For a long time, attorneys have extremely focused on their websites as a marketing channel while ignoring many emerging trends that could set them apart. Social media marketing for law firms is one such marketing trend that many in the legal space have not fully taken advantage of.

The greatest benefit of social media marketing for law firms is that it helps attorneys build a strong reputation, increase brand awareness, and generate social proof, all of which work collectively toward increasing the return on investment for the overall marketing strategy for the law firm.

A content marketing report by Madavi Agency confirms this perspective, presenting statistical data showing that 74% of potential legal clients conduct research about attorney services on social media. Can you see how many potential clients you are missing out on by not having an active social media presence or doing the whole thing wrong? Here are a few hacks to help you navigate this landscape for the best results.

1. Identify Your Goals

Identifying your goals is as simple as asking yourself why you need to market your legal services on social media. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Do you want to generate more leads? Is it just a way for you to increase community engagement? Or do you want to acquire more clients? Having what you want to achieve in mind is the foundation of effective social media marketing for law firms.

However, you have to make sure that your goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Figuring out these dynamics is the greatest hack to your social media marketing as an attorney since all your other decisions will be anchored on your overall goal.

2. Understand Your Audience

You will not achieve any good results for your efforts in social media marketing for law firms if you do not understand your audience. Do you have a niche you specialize in, such as focusing on real estate law, criminal law, or family law, among others? Having a niche market plays into understanding your audience because you will know which demographics are most likely to seek your legal services, enabling you to create content that informs them and meets their needs.

For example, if your niche is family law and you are a divorce attorney, best practices will prompt you to target populations that are married, which could be people of 25 years and above in age (disclaimer). On which platforms are these people likely to be on? There, post content that corresponds with the algorithms of such platforms and meets the needs of the audiences. This is just an example that you can apply across different legal practices and varied audience demographics.

3. Share Useful Legal Advice

Cracking the code for social media marketing for law firms requires you to first identify your goals, understand your audience, and then share information that this audience finds useful. Many people find the legal space complex and difficult to understand. For increased engagement with your social media content, you may choose to enlighten the audience on common legal issues they may encounter based on notable precedents or recent cases that sparked controversial reactions from the public.

Since people love to learn new things and stay informed to avoid brushing shoulders with the justice system, you will gain the trust of your audiences while also increasing brand awareness for your law firm. Who will they first consider or run to when in need of legal services? Your guess is as good as mine.

4. Enlighten Your Audience about Updated or New Laws

With bills being passed and the world becoming more borderless, among other factors, updates to existing laws are happening more frequently. Social media marketing for law firms means harnessing such opportunities. How? Audiences will consider you a powerhouse and look forward to your content because you always have something new to share with them due to being up to date with the latest laws and regulations. When you use this hack, you significantly develop your reputation as a knowledgeable attorney, which, in turn, increases the probability of potential clients contacting you for legal advice if the updated laws affect them.

5. Include Expert Views

You may spice up your social media marketing for law firms approach by posting interviews with other lawyers, whether from your firm or from other law firms. This strategy will help you break the monotony for audiences, both in terms of the faces they see, as well as concerning the information they receive from you.

This portrays you as objective and versatile because of the divergent viewpoints presented. You may choose to expand your scope a little, majorly by bringing in other lawyers to answer some audience questions that fall outside your niche.

6. Use Infographics to Share Facts and Statistics

Being dynamic in your efforts to implement social media marketing for law firms is fundamental. Infographics present a great way to break down complex information, facts, or statistics for your audience. Being simple works wonders for social media content due to the existence of a myriad of content competing for the attention of your audience. Therefore, the more malleable the information you share, the better your chances of grabbing and maintaining the attention of your target market. A carousel is one of the best formats for presenting infographics that work best across social media platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube, especially when you add a voice-over.

7. Encourage Client Reviews

Internet users always need a form of social proof before paying for a service or product. Online reviews are particularly important in providing this social proof. In social media marketing for law firms, data shows that a significant number of people seeking legal advice online often do their research on social media.

This presents an opportunity for you to provide the social proof they need by encouraging testimonials from the clients you have worked with. There is a high probability that you already have these testimonials on your law firm’s website. You can easily copy and paste them onto your social media platforms for members of your audience.

8. Post Consistently

Social media users need consistency in order for them to trust you and become your clients. You may have the best content, but gaining a following will prove difficult if you don’t post consistently. As already mentioned, today’s internet users have a lot of information competing for their attention and failing to post consistently will make you forgettable, thereby impeding your goals.

The rule of thumb is to post at least once a week but if you can post content even more frequently, the better your chances of achieving best results. You can analyze the different analytics within the social media platforms to see which forms of content are performing best and focus more on consistently providing such content.

9. Engage Your Audience

Your social media marketing strategy should not be one way, where you produce content and post it for audiences to see. Rather, you should make it a two-way conversation, where you allow your audiences to ask questions while you respond to them promptly, finding and engaging in conversations outside of your profile and following through on feedback from your audiences. Once you know your audience, it is easy to find other spaces where you can engage them to indirectly draw attention to yourself and, by extension, your law firm’s social media content.

10. Measure Your Results

All these social media marketing for law firms efforts you are implementing are anchored on a goal. Without measuring the results of your efforts, it becomes challenging to determine whether or not you have met your goals. Measuring your results gives you an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of your strategy and adjust based on your findings. Doing a social media audit and studying your social media analytics can help you see whether or not you have achieved your desired social media marketing results.

Conclusion

As an attorney with billable hours, you may not have the time to implement all these strategies effectively for a good return on investment. This explains why most lawyers engage the services of external marketing agencies or services to help them implement such strategies. Setting aside a budget to implement your social media marketing strategy is essential because the different ideas require some form of investment.