Are your law firm’s social networks garnering the kind of attention that actually brings in new business / connects you with thoughts leaders / expands your referral network? Why not?! If you are devoting the time and expense to maintaining an active online presence, you want to see a return on your investment, don’t you?
Read on for 5 tips on how to make sure your law firm’s web presence is buzzworthy and profitable.
1. Understand Your Audience.
Understanding who your audience is and what they are looking for will put you leaps and bounds in front of your competition. While this tip is Marketing 101, many lawyers think like lawyers, not like their prospective client base.
Some questions to ask yourself when you’re tweeting, blogging, Facebooking, etc.. include:
- What are the needs of my community?
- What questions are they asking online and how can my content help answer these questions?
- What types of content make the biggest impact with my audience: Text, video, images?
- When and where are they most likely to be active on social media?
- What types of content are they most likely to share?
2. Hit a Nerve.
Is your blog post touching on a hot legal issue? Current event or tragedy? Timely, relevant content is everything, especially to Google. Incorporate an element of analysis into your commentary and watch as people respond and relate to you.
3. Get Visual.
Providing content in a variety of formats in necessary to keep your audience engaged and interested. According to Hubspot, Facebook pasts with images receive 54% more likes and 104% more comments than those without. One great way to connect that desire for images with the need for lawyers to provide useful information are infographs. Used correctly, infographs can be a powerful marketing tool for lawyers. But be cautious in your attempt to break down complicated legal issues into brief bullet points — ethical concerns arise if you are providing content that is not completely accurate.
Recent infograph we designed for a client.
4. Engage with Other Online Influencers.
Social media is just that — social. Even if your law firm has thousands of loyal followers, leveraging the influence of other thought leaders can significantly increase the reach of your content. It looks something like this: a fellow attorney with a few thousand of his owner Facebook ‘likes’ and/or Twitter followers takes your fresh blog post and shares it on his accounts, expanding your audience exponentially. Build on this relationship by returning the favor and watch your law firm’s online creditability and audience grow.
5. Be Different.
Many attorneys don’t take the time to create truly original content. We don’t mean re-writing the California Family Code, but we do mean taking legal issues of interest to your audience (see #1, above) and putting your own spin on it. Sure, a potential client or referral source probably wants to know the applicable law while also reading about how the code section or case opinion applies to them (i.e. your fresh perspective). Consumers hire professionals they can trust. Show your trustworthiness and expertise in your content.
A strong social media presence is not built overnight. It takes time to build the relationships that allow for other influencers to be confident in promoting you (see #4) and to show your potential client base that you have the answers to their pressing questions. This requires an intimate understanding of your law firm’s business development goals, wants, and needs. For guidance on how to address each of these, contact the expert legal marketers at WebPresence, Esq. today.
