Being an attorney at a solo or small law firm has always come with certain inherent risks and challenges. To manage your legal practice and small business, you need to wear many hats and be able to successfully juggle competing priorities. Today, these challenges are even more pronounced. As you adjust to new ways of working and serving clients, you must also confront shifting economic realities and make decisions on where to funnel your firm’s marketing resources.
Thankfully, when it comes to digital marketing, there are several effective and low-cost options. In our recent webcast, Making The Most Of It: Optimizing Your Firm’s Digital Marketing In Uncertain Times, two seasoned experts provided tips and advice for how small law firms can maintain relevancy and visibility during this time and get the most out of their digital marketing efforts and investments. Specific digital marketing tactics and tools discussed included legal directories, social media ads and blogging.
In this blog post, we answer four additional questions that were posed by attorneys who attended the webcast. If you missed the live broadcast, you can tune in to the on-demand version any time.
Question: What’s the ideal length for a legal blog post?
Answer: When it comes to blog post word count minimums, FindLaw recommends that a post be at least 200 words in length. However, rather than getting too hung up on a post’s length, it’s best to think about the value you‘re providing. Few legal topics can be discussed in a meaningful way in less than 200 words. A key goal of your blogging strategy should be to provide information that is interesting and informative for readers. Keeping this goal in mind can also help you determine if a blog post is too long. By nature, blog posts are meant to be shorter, easy-to-digest, and shareable forms of content. Therefore, if you’re having a hard time keeping a post to under 1,000 words, it’s better to break it up into a series of two or three shorter posts.
Question: Where should firms publish blog posts?
Answer: A key attribute of a blog is that it provides your firm the ability to add new, unique, and relevant content to your firm’s website on a regular basis. Having an on-site blog is one of the most effective ways to get search engines’ attention and boost your firm’s online visibility. A blog also provides you and your firm a platform to discuss topics related to your legal practice – providing value to legal consumers and positioning you and your firm as thought leaders.
In addition to regularly posting to an on-site blog, you can and should share links to your blog posts via your firm’s social media channels. Including a brief sentence or two synopsis about a recent post and then linking to your blog via your firm’s Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts helps boost engagement on social media and drive additional traffic to your firm’s website.
Question: If our firm is going to run paid advertising on Facebook, how important is it to have a robust firm Facebook page?
Answer: While building a strong presence on Facebook takes time, there are several things you can do to quickly build and enhance your firm’s individual page. Make sure to complete as many fields on your firm’s Facebook business Page as possible. In addition to ensuring basic information like your firm’s full and correct name, address, website link and business hours are listed – take the time to add photos and specific calls to action. Prior to posting, sharing, and commenting, make sure to establish a social media strategy and carefully think through your approach. When you feel comfortable that you have a handle on managing your firm’s page and the related content, you can explore paid advertising options on Facebook. While paid ads can be a highly effective way to promote your firm’s services and connect with legal consumers, it can be challenging to comply with Facebook’s advertising policies and failure to do so may result in your account being shut down. To ensure the time and money you put into paid ads doesn’t go to waste, it pays to turn to a digital marketing expert for advice and help.
Question: What is the best way to gain followers on Facebook?
Answer: When it comes to building a following on your law firm’s Facebook page, diligence and persistence are key. Tailor communications to different audiences, i.e. one for current clients and another for business associates, inviting people to connect with your firm via Facebook. It’s also imperative to link to your firm’s page on your website and include a link to your Facebook page below your email signature. You can also blog about how your firm is using social media to connect with current and prospective clients. Once you start to build a follower-base, keep them engaged by regularly posting and sharing content that is relevant to your community, practice, and clientele.
Leave a Reply