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It can be discouraging to continually post on social media without results. Although you think you have good content and see a growing bunch of followers, your audience feels distant and new leads are nonexistent. Large, small and solo law firms all crave social media engagement with potential clients on social media, but often do not know how to fix what seems to be broken. In addition to your part, social media platforms always appear to be moving the guidelines and tweaking the rules. Of course, you can always contact Law Quill to do your social media for you! (Shameless plug!) If your social media engagement is not performing up to your expectations and you would like some answers, here are nine ways you can take steps to relieve the suffering.
Too Many Platforms
With the growing number of social media platforms out there, it can be tempting to try to be everywhere at once. However, social media omnipresence is not the answer. Since social media platforms are all different and serve a unique audience, use some discernment on where to concentrate your limited energies. Focus on those channels that best serve your law firm’s goals and target audience. Where do your ideal clients gather? Just be there for them and do not try to spread yourself too thin.
Schedule Social Media Engagement Strategically
There are many convenient online tools that can act as your scheduling assistant. Software like SmarterQueue will schedule posts for you at strategic times of day, when your prospective clients are present. Scheduling your posts is a helpful timesaver, so learn the best times to post, and always prefer quality over quantity. Here is a cheat sheet on how to post on various platforms:
Facebook is a high-value, low-volume social platform. Because your fans may be frustrated by too many posts, keep your posts between three and seven times a week. Keep posts short, avoid promotional content and focus on engaging headlines.
Instagram is ideal for highly visual businesses, and your law firm can use compelling images and video to attract attention. Keep your feed posts to once a day and plan your content’s arrival when people are around. Keep your Instagram posts, conversational, ask your audience a question that they can answer in the comments, and use hashtags and emojis.
Twitter is a fast-paced platform based on brief and snappy updates. The most success comes from one to three tweets a day. Retweeting is easy and sharing a comment from one of your happy clients can be quite effective. Twitter posts should tell a story, include tags for other relevant users, and include a maximum of two hashtags per tweet.
LinkedIn is a profession-driven platform, and the preferred platform for lawyers. If you post multiple times a day on LinkedIn, you will see your engagement plummet. Aim for three to five posts, and on weekdays rather than weekends. Your ideal post will hover around 150 characters and it should sound professional. Try posing questions, using hashtags and tag relevant individuals to improve engagement.
Is Your Content Actually Compelling?
Time for some tough love. If you seem to be checking off the boxes so far, perhaps it is time to evaluate the meat of the content you offer your audience. It may be solid, but just not interesting to your potential clients. There is a lot of busy noise on social media, and your quality content also needs to stand out. Content works differently, depending on the platform used. On Instagram and Facebook, share your community involvement and on LinkedIn, share content that speaks to colleagues and showcases your thought leadership. Here are some tips to producing quality, relevant content on social media:
- Use the active (not passive) voice to promote a sense of action and interest.
- Think of your audience (not your business) first and foremost.
- Address the needs of your audience and then offer a solution.
- Write with the goal to have your post shared.
- Be brief, using simple language and short sentences. People skim social media and are not looking for large blocks of text to plow through.
- Avoid messages that sound like a sales pitch.
- Spark curiosity.
- Stay error-free by using online grammar and spelling checks.
- Try more variety with video, infographics and slide shows.
Ignoring Feedback
In today’s online marketplace, people use social media to discover more you and about how others have interacted with your law firm. Do not ignore comments and feedback. When people reach out to you, it is essential for you to respond in a timely way. If you receive negative feedback, it is also crucial that you respond promptly and professionally. It may be helpful to designate a team member for the purpose of monitoring and managing social media feedback.
No Call to Action
If they do not know what to do, your followers will not take action. Be sure to include a simple call to action in your posts when appropriate. Some calls to action appropriate for social media posts include:
- Opportunity to sign up for a drawing
- Social media share buttons
- Sign up for a free download
- Invitation to sign up for a webinar or free class
- Announcement of an open house or community event you sponsor
Haphazard Advertising
If you are buying social media ads, take advantage of the tools that allow your law firm to target your unique audience. Targeting is critical in order to see a return on your investment. Examine your analytics, stay with what is working and discard what is not.
