Lawyers and law firms are quickly adopting social media to market themselves and connect with peers. Many are trying to figure out how to properly utilize their social media channels and there is good reason to utilize social media: approximately, half of the world’s population uses social media platforms, so it’s a natural place to reach and influence prospective clients.
On the other hand, misusing social media channels and making unacceptable mistakes can do damage to your reputation or credibility you’ve worked hard to establish. We recommend putting together a social media guide to help lawyers understand the approved ways to use social media platforms. Below we have included top 10 common mistakes that we see lawyers make:
1. Aggressive Response To Negative Comments
When you stay active on Social Media for a longer time, it is likely that eventually you’ll get a negative comment. Always remember that you can use this feedback to learn and grow. Take any comment with an open mind view and don’t lash out at the commenters. You should take this into consideration that other followers will notice how you respond to any negativity – so keep your social media wandering clean and classy.
2. Inconsistency While Posting Updates
You will not always feel creative or motivated, but then again it’s important to post often in order to build your brand and grow your practice. Eventually this is the turning point where creating a content calendar and scheduling posts in advance can help. There are a number of tools that can help you manage this process effectively.
3. Not Responding To Comments
When followers comment on your posts, make sure you respond to them as early as possible.Try to engage with your followers, respond to tweets, LinkedIn comments, and other feedback. Let them know that a real person exists behind the lawyer, and that person is someone they would like to work with.
4. Choosing The Inappropriate Social Sites
Facebook and Twitter are always great for communicating with potential clients, but if your target audience is on LinkedIn, you are wasting time. Keep on conducting the right research to determine where your potential clients or referral sources are and be there.
5. Showing Less Interest In Posting/Sharing Photos And Videos
Graphics are much more attention-grabbing than text, and video is increasingly important in search results. Moreover, video marketing is a great lead generation channel.
Research outlines that marketers who use video obtain 66% more qualified leads per year.
Hence, do attach quality and appropriate pictures, videos, or infographics as much as you can. On the contrary, remember that the information you want to get across is the essential part of your posts. Even if you have catchy videos or graphics, you still need to put thought into your verbiage.
6. Posting The Same Content Across Different Social Channels
Most of the people are on every single social channel, but chances are they use the different platforms for different purposes. Hence, posting the same content across different channels is a pretty common social media mistake. Try to learn what each channel offers and how people use them, and post accordingly.
7. Usage Of Hashtag
Hashtag originated on Twitter, but have since expanded to other social media platforms. Using this great tool you can reach a wider audience. You should preferably use 2-3 appropriate and relevant hashtags for each post on your firm’s social media page.
8. Failing To Use LinkedIn Properly
Your LinkedIn profile should contain at least as much information as the bio on your firm’s site. You must be leveraging LinkedIn to stay up to date with the movement of your clients and former client contacts. After all, LinkedIn is a great source of information for CRM systems.
9. Failing To Understand What Your Target Audience Wants
If you find that your posts aren’t resonating or generating interest, you might need to look closer at who you’re targeting and how you can help them. Try observing the lifestyle, personality, needs, and challenges of the people who follow you. Whilst focusing on creating value, also make sure you provide a variety of post types so that followers don’t get fatigued.
10. Having A Presence On The Wrong Social Networks
Facebook and Twitter are great for communicating with potential clients, but if your target audience is on LinkedIn, you are wasting time. Do the right research to determine where your potential clients or referral sources are and be there.
Conclusion
These are just a few of the top reasons that your social media posts are not delivering the results you want. Hopefully, the above suggestions will help you increase your reach and engagement on your social profiles. Of course, there’s also the option to get a social media marketing expert to help you! Cyrusson is a reputable boutique digital marketing agency in San Francisco that can help give your social media marketing efforts a boost. Book a call with our team today to find out how we can work on your online presence!