The second question that follows “why should I use social media?” is always “well what do I post on my social media channels?” The first factor that will determine what type of content type of content you should post on your social media channels is dependent on which social networks you are using. LinkedIn will call for more formal content, unlike Facebook and Twitter, where you can post more informal content. The second factor that determines what kind of content you should post on social media is the amount of time available you have to create and find content.
General Rule of Thumb for Content:
80% of your content should be original content that you are producing. The remaining 20% should be content that is gathered from outside sources that are relevant to your prospective client. The most important goal of your content is to create value to your prospective customer. When producing content you should always ask yourself “does this provide an answer to some kind of need for a potential client?” The goal is to have people interact and share your content so do not waste your time creating content that does not provide some value to a potential client. Below we outline the best types of original content to share on your social channels.
Types of Original Content To Post:
So what type of original content should you share?
- Blogs: Do you have a blog on your website? You should share your blog posts across all of your social channels. Blogs are great to share on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We recommend sharing this type of content on your social channels because it will direct users to your website.
- Whitepapers: Has your firm produced any whitepapers? Whitepapers on the topics of best practices are great types of content to share on professional networks such as LinkedIn because it helps to establish your law firm’s reputation as experts in your practice area.
- Videos: Does your law firm produce FAQ videos? Does your law firm have a YouTube channel? You should be sharing these videos on your social profiles. We recommend that any video that you chose to share on Facebook is uploaded natively this is due to the fact that Facebook favors videos in their display, that are uploaded directly in the platform rather than those videos that are shared from third party platforms such as YouTube.
- Podcasts: Does your law firm or one of your attorney’s produce a podcast? You should be promoting the podcast and sharing new episodes on your social media channels.
- Culture-oriented content: Does your law firm participate in any community events, fundraisers, conferences, speaking engagements? You should share news about any awards or special recognitions that the firm or any of your employees have received on your social channels. You should use your social channels to promote any speaking engagements that your firm will be presenting at. You should post images and live updated from any conferences or speaking engagements you attend.
Remember if you have a library of this content is always a great idea to repurpose content in another form to save you the time of having to create entirely new content from scratch, For example, if you have a podcast episode on the best practices of estate planning you can summarize the podcast in a form of a blog post which then you can share across your social channels.
About the author
Allen Rodriguez Allen Rodriguez is a legal product development strategist who has been serving the legal industry for over 21 years. Over the course of his career, Allen has built a reputation for creating innovative legal services products as well as developing highly effective law firm business and marketing strategies. Allen is a valued speaker on the topics of law marketing, legal services product development, and future of law issues.