Social Media Marketing for your Lawfirm
Some law firms today already are engaging with social media and marketing in innovative, fresh ways. However, many law firms are still left asking the question: “What is social media marketing?” Over 90 percent of small law firms already use social media in some way—like having Facebook or LinkedIn profiles—but social media and marketing are currently only being combined by about half of firms.
Social media marketing can project your firm's brand into people's homes in an authentic, participatory way. This guide will show you how social media marketing can put your firm ahead of your competitors and answer your question of “what is social media marketing?” by familiarizing you with some of the basic social media plaforms available today.
What is Social Media Marketing on Facebook?
What do your 90 year old great aunt, your first crush from high school, your ex-colleague and his cat have in common? Probably nothing—except that they all have Facebook profiles. If you've hesitated to get a Facebook account for yourself or your law firm, it's time to realize that resistance is futile: you will be assimilated into the Facebook universe if you want to combine social media and marketing. So what is social media marketing on Facebook? What does it look like?
The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. The presence you build using Facebook will depend completely on the kind of image that you want to project with your social media marketing. “What is social media marketing?” can be answered for some firms with a steady stream of Facebook posts and occasional comments. Others use their Facebook walls to link blog content, run polls, and interact with potential clients.
While 83 percent of lawyers today are using blogging, only 57 percent are using Facebook for their social media and marketing efforts. If you have a blog already, adding a Facebook presence is one of the fastest ways to get people to read the social media marketing content on your blog.
One of the key answers to “what is social media on Facebook?” is this: it's incorporating yourself into a community. What the nature of that community is depends entirely on your firm, but your social media marketing efforts on Facebook should always focus on participating and listening, not just spewing out content.
What is Social Media Marketing on Twitter?
140 characters may not sound like it's enough to communicate something useful, but maximizing your social media and marketing presence means starting to economize your words. Short and to the point is the name of the game, and Twitter posts are confined to just a few characters more than a typical text message.
When lawyers ask what is a social media marketing strategy on Twitter that works, they are often surprised to find that the most effective tweets aren't the longest ones. In order to have the best social media marketing, you'll want to try to keep your tweets under 100 characters. Think of this aspect of social media and marketing as helping to hone your writing skills—after all, brevity and clarity are great qualities in writing offline as well.
Try to confine your Twitter posts to four or fewer per day. Lawyers who start by asking “what is social media marketing?” often overextend themselves with social media marketing efforts once they get started. Too many Twitter posts a day, though, will lead to your firm being followed by fewer people, and your social media and marketing efforts may go unnoticed.
What is Social Media Marketing on Blogs?
To have the best results from social media marketing, you'll need to strategize first. This requires thinking hard about what your social media and marketing strengths are. For example, let's say you're a solo practitioner, and also a great writer who can concisely explain legal topics for your clients. A blog may be one of the best things you can do to drive your web traffic.
If you want to know what is a social media marketing strategy that works, you'll need to know one thing above all: the internet hates a fake. If your content is perceived as being phony or too sales-oriented, it doesn't matter how great your other social media and marketing efforts are—they'll be doomed to fail. It's important to make sure that your blog entries seem genuine, and that they're not too dry. Giving your blog a real voice, a real character, can ensure that you seem different from your competition (a key part of social media marketing).
What is Social Media Marketing Analytics?
Once you've moved beyond asking “what is social media marketing?” you can start asking “how can I make sure my social media and marketing goals are being met?” Because social media marketing has exploded in recent years, new analytics tools are being developed constantly to help you interpret the new web traffic you receive as a result of your marketing efforts.
A lot of small firms are not well equipped to analyze their social media and marketing results. If you need help with figuring out what your data means, a number of social media marketing services today specialize in crunching numbers for law firms.
What is Social Media Marketing Reputation Management?
When your firm combines social media and marketing, you'll need to keep an eye on how you're perceived online. Social media marketing can help you identify potential issues with client satisfaction. For example, you can maintain consistent monitoring of client review websites, including Yelp, so that you know about any negative reviews you have received.
Many social media marketing firms sell full reputation management services that can help you build a great reputation online and minimize the consequences of negative reviews. These services are a great alternative if you don't have the ability to hire someone to work full-time at your firm handling social media and marketing issues like reputation management.
