It’s no secret that social media is a beneficial tool for law firms and there are several compelling reasons why your law firm should be investing its time in this area of marketing.
The UK was home to 49.45 million users aged 18 and above using social media in the UK at the start of 2023.. That means social media is a great place to build awareness for your firm and increase its visibility to a wider audience, including potential clients, referral sources, and other legal professionals. By consistently sharing valuable content on social media, your law firm can build a strong brand presence and establish trust and credibility with your desired audience.
It can also be a powerful tool for showcasing thought leadership in the legal sector by sharing insights, opinions, and commentary on legal topics and trends and provides a space for engagement and interaction with potential clients and other legal professionals in which you can answer clients’ questions and build those all-important online relationships.
How can my law firm optimise its social media presence?
1. Provide value with engaging content
It is important that law firms share a variety of content on social media to provide value to their audience.
Examples of valuable content might include educational materials such as blog posts, infographics, and videos that offer insights into legal issues and changes in laws and regulations that may impact clients. Sharing case studies that demonstrate successful outcomes and highlighting client testimonials can showcase a firm's expertise and commitment to client satisfaction.
Sharing news and events that reflect a firm's involvement in the community, as well as providing expert analysis of high-profile legal cases or significant legal developments, can demonstrate a firm's industry knowledge and up-to-date understanding of legal cases and legislation. Legal tips and advice on navigating legal processes, as well as sharing industry insights might also be useful to clients.
Sharing personal profiles of lawyers and law firm employees can provide clients with a more personal connection to the firm and further showcase a firm's expertise helping your firm to stand out from competitors.
2. Post regularly on social media
Posting regularly on social media can offer several benefits for your law firm's brand. It increases your brand's visibility to your target audience, leading to increased awareness and recognition. Consistently posting can favour some algorithms leading to improved engagement, including likes, comments, shares, and followers, which can help expand your reach and grow your audience and loyal follower base. And your firm will be staying in front of mind the mind of its audience, making it more likely that they will think of your law firm when deciding on which law firm to instruct.
Recommended posting frequency on social media platforms by Adobe Express
3. Use hashtags to increase engagement
Hashtags are a powerful tool for increasing social media engagement as they can be used to categorise content and make it easier for people to find.
Relevant hashtags can attract people interested in a particular topic and increase engagement on the post and by using trending hashtags related to your industry or niche can increase visibility on social media and help tap into ongoing conversations, thereby reaching a wider audience.
If your law firm is particularly active on social media, using a branded hashtag unique to your business can increase brand awareness and engagement - provided your content is regular and useful enough for people to seek it out. You might encourage followers to use the branded hashtag when posting about your firm's services and engage with their posts to foster a sense of community around your brand if it's appropriate to do so.
4. Share videos and images
Law firms can utilise images and videos as effective tools for achieving higher engagement on social media – does your firm have a video on its website or YouTube channel that could be repurposed into shorter, bitesize video for social media? If so, it’d be a shame to waste it. Images and videos are more visually appealing than text-only posts, making them more likely to capture the attention of social media users and encourage them to engage with the post.
They can be used to tell a story in an impactful way, which can help humanise the law firm and make it more relatable to potential clients. Plus, people are more likely to share visual content on social media than text-only posts, which can help the law firm reach a wider audience and increase engagement.
5. Choose your social media platforms wisely
Tailoring social media content to each platform is crucial for law firms as each platform has a unique user base, features, and expectations, so choose where you're sharing content wisely.
Each social media platform attracts a different audience with varying demographics, interests, and behaviours. For instance, LinkedIn may attract more professional, business-oriented users which may be more attractive to a firm looking to promote B2B services, whereas Instagram may be better-placed for family law content given the large community of parents, mums and families with accounts on the platform. By customising content for each platform's audience, law firms can better engage with potential clients.
6. Engage with comments, messages and other accounts on social media
Engaging with comments, messages, and other accounts on social media is a crucial aspect of social media management for law firms. By actively responding to comments and messages, law firms can foster a sense of community and build relationships with their audience. It also shows that the firm is attentive and responsive to their client's needs and concerns.
On the other hand, responding to negative comments or feedback can also help to mitigate potential damage to the firm's reputation and demonstrate a commitment to resolving any issues. Active engagement on social media can lead to increased trust and credibility with potential clients and help to establish the firm's presence as they'll feel they're being listened to and engaged with. Nobody likes to be ignored on social media, particularly from a customer service perspective, so staying on the ball in terms of responding to direct messages and enquiries will be beneficial to the firm's reputation.
7. Identify the best times to post on social media
To achieve maximum engagement and reach your target audience on social media, it's important to identify the best times to post.
You can analyse your social media analytics to understand when your followers are most active and engaging with your content. Most social media platforms provide analytics tools that allow you to view this information. Next, consider your target audience and their online behaviour. For instance, if your audience is mostly made up of working professionals, you may find that they are most active on social media during lunch breaks or after work hours.
Experiment with different posting times and track your engagement levels to determine when your audience is most receptive to your content. You may find that certain times of the day generate more likes, comments, and shares than others.
If your firm uses a social media management tool, these have built-in analytics tools available that can help you analyse your social media data and identify the best times to post. These tools provide insights into your audience's behaviour and can help you optimise your posting schedule for maximum engagement.
8. Look at your social media analytics and make changes to your strategy
As mentioned above, analysing your social media analytics can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your social media strategy. By studying the data, you can identify which elements of your approach are successful and which need improvement.
One way in which this can help is by highlighting the most popular types of content among your audience. For example, you may find that videos generate more engagement than images or blog posts. Armed with this knowledge, you can adjust your strategy to create more of the content that resonates with your followers.
Do you need support with your law firm’s social media?
Our mission is to help law firms become more successful online. If you or your firm needs help designing a social media strategy to drive high engagement, our social media team is here to help. Get in contact at sales@conscious.co.uk or 0117 325 0200.