Tips for Using Social Media to Generate Legal Client Leads

You’ve probably heard the terms “lead generation” and “lead conversion” before in regards to gaining new legal clients. In legal digital marketing, lead generation is the process of gaining new potential clients after they view your site or social media post and gain an interest in your firm. Lead conversion occurs when those interested potential clients take their interest one step further. Instead of just viewing your website’s front page, a potential client will take a look at social media, they may follow a link and end up looking at the rest of your website.

Gaining new client leads is always one of the most important goals for any law firm, and without lead conversion, your potential clients would never actually become clients. Remember, not all website and social media traffic result in client leads. If a potential client takes a brief look at your website then immediately leaves, that doesn’t do you—or your law firm—a whole lot of good.

Now the real question—How does a law firm website generate new client leads and take those leads to the next level? Ultimately, it comes down to having a plan. Without a plan in place for generating client leads, you’re left to mainly rely on blind luck. Gaining those much-needed leads can be done in a variety of ways using digital mediums, but one of the areas that doesn’t get talked about a lot in regards to law firms specifically is social media.

We all know that businesses in the entertainment industry, etc., thrive off social media, but when’s the last time you heard about a law firm with 100k followers? Let’s face it—the legal industry doesn’t get a lot of social media “buzz”. But that doesn’t mean social media is useless for you and your firm.

 

Here are 4 tips for using social media to generate legal client leads:

 

1. Don’t just share—Interact.

By now, everyone on social media knows about this tip, but marketers keep saying it because it really does matter. Don’t just share links to your firm’s blog posts and press releases on social media and expect to gain a decent following or handfuls of new clients. Talk to your followers. Share news posts or articles written by others that your users may find interesting. Talk about why those posts or articles are important. Talk about the events you’re traveling to or will be appearing at.

2. Share images.

The internet, as a whole, is obsessed with images and infographics. Take advantage of our constant desire for pretty pictures and colors. Infographics are especially recommended since they combine text and images, allowing viewers to quickly digest and understand cumbersome information like statistics and numbers. Share neat images you may find that have to do with cases you’re representing clients for or events you’re traveling to. Start every blog post with a cool image and use that image when sharing your posts.

3. Optimize links.

When you share a link to your law firm’s website over social media, don’t just link the front page. Link a blog post after mentioning why it’s important. Better yet, link a blog post about an eBook you’ve written and have available for sale. Link a blog post about a local event you’re participating in and then follow up that blog post with a link to your site’s event page. Essentially, optimize your links so they lead to other content your readers may find interesting.

Links can be incredibly powerful tools over social media. If optimized well, you can encourage your site’s viewers to view multiple pages on your website instead of just one. When they view extra pages and see how well-organized your website is and how much effort you’ve put into your practice, they may be enticed to give you a call. And hey, if your site design looks amazing, why wouldn’t you want to show it off as much as possible?

4. Offer more than blog posts.

Blog posts are great to share over social media since they’re newsworthy and tend to be about subjects your followers will find interesting, but don’t forget to share other content as well. As mentioned above, share info about events you’ll be speaking at or new cases you’ll be seeing clients for. Talk about press releases you’ve recently issued.

If you’re looking for new creative endeavors to take part in, you might want to consider writing an eBook that interested potential clients can download or writing guest blogs/editorials on a partner’s site. Projects like this give you more chances to share content with your followers and may lead to additional opportunities or new clients.

Learning how to manage social media for law firms can seem daunting, but essentially it comes down to two main objectives—sharing what you love, and finding new ways of showcasing your firm’s passions. Nail down a list of practice areas, legal cases, and practice movements that are the most important to you and your firm, and think about creative ways you can talk about those passions and drive potential clients to your firm’s website.

If you need any assistance with managing social media, legal SEO, web design, managing website content, or coming up with a digital marketing plan to help your firm generate new client leads, we’re here to help. Don’t hesitate to get in touch.