Posted by Andy Cullwick, director of marketing at Legal Futures Associate First4Lawyers
Cullwick: Social media helps build your ‘tribe’
Is social media performing as well as it could be for you?
Working in marketing, it’s hard not to cast a critical eye over other brands’ posts on social media and I see lots of examples of content done well – but many where it isn’t.
It was this that inspired our 10th annual white paper – TikTok or TikNot: Law firms in the social media age – looking at how law firms are faring when it comes to using the channel to engage with consumers.
We commissioned independent research of 100 law firm marketing leaders to find out how much they were investing in social media and what they were seeing in return.
The findings were revealing and suggest that, as we enter the new year, many would benefit from reviewing and refreshing their social media strategy to see better results.
What the research found
The average law firm spends around a quarter of its marketing budget on social media but sees little in return, our research found.
Gaining a better understanding of the channel and how to make it work for them was identified as one of firms’ biggest challenges for the year ahead.
LinkedIn was the most popular social media platform, with all 100 firms we spoke to having an account, followed by X (96 – although the tide is rapidly turning on that one), Facebook (75) and TikTok (11).
That’s not to say TikTok should be dismissed and the interview in the white paper with Libby Hendry, former social media manager at Attwells Solicitors, which has become something of a TikTok sensation, is well worth a read.
However, our own analysis of firms’ performance on these channels showed that, often, posting is sporadic and engagement poor. A third on Facebook are speaking to an audience of fewer than 500 followers, for example, while the number of likes, comments and shares rarely hits double figures.
When asked to rank their marketing channels by effectiveness, SEO, email marketing and event sponsorship were the most popular among law firms.
We also surveyed 1,000 consumers, via YouGov, about how they would choose legal services, and recommendations, reviews and online searches all scored higher than any social media platform.
What the research means
My own interpretation of the findings is that law firms do realise the potential of social media, but struggle when it comes to making it work for them. This is not helped by the fact that trends and algorithms mean the goalposts are constantly moving, nor by the fact that marketers say almost one in four law firm partners (23%) still believe social media is a waste of time.
Marketers also identified lack of resource and clear business objectives as concerns for the coming year.
But with more than 56 million active users in the UK, equating to over 80% of the population, social media is a phenomenon that businesses, not just law firms, cannot afford to ignore.
We have spoken to hundreds of law firms during the course of the last 10 years of white papers and it comes as no surprise to find there is still a disconnect between what consumers want and what firms think they do.
But never has there been more data available to help you pinpoint who and where your audience is, and what they want to see from you.
Social media is not a silver bullet and it won’t, alone, make people buy your services, but it does play an important role in raising brand awareness, building your ‘tribe’, and many businesses would benefit from a better understanding of the channel (no mean feat as platforms are evolving all the time).
You don’t have to be on every platform, but I’ll be talking through the key ones and where you need to be in it to win it in future blogs, as well as sharing my top tips on better social media engagement.
A version of this blog first appeared on Claims Media
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