How to Make Time for Social Media Marketing as a Lawyer
Social media marketing offers numerous benefits for lawyers, from growing your professional network to attracting fresh leads. However, running an effective social media campaign takes time. And as a busy professional, your schedule is already full.
So how can you add social media to your to-do list when you’re already busy managing your practice?
Don’t worry—it is possible. All it takes is a little planning.
Here are three ways you can make time for social media marketing as a lawyer.
1. Focus on Fewer Platforms
Many attorneys feel like they have to sign up for every social media platform to be effective. But soon, they often discover that staying active on even one platform can eat up a lot of time.
From creating compelling content and earning followers to engaging with other users, social media takes work. And when you spread yourself too thin, you can’t give any of your accounts enough attention. As a result, none of them generate results.
No engagement, no leads, and no noticeable growth.
Lots of lawyers who try this approach end up discouraged. They decide that social media just isn’t worth the hassle and leave their profiles to stagnate.
To avoid this (and save yourself plenty of headaches), stick to a couple of platforms at most. Yes, building a strong presence across multiple social media channels is ideal. But if that isn’t an option for you, dominating one or two channels is still an effective strategy.
So take a look at the unique benefits of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, and decide which are best for your practice. Then, commit to focusing your efforts on just one or two. Whatever is most manageable for you.
Sometimes, less is more.
2. Schedule Time for Social Media
It’s easy for social media to become a constant distraction. If you’re doing it right, you should be buzzing with a steady stream of notifications, connection requests, and email alerts.
This often leaves attorneys with two choices: either let social media become a distraction or ignore it altogether until those pesky notifications die down.
But there is a third choice. Set aside specific, consistent times to take care of your profiles. Doing this will allow you to maintain an active social media presence while keeping it in its proper place.
When you know that you will be getting to those notifications at a particular time, it is easier to ignore them the rest of the day.
Figure out what time works best for you, and schedule it like any other regular task. Maybe you can squeeze it in during your morning coffee or the fifteen minutes just before your lunch break. Those sessions would be for quick check-ins to post some brief content or respond to messages.
Beyond that, you can also schedule longer, less frequent sessions—maybe an hour or two on Thursdays.
Once you’ve decided what times fit best with your schedule, add them to the calendar and make social a best-practices work habit.
3. Develop Your Content in Batches
Brainstorming ideas for posts can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of staying active on social media. If possible, you can always repurpose some existing content.
Eventually, however, you will need to brainstorm ideas for new content.
However, crafting posts piece by piece throughout the week is anything but efficient. Instead, use those longer sessions—e.g., a couple of hours every Thursday—to create content in batches. Come up with as much content as you can at one time, then use the platform or a third-party tool to schedule posts over the coming days.
That way, you can devote your shorter sessions to interacting with other users and growing your network. Then sit back and relax, knowing that your content strategy is on autopilot for a while.
Doing Social Media Right Doesn’t Have to Take All Day
Your time is valuable. It’s worth protecting. Fortunately, by following these tips, you can take advantage of the benefits of social media without overwhelming your schedule.
Of course, to get the most out of your social media strategy, you’d need to invest a lot of time—almost certainly more than a busy lawyer can spare.
If you’d like some help, we’d be happy to give you a hand. At Let America Know, we provide trial attorneys across the nation the comprehensive support they need to energize their social media profiles.
Contact us, and we’ll get to work developing content, managing your accounts, and strengthening your social media presence.