Most of us who are involved in legal marketing, be we solicitors, barristers or marketing professionals, are aware that social media is important in driving work instructions (ie what other markets call “sales” but whisper that softly).
By 2025 it is calculated that 80% of business (“BSB sales interactions between suppliers and buyers” in marketing speak) will occur in digital channels.
It is therefore not enough therefore to simply have a social media presence.
You need to have a social media strategy.
If these words send you into a panic, don’t worry. A social media strategy doesn’t have to be a massive, complicated, multi-coloured document or spreadsheet. The most important thing is to have agreement on which social media channels suit your market/s and what internal resource will be needed to find the information and post/tweet it regularly (regularly being the operative word). You can then build on this.
Here are 6 essential, tried and tested social media best practices to help you on your way:
1. Know your objectives and build around them. Sounds obvious but have you thought what you are trying to achieve? Is it one or a combination of, for example:
- Brand awareness
- Credibility and trust
- Education
2. Use audience insight to design your messaging. If you want to stay ahead then you need to take advantage of the insights that social media gives you about how your audience is interacting with your content. What are the buyer interaction patterns? There are various places you can find this information. Google Analytics is one, LinkedIn Insights is another.
3. Find your niche/s and differentiator/s. This is where audience insight is also helpful. If you know who is engaging with our content and how then you will be able to work out their needs and be able to speak to these direct.
4. Target wherever you can. Some of your posts will necessarily be more general. However, the more targeted (or to quote the marketing buzzword “personalised”) you can be, the more effective you will be. This may require you to run different forms for the same content or completely separate campaigns.
5. Consider paid social media advertising in conjunction with your general content programme (“organic” content). Organic campaigns are good for building profile, but acquiring clients is often more effective with carefully targeted paid advertising.
6. Don’t spread yourself too thin. It is preferable to do one social media channel really well than try and do them all. Use your audience analysis to work out where most of your clients are and concentrate on that channel.
And remember, you don’t have to be doing everything perfectly straightaway. Just keep posting/tweeting!