[author: Noreen Fishman]

Social media is an integral part of today’s digital landscape, and it comes with some unique advantages. For one thing, you don’t have to spend a lot to see serious benefits. The more comfortable you are with social media, the more it can do for your firm. If you’re just getting started, we’re here to help with this quick guide to social media for law firms.

The Benefits of Social Media

Arguably the biggest benefit of social media is that it makes you relevant and visible. It’s tough to compete without a strong digital presence. In fact, 1 out of 4 people say that they won’t hire an attorney who doesn’t have a recognizable web or social media presence. So, if you don’t have those things, you are automatically losing out on about 25% of your potential leads.

Brand awareness is one of the key aspects of social media. Even if you choose to opt out of social media, other firms won’t. In order to be found, and also relay trust and credibility, an active social media account is necessary. Plus, social media has a built-in trust maker: reviews. If you can include social proof like testimonials on your social media, it makes your firm appear much more reliable and authoritative.

Social media can also help you with social listening, where you can learn what people are saying about your firm or area of expertise, and keep an eye on the dialogues happening around subjects your audience cares about. Plus, social media improves visibility in search engines. According to Google, social media isn’t a ranking factor on its own, but their algorithm includes a “helpful content update” where “people-first” content that offers value to people helps with ranking. So, the more informational (non-salesy) content that you put out on social, the better the likelihood of helping with rankings.

The Best Social Media Platforms for Law Firms

Not all social media is the same. Different platforms are better for different uses. You want to focus on platforms that are best for your target demographic. Where do they spend time? When it comes to the legal industry, here is where we suggest applying the most effort:

• Facebook – The world’s most used social media platform, it’s important to have a presence here. It’s an ideal spot for ramping up brand awareness and attracting leads with advertising.
• Instagram – A visual-first platform, this is a great place to let your personality show. It’s the ideal place for smaller firms or individual attorneys to share creative content that sets them apart.
• LinkedIn – A professional networking space, this is an ideal platform for creating community and generating leads. It’s especially powerful for firms that work in the B2B space with business professionals rather than consumers.
• TikTok – This space is a massive trend right now, but it goes beyond being popular. Creating entertaining, authentic content on TikTok is a good way to build rapport with your audience.

Social Media Best Practices

If you’ve created accounts on the platforms we mentioned, where do you go from there? There are certain principles that should be followed if you want to have more success on social media.

• Understand your audience – Take the time to research your audience: where they spend time, what their challenges and interests are. Then you can create content that is relevant to them and post it on the platforms where they are most active.
• Be consistent – Posting once in a while isn’t good enough. Make it a point to post multiple times a week, ideally daily. However, don’t post just to post. Make sure you have information worth sharing instead of just promoting your firm over and over.
• Work on branding – Your social presence will have a lot more impact if you use professionally created visual elements. Various templates, color palettes, and logo iterations will help to make your posts pop.
• Be engaging – The whole point of social media is to interact with your audience, so make sure you do. Browse your social media frequently and make sure to answer questions, respond to comments, and participate in discussions.
• Set goals and measure them – How will you know you’re successful unless you have some goals set up? Set monthly or quarterly goals and then review them periodically to see how you’re measuring up.

Post Ideas for Legal Marketers

You need to post consistently, but it’s not always easy coming up with new ideas. For that reason, we’ve created a list of go-to posts for when you’re stumped. Try the following posts when you need ideas:

1. Share helpful legal advice – Use your knowledge to educate your audience. Share tips that can save people money or stress.
2. Infographics – Particularly, infographics that share facts or statistics. They are a great way of sharing information in a visual sense.
3. Provide updates on laws or regulations – Have certain things changed or been updated? Make sure your audience is up to speed on what would relate to them.
4. Share a client review – Social proof like reviews or testimonials are very powerful. Don’t be afraid to promote an outstanding review.
5. Highlight team members – People will relate more to your firm if you humanize your brand. A great way of doing that is talking about your colleagues; consider creating a weekly feature to spotlight employees.
6. Promote job openings – If there is an open role at your firm, try sharing it across social media platforms. Not only will it give the job posting more reach, but it shows your audience that your firm is growing and successful.
7. Share personal thoughts – Don’t be afraid to share an opinion – even a slightly controversial one – on topics that are important to you. For example, if you have a strong opinion on a case that’s been in the news, feel free to draft a comment for social media.

Takeaway:

The truth is that social media is an incredibly powerful tool that all law firms – regardless of size – should be using. Social media is today’s word of mouth. Many firms don’t invest the time because they aren’t sure where to start, but creating accounts and then drafting a few simple posts is better than not starting at all.