By: Paul V. Shaheen, RHU, REBC, Vice President / Horton Benefit Solutions
What theme do I keep hearing over and over for law firms in 2020? Resoundingly, it’s using technology to enhance your clients’ experience and raising your firm’s profile in the process.
These are great words to live by, and when it comes to using technology to improve your firm’s perception and profile, there’s arguably no better way to do that than with a clearly defined and faithfully executed social media plan. For years, by my OWN admission, I was a sporadic social media user. I’d go on LinkedIn for a few days, then forget about it for weeks and months, and hence, never truly built a consistent presence or message to my network.
Today, through the lens of social media, the most successful law firms are those consistent postings on social media and utilizing their website to full potential. According to Guy Alvarez, founder, and CEO of Good2bSocial, law firms can use social media to maximize four key areas:
- brand awareness
- lead generation
- value to clients through cross-selling practice areas, and
- differentiation from competition
From across scans of various social media platforms over the past two years, here’s where and how firms seem to be having the most success in this regard.
- Lawyers working to build their brand are posting on LinkedIn/Instagram at least once if not twice a week, be it attending work or nonprofit events or reporting on recent regulatory changes or litigation in their area of practice.
- Firms using social media to enhance their standing in the market are doing a good job of consistently reporting on major court victories and/or successful transactions via their website, LinkedIn et al.
Remember this as well: for as important as websites are to provide insight and promotional content, using social media for the same purpose offers the ability to engage with your clients, prospects, and potential employees!
Just like many law firms began coaching newly minted associates on effective sales and marketing, so too, firms are now building social media training into their professional development training.
All this said, you might be wondering, how can we measure how effectively our name is getting out there? While there are many ways to measure YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE, one easy method (perhaps not used enough) is Google Alerts, where you can receive alerts (via email) on any topic (on in this case, your firm), anytime anything is mentioned or written about it.
No matter what strategy or combination of strategies you employ, make it consistent and intentional. Perhaps a good first step would be to LinkedIn post perhaps once or twice a week in your area of expertise, and when an attorney has a win in court or in the board room, put it on your web site, and, to paraphrase Billy Joel, “tell them about it.”
Social media networking is all about getting your name out there and building your brand, for as a great long-time colleague of mine once said, “It’s not who you know; it’s who knows you.”
Paul Shaheen
You will never see Paul Shaheen dragging his feet. For nearly 35 years, Paul has been one of The Horton Group’s busiest and most accomplished brokers, with a principal focus on providing group and individual benefit solutions for law firms and law professionals, as well as offering insurance expertise to the nonprofit, architectural, manufacturing, construction and automotive industries.
Material posted on this website is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a legal opinion or medical advice. Contact your legal representative or medical professional for information specific to your legal or medical needs.
