An increasing number law firms and lawyers are finally coming to realize that social media activity is important for a law firm or a lawyer’s practice. Certainly, social media activity can be a great way to spread information about the law firm, share legal information, make new contacts and, ultimately, generate more leads. In a lot of ways, generating leads through social media is becoming the replacement to clients finding lawyers through word searches on the search engines.

At the same time, many law firms are finally ditching the client bulletins that they used to send out in favor of setting up law firm social media accounts. From Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc., there are a great number of social media platforms that make sense for law firms. Why create, send and mail client bulletins when the same information can be disseminated online for free?

What many law firms and lawyers still miss, however, is that you must have followers or likes for the social media activity to be seen by others. In other words, many lawyers and law firms invite their friends, family members or current contacts to like or be followers of their social media pages. This might result in a minimum number of likes or followers from folks that already know them (and who likely will never become their client).

The law firm or lawyer then begins postings various information on their social media accounts. From various legal articles from third parties, or information about the law firm itself, the lawyer or law firm begins becoming active on social media. The folks that see these posts are individuals who already know them.  When new contacts are not made, and the information is not spread to new ears, not a lot of benefit comes from the social media activity.

In following this approach, many law firms or lawyers can become discouraged. Some law firms and lawyers might curiously ask: “Why isn’t there more social media activity on our accounts?” “Why aren’t we generating more leads from social media?” “Is social media even worth all the time and effort?” Ultimately, many law firms and lawyers can become discouraged and give up.

What these law firms and lawyers are missing, unfortunately, is that they do not have many followers or likes from larges masses of people or folks that don’t already know them. Without having many followers or likes, the reality is that hardly anybody is seeing their social media posts. Particularly, nobody new is seeing their activity. Instead, the only people who are seeing it are those friends, family members and contacts they already know — and who will likely never need them.

To ensure that the social media activity is actually reaching an audience, law firms and lawyers really need to focus on generating followers and likes from mass audiences and those who do not know them. With lots of mew followers and likes, lots of people will then see their social media activity, including individuals who might have never known of the law firm or lawyer otherwise. When lots of individuals see the social media activity, the word will then get out. These individuals will comment on the social media activity and even like or share it on their own pages.

When this happens, the social media activity can become very powerful. In a lot of ways, the social media activity can become more powerful than running radio, television or other expensive advertising. The law firm or lawyer generates name recognition from their social media accounts.  Folks also beginning reading their content and social media activity. While maybe not happening quickly, over time, the law firm or lawyer’s business can begin to grow.

But, again, it all comes down to having a vast audience through lots of followers or likes first.  After that, the social media posts will begin having an impact because lots of individuals will end up seeing it. How does a lawyer or law firm get this vast audience? This isn’t necessarily easy or simply, but here are some tips:

• Law firms and lawyers can pay many social media outlets to promote their posts and encourage likes. While this can cost some money, if you are trying to generate business through social media, you must have followers or likes. So, paying to get some followers or likes is probably worth it.
• Law firms can also provide really interesting information that can cause individuals to want to follow or like the page just because of the great content. But even for this to work, there has to be a certain number of followers or likes first to grease the wheels. Otherwise, the great content will go unread.
• It’s also possible to use the “@” sign in social media posts to get content on the pages of others out there who have a vast following. When others on these other popular pages see your posts, they might invariably follow or like your page.
• The use of the “#” can also be used to get organic views and likes. This is particularly true if you come up with a creative hashtag or even just use keyword rich hash tags that get individuals to read your content. If they read your content, they might end up following or liking your page.
• In welcome packets and letters to new clients, lawyers and law firms can also invite individuals to like their pages. If current clients begin following or liking their page, a certain number of their friends, family members and contacts (even if small in number at first) will invariably like your page as well.

At the end of the day, social media activity for law firms and lawyers is certainly worth the effort. But if you are simply spending a lot of time by posting or tweeting away with a minimum followers and likes, the reality is that the social media activity is not going to be fruitful. Think of ways in which you can generate followers and likes — and then, and only then, will the social media activity reap benefits.