It’s not enough to simply have a social media account for your law firm. Positioning yourself as an expert, increasing brand awareness, engaging with prospects, and boosting SEO requires your firm to be active on social.
Why Does My Law Firm Need to Be Active on Social Media?
Boost Your Brand
When your law firm has a presence on social media, you’re that much closer to reaching your ideal prospects where they already are. This is especially important for those in need-based industries like law because it helps incorporate your firm into your prospects’ daily lives. For example, someone may like one of your Facebook posts, causing it—and your firm’s name—to show up in a potential client’s news feed. There are tons of small interactions like these that can benefit your brand (for free!).
In addition, social media pages make your law firm look more active. Imagine a prospect having to poke around your website to see if you’ve updated recently by finding a blog or some other dated post. Going to your law firm’s social media page, on the other hand, answers this question instantly. To someone looking for legal representation, that’s a huge boost of confidence that your firm is not only thriving, but that it’s currently accepting clients.
Engage with Prospects
There’s no better way to engage with the public than on social media. But why is engagement so important for law firms? Think of engagement as a measure of how likely someone is to choose or recommend you: the more willing they are to interact with your firm on social media, the more likely they are to take action with your firm in other ways—like hiring you.
Engaging with your audience also humanizes your law firm. When people feel that there’s a relatable human being talking to them (rather than a stiff guy in a suit who just wants a case), they’re far more likely to trust you and your firm. In short, interact with your audience on social media and they’ll be more likely to appreciate you.
Unfortunately, engagement can be difficult for law firms for a few different reasons. If you’re in a sensitive area like criminal defense, for example, people may not want to publicly broadcast that they had an embarrassing legal issue by following your law firm online, engaging with its content, and leaving you a review. Add in the fact that the law isn’t exactly a ‘fun’ subject and you can see why you’ll have to think of other ways to boost your engagement.
One of the best ways to promote engagement with your law firm’s social media followers is through video. People browsing social media tend to prefer to learn things via video over reading blocks of text. Consider creating videos describing how to fill out probate petitions or the steps involved in filing for divorce in your state. Your law firm’s videos don’t have to be purely informative, either: other ideas for engaging social media videos include interviews, events, client testimonials, and live streams.
Step Up Your SEO
Being active on social media can benefit your law firm’s search engine performance. An inactive social media page is not viewed as relevant by search engines. Social media pages with consistent updates, on the other hand, are more likely to be presented as a result to search engine users.
Not only does an active social media page signal to Google that your law firm may be worth pulling up in the results, but it also serves as an extra place to get valuable keywords out there. When you write your bio, create posts, or answer FAQs about your practice area, you’re utilizing the keywords that prospects will use when searching.
Establish Expertise
You already talk about how much of an expert you are on your law firm’s website. Social media takes this a step further by allowing you to answer real questions from real people (instead of guessing what prospects would like to know when you’re writing your website).
Plus, interacting directly with potential clients by answering their questions on social media builds much more trust than someone simply finding your website and reading about you. This helps you stand out from all those other law firms that may have started blending together in a prospect’s mind as they’ve done their research!
Get Real
Social media is somewhere you can show a little more personality than you might be able to on your law firm’s website—and it’s where people expect you to show it, too. You already know it’s important to put yourself in a client’s shoes, but this is an even more essential practice on social media.
When someone is searching for legal representation, they’re stressed and overwhelmed. The last thing they want to see is yet another bland-looking law firm that does nothing to inspire confidence in the idea that you can change their life for the better. Make your firm stand out by displaying a friendly, approachable persona on social media as you explain how you’ll help.
Start Making the Most of Your Law Firm’s Social Media Strategy
Social media is the key to warming prospects up and making them consider what it will be like to work with you. It’s where potential clients can find you, past clients can recommend you, and where you can demonstrate exactly what it is that sets your firm apart from all the rest.
Don’t let your law firm’s social media profiles stagnate—doing so only hurts the brand you’ve worked so hard to create! If you’re ready to start reaping the benefits of being active on social media, contact Kirkpatrick Creative today.
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash