By focusing on a few simple habits, your law firm’s Facebook page can start attracting more potential clients.
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For modern law firms, building a successful social media presence is crucial because the competition is out there, often crushing it with their online presence.
Since Facebook hosts 1.37 billion users every day, vibrant, engaging law firm Facebook pages are a business asset. But for lawyers, social media can be a challenging addition to an already busy schedule — and many questions emerge, including:
- How can your firm optimize its Facebook page to attract the most attention?
- What should you be posting?
- Should you hope for organic traffic or invest in Facebook ads?
Using your law firm’s Facebook page effectively requires time and effort, but here are some tips to make the investment worth it.
Focus on Engagement for Your Law Firm Facebook Page
Thousands of law firms have created Facebook pages, hoping to inspire trust and authority in consumers’ eyes. Many of these law firms report that Facebook is not working for them, and a key reason is that it takes time, effort and consistency to squeeze the most out of your firm’s Facebook presence. Making law firm marketing work on Facebook takes more than likes and follows. In a word, it takes engagement. Once you make consistent, meaningful engagement a habit, Facebook can become a powerful platform for your firm.
Include Photo, Video and Hashtags
Facebook is a visual platform, so get your aesthetically minded team members on board and start creating well-designed posts for your Facebook page. Instead of chunks of text about your latest courtroom success, add compelling photos along with user-friendly captions. Cartoons, illustrations, attractive quotations and video clips are also potent ways to engage your followers.
Here are some tips for using video on your firm’s Facebook page:
- Keep your video to three minutes or less.
- Maximize SEO on videos by using video titles and descriptions with your keywords infused.
- Upload your videos directly to Facebook instead of embedding a video from another site since natively produced videos get priority in the feed.
- Ethics guidelines for law firms vary by state, but they often require photos and videos to include actual law firm staff, not hired actors. (Be sure to check for guidance in your jurisdiction.)
Using hashtags on Facebook is another way to increase your organic reach. Legal hashtags turn your topic into a clickable link and allow other people interested in a subject, such as #slipandfall, to land safely on your law firm’s Facebook content.
Invite and Interact
Search for the gear icon at the top right of your law firm’s Facebook page. This useful tool contains options such as the ability to post content to other pages. Depending on their privacy settings, you can add posts to other people’s pages, which exposes your own material to a wider audience.
In the same corner, you can find the Admin Panel. If you click the “Build Audience” button, a menu will drop down that allows you to select various ways to invite others to like your page.
This is a simple way to enlarge your audience because you are contacting people who already know you and like you. And as you build your framework, it becomes more important to stay on top of any messages you receive. Try to respond as soon as possible because Facebook pages are rated for responsiveness. If a message requires more time to answer, respond quickly, letting the user know you will get back to them.
Be Professional and Personal
Your Facebook page is an extension of your law firm, so you must stay on top of best practices in advertising. Think carefully before you post. While you must always be professional, you can still be personal. Allow your law firm’s Facebook page to spotlight your personality to prospective clients. Speak their language, and include content they care about. Local issues and current events make great post ideas, so be quick to let the world hear your commentary.
While most of your Facebook connections will probably be potential clients, you can also interact with a few colleagues or law firms. Engage with these other professionals by liking, commenting on, and sharing their content, and they will probably do the same for you. This gives everyone more exposure and can build relationships between key industry leaders.
Schedule Your Content
Scheduling your content can be a timesaver and stress reliever. Although midsize and larger law firms have the assistance of marketing agencies, smaller firms do not have this luxury when it comes to social media management. Help yourself out by utilizing Facebook’s scheduling feature, which can help you plan your content postings for premium traffic times. Using a comprehensive scheduling tool — such as Hootsuite, SmarterQueue or others — can help you produce and automate all of your social media content.
Scheduling makes you appear active and consistent to other users and allows you to post content on evenings, weekends and holidays.
Request and Respond to Reviews
Client reviews are free and powerful advertising for your law firm. You may be reluctant to request a client review, but most clients do not always think of leaving a review unless asked. Requesting client reviews should be a serious priority since peer reviews greatly influence a potential client’s decision to contact a law firm. You may already have a stash of excellent Google reviews, but do not forget to use Facebook for reviews also.
The Facebook reviews system gives a comprehensive look at how businesses are rated by their clients, and your prospective clients will be checking your law firm’s Facebook page to see your ratings. What about negative reviews? Although they are a bummer, one negative review is not going to hinder your law firm in a significant way. You can mitigate the effect of a negative review by your gracious, professional response to the unhappy review.
Always respond to every review, whether positive or negative. This shows that you take reviews seriously and that you stay engaged with your clients.
Consider Facebook Ads
The worst-kept secret of Facebook is that they are always trying to make money off of your content through ads. When you promote your posts with paid ads, more individuals see them in their feeds. To gather maximum marketing gains, you should consider buying Facebook ads.
Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive. After you create a post, you can choose to “boost” it, which increases your audience. You can also sponsor a status update targeted to a selected demographic through a planned Facebook ad budget. A boost can increase the reach to your present friends and fans, and a paid update will get your message out to potential new clients. If you are unsure how to get started, take a peek at your competitors’ ads. You can view all ads through Facebook’s Ad Library.
Increasing Traffic on Law Firm Facebook Pages Takes Persistence
Optimizing your law firm’s Facebook page does not have to be an overwhelming or tedious task. By employing a few simple habits and scheduling your posts strategically, your law firm’s Facebook page can start attracting more potential clients. When you focus on engaging and responding to current connections, finding new ways to reach out, and employing other helpful tips, you should start to see increased traffic on your law firm’s Facebook page.
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