Social Media
For attorneys, social media can be one of the most ambiguous areas of marketing. While Facebook can be a great platform to increase visibility for your law firm and engage with the local community, it can also be a source of frustration. How will you increase your following? What type of content should you post? Should you engage in both organic content and paid ads on Facebook? How does Facebook fit with your firm’s broader digital marketing strategy? How will you measure success?
Effective Facebook marketing requires time, effort, and expertise. However, some tips will help boost the results of your social media strategy. Whether you need to re-think your content or increase Facebook followers, we’ve rounded up 10 quick wins that will help your firm achieve social media success.
Optimize your Content
1. Re-share relevant content.
The truth is – most people don’t seek out law firms to follow on Facebook. To attract and retain followers, your content must be relevant, engaging, and useful (or humorous, if that’s part of your brand). One of the biggest mistakes we see law firms make on Facebook is a lack of content diversity. If you only post your law firm’s blog articles, for example, your content can become boring. Many attorneys operate under the guise that Facebook content must be generated solely from your firm.
One easy way to diversify your content is simply sharing related content from other pages. This may be from a local news outlet, legal industry page, or another organization. For example, a personal injury attorney may want to share content from a local bicycle safety organization in the summer.
When you share content from other Facebook pages, don’t simply click “Share” and be done with it. Make sure to write a sentence or two offering your point-of-view or an explanation about why this content would be relevant to your followers.
2. Ensure your “About” section is complete and accurate.
This is one of the most basic, yet often overlooked, aspects of Facebook marketing for attorneys. The “About” section of your page should offer as much detail as you can provide about your law firm. Take time to write a compelling, informative description of your business, detailing your areas of practice and what makes you unique.
In addition to your firm’s description, it’s important to fill in as many pieces of information as you can, including a link to your website, social media handles, and any relevant awards. Most importantly, make sure your business type and products are accurately labeled, as this helps to categorize your business properly and increase your chances to be displayed in a Facebook search result.
3. Set up Facebook Locations for all law firm offices.
If you have multiple offices locations, it’s important to reflect that on your Facebook page. There is a distinction between a Facebook Page and a Facebook Location, and your law firm needs to be correctly set up in order to make it easier for potential clients to find your business.
Your main Facebook should be set up as a Facebook Page. This is where you’ll post content and engage with followers. For your other locations, you will want to set up a Facebook Location. It may be the case that this is already created, in which case you will need to claim the business and merge it with your business page. To check if your law firm office location is already on Facebook, simply search your business name on the site.
If you need to set up a new Location page, you can also easily add, remove, and manage this through the Facebook Locations tool.
For example, Starbucks uses a main brand page. From a desktop computer, you can click on Locations on the left navigation to view their Facebook Locations pages. Each location page has the address, hours of operation, link to their local store webpage, and reviews. If you have multiple law firm offices, your pages should look similar.
This is also important for your law firm’s reputation management. If you do not claim and manage your business information on Facebook, other users can add photos, leave reviews, or post content. When you own your Locations, you have more control over the content. You can choose to turn off comments on Location pages or automatically re-share content from your main brand page.
4. Check your competitors’ ads.
With law firm marketing, it’s always helpful to develop an understanding of what competitors are doing to stay ahead. Facebook’s Ad Library provides an opportunity to do so. Through the ad library, you can view all ads from Facebook pages.
This tool has endless options. There may be a few law firms in your area that seem to always have new cases. Using this tool can help you understand if paid social media is part of their strategy. You may also want to view ads from successful firms in your practice area in another city, as it can serve as a thought-starter if you’re considering running Facebook ads.
While you will not have information about performance, understanding the types of ads being run by local attorneys, especially your competitors, will help you make decisions about your own firm’s paid social media.
5. Respond to messages.
Don’t neglect your law firm’s direct messages. Potential and existing clients may use Facebook messenger to get in touch with your law firm, so being responsive is a crucial element of your overall client experience. When someone views your firm’s Facebook page, your responsiveness to messages is displayed. If you’re not responsive to messages, potential clients may get the impression that you lack proper customer service and communication skills.
One option to consider is Instant Replies. These are automatic replies that are sent as a Page’s first response to new messages. If you’re using Instant Replies, make sure to craft a message that is clear, concise, and honest. For example, do not state that someone will respond within a few hours if you cannot keep that promise.
It’s also best to avoid making communication more difficult. For example, if someone asks a question via Facebook messenger, avoid using your Instant Reply to request that people email or call your law firm. If Facebook Messenger is someone’s preferred means to get in touch, try to meet their needs without asking to open a different line of communication.
Grow Your Following
6. Include a link in your e-mail signature.
This is another simple, yet often underutilized strategy. If you’re looking to increase your law firm’s social media presence, look for opportunities to include links to your Facebook page where it makes sense. An email signature is one great place to do so.
7. Ask for reviews and respond to them!
Increasing the number of client reviews should be one of your law firm’s biggest marketing priorities. Many attorneys we work with are surprised at how willing their clients are to leave reviews if you simply ask for them. On Facebook, the reviews system was updated in 2018 to Facebook Recommendations, which is meant to give a more comprehensive view of how businesses are rated by their customers or clients.
While Google reviews may be the first thing you focus on, don’t neglect Facebook. Potential clients of your law firm may be checking your page to read reviews. Your Facebook recommendations will be aggregated to determine your rating, which is displayed to anyone viewing your page as a star-rating.
We’re often asked about negative reviews. One negative review isn’t going to significantly hinder your firm’s marketing efforts, unless it’s the only one. This is why we always recommend consistently soliciting reviews from satisfied clients. Whether the reviews you receive are positive or negative, respond to each one. This also shows potential clients that you are engaged and take client satisfaction seriously. There are circumstances in which reviews can be removed, such as reviews left by people who are not clients of your firm.
8. Follow local businesses with similar interests.
Establishing relationships with local businesses can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes, and the same is true for social media. Follow local businesses in your area and regularly engage with their content. This can be through sharing, liking, or commenting on their posts.
If your law firm is involved in local events, make sure there is a dedicated Facebook event and that your firm name is represented. For example, if you sponsor a local 5k, you can ask the organizer to include your firm in the description of the event and tag your Facebook page.
Streamline Work
9. Use the scheduling feature.
For mid to large-sized law firms, it’s often not the attorneys posting directly to Facebook. It’s usually a marketing professional or agency. Much like being an attorney, managing a social media page can be a demanding and time-consuming job.
Make sure your social media managers are set up for success by looking for process efficiencies. Facebook has a post scheduling feature, which can streamline your content process and eliminate work on weekends and evenings. We have found that it’s best to establish an editorial calendar at least a week in advance.
There are also many tools available to schedule posts and streamline social media content creation. Hootsuite is our favorite at Postali.
10. Re-purpose content marketing for Facebook.
Each social media platform is unique, and we don’t advise copying and pasting content from one platform to another without a strategy behind it. However, think about your firm’s overall marketing efforts and look for ways to use existing content that you can tweak for Facebook. This saves time and amplifies your content strategy.
If you regularly update your law firm’s blog, make sure you link to your blog from Facebook. If your law firm welcomes a new attorney, you can create a Facebook post so that your followers can get to know them. If you send out a newsletter, look for parts of it that could be re-shared with your Facebook followers.
Do You Need Help With Your Law Firm’s Facebook? Contact Postali Today
We hope these tips sparked some new ideas that will boost the results of your Facebook marketing strategy. If you’d like to discuss your firm’s social media presence and how it fits your marketing efforts, reach out to Postali today at 614-556-4618, or through the online form.
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