It’s been a couple of months since we launched our Conscious Conversations sessions. This month, we’re hosting our third session. I had the honour of hosting the first-ever session about making the most out of hidden gems on social media. We discussed the various social media platforms and how to take advantage of them.
The session was well-attended, and we had some great questions submitted. In this blog, I’m going to revisit some of those questions that were asked. Hopefully this will be a quick reference point for those who want a reminder of some of the things that were discussed.
Here are the top six questions from the session:
How can we get started with video on Instagram?
With video on Instagram, or any other platform for that matter, you’re met with several choices. You can post the video to your main feed, to stories, live video, or as a reel. It’s important to think about what the content is and where you think the best place for that to live will be?
For example, live video, or video on reels and stories can be less polished than a video on your feed, so this would work well with adhoc content such as recording at an event, content that is only relevant for a short time period or is part of a trend. For video on your feed, consider that this will live on your profile quite prominently so it’s important to make sure it fits with the branding and aesthetic of your feed and is of good quality.
It's also important to consider that a lot of people will watch a video without the sound, so if there is talking in your video, adding closed captions can help people who may not be able to listen with sound or may be hard of hearing. Instagram now offers this as a feature when uploading video content – but be wary – it can be a little inaccurate sometimes, so make sure to check the captions are correct before sharing!
If you’re stuck for video ideas, have a look at what your competitors are doing for some inspiration. It’s fine to experiment a little until you find the right formula and your analytics can help guide you on this.
Are polls on LinkedIn still useful and favoured by the algorithm? Or are they a desperate attempt to attract engagement?
Yes, LinkedIn polls are definitely favoured by the algorithm as they generate 450% more reach than a normal LinkedIn post. Having said that, with great power, comes great responsibility. Sharing polls is a great way to generate more engagement and vary your content, however, they shouldn’t be used all the time as people can get sick of them!
Polls can be a great way to find out more about your audience – what kind of content they’d like to see more of from you, getting opinions on the latest news in your industry, understanding the types of challenges they face etc. So long as the content in your poll is relevant and valuable to your audience, then don’t be afraid to use a poll. You can even follow up on a poll with a secondary post to bring people back to your feed again.
Don’t be afraid to use humour. LinkedIn is often thought of as quite a serious platform, but if you’re happy for your brand voice to use a touch of humour, then go for it. Do what works for you as a business or as an individual on LinkedIn.
When using polls, remember to create options that are more interesting than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. These can look like a desperate attempt for engagement and don’t add much value to anyone. Try to have more than two options for responses as this helps to generate more discussion from the poll in the comments and in any follow-up posts.
How do Twitter Spaces work and are they suitable for a law firm?
Twitter Spaces are a relatively new addition to Twitter, and they are essentially live audio chat rooms, similar to Clubhouse, that are easily accessed from the bottom of the app where you can search for rooms to join, or start your own. Unlike Clubhouse, Twitter Spaces seem to be a lot more user-friendly and have some great built-in features such as being able to send out tweets from the audio window which will automatically add the hashtag. This is a great way to extend the conversation outside of the audio session.
As they’re still quite new, their popularity and effectiveness are yet to be revealed. Many people will already have an established and engaged audience on Twitter, so they’re already starting with more of an advantage than with Clubhouse. You can schedule Spaces in advance, so you have lots of opportunities to promote your audio event ahead of time on Twitter as well as on other platforms.
Spaces can be used to host Q&As on a specific topic, host an interview or even just hold a general session to chat about the latest industry news. As Spaces are so new, you have free reign to experiment and find out what works for you. Check out Twitter’s dedicated Spaces page for more details.
Is TikTok really worthwhile for law firms? What sort of content should we be posting on there?
After doing some of our own TikTok research at Conscious, we found that there are quite a few individual lawyers on TikTok but not very many firms. This may be something you should consider if you’re thinking about creating a TikTok account – are you joining ‘as the firm’ or are one or two people from the firm going to be ‘the faces’ of the account?
In terms of content, we found that many of the lawyers would post videos of their typical day at the office, behind the scenes content and Q&As where a question would be on the screen in text, and the lawyer would answer the question talking to camera. We did find some very creative and much more adventurous legal accounts on TikTok. but these definitely had a specific style and the person on camera was confident enough to produce that kind of content.
It's worth remembering that the audience on TikTok is still fairly young (although this is beginning to change) and so it might not be the platform for you depending on your target audience. Try experimenting with the type of content you might post on TikTok with Reels on Instagram and Facebook first to test the reactions. This can give you a sense of what’s working and what’s not and also help you decide if you have enough time to be creating new content for another platform as well as any others you are currently on.
What is the best way to use LinkedIn Live?
Not all LinkedIn individuals or pages will have access to LinkedIn Live, so it’s important to check by going through the steps here first. According to LinkedIn, video is five times more likely to generate conversations with members and twenty times more likely to be re-shared.
LinkedIn Live is good for things like hosting Q&As, interviewing an expert, making a big company announcement, or just hosting a chat about the latest legal news. If you’re still not sure what you want to use LinkedIn Live for try looking at things like the content suggestion tool (which can be found in the admin view of your page under the dropdown menu labelled ‘content’), your analytics to see what kind of topics performs best and any hashtags related the content you usually talk about to see what others are saying.
Usually, live video works best when it’s at least ten minutes long, to allow for the stream to settle in and for discussions to take place. Therefore, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you know what you’re going to say, and you have enough material to cover the whole run time. You’ll need one device for streaming and one device for monitoring comments, so it may be easier to have another person with you to help with this. Before going live make sure your set up has good lighting, your camera is of good quality, you’ve checked your background for anything that should be moved, you have a good internet connection and most importantly, you have practised! These rules also apply to live video on other social platforms.
What’s the best way to get more followers and engagement on LinkedIn company pages?
Generating engagement and gaining new followers can be tricky on LinkedIn company pages. LinkedIn was originally set up to allow individuals to network and so the focus has always been on connecting with people instead of attracting people to a company page. That’s not to say that it’s impossible though – there are some things that you can do.
Make sure that your profile is complete and includes keywords and hashtags that might help someone find your page when they are searching on LinkedIn. For content inspiration, take a look at what your competitors are posting and as mentioned above, use your analytics and the content suggestion tool to look for trending topics and conversations. LinkedIn can sometimes be very formal, but people sell to people, so make sure you’re showcasing your people at their jobs or doing the things they love outside of work
To generate more followers, you can invite up to 100 people to follow the page every month, but this isn’t always very effective. Make sure you point to your page in your marketing materials, whether that’s on social media, in your email signature, or in your physical marketing materials. It may be worth launching a LinkedIn Newsletter or LinkedIn Live series to encourage people to keep coming back to your page regularly and to attract new followers. If all else fails, you can always use ads to boost your following if you need to.
Don’t forget to sign up for our upcoming Conscious Conversations sessions!
We have a great calendar of Conscious Conversations sessions coming up this year, so make sure you take a look and sign up here so you don’t miss anything.
As always, if you need support with social media and developing a strategy – we can help. Contact sales@conscious.co.uk or give us a call on 0117 325 0200.