Determining the best platforms to establish your firm’s social media presence and establishing an effective social media presence may seem overwhelming at first. Here are some effective tips to consider as you begin to develop your firm’s strategy.
Evaluating which platforms are right for your firm follows a process of gathering data, and beginning with 1 or 2 platforms best suited to your defined goals for content delivery and marketing results. Measure your results against stated goals and course correct as you learn what efforts are most effective for your firm.
Gather Industry Data
Learn what works and what doesn’t by conducting competitor research. While evaluating reports and data on highly performing networks, identify similar firms that are successfully using social media strategies and learn from how they use their platforms.
- What type of content investments are they making: blogs, legal podcasts, videos, webinars, eBooks?
- How are they engaging with users?
- What are they doing well?
- How would you improve on their efforts?
According to the American Bar Association, law firms continue year after year to prefer LinkedIn as a social media marketing platform. This is because LinkedIn allows lawyers to promote themselves professionally, and because of its popularity within the legal profession.
Facebook follows closely behind, with 62 percent of firms holding a social media presence. This platform allows you to share related trends and articles, advertise to a targeted audience, and engage with followers.
Different platforms offer unique advantages in achieving specific goals. If your primary goal is professional development and networking with other attorneys, LinkedIn is the platform of choice. However, if your goal is community engagement, consider a more personalized network like Instagram or Facebook.
Setting Clear Goals for Social Media Efforts
Setting clear realistic goals around your social media efforts is critical to guiding your strategy and achieving success on your terms. Social media is about cultivating an audience and creating conversation. If your main goal is quick conversions, you will likely be disappointed. Some goals other law firms have in their marketing strategies are:
- Professional development and networking (66%)
- Maintaining client pipeline (51%)
- Education and awareness (49%)
- Community engagement (43%)
- Case investigation (21%)
Content Delivery
Successful social media presence requires a sustained commitment to consistently create and publish timely, new, relevant content that caters to the interests of your target audiences. Different platforms require various levels of commitment to new content. Some platforms like LinkedIn can yield positive results with only a few short posts a week while others like Instagram require a steady flow of relevant high-quality content to capture users’ attention.
Next, carefully consider your ability to respond quickly to users who engage with your content. This is how you build your audience, network, and increase brand awareness. Responding to comments from two LinkedIn posts a week is a smaller time commitment than remaining in continuous conversation with users on other platforms.
In the beginning, set yourself up for success on one or two platforms and track your results. Gain a solid understanding of how much time you can dedicate to social media content creation, publishing schedules, and user engagement, and then adjust your strategy accordingly. Establishing and managing six different social media accounts on separate platforms is not likely to be successful right out of the gate.
Track Your Results
It is crucial to track and measure your results to learn what is working and what needs course correction. Add your social media accounts to your Google Analytics goals and review the data after your first 3 months. The data will help you discover what type of content is most relevant to users, will cultivate your target audience, and create brand-building conversations.
Firms with clear goals, a steady content flow, and an established presence on at least one platform need to periodically evaluate performance and adjust to maximize success against stated goals.
Use Available Reporting to Increase Investments in Your Highest-Performing Networks
Data will help you discover which platforms and activities deliver tangible results and which ones are a waste of your time. Google Analytics has several reports to help you evaluate the success of your networks and content:
- Overview reports – Identifies how many users are converting from social networks
- Network referrals – Measures engagement generated by each social platform
- Landing pages – Tracks engagement for URLs by platform driving traffic
- Conversions – Identifies total conversions by social platform
- Plugins – Details how many users clicked your share buttons by platform
- Users flow – Maps the path users take through your website by social network
Maximizing Social Media Success
Is your google profile set up to attract your ideal clients? Is your firm’s visibility maximized in search results? Optimize your google profile to bring in more cases with this helpful checklist.
GoBeyond, a full-service marketing agency, is ready to support your practice whether you are new to using social media or an expert practitioner. Contact us to discuss your needs or visit us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
