9 Ways Social Media Can Help Law Firms
Social media has become one of the most powerful tools in marketing today and the legal industry is quickly catching on. A well-built social media marketing strategy empowers attorneys and law firms to personally connect with their clients and prospects in a way that’s targeted, efficient and delivers results.
Social media can help law firms by:
- diversifying your firm’s online presence
- growing your target market
- increasing advertising channels
- enhances your response times to new client inquiries
- creates a centralized information resource for current and prospective clients
- supports your networking and business development efforts
- nurtures talent recruitment
- establishes industry reputation and credibility
- highlight testimonials and successful case outcomes
It’s important to understand how a robust social media strategy can benefit your law practice and deliver results. There are several leading social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and each of these requires a unique strategy in order to deliver successful results.
9 Ways Social Media Can Help Law Firms
Social media marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to market a law firm. It allows you efficiently market your services to a target audience that is most likely to retain your firm. It can be created and managed for a nominal cost and scaled to fit your budget as your revenues grow.
Here are 9 ways that it can provide value to your law firm.
1. Expands your firm’s online presence.
Many law firms still use their websites as their primary method to showcase their specific practice areas, legal service offerings, and individual expertise. However, as social media becomes increasingly relevant in communications and advertising, potential clients are turning to social media channels to determine which firms are worth hiring.
If your firm lacks a digital presence on platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it can reflect negatively as it indicates that your firm may be slow in technology adoption or lagging in the industry.
Having an active social media presence on these platforms shows a potential client that your firm is well-informed and up to speed with the latest technological and marketing trends, creating a positive brand image and reputation in the industry.
2. Grows your firm’s target market.
Social media offers law firms exposure to a larger, more targeted audience. Research conducted by the American Bar Association indicates that 35% of lawyers who make use of social media in a professional capacity have gained new clients as a result.
With a well-developed social media marketing strategy, you can identify who your ideal target is, what their buying habits are, and hone in on any relevant demographics. These demographics can include the person’s income level, profession, education level, or career status as well as gender, relationship status, or interests. Ultimately, this allows firms to expand and grow their existing outreach to a much wider network.
3. Increases your advertising channels.
Social media platforms offer the opportunity to display advertisements to specific potential clients through paid ads and search engine rankings. Through these platforms and with effective search engine optimization, law firms can ensure their adverts are seen by their target market.
Social media advertising platforms such as Facebook and Instagram Ads Manager, Google Ads, or LinkedIn Campaign Manager have carefully calculated algorithms that ensure that advertisements will be directed at specific audiences based on their interests. This is particularly useful as it enables your firm to advertise to those people in your target market and avoid wasting your marketing efforts.
A survey conducted by the ABA in 2018 indicated that 42% of small law firms using social media marketing gained new clients through social media marketing. In saying this, it’s recommended for your firm to have an active social media presence and dedicate time to finding the right platform to meet your goals.
4. Enhances your firm’s responsiveness to new client inquiries.
According to the Sprout Social Index 2019, 47% of consumers reach out to brands on social when inquiring about a product or service-related question.
While lawyers may vary in their specific practice areas or service offerings, social media can still help bridge the gap in attorney-client communications. When potential clients are able to reach out to you on social media and ask questions about your specific services, it avoids the high cost of formal consultations and also allows you to filter through and discard low-quality leads.
5. Creates a central information hub for FAQs.
As a lawyer, time is money. However, not all hours are billable work.
By using social media posts effectively, you can create information resources to address your clients’ FAQs about your services or any legal questions. When this information hub is readily available and up-to-date, your firm can save time by not having to repetitively answer common questions.
Some common questions that you can answer on your social media platforms include details about setting up an appointment, email and call response times, billing details, and contact information. You can also include educational content, highlight blog posts or articles that pertain to your specific practice areas, or include the latest legal news, such as new legislation, court rulings, or recent judgments.
6. Supports your networking and business development efforts.
Social media enables your firm to connect with industry leaders within various fields all across the globe. LinkedIn is the most popular platform to serve this purpose and empowers attorneys to engage in partnerships and collaborate with other legal practitioners, which can lead to new business opportunities and referrals.
