For attorneys and law firms that need to keep track of multiple social media accounts, Hootsuite is the ultimate dashboard for social media management. Rather than remembering multiple passwords and going to different sites to make posts, Hootsuite allows users to manage all of their social media accounts from one central location with either a free or Pro account (paid). Here are our top five benefits of managing social media accounts with Hootsuite. Continue reading “Top Five Reasons to Sign Up for Hootsuite”
Category: Social Media
How Lawyers Can Use Social Media
By John Zaher
With the exponential growth of social media, lawyers and their firms have begun to adapt to changes in online marketing and social networking to grow their brand and attract new clients. In 2012, the American Bar Association acknowledged the trend by dedicating an issue of its Law Practice Magazine to social media. A diversified and well-maintained social media strategy can lead to client referrals, better event publicity, increased interest in a law firm, and a stronger brand. Social media can also establish firms/partners as thought leaders in their fields. Although there are dozens of social media forums, the most relevant for the legal profession are blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Attorneys who conduct extensive research on their field often receive little recognition outside of legal circles. By editing this research for public consumption, via blogs, lawyers can build a solid reputation among social media enthusiasts, people who share their interests, and potential clients. Sharing self-written (or ghost-written) blog articles enables lawyers to establish credibility and become leading experts recognized by their peers and followers.
5 Blogging Mistakes and How to Fix Them
By John Zaher
Anyone can create a blog but at the end of the day, the question is whether or not your blog is getting results and generating leads for your law firm. If the answer is no, you may be committing one of the following blogging sins. This article will provide an overview of five common mistakes businesses and law firms make when blogging, including not understanding their target audience, not providing any contact information, inconsistent updating, bad writing and not including multimedia.
1. Not Understanding Your Target Audience — One of the most common blogging mistakes is when a firm doesn’t understand the needs of its audience. The key to successful blogging is focusing every post on what your prospective clients would find most valuable or interesting. Readers are looking for information and news that can directly benefit them. Readers are also looking for personality, and blogs (whether ghost-written or written by the attorney) should be professional, but with a personal voice. Law firms should place an emphasis on creating interesting, helpful and engaging content rather than pure self-promotion.
Twitter Advertising
By John Zaher
As the world’s most popular micro-blogging website, Twitter has become an increasingly important tool for lawyers to promote their services through word-of-mouth marketing and generate buzz about their firm. While businesses have used tweets, links, and hashtags since Twitter’s inception to engage with existing and potential clients, Twitter recently expanded businesses’ ability to advertise through Twitter Ads. Previously, Twitter Ads was limited to a select group of large companies and those who were invited to participate, but with a new self-service system, any law firm or individual can use this feature to promote tweets or accounts and increase followers.
For those not familiar with Twitter, here’s a brief overview. Twitter is a micro-blogging site that allows its users to communicate by posting short updates known as “tweets” to their profiles and “following” each other’s tweets on their newsfeeds. Every Twitter user has a unique username, known as a Twitter Handle (such as @TrafficLawyer), which is prominently displayed on the user’s profile page and next to every tweet the user posts. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and often include links to other websites, articles, blog posts, or hashtags. Hashtags (symbolized by the # sign) allow users to search for tweets with specific subjects or phrases, such as #PersonalInjury or #Law.
A Quick Overview of Facebook Graph Search
By John Zaher
In 2013, Facebook introduced Graph Search, a feature that combines characteristics of a search engine with an individual’s social network for personalized search results. With dual emphasis on online searching and social networking, Graph Search presents an opportunity for law firms to improve their social media strategies and better understand their target audience, while increasing visibility and attracting new clients.
Finding Your Clients
Unlike a regular search engine, Facebook Graph Search gives firms valuable insights into their target audience’s demographic information and interests. Facebook offers criteria to narrow down results from its one billion users to the specific audience your firm will target. For instance, a traffic lawyer in New York City can search specifically for “People in New York City who like cars,” or an immigration law firm can search for “People in Connecticut who are from Costa Rica.” The results can also reveal characteristics about a client base (Do more men or women like cars? Are most people in Connecticut who are from Costa Rica younger or older?), which your firm can use to tailor services and marketing strategies to a target market.
Continue reading “A Quick Overview of Facebook Graph Search”
Making the Most of Your Law Blog
By John Zaher
In 2008, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research conducted a study, which established that fast-growing small businesses are adopting social media at a faster rate than larger corporations. This may largely be due to the fact that for small businesses, such as law firms, social media and blogs can be a useful communications channel, allowing them to directly engage in a conversation with their clients and obtain feedback. Beginning with this issue, PR4Lawyers will be writing a series of articles that provide in-depth information and tips that can help you understand and utilize social media and blogs effectively for your law firm. If you have read or at least heard of blogs but don’t exactly understand how they can help promote your business or how they may fit into your overall marketing and communication plan, read on for our first article on blogs.
