Engaging Online with Social Media Marketing for Lawyers

Every social media platform is different. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter feature different interfaces, messaging systems, and methods of connecting with potential clients. I simply view them as tools to accomplish a particular objective. When you’re making a plan for social media marketing for law firms, the key is to determine which tools best enable you to accomplish your marketing goals.

When you starting to use social media marketing for attorneys, you should take into account the strengths and limitations of each social media site, so you select the right tools to accomplish your objectives. Here’s a brief overview of the major social media sites and how to use them effectively to market your practice:

Facebook

Facebook is a terrific avenue to engage with personal and professional contacts with whom you already know. The platform is perfect for sharing photographs, videos, and chatting with acquaintances. Posting a blend of personal and professional content should help you to stay on your friend’s radar screens and implicitly remind them about you and your professional endeavors.

If you practice personal injury law, family law, immigration law, estate planning, criminal law, foreclosure defense, and other consumer-directed areas of law, you’ll find Facebook to be an effective tool to draw in new business.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a much more professional platform. Your connections expect you to share information about your practice, articles of interests, and engage in discussions with new and existing contacts. While posting photographs of your professional endeavors is welcomed on occasion, it is a much less “social” and more “networking” platform than Facebook.

If you practice complex business litigation, employment law, intellectual property, corporate law, professional malpractice, construction law, or represent medium to large sized companies, you might find LinkedIn to be your preferred channel for marketing.

Twitter

Twitter enables you to quickly become an authority in your field by engaging in discussions about your unique area of practice and interests. While Facebook is generally reserved for connecting with people you know, Twitter helps you expand your network by connecting with people who you may not know, but who share similar personal and professional interests. By using hashtags to search, locate, and find others who share your interests, you can quickly develop your reputation by becoming a go-to authority in your field.

Twitter could be an effective marketing tool for all types of practices. You can develop a following of people who are interested in the area of law you specialize in and interact with them to develop meaningful relationships. However, it can require a larger investment of time than Facebook and LinkedIn in order to become your primary social media marketing tool.

Don’t apply the same strategies to each social media platform. Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing, there is no universal strategy for engagement across the different social media platforms.

Also, no social media site is necessarily “better” than another. Rather, certain platforms offer more opportunities to engage new clients depending on your practice area, strategy, and marketing goals. As a rule of thumb, I recommend you start marketing on the platforms that you are already comfortable using to personally connect with family, friends, and colleagues. In this way, you can minimize your learning curve and focus your energy on optimizing results.

Want some help getting started? Here comes The Social Media Law Firm! We’re committed to creating social media marketing for lawyers who could use some guidance. Once you have our strategies in hand, you’ll be ready to rock and roll!