What is a law firm social media plan? Do you need one?
If your law firm doesn’t have a social media plan, you do need one, and here’s why. Many people use social media to find and compare legal services. It’s not enough to just set up a Facebook page and hope for the best. Without a plan for how your firm uses social media, you risk losing potential clients and referrals.
Here are our tips for getting your firm up to speed with a social media plan.
Do your research
Social media comes in all shapes and sizes. You need to know what form of social media is right for your firm. This means knowing your audience and what social media they use.
The Sensis Social Media Report 2016 provides a snapshot of social media use in Australia. The three social media platforms most used by Australian businesses are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In terms of use by potential clients and referrers, Facebook is the clear leader. Of the social media users surveyed, 95% have a Facebook profile. Broken down by age, gender and location, Facebook rates very highly across the board. After Facebook, Instagram was the next most popular platform, and LinkedIn, Snapchat and Twitter rounded out the top five.
You might want to focus on Facebook, or you may choose to use other social media platforms as well. Whatever you choose, make sure you’ve done your research. Your social media plan needs to identify who you will reach on each platform, and how you plan to achieve your marketing goals for that audience.
Target your audience
There are two elements to targeting your audience on social media. The first element is targeting your audience by the social media platform you choose. You need to identify the preferred social media platform of your target audience. Then you need to optimise your firm’s use of that platform to reach your audience effectively.
The second element of targeting your audience with social media is about market segmentation. The wealth of data available on social media platforms makes it possible to target your firm’s marketing based on the age, gender, interests, education, job, location or other characteristics of your target audience. So it’s worth considering the characteristics of your clients and referrers when writing your social media plan.
Publish quality content
Whatever social media platform you use and whoever your target audience is, you must have a plan to publish quality content.
‘Irrelevant or unappealing content’ is the number one reason social media users stop following brands and businesses on social media, according to the Sensis Social Media Report 2016. The report also looked at what social media users want from businesses on social media. It found 31% want product information, 26% want tips and advice, and 25% want information about the business.
So it’s clear that your firm needs to provide valuable information on social media for it to be an effective marketing strategy. Valuable information might include discussing legal developments and explaining legal processes. It can also be news and profiles about your firm and the people in it.
As well as being valuable, your content needs to be engaging. Audience engagement is a central feature of social media marketing. Engaging content helps to build relationships with clients and referrers. It can also generate leads and increase brand awareness and loyalty for your firm.
When it comes to writing your social media plan, make sure you consider the kind of information that appeals to your audience. Then put together your plan based on how you will develop that inform into valuable and engaging content for your target audience on their preferred social media platform.
If you need any help, give us a call!
