9 Reasons Your Law Firm’s Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working
Law firms across America are discovering the benefits of social media marketing. When used right, social media can help you:
- Raise awareness for your services
- Highlight your expertise
- Humanize your practice
- Attract more leads
But succeeding on social media isn’t a guarantee. Plenty of firms launch their first social media campaign with high hopes, only to end up disappointed.
They can’t seem to amass a following. Their posts don’t receive any engagement. No one is reaching out for help.
When your social media strategy isn’t living up to the hype, it’s easy to get discouraged. The good news is that it is possible to get more out of your online presence. In fact, the solution is probably a lot simpler than you think.
But before you can solve anything, you have to diagnose the problem. We’ve created this guide to help you do just that.
Here are 9 common mistakes that may be holding your law firm back on social media.
1. You Don’t Have a Strategy in Place
Social media success doesn’t happen by accident. If you want results, you’re going to need a plan.
Developing a big-picture plan is always the first step in launching an effective social media campaign. Sit down with your team to determine:
- What your goals are
- What tactics will help you reach those goals
- When you hope to reach certain milestones
- How much you’re willing to invest in the budget
- Whether you want to manage your social media in-house or outsource it
2. You’re Copying Your Competitors’ Strategies
Keeping an eye on what other law firms are doing is a great idea. Taking inspiration from the tactics you see is also smart. However, you never want to emulate other firms too closely.
First, you could invite accusations of plagiarism. But beyond this, copying other firms will keep you from finding your firm’s unique brand voice. This makes it harder to stand out from the crowd.
3. You Haven’t Found Your Target Audience
Social media provides a great opportunity to speak directly to your target audience. You shouldn’t expect your audience to show up right away, though. You have to help them find you.
Ask questions like:
- What demographics are most likely to need my services?
- How do they communicate?
- What social media platforms do they use?
- What brand voice will they respond to?
Once you know who you’re trying to reach, you can adapt your strategy to target them.
4. You Aren’t Providing Value
To connect with prospects on social media, you have to give them a reason to follow you. This means creating valuable content. This may include:
- Handy tips
- Helpful articles
- Insightful studies and statistics
- Commentary on current events
When planning your content strategy, keep your focus on your audience. What do they need? What problems do they have? What do they find interesting?
By answering these questions, you can establish yourself as a go-to source of information in your niche.
5. You’re Using Too Many Platforms
Some law firms think that to get the most out of their social media marketing, they have to sign up for every platform. Often, this creates too much of a burden for the firm to handle. It’s always better to focus on one or two profiles than to create dozens of accounts you don’t have time to manage.
When it comes to social media platforms, quality beats quantity every time.
6. You Don’t Post Consistently
Staying active is one of the most important commitments you can make when starting a social media campaign. Posting consistently will keep you top-of-mind with prospects and potential referrers. If you’re away too long, they might forget you.
7. You Aren’t Using Visuals
Visual content is always better for grabbing attention than plain text. For example, studies have shown that:
- Social media posts featuring images get 650% more engagement than text-only posts
- Marketers who use video obtain 66% more qualified leads per year
- Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media
By integrating visuals into your posts, you can get more eyes on your content and make a bigger impact.
8. You Expect Immediate Results
Marketing always requires time and patience. Social media marketing is no exception. There are rare instances where a firm will find overnight success, but generally, it takes a while.
Many law firms become discouraged by this delay and give up. But if you stay the course, the benefits will be well worth it in the long run.
9. You Aren’t Monitoring Your Success
No social media campaign is perfect. There’s always room for improvement. By tracking your success, you can optimize your strategy and improve your results over time.
If you don’t, you will miss opportunities for growth, and your marketing strategy will stagnate.
Do You Need Help with Your Law Firm’s Social Media Presence?
We hope this guide has helped you understand why you aren’t seeing the results you’d hoped for on social media. Armed with these tips, you should be able to fix the issue and hone your approach.
However, getting the most out of social media takes time, energy, and lots of patience. If you’d rather let someone else handle the headaches, we can help.
At Let America Know, we give attorneys across the nation the support they need to grow their practices through email and social media marketing. Just contact us, and we’ll get to work developing content, managing your accounts, and strengthening your social media presence.
Click here to learn more about our done-for-you social media program designed for trial attorneys like you.