Minimal Promotion
Get your law firm’s team to promote your social media accounts on their own LinkedIn pages. Post links on your website to all of your social media platforms where you can be found. Let people know which social media platforms you can be found on. Post links to your accounts on your website, promotional materials, and on each social media page. Send out information about your social media platforms in all of your email newsletters.
No Blog
Keeping a blog is crucial for SEO, and it can also help you rack up a social media following. If individuals find your content relevant and valuable, they will engage with it. Post blog links on all of your social media accounts to increase traffic to your law firm’s website, and keep the circle going. If you are interested in outsourcing and getting the most out of your SEO, make sure to contact Law Quill to help you!
Lack of Relationships
To build more connections, tag individuals whose content you are sharing. When you link to other articles or content, credit the author and always mention your sources. Obviously, practicing this builds relationships within the realm of social media, and provides the future opportunity for people to return the favor.
What Are Examples of Social Media Engagement?
According to the Center for Media Engagement, one of the key benefits of social media is that it allows individuals and businesses to connect with one another. By practicing effective online engagement, law firms can develop good relationships with their target audience and make it more likely for them to inquire about their services when they encounter legal issues. Here are some examples of good social media engagement:
Provide Personalized Responses to Comments
One example of good online engagement involves taking the time to respond to your follower’s comments. Responding to questions, or even positive feedback, helps your firm’s followers feel valued and helps them to view you more like a person, as opposed to a law firm. Also, consider personalizing your responses to comments by including the name of the person writing the reply.
Host Contests
Another good example of this kind of engagement entails hosting contests for your social media followers. Normally, this involves asking users to share their posts and include brand tags to enter the contest, resulting in free advertisements. Moreover, hosting these contests enhance your firm’s brand awareness and encourage users, other than your existing followers, to participate, which can potentially increase your followers and expand your target audience.
Discuss Current Events
Law firms can also engage effectively with their prospective clients by discussing current events in their social media posts. By mentioning things that are already talked about among the public, your law firm can capitalize on this excitement with relatively little effort and generate similar levels of excitement around your legal services.
Post About Shared Causes
A further example of good social media engagement involves posting about causes shared by your target audience. For instance, you may want to post about a charity that you regularly work with. Doing this is an effective way of demonstrating your firm’s values, and if your prospective clients share these same values, this can be a great way of engaging with them.
Hold Polls
Law firms can also hold polls that encourage debates on common legal topics to engage with potential clients. Doing this encourages your followers to participate, which they generally enjoy doing as polls are fun and interactive. Additionally, polls can help law firms gain insight into their services and help them learn the answers to common marketing queries, such as the type of content their clients prefer to see.
Why Is Social Media Engagement Important?
Below are some of the main reasons why social media engagement is important for law firms:
- Develop brand loyalty. Effective online engagement is a great way of demonstrating to your prospective clients that you care about their views, which helps develop brand loyalty.
- Gain more referrals and sales. Good social media engagement leads to more verbal referrals due to individuals having a positive experience when interacting with your firm, resulting in better sales.
- Monitor campaign success. Law firms can measure online engagement to assess how effective their content is at having a positive impact on their potential clients. By looking at these metrics, law firms can then optimize their content to create more of an impact and regularly monitor the performance of their social media campaigns over time.
How Law Quill Can Help Your Social Media Engagement
There are many reasons why your law firm’s social media engagement may be suffering or underperforming. Perhaps you are trying to pursue too many platforms, so settle in where your ideal audience hangs out. If your busy schedule makes writing quality content difficult, invest in outsourcing the kind of material that will attract and engage visitors. As indicated above, you can always contact Law Quill to do your social media for you! Staying laser-focused on the needs of your audience can help you develop a reliable reputation and allow you to gather more traffic in the future.
We are here to help and would welcome the opportunity to visit with you for free regarding your website content! Schedule a free visit with us by scheduling a quick phone or zoom call at your convenience on our calendar today. You can also email us at support@lawquill.com
