Marketing through social media offers benefits specially in legal consulting fields such as increased search engine rankings, better target leads, and improved networking opportunities. Social media marketing allows a lawyer to respond quickly to prospective clients and reach out in minutes instead of days for someone in the office to return a call.
Legal consulting experts must choose just one or two platforms that work best for their industry niche and start there. In other words, a lawyer should not sign up or create a profile for each social media platform out there. The time and energy spent on marketing would be better spent building a website that could then link to the various social media sites that a lawyer chooses.
Here are ten tips lawyers can use as they begin their marketing efforts through social media:
Use Social Media to get Inbound Traffic
The most obvious benefit of using social media marketing is that it generates search engine traffic to your site. If you have a new website, however, this may not be very important to you right away. After all, you want people to visit your website! But the truth is that search engines reward websites with a history of receiving inbound links with higher rankings. This means that over time, having a strong presence on social media will help improve the ranking of your professional blog and increase visitors coming from organic searches.
Leverage Social Media for Thought Leadership
Years ago, legal consulting experts were encouraged to write lengthy articles designed to establish expertise in their respective fields of practice. While some attorneys still take this approach, there are plenty of benefits to sharing your knowledge through social media. Nowadays, individuals are posting articles on the Internet every day about topics they’re probably interested in.
Typically these articles are shared on Twitter by users with whom they have an existing relationship. Lawyers need to have a presence on social media so that whenever someone finds one of these valuable resources online, their name appears as someone willing to share their knowledge about it.
Build Your Brand
Another benefit of using social media is that it helps build your brand. No matter what area of legal consulting you practice in or how old you are, having a strong online presence can help give you more credibility with potential clients and partners running into your name online everywhere.
Research Your Target Market for Free
Social media is a great way to research your target market without having to pay for expensive surveys and focus groups. All you have to do is find out what people are talking about by looking at their Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn updates. This will enable you to tailor your marketing messages so that they’re more likely to resonate with those in your field of practice.
Collect Client Feedback
One of the challenges legal consulting experts face when collecting client feedback is getting them filled out and into the hands of the attorney responsible for leading the case. Lawyers can now use social media as a platform on which clients can leave messages regarding how they’re feeling about their cases without incurring any additional costs for postage or office supplies. Additionally, lawyers can use social media to monitor the social media activity of opposing counsel, witnesses, and even their clients.
Improve Your Search Engine Rankings
Marketing via social media makes your website more visible to search engines which means you’re likely to see an increase in organic traffic coming from sites like Google and Yahoo. While there are lots of myths surrounding how search engine rankings work, it’s safe to say that websites that have a strong foundation tend to rank higher than those without any kind of content or profiles on social networking sites.
Better Target Leads
Using LinkedIn as an example, attorneys can find out information about potential leads based on the industry they might want to do business with. This information can help attorneys shape their online marketing campaigns and identify which leads to prioritize.
Respond Quickly to Prospective Clients
Another way social media marketing benefits legal consulting experts is by allowing them to respond quickly to prospective clients. For example, if someone tweets or posts on your Facebook page about needing legal services, you’ll be able to reach out to them within minutes through direct message instead of waiting days for someone in the office to return their call. Additionally, updates that you share on LinkedIn Pulse or your blog can be useful not only for developing new business connections but also for giving credibility to the type of knowledge that you can provide as a service provider.
Build Your Network
Social is an effective networking tool because it allows you to connect with people who are already talking about topics related to your practice. Legal consulting experts often tell me that they don’t have the time for social media, but it’s really important to understand that networking is a numbers game. The more platforms you join and the more content you post, the more likely you are to make meaningful connections with other professionals in your field of practice or industry niche.
Work with Law Students
For those looking for a collaborative and cost-effective way to handle marketing, social media is the answer. Law students are eager to learn about your practice area or work on cases, so reaching out to them makes great sense. Marketing via social media has also opened up opportunities for law students who are interested in marketing careers but might have lacked expertise in other areas traditionally required of marketers. For example, there are ways that law students can help manage Facebook pages or create content that can be posted to Twitter without compromising their legal education or future job prospects.
There are also many other benefits to using social media marketing for legal consulting experts, including coaching others, finding out about events related to your practice area, and gaining referrals from other professionals. While there are lots of different tools that you can use to market yourself online, the key is to choose just one or two platforms that work best for your industry niche and start there. Once you see the results that it provides, you’ll be motivated to expand on what you’ve already done.
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