Social Media Marketing Tips

Everything About Social Media Marketing Tips

Is your law firm using great social media marketing tactics? 41 percent of lawyers today have gotten clients because of social media, and there's no reason that your firm should be left out. This guide will give you five (and a half!) tips for social media marketing that can change how you think of your interactions with clients and followers online.

Social Media Marketing Tips #1: Learn the Rules of the Game

One of the biggest—but also most often ignored—tips for social media marketing is to do your homework before you start posting to a website. Even if you are a great user of one social media platform, don't assume that the social media marketing tips that worked for that platform will work everywhere. Your social media marketing tactics need to be highly contingent on the rules, both written and unwritten, in your chosen medium.

Let's say that due to some social media marketing tips you read online, you want to try your hand at posting one of your blog entries on a link aggregator website. You skim a few sites, and then decide to make a post to Metafilter after seeing how many quality comments each link receives, based on tips for social media marketing you read about posting where good conversations happen. Once you actually post to Metafilter, though, your social media marketing tactics backfire: “self-links” aren't allowed, and the community doesn't just delete your link, they mock it relentlessly first.

That's not the social media debut you want. Whenever you read tips for social media marketing, make sure that you're only applying them to the websites where they make sense. Social media marketing tips for Twitter won't work on Facebook, and vice versa. Keep your social media marketing tactics highly differentiated on different sites, and you'll fare much better.

Social Media Marketing Tips #2: Be Yourself

While it's a good idea to differentiate your social media marketing tactics for different audiences and websites, you should keep in mind that web users are often very skeptical of marketing. If you seem two-faced because you follow very different social media marketing tips on different sites, you may find your reputation suffering.

The trick to maintaining a great brand image while using different social media marketing tactics is to always know exactly who you are as a firm. If you want more differentiation, try having two different attorneys following two different tips for social media marketing—two voices that each echo your brand identity but are still strikingly different can be a powerful and compelling marketing statement.

Social Media Marketing Tips #2A: DON'T Be Someone Else

A corollary to the previous tips for social media marketing: when you're implementing a social media strategy, don't just copy your competition. The increasingly connected nature of the internet can make it tempting to just adopt whatever new social media marketing tactics your biggest and most successful competitors are using. However, if you want the best results, try using different social media marketing tips than they are. Trying to use your competition's tips for social media marketing can only lead to less differentiation for your brand's marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing Tips #3: Don't Overdo It

It's no secret to some Facebook and Pinterest users that social media can have an almost addictive allure. One of the most important tips for social media marketing, though, is not to get too carried away. If your Facebook or Twitter feed is so frequently updated that it looks like “flooding,” people will start to ignore your links and stop following you.

The best social media marketing tactics involve using social media consistently, but not necessarily with a very high frequency. The frequency of your posts should depend on the medium being used. Tips for social media marketing usually suggest that you make no more than 4-6 Twitter posts per day, but making that many quality blog entries in a day would be nearly impossible—keep it to two or three per week.

Social Media Marketing Tips #4: Engage!

The best thing about social media is that it lets you have real conversations with real customers. Don't get so wrapped up in lists of tips for social media marketing that you forget to have fun with your feed and really talk about what's interesting in your firm or legal practice area. Good social media marketing tactics include genuine engagement with the readers of your feed, whether they're fellow lawyers, other businesses, or consumers of legal services.

Of course, how to engage them is up to you—at least, it is at first. After you've gotten some conversations going, smart social media marketing tactics call for using those conversations to generate more. If people keep asking the same questions or have a common misconception, write a post about it! Once you're really involved in social media, followers can give you brand new tips for social media marketing that are specifically designed for your business—and all without costing you a cent.

Social Media Marketing Tips #5: Stay Current

There was no LinkedIn until 2002, no Facebook until 2004, and no Twitter until 2006. It's a whole new world of social media marketing tactics out there, and some tips for social media marketing that work today may not work in five years. Make sure that everyone at your firm has social media training, so that they understand the social media marketing tactics you're using and how to put their best foot forward online.

It's a good idea to have at least one person in your firm attending webinars or seminars that can give them more helpful tips on social media marketing. They can bring back these social media marketing tips for your firm and make sure that everyone stays up to date on the latest social media platforms, marketing tools for social media, and pitfalls to avoid.

Not every law firm is good at using social media technology. When you get into the “next big thing” ahead of everyone else, you'll be delivering huge benefits to your firm today and for years to come.