Lawyers need an online presence. Why?
Quite simply it acts as a huge marketing potential. Your online presence includes everything from your social media platforms, legal articles you have written, blog posts for websites etc. As with any company or business, your online presence is now more important than ever (and law is no exception).
Everyone has an online presence, that means companies, individuals, groups, organisations, charities etc. It also means your clients have an online presence as well, and therefore lawyers need to be aware of this, and ensure that their online presence is consistent, informative, beneficial and drives enquiries.
Statistics show that potential clients and buyers spend significantly more time than they have done on websites, reading around subjects, company reviews and individuals before buying anything, the same applies to lawyers.
So with clients checking out social media accounts, website blogs and news pages – these need to be up to date, current, informative and a benefit to them. You don’t need to be constantly selling your services on these channels, but you do need to be consistent with updating these platforms, and having a consistent message, and ensuring that your brand shines through.
Your “list of services” page is no longer enough. You need to show clients you are engaged, up to date and sharing legal news, updates and information which makes you the best law firm and the one they need to use. So what do you need?
- A strong profile
- Social media links on your website
- A strong brand which is reflected on your social media accounts
- Content which includes blog posts and news articles as well as social media content!
- Active social media presence
- Sharing links to any news articles you have written
So what are you waiting for?
Is it time you updated your LinkedIn profile, or as a law firm you start tweeting a little bit more?
I don’t really need to touch on this as you are all aware of the need to be safe online in terms of what you post and share, always have in the back of your mind what impact sharing certain things may have on your own career or that of your company. We have all seen legal horror stories which have arisen from people sharing stupid tweets and these have had a detrimental impact on their own career, brought the legal profession into disrepute as well as reflecting badly on the law firm involved.
What can you do next?
I have a series of blog posts coming soon which will assist you on improving your online presence. Therefore make sure you check out the following as soon as they go live:
- Ways you can build upon and develop your online presence
- What social media platforms should you be on?
- My top tips for having a great social media presence
- How to make the most of your company LinkedIn page
- I don’t know what to share online
- What are the things you shouldn’t be doing online!
- Is it possible to build a rapport with clients and potential clients online – yes!
- Why do you need to have a good response time and how can you work on this
- Examples of how you can aximise social media outreach without losing hours of your day
- How to handle bad or negative situations online in an appropriate way.
Sadly, just having a social media account isn’t good enough anymore, if your last tweet dates back to 2014 you need to put some ground work in and change that up! Start small if you need to, share an update on Twitter and LinkedIn each morning, and start seeing the benefits.
For a quick look at how lawyers can benefit and maximise their outreach on twitter, check out my first YouTube video in the ‘Twitter Tips For Lawyers’ series here.
How can I help you?
If you, or your law firm think you could benefit from a social media overhaul, or perhaps a training session, get in touch and we can discuss this. I run training sessions on specific areas of client engagement, social media, blogging, or just a general session. I also write reports for law firms on any of the areas mentioned above, and these highlight areas you could improve, how to drive more engagement and some of my top tips! It is a great way to start working on your social media platforms and really engaging with people. Feel free to send me an email via my contact form.
Rebecca x