The 5 Biggest Mistakes Lawyers Make with Social Media
By Autumn Singh on February 23, 2022 in Social Media
Social media is an ever-changing industry. Let’s face it, practicing law is your full-time job, so it is commonly challenging to stay up-to-speed with the social media industry and its evolving needs. However, an effective, well-thought-out, and properly executed social media strategy is important to keep your firm competitive in today’s market.
Unfortunately, simply sharing articles and photographs is not enough to make social media a valuable element of your marketing plan. Our law firm social media marketing experts review the top five attorney and law firm social media mistakes and how to avoid them.
Social Media Mistake #1: Attempting to be on every social media platform
It is better to do one thing the best than spread yourself thin and participate on all platforms. Before setting up a profile and generating content for every single social media platform out there, doing some market research is essential. Identify your target market and where they are likely to engage with social media. Target the key platforms where your efforts will be rewarded based on your research. For example, there is no use in creating content for Snapchat if the clients you are trying to reach are not typically on that platform.
Also, having a presence on too many platforms can suck away valuable time in creating tailored and quality content for each, plus the time it takes to engage with clients.
Social Media Mistake #2: Posting the same content on each platform
We completely understand that this social media stuff is time-consuming. Therefore it can be tempting to create a single quality post and use it on all platforms.
Unfortunately, this strategy is not effective as each platform requires unique needs and targets specific audiences. Therefore, your content needs to be unique and platform-specific. This tactic will help increase reach and engagement across each platform by targeting the proper market and utilizing each platform’s tools. For example, posting content on Instagram and not using hashtags is a big missed opportunity to reach your audience.
Social Media Mistake #3 Only sharing your own content
Social media is an excellent way to show off your firm’s individuality and emphasize your expertise, awards, and accomplishments. On the other hand, your potential clients are unlikely to follow an account just focused on selling the firm. Instead, they are more likely looking for unique thoughts, news commentary, an inside peek at your firm, relatable content, and so on.
Your content strategy should include a mix of content that promotes your firm and engages with clients. For example, in addition to your own posts, repost interesting content from other places that are helpful, original, entertaining, or of educational use for your followers—something people might react to or share.
Social Media Mistake #4 Utilizing low-quality visuals – or none at all
In the world of cluttered social media feeds, do not make the mistake of forgetting to include some form of imagery that will effectively grab the user’s attention. A chunk of text will be overlooked. Avoid dark, blurry, or dull images. And do not use dated or ugly imagery; instead, find something unique and fresh that gives your firm personality and has the potential of engaging the client.
Bonus Tip: Across all platforms, videos typically perform the best. But avoid posting youtube videos. Rather, embed your video straight into the platform for increased engagement.
Social Media Mistake #5: Not Interacting with Your Posts and Followers
Not responding to comments left on social media platforms is one of attorneys’ most typical social media marketing errors. Facebook, in particular, favors posts with a lot of interaction (comments, likes, and shares), so not responding will only decrease your chances of getting more engagement. Engaging and responding to comments also helps build relationships and trust. And a bonus could be assisting a person who eventually becomes a client because they trust your opinion. Be sure not to ignore the negative comments either; respond with a kind response that is non-confrontational and addresses the issue.
Bonus Tip: A timely and quick response is critical. You do not want the person to feel ignored or that the problems are not important.
Still Feel Like You Need Some Guidance? Let PaperStreet’s Social Media Team Help
Attorneys don’t always have the time to develop and implement a successful social media strategy. Fortunately, PaperStreet’s marketing team can provide you with all the guidance and knowledge you’ll need to establish, maintain, and develop your social media presence. To learn more about how we can help you, contact us today.
