Social media, especially LinkedIn, is becoming increasingly important in the marketing of products and services in the legal sector. Why is that? What needs to be considered? And: How do you do it right? Answers can be found in this article.
Law firms, educational institutions, legal journals and legal tech companies: Popular brands in the legal market rely heavily on social media channels to achieve their strategic goals.
LinkedIn and co. support the development of a brand, lead generation and the acquisition of legal talent.
The world on social media can be brutal.
Numerous accounts are fighting for the attention of their target groups. It is well known that not only good content is produced...
Success comes to those who regularly communicate interesting content for their own target group. Content creation often feels like investing an insane amount of time only to get a brief effect and a few likes.
However, the value of communication is actually not apparent at first glance. What counts is the amount of goodwill generated in the brand over time. This cannot (only) be measured by the likes of individual posts. So it's best to understand one thing straight away: Reach, likes etc. are not everything. The important thing is who you reach and what happens with these people.
Content reaches target groups via social media platforms. Hardly any other marketing measure is simpler and cheaper. With a solid social media marketing strategy, it is possible to generate regular visibility through published content. This regularity subconsciously generates the necessary trust for the brand.
Content providers in particular, such as legal journals or educational institutions, produce a large amount of interesting content in their business. This can be used to develop great social media strategies – without giving away the core content and thus the value in the business for free!
Law firms or individual lawyers also have a lot of interesting content. Not using this in communication means not monetizing an essential asset in your own brand.
In many industries, networks are one of a company's most important assets. It is particularly important for lawyers and law firms. The network is the heart of every successful lawyer's career! So it's no wonder: hardly any other profession is so well networked and uses the resulting relationships in business development - kudos!
However, networking today is much more than just memberships in professional organizations or social chats at drinks events. The digital space has long since become the main place for networking. And – you guessed it – social media takes center stage.
Take it at its word: "social" means that you also have to be social on these platforms. Behave as you would at an aperitif.
You can learn a lot and stay informed on social media platforms. Of course, you have to follow the right accounts. The fact that a lot of garbage is posted on LinkedIn and the like should not stop anyone from communicating interesting content themselves. With good content (and the right presentation), you can very quickly stand out from spam, advertising and boring content.
Lastly, social media platforms also play a central role in employer branding and recruitment in many law firm strategies.
Here are the main benefits of LinkedIn and co. for legal marketing:
The short answer is: yes. However, the return on investment of successful social media marketing is difficult to measure. After all, in the legal sector, there will hardly be a single sale that can be attributed solely to a LinkedIn post. The fact that successful law firms rely heavily on these platforms in their marketing shows their importance.
We know from our own experience at HeadStarterz: Many of our new and returning customers follow what we do on social media. On the way to a sale, there are regularly several points of contact with our social media content.
As always in marketing, the starting point is the company's strategic goals. These should be clearly defined. Based on this, a strategic concept is developed to ensure that the activities contribute to these strategic goals.
Plan your social media activity in three phases:
Before you start, you should be really clear about what you want to achieve. Which practical findings would mean success for you when using social media channels? How can these goals be measured?
These goals are held on to – and never let go! ;)
If you want to be clever on social media, you also need to plan well. The conception phase is all about ...
...to define the target groups,
...to understand their needs,
...to define the channels,
...to formulate the key messages,
...to conceptualize the content fundamentally, and
...to determine the available resources (human and financial).
Important: The existing social media know-how should also be evaluated. Employees often need some training to optimize the use of the platforms.
With the right concept in place, specific campaigns can now be developed for the individual target groups. Not all target groups of a law firm or training institution are interested in the same topics.
A tax boutique may advise on VAT and tax issues for private clients – completely different target groups, needs and topics.
Targeted campaigns ensure that all relevant target groups are served and addressed. In this way, the brand develops a strong reputation among all strategic customer groups.
The communication of content will generally not be limited to social media. Campaigns are effective if other marketing measures (e.g. email marketing, blog, etc.) are also included.
With this preparatory work, creating the actual posts should no longer take too much time. We recommend using social media management software so that posts can be prepared in a calendar. It also simplifies the creation of analog posts on content across multiple channels.
Account management should be regulated by clear responsibilities: Who drafts the posts? Who approves them? Who responds to questions and comments? Who ensures that all information is correct?
We support law firms and other companies in the legal sector in the development and implementation of successful social media marketing concepts.
Interested? Contact us: hello@headstarterz.com
HeadStarterz - We are at home in Basel and look forward to your visit in our well located office directly at the Rhine in the heart of the city in the tri-state area!
