way you can “talk” to potential clients and let them get to know you before ever setting foot in your office.
Many of us don’t trust a company who does not have at least some kind of digital footprint. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have become so ingrained in our society it has become the new way in which we consume most of our media
Effective Social Media Usage
Now that we know why social media is important to the digital marketing strategy of your firm, the next step in the process is determining which social media channels and types of content perform the best on the internet.
The Big 3 Social Media for Law Firms
Which social media platforms you rely on most as a lawyer depends on your target audience, how they use the internet, and which platforms best convey your accessibility and expertise. However, it’s widely accepted that for lawyers, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are must-haves.
LinkedIn provides a unique opportunity to show off your technical knowledge and provide a bank of information and build a network with other industry professionals. With options to interact with other professionals, post articles, and use a direct messaging system, LinkedIn is a closed environment that makes it easy for others to get to know your business on a professional level.
For more casual social media users, Facebook and Twitter offer engaging platforms to build your company voice, put your mission on display, and interact directly with clients. This builds a connection and a dialogue that makes your company more human, and by extension, more trustworthy.
Share Useful Content
This is where having a robust blog comes into play.
Having a blog that discusses and answers the most asked questions of your ideal client base is a sure fire way to bring them to your site. This is because when they search for terms that are included in your blog posts, your articles will show up in their search results. Getting clients to your page this way asserts your position as an industry expert, knowledgeable attorney, and someone who is passionate about educating the community about the work they do.
Make it Visual
While law is not a visually driven field the way a clothing brand might be, sharing visuals on your social media pages can be a quick way to get engagement from clients. For firms, this may look like an infographic about the steps needed to file a personal injury claim, or a side-by-side view on the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.
These types of images are not only easy to understand, but easy to share, increasing your chances of potential cinets seeing and interacting with your content.
Experts in Media Marketing for Lawyers
At Sting, we have a long and successful history of working with lawyers of all types including small businesses, sole practitioners, and large multi-location firms. We do this by offering all out marketing work in-house through a team of passionate professionals in SEO, Design, Content, and Marketing.
If you want to know more about our process, we are just a message away.
