Social media is one of the major ways in which people connect with each other. According to data from the Pew Research Center, 70% of U.S. adults use at least one social media platform regularly. Social media use is even higher among adults 18 to 49. Long gone are the days when social media was the province of teenagers. Lawyers and law firms that do not effectively use social media are at serious risk of falling behind in marketing.
Client acquisition is an essential part of building and growing a successful law firm. A well-tailored social media presence can build your authority, support SEO rankings, and help your law firm connect with more clients. In this article, you will find a comprehensive guide on the key things to how to brand your law firm on social media.
An Overview of Social Media Marketing for Lawyers
A well-crafted social media strategy can help your law firm better reach its marketing goals. Social media is fundamentally about engagement. Lawyers and law firms can use social media to engage—both professionally with colleagues and with potential clients. Indeed, social media can be an efficient and cost-effective way to develop your brand. Here are five key benefits of social media marketing for lawyers:
- Boost Brand Awareness: Many people engage with brands primarily through social media. Although law firms are not typically thought of as “brands”—the reality is that every business offers a brand proposition. Social media platforms allow attorneys and law firms to both develop and boost awareness of their brand.
- Build Expert Authority: Lawyers are experts in their field. According to a survey cited by National Jurist, specialized expertise is one of the core things that people look for when selecting a law firm. Social media platforms allow lawyers and law firms to build their expert authority—both directly with potential clients and with search engines.
- Engage with the Community: Lawyers and law firms can use social media to engage with the community. Most law firms are local businesses—meaning their target audience resides in the area. By engaging with the community—and putting that engagement on social media—law firms can better build their name in their local community.
- Connect With New Clients: Social media allows lawyers to connect directly with new potential clients. Client acquisition is an essential part of building and maintaining a successful law firm. When searching for a lawyer, many people will look directly at social media platforms. They may look to find an attorney through social media or to get a better sense of whether or not an attorney is a right fit by reviewing their social media accounts.
- Improve Your Law Firm’s SEO Rankings: Search engine optimization (SEO) matters. A significant number of people find their lawyers over the internet. High-ranking law firms get more leads. According to data cited by the Search Engine Journal, the first result on Google gets approximately 33% of the clicks. The next four organic results get another 33% of the clicks. All other search results share the remaining. If your law firm is listed on the fourth page of Google for a key search term, very few people are ever going to see it—let alone click through. With active and well-structured social media accounts, you can improve your law firm website’s SEO rankings.
Social Media Posts for Lawyers: Know the Best Practices
Getting started on social media can feel like a daunting task for a lawyer or law firm. Not only are there many different social media platforms, but it is not easy to know exactly what to post. To help you get started, here is an overview of the best practices for developing a social media branding strategy for your law firm:
- Know Your Professional Obligations (Ethical Rules): As a starting point, attorneys and law firms must follow all of their professional and ethical duties. Make sure that your social media branding and advertising strategy comply with any regulations set forth by your state bar association. Notably, the American Bar Association (ABA) has put together a useful guide to some core ethical guidelines for lawyers on social media.
- Develop Clear Goals: What do you want to get out of social media? Are you looking to make your law firm more visible in a general sense? Are you interested in improving your SEO rankings and maximizing the visibility of your law firm’s website? Do you want to connect with more potential clients? Regardless, it is crucial that you develop clear, actionable goals. Once you have your objectives in place, you will be in a better position to develop a social media branding strategy for your law firm that works.
- Keep it Professional—But With a Personal Touch: Lawyers should always be professional on social media. Along the same lines, a law firm’s social media account should always be professional. Law is a serious industry. People want to hire an attorney who they trust to act professionally and protect their best interests. That being said, a social media account is not the same thing as a law firm website. There is some room to add a personal touch. A professional social media account with a personal touch can be the best way to develop a memorable brand.
- Update Your Profiles consistently: Imagine that you are looking to retain a professional for a certain service. You come across their Facebook account only to find that it has not been updated since 2017. What are you going to do next? Many people simply click away. Few will send a message through Facebook to an account that has not been updated in several years, or even as little as thirty days. A key part of developing a successful social media strategy for a law firm is keeping your profiles/accounts updated regularly. This does not mean that you need to post every single day—but consistent updates can be the difference between a potential client setting up an initial consultation and them reaching out to one of your competitors.
- Take Advantage of Each Platform’s Unique Characteristics: The social media strategy that works on LinkedIn may not be very effective on Instagram. The content that performs well on Facebook may not be well-suited for Twitter or TikTok. The major social media platforms have different characteristics. It is a best practice to develop a comprehensive social media marketing strategy that is designed to take advantage of each platform’s unique advantages. For example, if you are going to set up an Instagram account for your law firm, it is highly recommended that you use somewhat personalized photo and video content. In contrast, LinkedIn should generally be strictly professional, with highly polished written content.
Social Media Networks to Consider for Lawyers and Law Firms
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is widely considered to be the most “professional” social media platform. Lawyers and law firms should have a LinkedIn profile. It is a great way to build brand authority. For attorneys and law firms that have professional clients—such as businesses—LinkedIn may also be a great place to connect with those clients directly.
Facebook
Facebook is still the dominant social media platform. It is the most used social media platform worldwide. Although Facebook has lost some of its market share among younger users in the United States, it retains the overwhelming market dominance in social media for U.S. users over the age of 35. Law firms can benefit from setting up a social media profile.
Instagram
Instagram is largely a photo and video sharing platform. That being said, it can still be a great place for a law firm to develop its brand. While Instagram is not the right platform for complex written content, it is a great platform for “softer” and more “personal” information about lawyers and law firms.
Twitter
Twitter allows users to share information of 240 characters or less. Twitter is often thought of as the fastest-moving social media platform. It is the place where many people keep up with breaking news and other events. Lawyers and law firms can develop a marketing and branding strategy using Twitter. As always, it is important to ensure that content is well-tailored for the specific platform.
YouTube
Youtube allows for the sharing of videos. A growing number of lawyers and law firms are using video content as part of their overall marketing and branding strategy. Although not the best option for every law firm, video could be a way to take your legal marketing to the next level. Youtube is a great platform to share video content.
Google My Business
A Google Business Profile is not a traditional “social media” platform. Still, it should be a key part of any law firm’s social media branding strategy and search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. By setting up a Google Profile, you can improve your law firm’s visibility and authoritativeness. It is a relatively simple step that can pay big dividends in digital marketing for law firms.
If you need help figuring out the social media landscape for your law firm, contact a company like ONE400. Here is a link: www.one400.com
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