Are you hesitant about letting your lawyers establish a presence on social media? You’re not alone. Law firms have been slow to embrace social media and rightfully so. Boasting real time interaction and a huge audience, social media runs the risk of exposing lawyers to legal pitfalls. However, there are ways you can safely allow lawyers to manage their social media sites and ways you can control the social identity of your firm. According to the 2013 American Bar Association Legal Technology Survey Report, in 2010 just 17% of lawyers said that their firms had a social media presence. In 2013, that number was up to 59%! If you’re not yet part of this growing number or if you are looking for ways to improve your strategy, then read on. We’re going to help you gain control of your law office’s social media presence with 5 helpful tips.
1. Create a Linkedin Company Page and Have Your Lawyers Connect
Establishing a Linkedin presence for both your office and your lawyers is a great start to tackling the social media giant. After all, it is the social networking site for the professional world. As such, Linkedin is often a safer option for professional companies operating on strict guidelines and seeking direct business benefits.
By creating a company page for your law office, you will be able to feature important information about your firm and connect with your lawyers, clients, and those networking connections in between. After creating your company page, just ask your lawyers to update their personal Linkedin profiles to show that they are currently working at your law firm. By doing so, they will automatically become followers. From here, you will also want to encourage them to like, share and comment on your posts to really drive engagement.
2. Share Relevant Legal Content on Twitter
A next step to improving your law office’s social media presence is to create a Twitter account. Twitter is a micro-blogging platform focused on real-time interaction and sharing bite sized pieces of information. That is why it is the perfect outlet for sharing relevant legal content, such as news stories and company updates, with your followers. Whenever your lawyers find important articles or write their own blog posts, have them forward their content to you and blast it out to your Twitter followers. This will encourage engagement and help position your office and lawyers as subject matter experts.
3. Have Your Lawyers Set Their Facebook Pages to Private
Facebook can be a more difficult network to manage, especially since it is so focused on open conversation. Some companies may find it daunting to interact with clients on Facebook, since you never know when someone is going to share unpleasant feedback on your page. If your law office is not ready for a Facebook presence, that is okay. We just recommend that your lawyers properly manage theirs. If one of your lawyers would like to use Facebook as a personal marketing tool, make sure that they either have a separate personal account for friends, family, and fun stuff, or they forego sharing personal stuff altogether. The important thing is that if they are using Facebook as a marketing tool, that specific page should be business-only. And if they do have a personal page for fun stuff, they may want to set it to private so that clients and prospects cannot see their information.
4. Establish a YouTube Presence
YouTube, the video-sharing social media site, has more than 1 billion users making it the place to be for brands looking to promote their videos. And if you don’t currently produce online videos, add it to your list of digital marketing tactics. According to Video Brewery, 100 million internet users watch online video each day!
Law offices can take advantage of YouTube in a number of ways. For instance, you can share your past and present TV commercials with your online users, feature your lawyers sharing relevant legal advice, promote your services, or even share video testimonials from the clients you have served. With online video, the opportunities are endless and the benefits are substantial.
5. Advertise on Social Media
If your marketing budget has some leftover dollars to be used, consider giving social media advertising a trial run. Almost all major social media sites offer a wealth of advertising opportunities for as little or as much money as you would like to spend.
Creating an ad on Linkedin, promoting a post on Facebook, and promoting a tweet are all great ways to expand your audience and generate new leads. For the best quality ads, always include a link to your website, rotate your ads every 3-5 days, and A/B test to see what works best on each platform!
We understand that social media can be a little overwhelming at first but as with anything, it will get easier with practice. If you need assistance setting up or managing your social media accounts, don’t hesitate to contact Informatics.
View the rest of the attorney digital marketing blogs from this month:
10 Ways Attorneys Can Generate Leads through Email Marketing
Top 10 Blogging Tips for Attorneys
SEO for Attorneys: Do’s and Don’ts
