08 Jun 4 Ways Your Law Firm Can Use Social Media to Your Advantage
You probably know by now that many of your competing law firms are into
social media. But the question is, do they really know how to use it to their advantage?
The truth is that most of them don’t. So if you know what the immense
benefits of social media for your law firm are and how to use it to your advantage,
then you have gained the upper hand over your rivals.
Here are 4 useful ways for you to leverage on social media to benefit
your firm.
1. Use it to promote your firm
According to statistics compiled by Hubspot Data, up to 95% of Gen X
expect brands to have significant Facebook presence.
That’s not all. As much as 87% of that same group and 70% of people between the
ages of 45 and 60 agree that businesses should have a Facebook page at the minimum.
Generally, people would expect companies to have a presence on at least 3 major
social networks (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).
Your law firm will be expected to do the same. But still today, there are many
lawyers out there who just can’t see the power of social media when it comes to
connecting with their audience.
As they say, the trend is your friend. So if the trend is moving towards
communicating on social media, then that’s where you should be.
By keeping people engaged on social media, you can attract new clients while keeping
your existing ones interested in what you have to offer, should they require them
again in the near future.
Another important point to note is that more and more people are relying on social
media to make buying decisions. According to leading digital marketing
publication Leaderswest.com, 46% of consumers look to social media to help them make informed
decisions before buying.
So it goes without saying that your potential clients will take a look at your Facebook page
and its reviews before deciding to engage your services.
2. Setting goals for your law firm
In the previous point, we talked about potential clients checking out online reviews before making
a purchase decision. Similarly, your law firm can also do the same thing to build a better practice.
What you can do is go on the social networks or the search engines, and then do a search for
your firm’s name to see what types of discussions are going on, and whether are they positive or
negative in nature.
When you see positive feedback, then you know that your law firm must be doing something right.
You can then improve on those positive areas to make them even better.
On the other hand… if you happen to find negative feedback, then you’ll know what
the problem areas to work on are. And from there, you can set realistic benchmarks around those
less-than-favorable reviews.
3. Networking and building your authority
As pointed out by the American Bar Association, networking is crucially important to law students.
On the other hand, it can be extremely advantageous to your law firm as well.
Picture this scenario: one of your lawyer friends is fully occupied with many cases at
this time. He couldn’t handle the workload, so he decided to pass a couple of his cases
to you.
This is just one of the many opportunities that networking can bring to your law firm.
But we are not talking about you going to seminars, workshops and other networking
events to make new friends. We are talking about you connecting with another lawyer friend through social media.
Besides networking, you can also use social media to build up your level of expertise and
stand out from your competitors. You will be able to build your reputation as
a trusted lawyer with an expert mind. Throw blogging and other forms of content marketing
into the mix, and you have a real formula for success.
Imagine having more than 50,000 Facebook fans. These loyal fans are going to help spread the
word about your law firm, branding you as a true authority in the process.
4. Present evidence in the courtroom
Since the spectacular rise of social media, lawyers have been using it for and against
plaintiffs and defendants to prove their case.
As reported by Journal-News.com, social media posts are now admissible in court. In many
instances, it’s actually the first place lawyers look to search for evidence.
Here are just a couple of examples of how social media can be used in the courtroom:
* Put into question the credibility of a witness based on inconsistent information
that they’ve shared in the past, whether related or unrelated to the current case.
* To demonstrate the true character of a witness.
However, you will do well to take note that gathering evidence on social media can be a
very time-consuming task. In some cases, lawyers must find a way to
grab content that is only accessible via private friends. And that person’s Facebook
friends must give you access to that content willingly.
You would also have to make sure that the contents are indeed posted by the
person in question, because someone else could have posted from their account.
No matter how troublesome using social media in a case is, it has proven to be
very helpful in supporting successful cases.
If you have any more lingering doubts about how you can use social media to
your law firm’s advantage, then you can totally dispel them with these 4 valuable
ways, and then put them into good use.