An estimated 72% of Americans use social media multiple times per day. Hence, there is no denying the power of social media and how it has pervaded our lives. We use it to connect with family and friends, to build networks, to find career opportunities, to shop, and to get information about anything under the sun.
Seeing how people have become increasingly reliant on social media, companies started using different platforms to find customers, boost sales through promotion, and offer customer support. Law firms should not be an exception. They, too, could employ social media marketing (SMM) strategies to connect with potential clients and strengthen their online presence so people needing legal services would turn to them.
Perhaps your law firm has never done this before or you’re not quite sure how to go about it. In this case, a law firm smm company can help you implement the following best practices that are guaranteed to make you rise above your rival law firms.
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Engage With Potential Clients
There’s a myriad of ways that your law firm can connect with your target audience. One is by regularly posting informative and interesting content. If people find your posts meaningful and insightful, then they will keep coming back for more. This builds your law firm’s credibility and should they ever need legal services, they would most likely consider your law firm.
Moreover, if your social media posts strike a chord with your audience, then they might feel compelled to ask clarificatory questions. Answering your audience’s frequently asked questions helps them deal with minor legal concerns and establishes your law firm as an expert in your respective field.
Another is by sharing blog posts, which is possibly the most powerful tool in your SMM arsenal. First, you have to ensure that your blog post is relevant to your target audience. Then, create a social media post with keywords that link back to your website. Come up with a catchy quote to caption your social media post to get people’s attention. If the content is worth sharing, then people would readily share it with their community without you asking them to do so.
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Craft A Social Media Policy
A social media policy would be your law firm’s guide in carrying out your social media activities and ensuring that they comply with your company’s stand on advertising. The policy should also include the approval procedure for social media content. It’s ideal to empower lawyers and employees to share relevant content, but no content should be posted without prior approval. This ensures that all content is consistent with the firm’s brand and voice. When any lawyer responds to a comment, the voice is not that of the individual, but the firm’s.
In the event of a social media disaster, this policy will help your law firm do damage control. It keeps emotions in check and prevents anyone from adding fuel to the fire. With the right response, the crisis will be averted and things will go back to normal.
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Abide By The 70/30 Principle
Your law firm’s SMM efforts should strike a balance between posting informative content and promoting your professional services. The ideal ratio is 70% valuable content and 30% promotion with a call to action. Posting valuable content is given a higher percentage because it’s what attracts and enlarges your audience base. On the other hand, promoting your services to them should be done in moderation so your marketing strategy would not be perceived as too direct or pushy.
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Check Out The Competition
In business, it’s always prudent to monitor your competitors. The same goes for law firms as well, especially if your firm is just starting to explore the endless possibilities of SMM. You have much to learn from the big players in the industry as they have invested considerable time and money in their social media strategy. This is hugely beneficial for your law firm as you don’t have to start from ground zero (and spend as much!), but would have, at the very least, the foundation upon which you can build an effective strategy.
You can evaluate for yourself which tactics work for them and which ones don’t. You save time and avoid pain as you learn from their experience.
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Keep Up With Special Features And Innovations
To optimize the use of social media platforms for marketing, you need to be tech-savvy enough to use their features to your best advantage. For instance, using hashtags and keywords spells a huge difference. Used properly, hashtags can help you broaden your audience base and enhance their engagement on your content. On the other hand, keywords used by potential clients as they search for particular information direct them to your law firm if your content contains the same keywords.
You may not be aware of it but social media is innovating at a rapid pace, rolling out new features and formats faster than we could keep up. If you try out the new features ahead of the others, the social media algorithm will work in your favor in that your content will have a wider reach.
Images used to be the norm, but now videos have entered the fray and are attracting a lot of attention. Instead of text-heavy posts with photos, your firm can experiment with explainer videos using layman’s language.
Final Analysis
Who says law firms can’t leverage social media? With the right know-how and the proper approach, your law firm can join the bandwagon and reap the benefits of boosting its online presence. The best practices outlined above will help you get started on your SMM journey, and there’d be no looking back!
