You wouldn’t build a house without first laying down the foundations, so why would you share content on your law firm's social media without a strategy or calendar in place first?
Having a social media calendar in place for your law firm is important as it allows you to prepare good quality content ahead of time that aligns with your overall social media goals and with your audience.
We create content calendars for our clients, so in this blog, I’m going to explain the reasons why a law firm social media calendar is beneficial and how to set one up for success.
What is a law firm social media calendar?
A law firm social media calendar looks similar to a regular calendar, except here, you can plan out your social media content for the month or upcoming months and include all the information you need to execute your plan.
For example, you can list the channels you want to share to, organise your content into categories, create a list of hashtags and even assign tasks to colleagues with deadlines.
Planning ahead of time helps you to be more organised and consistent with your law firm's social media posting.
Why do law firms need a social media calendar?
Any business that is posting on social media, not just law firms, should have a social media calendar in place. Setting up a social media calendar helps you to;
- Post consistently: Having a plan means you’re not scrambling last minute to post or leaving large gaps between posts. Posting consistently to your law firm's social media channels helps the algorithms and builds trust with your audience who will come to expect your content on a regular basis.
- Post quality content: When you have planned your content in advance, you will have taken the time to research, create and refine it, ensuring it is on brand, resonates with your audience, aligns with your goals and has no spelling or grammatical errors.
- Achieve your goals: A content calendar can ensure your efforts on social media are aligned with your social media goals and in turn, your firm’s overall marketing goals and campaigns.
- Allocate resources: Knowing what content is needed and when allows you to allocate your resources more efficiently, whether that’s people, time or budget.
- Track performance: When you have a record of what content is being posted and when, it allows you track the performance of that content more easily, identify trends and refine your strategy going forward.
6 steps to create your law firm’s social media calendar
Follow these steps to create a social media calendar that works for your law firm:
1. Set your goals
Your first step should be to define what your law firm wants to achieve on social media, which is the foundation of your strategy and anything you do on social media. Think about how these goals align with your firm’s overall marketing goals. For example, you might want to attract more talent to your firm, so your social media goal will be to share more culture and values content that reflects what life is like working at your firm and driving people to click through to your careers page. Use the SMART goal method to ensure your goals are all achievable and measurable.
2. Know your audience
Once you’ve established what it is you want to achieve with your law firm's social media, think about your ideal customer or social media follower, and do some research into the things that are important to them, what language and tone they are used to talking in and what social media platforms they like to spend time on. This is essential for planning your content.
3. Choose your platforms
You may already be well established on certain platforms, but it’s important you think about what platforms your audience are on and more importantly, how much time you have to commit to maintaining these platforms. Look at your analytics and do your research. If you find that X is not helping you meet those goals you set, then perhaps it’s time to drop that platform? Or you might find you can open a whole new world of potential customers by joining YouTube.
Whatever platforms you decide to use, ensure you have the time and resources to maintain a flow of content on them and to engage with those online communities on a regular basis.
4. Define your content pillars
Once you’ve established your law firm's social media goals and who your audience is, you should be in a better position to define your key content pillars or categories. Choose four or five content themes that you will be sharing across your social media channels that each work towards your social media goals. For example, one content pillar might be ‘company culture and values’ and another might be ‘informative’ content.
Once you have established these, you can then easily plot these themes each month in your calendar, making sure to share a variety of content to engage your audience effectively. We find colour coding our pillars makes it easier, visually, to see what’s being shared across the month.
5. Establish a posting schedule
How often you should be posting on your law firm's social media depends on two things: a) your audience and b) your resources. If you’re struggling to keep up posting twice a day every day of the week, then don’t do that. It’s better to post twice a week and be consistent about it than to post inconsistently. The algorithms and your audience love consistency!
Be guided by your resources and check your analytics regularly to see when your audience is online and what they’re responding to.
6. Monitor your content performance
Once you’re a few months in, check in with your analytics again and see what’s working and what isn’t. Now that your calendar is all set up, it’s easier to keep track of your goals and content pillars and then adjust your strategy accordingly.
Law firm social media tools
There are many content calendar templates online that you can download and make your own, or you can even print one out and pin it up on a wall if you like! Do whatever helps you and your team the most.
We also recommend using a scheduling tool such as Hootsuite or Sendible for scheduling your content once you have planned it in your calendar, as it’s easier to keep track of everything in one place.
If you’re struggling to define your content pillars or goals, generative AI tools can help you make sense of them.
You should now be well-equipped to set up your own social media content calendar for your law firm and start reaping the benefits. If you’re still in need of assistance, our friendly team at Conscious are here to help!
If you want to get in touch, give us a call on 0117 325 0200 or drop us a line at sales@conscious.co.uk.