Social Media Marketing for Lawyers: Best Practices That you Must Know
Gursharan Singh
Updated: March 16
Gursharan Singh
Updated: March 16
As per ABA’s 2020 study, 81% of the law firms and several lawyers claim to maintain at least one of the social media platforms. Since the early 2000s, social media has been a remarkable platform for people to connect and share their views on topics they feel strongly about. Earlier, marketers thought social media was just another passing trend. But with the increasing popularity of Facebook, it became an effective platform to popularize their products. Legal businesses were no exception here; in 2016, law firms understood the importance of the online advertising market and started using it for their advantage.
The international law firm Allen & Overy does a great job managing their Twitter account. Every couple of hours, you will see a new tweet from their firm. It clearly shows they are extremely active on social media platforms to gather the attention of their followers. Their social media marketing strategy involves the usage of matching profile images and a value-driven header to increase their followers.
In this blog, you will learn about social media marketing for lawyers in a little more detail.
What Are The Best Strategies In Social Media Marketing For Law Firms?
There are more than 4.62 billion social media users worldwide. So managing all the social media platforms might feel a little overwhelming. But with the right strategies, you can outrank your customers in the best possible way. Check out the following strategies:
Understand your audience
The first step in developing a social media marketing plan is to gain a thorough understanding of your target audience’s likes and dislikes. This stage will assist you in developing a precise marketing strategy that will help you capture their attention. Every detail matters, from your target audience’s age to their marital status. It would help if you clearly defined your target audience. They must be more than just a person asking for legal help. If your specialty is personal injury, your target audience is more likely to be people who have been in an accident or seek a personal injury attorney.
Choose the right platform
Instagram is the least used social media platform by lawyers. The reason might vary, but the fact is clear. First, you must know what social media platform your target market is most active on. For example, suppose your target audience is professionals, then you need to focus on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed.com.
Certain surveys and industry reports can offer valuable insights about your target audience to make a decision. You can also keep an eye on your competitors and check the most active platform. Finally, try to focus on one-two platform rather than on five-six.
Create engaging content
Another social media marketing strategy is to create value-driven content that aligns with your law- firm’s goals. Make sure that your content is informative and can solve your audience’s problems. For example, educational content like news surrounding legal terms or changes in the laws will work.
Make sure your social media content helps your target audience come out of their challenges. Your content needs to be less commercial and more knowledgeable.
Share graphics with useful stats and facts
Visuals will help you get more eyes on your content than texts on social media platforms. That is why you need to create content with engaging visuals with basic information like legal tips and inspirational quotes. You can create graphics using free design tools like Snappa or Canva.
Share informative videos
As per ABA’s Legal Technology Survey report in 2020, 24% of the law firms consider videos an essential part of their marketing strategy. Creating and circulating informative videos relevant to your legal business helps your target audience understand your content in a better way. Make sure your videos are engaging enough to pique the interest of your audience. For example, you can tell your success stories or conduct interviews of industry leaders in your videos. Sharing these videos on your social media expands your website’s reach to a great extent.
In 2019 Social Law Firm Index declared Jonas Day the number one law firm on YouTube due to their customer-centric and highly engaging videos.
Respond to your customer’s queries on social media
In Statista’s 2021 survey report, 35% of the customers from the U.S. stated that social media influences their buying decision. Social media is an incredible platform to connect with your audience. Try to respond to your customers’ comments as much as possible. This way, you show them that you care. Try to solve their queries if they have concerns about your services and show them that you are always ready to help.
The Allen law business is the perfect example of this idea since they appreciate every client who writes a favorable comment on their social media post.
What Are The Best Practices To Work On Different Social Media Platforms?
Every social media platform is different in its way, so you must know what works for what. Here are the best practices you can perform on different social media platforms.
ABA’s 2020 report stated that about 60% of law firms using social media marketing strategies make use of Facebook. It has more than 2.8 billion monthly active users and is one of the biggest social media platforms on which to advertise your law firm business. The best marketing strategy that you can use on Facebook is to curate the right content and post it at the right time in front of the right audience.
Best Practices
- Create and post video content on Facebook to increase your law firm website’s organic reach. Always ensure that your content offers some valuable information to your clients.
