Wondering if your law firm needs an active presence on social media? Social media for lawyers is not a new concept. Many law firm, from Am Law to solos, have been utilizing the social networking sites to build their practices, establish themselves as authorities in their particular field, and generally dominate the online world of potential business. With all the chatter about search engine rankings, SEO, and what works vs. what doesn’t, here are a few reasons why social media for lawyers is a must in today’s competitive environment.
4 Reasons Social Media Campaigns for Lawyers are Necessary:
1. Organic SEO – Search engines (i.e. Google) have moved away from paid SEO and now favor a strong social media presence higher when determining organic search results. In other words, when a potential client follows your law firm on LinkedIn or Google+, or RTs your blog post on Twitter, it is letting the search engines know that you/your site are the authority on that subject. Therefore, more people who interact with you on social media, the more likely your law firm is to show up in organic search results.
2. Control Your Image – In today’s world of Yelp, Avvo, and other online review sites, a lawyer’s reputation can hang in the balance if not carefully controlled. By maintaining an active, consistent, and valuable (aka providing quality, accurate legal content) presence in social media, a lawyer is more able to manage his/her online image and protect the ever-valuable reputation. As we all know, negative word of mouth — accurate or not — can harm a lawyer’s business development prospects. The social networks often show up in search results, giving a lawyer another tool to smartly build his/her online presence.
3. Content Distributor – A law firm’s legal blog and website content receives increased traction when it is shared (by yourself and others) on the social media sites. By targeting your posts and shares to your desired client base, you place your content in the right hands. If you and/or your legal marketing team have properly identified your audience and tailored your law firm’s social media campaign to their needs, your prospective client base will share (like, RT, +1, etc…) the content, sending it to their spheres of social media influence and thereby extending your reach to potential new business.
4. Increases Your Online Visibility – Even if you don’t think your target market is on social media (and they are on at least one social networking site; LinkedIn included), you will certainly find other influencers online. Colleagues, potential referral sources, industry thought leaders, media… Social media allows you to make connections that can help build your legal practice, especially if your competitors are conspicuous by their absence.
Creating and implementing an effective social media strategy for a law firm or lawyer is a full-time job. Focus on your practice while the skilled attorneys slash social media professionals at WebPresence, Esq. build and manage a customized, powerful social networking campaign for you and your law firm.
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