There was a time, not so long ago, when some law firms may have queried the need for a social media presence at all. Today, it is just a given that law firms and other professional services need to be operating on social media. But exactly what that looks like and how it is achieved can be harder to bottom out.
Consistency is key
When it comes to social media, there is one golden rule: consistency. Posting regularly about firm news, topical issues facing your clients and current affairs reminds your clients what you do and your expertise and demonstrates you have your “fingers on the pulse”. Conversely, a neglected social media account that is out of date by several weeks (or worse) creates a poor impression, you look out of touch, unbothered and unprofessional.
Your social media accounts need to be nurtured and loved – they are all about the long game! Getting processes in place to ensure a stream of regular content will reap benefits as posting starts to feel more like second nature.
Have a strategy in place
A “social media strategy” sounds grand but it’s vital if you’re to be effective. Posting on social media won’t change your business instantly. It will take time and resource, so you need to make sure these are being deployed efficiently.
However you decide to interact with social media, it needs to be manageable and realistic. If you have a limited budget, then you should focus on one platform such as LinkedIn and aim for around four posts a month. For a medium sized law firm, two posts a week is a good target. Ultimately, you need to come up with a comfortable schedule and stick to it.
Remember the key aims for your content are to reach the right audiences, to engage with them and, ultimately, drive clients to your website. Your content should add value for your clients as well as building your expertise.
Although it feels a bit alien to many lawyers, posting more personal content giving people an insight into who you are can really work well. After all, clients instruct people not firms, so be personable!
Quick wins
It really doesn’t have to be complicated (if it’s regular). Here are a few suggestions for quick and easy social media wins:
- Plan a content schedule and use social media scheduling tools such Buffer or Hootsuite to automate processes and save time and resources.
- Don’t forget that you don’t always need to create new content, you can share other people’s as long as it’s relevant to your audience.
- Encourage staff to share and post firm news; this could significantly increase expand the reach of your content with very little extra effort.
- Re-use, re-purpose and divide-up articles from your web page as blogs for social media platforms. For more detail on how to do this, read my blog: how to squeeze every ounce out of your efforts.
- Use hashtags so that people can find you more easily.
- You may not have the budget to employ a social media agency to manage your content full-time, but an experienced consultant could review your needs and put a strategy together for you to follow.
- In the longer term, a good junior or administrator should be able to post content so there is no need to keep paying for external resource.
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