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Social networking has provided innumerable opportunities for marketing and outreach. For some businesses, though, those opportunities can actually be daunting. This is an experience that law firms know fully well: With so many social platforms to choose from, how do you pick the one that’s most valuable to your firm?
While your firm can strive to maintain a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat, doing so typically isn’t advised. For one thing, it’s liable to stretch your time and your resources much too thin. At the same time, the payoff can be minor; simply put, your audience may not be present on all of those platforms, which means some of them might be wasted investments.
With that said, which social media platforms should your law firm embrace?
Deciding Which Social Platforms are Right for Your Firm
There’s ultimately no one answer here, as it depends somewhat on your firm and its target clients; you’ll obviously get the most value by being wherever your clients and potential clients are, and that’s something that can vary from one practice to the next.
With that said, there are some social platforms that we can recommend more highly than others—in general terms.
We’ll start with Facebook, which continues its dominance as the most popular social media platform in the world—some recent bad publicity notwithstanding.
On the basis of numbers alone, Facebook is a must: It’s simply the social platform where your clients are more likely to spend their time. What’s more, it is the most popular social platform by far among older demographics, including Boomers and Gen X-ers—and those tend to be the folks, more so than millennials or Gen Z-ers, who law firms court.
If you’re only going to be active on one platform, you’re probably wise to choose Facebook. If you can handle two, our next choice would have to be Twitter.
Twitter isn’t quite as popular as Facebook, but it is a great place to engage with influencers within your field, including other attorneys—and doing so can ultimately be a powerful way to build your firm’s reputation and its name recognition.
Additionally, Twitter can be used to have real-time discussions with potential clients, an invaluable way to do outreach.
Some firms may also see some value in LinkedIn.
LinkedIn definitely isn’t the flashiest of all social media platforms, but it’s enjoyed steady growth over the past few years—and it’s a popular site among attorneys, who use it for professional branding and development.
Indeed, you probably have a personal account already. Creating an account for your firm can help enhance your professional branding. It also affords you the chance to connect with other lawyers and can potentially generate some referrals.
Other Social Media Platforms
If your favorite social network isn’t listed here, it’s not because we think it’s inherently pointless; if you have a lot of younger clients who you know to be on Snapchat, for instance, then maybe that’s something you should embrace.
Again, though, it’s best for most small and mid-sized firms to be judicious in their social media use, allocating their time and resources prudently—and that means sticking to two or three platforms. The ones here are, all else being equal, the ones we recommend the most.
Develop a Custom Social Media Plan
Now that you have selected your platform – what’s next? The best way to proceed with social media is to create a strategy that’s tailored to your firm, its audience, and its marketing goals—and that’s something the Driven2020 team can help with! Contact us today to schedule a consultation about social marketing and beyond.