TikTok for Lawyers: Should You Join the Trend?
Are you trying to figure out what are the best social media platforms for lawyers? Where will your law firm get the best ROI? There are over 65 social platforms and you can’t be everywhere at once - and you shouldn’t be on every network!
Social media is an important opportunity for your law firm to:
Build Brand Awareness
Connect With Clients
Reach Prospects
Boost Your SEO
Increase Your Mailing List
Grow Your Business - And Your Profits!
Yes - you read that right: social media posts boost your SEO! According to SEMrush your social media posts send 6 different SEO signals to Google that impact your rank on search engines:
So when you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by sharing it further. In this way, you increase visibility, improve traffic, and generate backlinks. These are social signals that notify Google that your site content is incredible. Those signals could indirectly improve your search rankings.
Deciding which social media platforms your law firm should be on is just the 1st step. Most social platforms are free to use - but there is a real cost in time and money to manage the site and create content:
What should you post?
Who’s going to create it?
When do you post it?
Who’s going to post it?
How To Choose Your Law Firm’s Social Channels
The easiest way to decide which social networks your law firm should be on is to figure out where your ideal client lives on social. Each social network has user demographics that let marketers know information about their average user, built with very specifically tracking algorithms that are available to marketers.
Your law firm should have profiles of your ideal client, typically called client avatars. Your avatars (and yes - there should be more than 1!) should include a wide variety of targetable information including:
age range
sex
income
education
lifestyle
priorities
pain points
social networks
#hashtags
Once you determine where your ideal client lives online, that’s where you should focus your social media marketing!
For law firms that are just getting started or have limited resources, I recommend start with the basic social networks:
Facebook - if your ideal client is over 40
Instagram - if your ideal client is under 50
LinkedIn - if you’re trying to get referrals or professional clients
Twitter - if your ideal client is or you’re looking for media opportunities
YouTube - if you use videos to reach your prospects
Social Media Best Practices For Law Firms
There have been recent articles published about lawyers who are killing it on TikTok. During the COVID quarantine, many lawyers (and other professionals) experienced periods of creativity and boredom that resulted in several lawyers going viral on TikTok. That’s great - as long as you’re going viral for the right reasons,
Unfortunately, some lawyers may have taken the TikTok trend too far, including immigration lawyers whose fun and flashy TikTok video ads promise easy visas and green cards - and seem too good to be true. Lawyers have expressed concern about the “lack of transparency and withholding of critical information that would allow immigrants to make better-informed decisions” that while not illegal, may be unethical.
Here are social media best practices for lawyers and law firms:
1. Start With 2-3 Channels
Don’t try and do more than you have time for. Pick 2 or 3 social media channels and do them well before you add more networks.
2. Determine Your Goals
Why are you on social? Do you want to get more brand awareness and followers, or get more leads? Are you trying to reach 200 followers, or 1000?
3. Assign a Social Media Manager
Don’t assume it will social media posts will be easily squeezed into your already busy day, or that it can be a shared responsibility among your whole team. Assign someone to manage your social media platforms, give them dedicated time to manage social media, and include social media as part of their job responsibilities.
4. Create A Social Media Calendar
No more trying to come up with last-minute post ideas! Plan what to post and when to post it on an annual basis. Identify who is going to create the content (this may be different from your social media manager). Come up with a #hashtag strategy for each platform that includes your local and branded keywords.
5. Schedule Posts In Advance
Many tools exist to help you plan and schedule your social media in advance. This way, you can dedicate one day per week or month to schedule your posts at the best time of day instead of having to manage them on a daily basis.
6. Track Your Results
Every social platform has analytics. Track what types of posts get the most engagement, and what type generates the most leads. Measuring and evaluating your results helps you determine your future social media strategy, and determine how to get the best ROI for your social marketing efforts.
7. Know The Marketing Rules
Just because you saw a lawyer do it on TikTok doesn’t mean your law firm should do it too. Every state has its own law firm marketing rules. Many states consider websites and social media platforms attorney advertising, which is governed by the state bar association. Your firm is responsible for following your local compliance and ethics rules regarding social media marketing.
Paid Social Media Posts
In addition to “free” social media posts, most social media platforms offer paid advertising options that cost from as little as a few dollars to thousands of dollars. If you’re going to pay for ads on social media - which can be very beneficial and a competitive edge for law firms - it’s not only important to know the legal marketing compliance and ethics rules, it’s important to know and follow each social media network’s own advertising rules.
If you do not comply with a platform’s advertising policy your ad can get pulled - and you can be permanently banned from all activity on that platform and your social media account can disappear overnight.
Last Thoughts
Your law firm can benefit tremendously from social media marketing. But if you don’t have the time to be social, now may not be the best time to start a social media campaign. There are other options such as outsourcing your social media marketing, hiring a team member to handle your social media, or finding a virtual assistant to be your social media manager. Each option has different costs and benefits.
If you need help with your law firm’s social media, let us know: we can help! SEO My Law Firm provides social media strategy and marketing services and other content solutions for law firms.