- Post content that your clients are interested in. Try to post different types of content like videos, images, and questions.
- Facebook live videos are a great way to boost your customer engagement. You can answer your follower’s questions and interact with them in real-time.
As per ABA’s 2020 report, 76% of the law firms use LinkedIn in their social media marketing strategy. It is a powerful platform, especially for those legal firms offering services to other businesses. In addition, it is a great platform to interact with your clients and build thought leadership.
Best Practices
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile with SEO and useful content to ensure it always appears at the top of the search results. Regardless of the platform, you’re using or the technique you’re employing to promote your law firm. SEO for lawyers is the most efficient technique to direct as much traffic as possible to your firm.
- You can ask for recommendations from your previous clients on LinkedIn to make useful changes in your marketing strategy.
Even though Instagram is the least used social media platform by law firms, it doesn’t mean you can’t create an effective marketing strategy on it. You will see the maximum number of millennials spending their time on Instagram, making it an important platform for your marketing efforts.
Best practices
- Try to post eye-catching and engaging images on this platform to get the attention of your target audience.
- Usage of hashtags will help you to increase your organic reach on this social media platform.
- Try to share your personal stories, interviews, and updates not to bore them.
- Instagram stories are another great way to get insights into your audience and engage with them.
PPC
Lawyers PPC is a great option if you wish to generate more leads quickly for your law firm website. It is the process of running paid on social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn. The best part is that you only have to pay when someone clicks on your advertisement.
Best practices
- You can promote your law firm with the help of Facebook ads but with a more data-driven approach. Construct the right content with the information you have about your target audience.
- Display ads in front of an audience who have visited your website or have liked your page earlier.
- You can perform the same strategies for LinkedIn ads too.
What Are The Advantages Of Social Media Marketing For Law Firms?
As per ABA’s survey in 2018, 35% of law firms have been able to gain more clients because of social media marketing. In addition, social media marketing offers the following advantages to law firms:
Boost engagement with your target audience
Social media is a great platform for deep insights into your target audience. In this way, you can increase your law firm’s interaction and engagement with them. In addition, with the help of live videos and comment sections on your posts, you get to know about their pain points. Thus you construct your marketing efforts accordingly.
Showcase your expertise
Social media offers you a platform to showcase your legal expertise to your target audience. When you share well-written and informative articles and blogs on these platforms, you can show that you have extensive knowledge about the subject.
Increase your brand awareness
Your presence on social media will increase your law firm’s brand awareness by 2x. Customers are more likely to take your service when they recognize you from such platforms. Social media brings your law firm website to people who might want to avail of your services now or shortly. You need to make sure that your logo and photo placement are so that they recognize you on every platform.
Boost your online visibility
SEO for lawyers is an incredible method to increase your law firm website’s online visibility. Both SEO and social media work together to double your marketing efforts. The idea is to optimize your content with high-performing and relevant keywords on social media platforms. This method will bring maximum organic results to your website.
Let us now answer the most talked about question-related to social media marketing for law firms, and that is,
How Much Should Lawyers Pay For Social Media Marketing?
There is no fixed pricing for social media marketing for lawyers. The budgeting largely depends upon the platform and the campaign you are going to run. Let’s see the estimated price that you have to spend on each social media platform.
- Facebook: The PPC lawyer ads on Facebook are one of the most powerful ways to grab the attention of your target audience. However, it might cost you around $1000- $2000 every month that is completely worth it.
- Twitter: You can tweet about your law firm for free on Twitter. But you can always pay around $450/ month for the promotion of your law firm’s tweet. So the monthly budget that you might need to spend on this social media campaign can be around $1000- $1600.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn is one of the most amazing platforms to target other businesses. However, the monthly budgeting you might require for marketing on LinkedIn can be around $1000- $1600.
Final Words
Social media marketing is an effective way for law firms to bring their law firm in front of their target audience. You’ll get the most out of this marketing technique if you can figure out who your target audience is and curate content that appeals to them. You may establish a strong and loyal relationship with your clients by reacting to their comments and offering them a solution to their problems. It boosts your SEO efforts, expanding your law firm’s organic reach. You can reach a broader audience more quickly with the help of Facebook and LinkedIn sponsored advertising.