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We have reached a certain level of maturation within the world of social media. Some social networks have thrived, while others have floundered. Google+, despite its initial buzz, has proven to be a bust, marked by high-profile personnel exits and service uncouplings, including YouTube. Meanwhile, Twitter has been faltering as of late, with reports that revenue is shrinking and users are becoming disengaged.
At the same time, newer platforms, particularly Instagram and Snapchat, are gaining dominance, due in part to a younger demographic that appears to be more enticed by filtered images and short videos than text and links to articles. In fact, as of this writing, Snapchat boasts 100 million daily active users, though it is estimated that only 18% of U.S. social media users are on the platform.
Given that the social media landscape of today is already drastically different than the social media landscape of three years ago, how should legal marketers invest their time and money in order to derive the greatest return on their investments? The answer starts with a thorough look at a law firm's social media goals.
The Status Quo
As a content consultant to law firms, I see a lot of social media strategies. And, by and large, most law firms play it very safe. The vast majority use social media as a way to attract more site visits by distributing content that is largely housed on the firm website. The thought is that if you hook them with your social media post, then you can bait them with the content on your site. It's a good strategy, one that helps usher visitors through the sales cycle, beginning at awareness (“This social media post is relevant to me. I should click on it.”) to interest (“This article that I clicked on is of value. Maybe I should check out the rest of the site.”).
But is there more we can be doing with social media than just sharing the content that exists on law firm websites? Is there other content we can create that statistically performs better on social media? Can we take advantage of new platforms in a way that doesn't require too great of an investment ' since, after all, who knows when the next big thing will come along and disrupt the market? To answer these questions, law firms need to first reassess what they hope to get out of social media.
Choose Your Goals
The first place to turn is your content strategy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of law firms do not have a written content strategy, which means they do not have an actual codified set of goals that dictate their social media usage. Legal marketers who work without a set of guidelines are operating on a relatively ad-hoc basis with no clear way to discern success or failure. Furthermore, if “success” is calculated at all, it's often arrived at by counting click-throughs and impressions, which are good metrics, but with specific goals comes specific key performance indicators that can better help legal marketers evaluate and refine their executions.
To aid you in this effort, here is a list of social media goals that legal marketers might want consider:
Execute Your Strategy
Law firms don't have to select a singular goal with social media. Different platforms can have different combinations of goals because each network claims its own unique audience, each with a unique set of motivations. For example, Facebook is the catch-all social network where people go for everything, from sharing baby pictures to reading the latest New Yorker column. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is more niche. It's dominated by professionals seeking job opportunities and career information.
But codifying your intentions for each social media network in a content strategy ' one that is, of course, always evolving ' is critical. And part of your social media plan should include execution strategies, i.e., who do you want to target, why are you targeting them, what are you targeting them with and how are you measuring your success.
Below are some tips on how to use social media to achieve your specific goals.
Looking Ahead
Staying educated on where social media is today and where it appears to be going is of the utmost importance for legal marketers. The strategies you created just a couple years ago might be outdated and certainly need to be revisited.
You also need to create a written content strategy, one that speaks to your social media goals, executions and analysis. And, you need to incorporate information about the newer social media platforms. Yes, it's likely that your firm is not going to use Snapchat anytime soon, which is perfectly understandable given that the platform is largely populated by a market outside of your target demographic. But that could change sooner than you think, as the young and tech-savvy are always the earliest adopters of new technology. Also, newer platforms could potentially offer your firm value, such as Periscope. The service, which allows users to live-stream content from their devices, could be used to affordably live broadcast a speaking engagement.
The world is changing rapidly. If we want to keep up, legal marketers need to continue to look ahead and anticipate what tomorrow might bring.
Keith Ecker is the Content Strategist at Jaffe. In his role, he strategizes, manages and helps execute a full scale of content-related activities for law firms and other law-related entities. Reach him at [email protected].
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