By using social media accounts to connect with other legal practitioners, lawyers can also brainstorm case strategies, discuss potential case outcomes and legal developments, and even form legal mentor groups. Attorneys can also establish themselves as thought leaders within their specific niche and publish posts, updates, and articles on topics within their expertise. In our new virtual world, this ability to engage within the legal industry is more important than ever before.
7. Nurtures talent recruitment.
Law school students are particularly active on these platforms and enjoy engaging with law firms to get a taste of legal career life before they enter the working world. And law schools are encouraging students to begin networking early on in order to secure a job offer upon graduation.
By actively engaging with law students through social media, your firm can attract high-caliber summer clerks and new associates to your firm. Additionally, as your firm’s brand and reputation are established and built online, attorneys and staff at other firms will view your firm as a great opportunity for their career paths.
8. Establishes industry reputation and credibility.
With the nature of the billable hour, it can often be challenging for attorneys to market themselves and showcase their expertise. Social media can help your firm introduce your attorneys within the firm to the public, and allow existing and potential clients to get to know the firm’s staff better.
The firm’s platforms can be used as an opportunity for each paralegal or attorney to share their legal interests, their personal passions and elaborate on the importance of their area of law.
In doing this, the firm’s lawyers will come across as relatable, leading potential clients to trust them and consider the firm for their legal needs.
9. Highlight testimonials and successful case outcomes.
Law firms can use social media to display client reviews and testimonials of satisfied clients to showcase their high caliber of work. Your firm can also highlight volunteer and pro bono work to showcase your humanitarian efforts, which will find favor in the public’s eyes.
Additionally, the firm can post about successful case outcomes, displaying to potential clients that they are efficient and effective as a law firm.
Posting the firm’s good works will highlight to the public that the firm is trustworthy and ethical. In doing this, the firm may catch the eye of various industry leaders who may nominate the firm for awards in the future which will make the firm more prominent in the legal sphere.
Best Social Media Platforms for Law Firms
The most popular platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Google+, Snapchat, Tumblr, Reddit, and Vine.
Facebook is by far the most popular social platform for lawyers, with nearly half (48%) of respondents saying they use it regularly. LinkedIn comes in second place, with 35% of respondents using this platform. Twitter is used by only 3% of lawyers, but it is still worth mentioning because it is one of the best ways to build relationships with clients and potential clients.
Choosing the Right Social Media Platform for Your Law Firm
Each platform has its own unique features and target audience, so it’s important to align your social media strategy with your firm’s specific practice areas and business development goals. This involves deciding what type of content you want to post and which platforms will best suit this valuable content.
It is also important to remember that not every platform works for every law firm or every practice area. Determining whether your firm’s practice areas require a B2B, B2C or B2B/B2C marketing strategy will help you to decide which platforms to prioritize.
By knowing which channels fit your firm’s needs and business goals, you can then develop a strategy that delivers results. With a powerful social media plan in place, your firm will be able to build its brand, grow your online social presence, generate more leads, and ultimately increase revenues.
Social Media Considerations
It’s important to note that social media is an excellent tool that firms can leverage to connect with clients and potential clients, but it can also be a great way to lose them.
As with all advertising, you should be sure to comply with the advertisings rules set by the American Bar Association as well as your state bar association. It’s also a good idea to set a social media policy for the attorneys and staff at your firm so that your firm keeps its professional image and credible rapport in your community and among colleagues.
Firm Innovators Delivers Winning Law Firm Marketing Strategies
As an attorney or firm owner, it’s important for you to view social media as valuable real estate that is yours to claim. When accompanied by a strategic, metrics-driven plan, your firm will be able to translate your social media marketing campaign into increased revenues.
Our experienced and forward-thinking team at Firm Innovators is here to help you to develop a strategic social media marketing plan that aligns with your firm’s marketing and business development goals. Digital marketing is an important component to growing and scaling your small firm and we are experienced at delivering results. Our list of services include:
- Developing a social media marketing strategy that aligns with your firm’s marketing and business objectives
- Crafting engaging content to grow followers, engage with business partners, and establish your firm as a thought leader
- Social media management, including managing social advertising and marketing campaigns across multiple channels
- Analyzing and reporting on campaign performance metrics
As always, we’re here to help. Click here to schedule a 15-minute discovery and we’ll follow up with you promptly.