Although we work a great deal with Tourism and Retail brands we also work in other market sectors as well. We were recently asked to compile a report of why Twitter in particular is beneficial to Law Firms
Twitter is a fantastic B2B tool
Key benefits
- Build brand awareness
- Share Information
- Attract new clients
- Remind existing clients you are still here
- Engage with clients
- Show your expertise
- Drive traffic to your website
- Recruit new staff
- Find news in your market
- Improve PR
- Share articles and pages from your website
However, it is a statistical fact that law firms have been slow off the mark in getting involved with social media. Many of those who have had a go have either simply broadcast messages for a while and then given up. Those that have stuck with it have seen many advantages to their business.
Here are specific benefits to law firms which revolve around increasing awareness and reputation:
- Enquires
- More likely to get cases referred to you
- Approached by more journalists for quotes
- Able to demonstrate expertise to potential clients
- Company Image becomes more personable
Is it harder for law firms?
It seems that most law firms believe the mantra of ‘You’ve got to be on Twitter’ but aren’t really sure why.
In 2016 econsultancy.com stated in their Legal Sector survey, that many firms were more accepting of social media, and that engaging with clients on social was increasingly common.
This interaction, though, was happening chiefly at an individual level (between lawyers and clients or other parties) and that certainly makes sense given lawyer specialisms and profiles.
My take on this is that many law firms are very dry in their postings and perhaps too corporate. The public do not find it easy to choose a lawyer or solicitor (even approaching one can be difficult). Social media (Twitter) is ideal in building trust and helping people choose you over a competitor. The way you post and help others will certainly help more than your static website.
A Solicitor who is very succesful on Twitter
A really good example of how Twitter can be used for law is Donna Beckett.
Donna has the largest following and reach through Twitter for any law firm. Beckett and Co now get a lot of work through Twitter and have scrapped a lot of their traditional marketing – saving £1000s.
Here is a link to a blog post where Donna describes her journey on Twitter and the benefits:
You will notice in Donna’s blog post that she talks about engagement and not just promoting, this is very important.
How Law Firms can Use Twitter Well
People will search for answers using hashtags. Some of the most popular for law are #familylaw, #ukemplaw, #legalaid etc. Monitoring these can mean you can engage with people and direct them to resources on your website or private message them.
A good law firm’s Twitter feed needs to keep two things in mind:
- It’s all about the clients
- It’s not all about the firm
Updates should deliver:
- Breaking news of interest to your clientele
- Provide links to reports of interest and importance to clients’ industries
- Spread the word about upcoming events and opportunities that could deliver value to clients
- Re-tweet good updates from other Twitter accounts, ensuring that all the links in such RTs are valid and respectable.
- Follow the feeds of other Twitter users you like, and of the clients and potential clients
- The easiest way to pick up followers is by adding analysis or perspective to a piece of breaking news. Show people who might become clients in the future how a new ruling or development could affect them down the road.
A good website to find content is www.rightrelevance.com
Use Lists
Lists are like having different TV channels on your TV. You will notice that Donna follows a lot of people, to just look at her newsfeed would be chaos, so she uses lists dedicated to different subjects so she does not miss anything.
Choosing a profile
You could use your logo – but social media is all about being social and building trust so I would recommend a personal photo. Even better would be setting up personal Twitter accounts of your experts to strengthen your brand.
I would also suggest (lots of eyes will roll skywards at this – but it will set you apart) would be to have a 90 second video pinned to your profile stating how you can help etc.
Phil Aston
Genius Loci Media