Social Media Marketing Strategy For Your Law Firm

Everything About Social Media Marketing Strategy

The best social media marketing doesn't look very much like traditional advertising. What does it look like? That's the best part—it looks like your firm being itself. This guide will help you develop a social media marketing strategy so that you can put yourself ahead of the competition. Studies have shown that while over 80 percent of law firms are using some social media marketing strategies, less than a third are fully participating. By increasing your participation, you'll increase your visibility and your client base.

Social Media Marketing Strategy #1: Know Thyself

Before you can build social media marketing strategies that work, you need to think about what makes your law firm different. Your firm isn't the same as the firm down the street, even if it takes the same kind of cases. The individuals who make up your firm give it a personality, a “feel,” that you can turn into branding. The best social media marketing involves using your brand effectively and consistently.

Let's say that you're an adoption law firm with several attorneys, and most of your cases involve foreign adoption. Your social media marketing strategies should take into account what your firm's real effect is: creating families. A social media marketing strategy for a tax law firm will look quite different, and there's nothing wrong with that.

There's no one right social media marketing strategy that works for everyone. Aggression might work for some types of firms, while others will want to maintain more “touchy feely” social media marketing strategies. What draws your clients in? What do they tell you that they loved about your firm? Your best social media marketing can come from the strengths your clients talk to you about.

Social Media Marketing Strategy #2: Go Beyond Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn

A large number of law firms that say they have social media marketing strategies actually just mean that their attorneys have LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, or maybe that their firm has a company Twitter account. While it's important to maintain a presence on these websites, today some of the best social media marketing opportunities are elsewhere.

Let's say that your firm, or one of its attorneys, maintains a blog as part of your social media marketing strategy. A new post just went up that's genuinely interesting to a particular audience, and doesn't look like a sales pitch. You can start by posting links to the post on your Facebook or Twitter feeds, but great social media marketing strategies mean going beyond.

Reddit.com is an increasingly popular website that aggregates links and allows users to “upvote” those they love, and “downvote” irrelevant or spam links. Some of the best social media marketing can include submitting your content to Reddit and similar websites, where your content is displayed right next to news from the largest media outlets in the world.

One piece of cautionary advice, though: don't be so quick to implement this new social media marketing strategy that you jump right in. Before using any new site, best social media marketing practices require you to do research and learn how users interact. If you break the rules, your social media marketing strategies could backfire, leading to embarrassment and a tarnished reputation.

Social Media Marketing Strategy #3: Put Yourself On Camera

Over 200 million Americans today have high speed internet access, and that access has made video an important part of social media marketing strategies. It's no longer enough to just write blog entries—the best social media marketing involves video. With studies showing that video makes website visitors more likely to become paying clients, you can't afford to implement a social media marketing strategy without it.

Once you're on camera, don't be shy, and don't be dry. Feel free to use humor when appropriate, and remember that the best social media marketing you can do will involve a video that is somehow different from what everyone else is doing. If you can implement video social media marketing strategies that are creative and unique, your video might go viral, getting tens or even hundreds of thousands of viewers in the space of a few weeks.

Social Media Marketing Strategy #4: Get Into the Game

Some lawyers say, “I'll implement social media marketing strategies—but I don't have to like them.” It can be difficult to transition into internet marketing, and it's certainly very different than what came before. If you want to have the best social media marketing, though, don't think of yourself as above it all. Your social media marketing strategies will work best if you actually care about the conversations being generated on social media sites.

To some extent, this is a reason that you may want to avoid having another company implement your social media marketing strategy. Your readers aren't dumb: if someone's talking down to them or seems like they're not really part of your firm, social media marketing strategies will look more like ads and potential clients will be turned off. The best social media marketing tactics involve real engagement, not just pretending for the sake of clicks.

Social Media Marketing Strategy #5: Strengthen Your Connections

It takes a long time to build trust using social media marketing strategies. After all, consumers are skeptical of even the best social media marketing efforts. The best way to make sure that your firm's reputation is solid is to join in on conversations and engage with people across the web.

Let's use a quick example here—you have a Facebook feed, and one person (who isn't even a client!) keeps posting questions about different issues to the point where it's actually a bit annoying. Once in a while they even complain about your content, or correct your grammar. Why can't they just go away? It can be tempting to just remove the posts, but remember: the best social media marketing is about two way communication. If you engage in a genuine, informative conversation without ever getting defensive or acting annoyed, other followers will see your feed and feel more comfortable with calling.