How much does your law firm rely on Instagram? If you’ve been paying high acquisition costs using the platform, you might want to reconsider. There are ways to grow and engage your Instagram following without simply paying for more ads. In this post, we are covering how to convert your Instagram followers into potential clients. 

1. Create Instagram Business Development Channels

In order to be successful on social media, you need a strong foundation. Part of that foundation is audience research and mobile-optimized business development channels. In this way, you can begin to enter people into your buyer’s journey and move forward from there. Fortunately, Instagram has built-in options that can make this process easier. Start by adding one of Instagram’s action buttons to your profile. For example, you could try the “Book Now” button to encourage appointments directly on your calendar. You can also try the “Get Quote” button to generate more leads for estimates. Furthermore, make sure to include a link to an optimized landing page in your bio. You can even use a tool like Linktree to make your landing page more effective. Next, make sure you really understand your audience and their behavior. Instagram has lots of tools to help you get to know your audience better and learn how they behave. Review account insights to see what drives the most results. For upper-funnel insights, check engagement metrics like comments and shares. When it comes to lower-funnel insights, look for things like stickers or button taps. Use features like post captions or poll stickers to ask your followers what they’d like to see more of. 

Related: Advanced Social Media Strategies for Law Firms eBook

2. Buyer’s Journey Phase 1: Content that Increases Brand Awareness

Let’s start with the top of the funnel. Here, you’ll focus on driving discovery and brand awareness of your firm. The key in this stage is educational or entertaining content (without the selling). Remember that in this stage of the buying process, future clients are just starting their research. Focus on content that helps Instagram users get to know your firm. For example, you can post your take on the latest trends or issues happening in your area. Highlight key features and benefits of your services, and let people get a feel for what it’s like to work with your firm. Deliver helpful information without a pushy CTA. Instagram will prioritize content that is engaging and relevant, so creating high-performing content is key. This is why it’s important to complete step one and understand what your audience is really looking for to encourage engagement. It’s also a good idea to review your audience insights to see how people are finding your content. You can see the differences between the feed, hashtags, etc. Make sure to add both branded and niche hashtags for discoverability. You may also want to collaborate with partners to reach a wider audience. 

3. Buyer’s Journey Phase 2: Content that Encourages Conversation

Once you are on a follower’s radar, it’s time to show them why they should consider your firm vs. others. Using a middle-of-the-funnel strategy, you can guide prospects to a buying decision without being overly promotional. In the previous step, you would have covered broad educational topics, but now is the time to be more detailed. People here are looking for more specific information and seeking to understand how you stack up against competitors. This is also the place to include high-value lead magnets and proprietary content. Gated content is important for turning regular followers into actual leads. Because it requires people to exchange their contact information, only those who are genuinely interested in your practice are likely to go through the steps. This is also an ideal stage to invite potential clients into conversations with your team. Comments are helpful, but DMs are an even better way to open up opportunities. If a comment-based conversation is going well, try messaging the person directly with more detailed information. For keeping track of prospects, use Instagram’s in-app labels to organize your DMs. Using this technique. you can flag conversations for follow-up or other actions. To take things to the next level, try using the Meta Business Suite to add custom labels or write internal notes. 

4. Buyer’s Journey Phase 3: Content that Increases Conversion

Once you’ve completed the above steps, you can gradually guide prospects further into the client journey. If they’ve made it to the bottom of the funnel, you can add more direct CTAs that point people in the right direction. Use tactics like link stickers and optimized links in your bio to lead prospects to landing pages that will encourage them to take the next step in your eventual sales process. In Stories, use link stickers that people can use to book a quick consultation. It’s always a good idea to add UTM codes to any URLs so you can track visitors and conversions. At the same time, keep using DMs to nurture the relationships you started. 

5. Buyer’s Journey Phase 4: Cultivate Loyalty

Use Instagram to encourage engagement and develop a stronger relationship with clients. Offer exclusive content to clients and items to incentivize referrals. Use the DM labels to find current clients and reach out to them directly with premium content. To get more engagement, make sure to follow clients that follow you and comment on their content too. As you interact with clients, ask them to share their thoughts and experiences with your firm as social proof for others (ask for permission to share). Remember, though, these relationships shouldn’t be one-sided, you need to do what you can to offer value to clients as well. 

Takeaway: 

Many marketers assume Instagram ads are necessary without trying more organic efforts first. By building out funnel-based Instagram content, you can get more leads into your sales funnel without paying for ads. Put in an effort at each stage to guide casual followers into becoming loyal clients.