Are you still thinking that social media is just for your teenager, and not for your law firm? If you are, then you are missing out on some real opportunities to keep ahead of the competition with your web presence. Social media is here to stay, and if you don’t have a social media strategy, you need to develop one now!
- Facebook now has about 1.4 billion users.
- There are now 2.2 billion Google Plus profiles.
- Twitter has 284 million monthly active users.
- LinkedIn has over 332 million members.
- Almost 60% of marketers who have used social media for over three years say that it has increased their business.
- Companies with social media presences are trusted more by their clients/customers.
- The majority of orders (referrals) from social media come from Facebook.
So, maybe you have spent some time with social media—posting a few things and tweeting a few things. You don’t think you have a decent return on your time (or money) investment. What you need to remember is that your social media presence is actually just a part of what clients are looking at when they are selecting a law firm. Are you on the cutting edge? Do you have reviews? Client testimonials? Are you keeping up with the latest conversations in the legal field? Potential clients are looking at your website (which should take them to your social media pages). They will see right away if you are keeping up with the trends, and this will add to their level of trust. Therefore, you cannot afford to ignore social media.
Think of social media as the newest way of building relationships. Just as attorneys build relationships offline—by writing, speaking, soliciting referrals, going to conferences, and socializing with clients and other attorneys—they now need to do this online. No one would question the benefit of getting together with others to help build relationships. Social media is a way of getting together with a large number of people in order to do the same thing. Social media enhances and builds reputations, keeps the name of the law firm (or lawyer) in the forefront of people’s minds, and further develops and nurtures relationships with potential clients and referrals.
Yes, your teenager is on social media. You should be too.
