On June 28, 2020, Meranda Vieyra, CEO of Denver Legal Marketing, presented “How Lawyers Can Be More Social on Social Media” to the Colorado Women’s Bar Association. In this lecture, Meranda discussed using Facebook for building brand awareness, promoting a practice area, and targeting specific types of clients and cases. As one of the leading social media platforms, Facebook has a high and predictable return on investment in social media marketing. For lawyers, LinkedIn is an excellent social media platform for networking, with about 90% of the lawyers in the United States having a profile.
Using Your Personal Facebook Page to Grow and Nurture Professional Relationships
In this presentation, Meranda focused on how lawyers can use their personal Facebook pages to grow and nurture their professional network. For any lawyer interested in using this social media strategy, Meranda recommends three things to always remember: be separate, be private, and be updated.
Meranda shared a personal Facebook page checklist, which recommends having separate personal and professional accounts. Facebook is excellent for social media marketing because it allows professionals to reach more contacts and segment each audience for targeted outreach. Facebook allows segmented privacy settings for your profile and each post. As friends and connections are added in Facebook, they can be placed in appropriate groups such as personal or professional.
When using a personal Facebook page as a networking tool, Meranda encourages maintaining an updated and professional profile photo. The average Facebook user is connected to approximately 80 pages and events, which allows users to see a bird’s eye view of what people are interested in. This is also great for learning about competition – what are competitors saying or not saying? What kind of advertisements are they running?
The average user spends about 18 minutes on Facebook each visit and visits Facebook multiple times per day. Staying current on Facebook allows for catching people’s attention during that 18-minute timeframe. Meranda suggests joining Facebook groups to build a business development pipeline, listening to target audiences, and staying on top of mind.
A professional Facebook page should maintain a consistent theme that reflects the attorney’s personal brand. Around 80 percent of posts should focus on how a law firm stands out from competition and serves the community, and approximately 20 percent for driving clients and cases. Find your voice, figure out your brand’s tone, be a thought leader, and make sure to be informative yet entertaining.
How Lawyers Can More Effectively Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn can be very useful for connecting with potential clients and referral sources. Being active with regular posting is essential to keeping a LinkedIn page alive. LinkedIn has suggestions for what works best on their algorithm.
Meranda reviewed five crucial parts of a LinkedIn profile: the profile picture, the top box area that includes your headline, summary, recommendations, and posts. Every profile should have an updated, high-quality photo. A light or white background is highly recommended. A limit of 120 characters is provided for your headline, used to capture who you help and serve. In the summary portion, successful professional LinkedIn users highlight career accomplishments. One common mistake made often in this section is covering what you do instead of focusing on why you do it. Lastly, third-party validations can be crucial for every LinkedIn profile, especially for women as they are typically asked for references more often than men.
Like all social media platforms, maintaining a consistent theme and staying active on LinkedIn is a priority. Not only do posts appear in the LinkedIn newsfeed, but also likes and comments on others’ posts. The optimal number of connections is approximately 500. Meranda suggests connecting with people you already know, other professionals in your industry, and potential clients. Based on 500 connections, someone posting five times a week once per day is connected with 60% of their connections. It is also crucial to share engaging content, such as brands that reflect the identity of the lawyer and law firm.
There are plenty of opportunities to use social media for marketing legal services and engaging potential clients and referral sources. Lawyers who are not taking advantage of social media are missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population.
To learn more about Meranda Vieyra, visit her online biography.
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