Posted by Andy Cullwick, director of marketing at Legal Futures Associate First4Lawyers
Cullwick: You have to measure the success of your activity
Like most marketers I know, I have a love-hate relationship with social media.
Love it when it works, hate it when it doesn’t. And it’s a tough nut to crack.
Paid-for ads are increasingly sophisticated and can get you in front of your target audience, but they can’t then nurture relationships in the same way organic activity can.
Anyone can open an account on any of the platforms available, and I have previously written about choosing the right ones for you and your business, but to build a following and keep them engaged is the hard part.
Know your audience
If, like me, you work in a field where anyone could wind up needing your services, then it can be tricky to know where to best target your marketing efforts.
Drilling down into the demographics of your existing clients, however, can tell you a lot about where your focus should be. For example, what’s their average age and which platforms do they prefer?
There is also a huge amount of publicly available data about the nation’s social media habits. It’s no secret that X has fallen out of favour but did you know, for instance, that the fastest-growing group of users on TikTok are 45-64-year-olds?
Don’t be a stranger
Having an account is one thing, posting regularly is a different matter. But when it comes to building your ‘tribe’ and holding their interest, it’s a case of use it or lose it. Research amongst 100 law firms for our recent white paper found that the frequency with which they posted varied widely from daily updates to the almost 10% of firms on LinkedIn which had not posted anything for at least six months.
Posting is important on any platform in order to maintain your profile and boost reach and engagement when other users interact with your content. That won’t happen if there isn’t anything to see.
That said, don’t just post for posting’s sake but make sure it’s relevant and authentic. Users will just as easily be turned off if you pop up in their feed with something too salesy or disingenuous.
Engaging with your network, such as commenting on other posts and responding to comments left on yours, will also increase reach as well as building relationships.
Mix it up
Company pages will almost never get the same levels of engagement as individual profiles so it’s even more important to have a clear strategy.
Our research found that most content from law firms typically falls into three categories – advice, promotion, and responsive posts either sharing other people’s content or trying to jump on trending stories.
Make sure you pitch the last one right. An old but good example of how not to newsjack is the law firm tweet in the aftermath of a rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers in which people were seriously injured: “Been injured in a roller coaster crash?! We’re experts in Personal Injury!! #Smiler #AltonTowers.”
Strong opinion is always more engaging but the above is also a useful reminder to read the room and make sure you’ve got the tone right.
Content that showcases your company culture and values also drives engagement. A recent audit of our own activity at First4Lawyers showed that some of the most popular posts were content introducing different team members or promoting our charity fundraising efforts.
Mixing it up also applies to the content format and a general rule is that photographs and video are key to getting yourself or your business noticed in users’ feeds.
Set the metrics
Fail to measure the success of your social media activity and it’s a bit like shouting into the ether; you won’t know what’s working and what isn’t.
There are analytical tools to help track metrics like impressions, engagements, click-through rates and how fast your followers are growing (or falling). Whether you’re trying something new or simply monitoring performance for the first time, however, I would recommend looking at data across a three-month period at least.
With social media, where trends and algorithms are constantly changing, monitoring efficacy is a work in progress and there is no one size fits all. What works for one business may not work for another, but unless you have the right metrics in place you won’t know what works for you.
A version of this blog first appeared on Claims Media.
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