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Archive for the ‘Facebook for Law Firms’ Category
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
Facebook, as a platform, loves activity, and they provide you with real estate when you establish your page. There are elements of the page that you can control. Learning to maximize these elements and make the most of the real estate can increase your activity and literally make or break your page. Here are 5 simple things you can do to increase activity on your Facebook page without spending a dime on ads or other marketing.
- Profile Photo. The profile photo is what appears next to every interaction of yours on Facebook. Most businesses use this space to showcase their logo. The problem is that Facebook automatically places your company name next to your profile photo in every instance it is shown. Branding value aside, Facebook is about maximizing social opportunity, NOT showcasing your brand. Using your logo as your profile photo is a redundant waste of space. Instead, use a photo of an actual person. Further, change your profile photo at least twice a month. Because Facebook users do not go to Facebook to read information from businesses, the instant they see your profile photo, their brain is already learning to ignore the image in their news feed. So, changing the image is a clever way of tricking your audience into paying attention. By following this practice, you will see your page interactions increase by 30%.
- Cover Photo. The cover photo is the largest piece of real estate that Facebook gives you. Most companies either use it to showcase product or service or, heaven forbid, their logo (again). The cover photo should show your brand being social. The cover photo should show happy people doing happy things. Plus, the cover photo should change at least once per month. Most Facebook activity occurs in the News Feed, so most will never see your cover photo unless you change it and it appears in their feed. Because it is the largest piece of editable real estate on your page, Facebook gives it priority in the newsfeed.
- Timeline/Newsfeed. Again, most Facebook activity occurs in the news feed. Always use a photo or video or link in your posts. People don’t read text. They look at photos and watch videos. Use Facebook Insights to determine your peak time for activity on your page and schedule your posts during those times. Your posts will only be read if your audience is only when the content is published. You will see your page activity double if not triple by following this very simple best practice.
- App Thumbnails. If you use apps, then Facebook gives you the ability to customize the thumbnails and the order in which they appear. You can be creative with this real estate and use the space to say something unique that gets noticed.
- Topics selection. Don’t simply broadcast information about your business. Remember, the branding effect of Facebook occurs whenever you post about ANYTHING. So, you can post about the weather and still achieve a touchpoint with your audience. Post content should break down in this proportion: 50% comments on current or humorous events, 30% community announcements, and 20% sales-oriented posts. Stick to this formula and your interaction will improve significantly.
Facebook is all about joining and creating conversation. Not dominating it. These 5 simple best practices are easy ways to accomplish this.
Call for your free consultation with an expert, not a sales rep.
For more information about Social Media Marketing, contact LawyerSuccess.com at 1-800-877-2776.
Tags: law firm social media best practices
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Media Advice | Comments Off on 5 Law Firm Best Practices For Facebook That Can Increase Page Activity
Monday, February 6th, 2012
Social media is the darling of traffic-generation for websites, and Facebook is the darling of social media, so if you haven’t made the leap, now is the time! Twitter has over two hundred million users, and Facebook over 600 million, so the potential reach is truly staggering, and any business owner or webmaster would be crazy not to take advantage of the huge social media push. Although relevant, inspirational content is obviously one of your top priorities, as are getting the necessary links to your site, social media marketing adds a dimension to your SEO push that you really can’t get anywhere else. Although a well-optimized page is essential for steady traffic, if you want to start getting blog comments and conversions from your readers, social media is the key, and Facebook is simply the best. There are, however, certain “rules” which can make your foray into Facebook much more successful.
Facebook—Personal, Business or Both?
While most people are at least somewhat familiar with using Facebook for their personal use, using it for business purposes is less typical. The first thing to do when jumping into the business Facebook is to let the world know you are a FB user. Send out messages on other social media sites, and add your Facebook profile links anywhere it’s allowed. Once you begin getting more bloggers added to your list, you will need to create filters which allow you to separate your family and friends from your business, blogging and network contacts. In other words, your Aunt Millie may be much less interested in your blog and your website than your network of business associates are.
Engage With Your Followers
Once you have your FB account set up to your satisfaction, you will start engaging with your followers by responding to status updates with comments that are insightful or helpful, and sharing content both from your own site as well as from high quality articles you’ve read during the day. Engaging with your followers will slowly but surely bring traffic to your website. You can also create a Facebook group for your particular niche, however don’t send out a blanket invitation to join your group without first sending them a private message, explaining about the group and asking if they would like to join. You actually have to spend some time on Facebook—and be social—in order to bring the traffic you want and need to your site.
Social Groups, Welcome Page, Profile Page
Create a welcome page for your site; if you don’t have the necessary design skills to create your own fabulous welcome page, you can look for a FB theme page for your welcome. On your profile page you can provide links to your websites or to articles you have written, or you can even write more information about your business to enable your visitors to get a clear idea of the services and products you provide. Creating a social group on Facebook is a really good marketing tactic which you should go out of your way to take advantage of.
Social groups allow you to post links, business updates and events so your readers are always updated on what your business is doing. Create a specific Facebook page for your website which is very similar to your own profile page, allowing you to post links, information and get conversions for your business. Work on increasing your Friends list on your business FB page—although the limit is 5000, how great would it be to get 5000 regular readers who are interested in your website and blog, and pass along their interest to their own friends and family?
Tags: website law firm design
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Marketing | Comments Off on How Facebook Can Drive Traffic to Your Website
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
With more and more employees checking their personal websites at work—and possibly even on a work computer, it is imperative for them to realize that they are using corporate infrastructure, therefore completely blurring the lines regarding who has the rights to their online postings. Think about it—most employees sign some sort of employment contract which likely indicates that all intellectual property created during their employment belong to the company. By the same token, when employees work from their homes in the evening on their personal computers, it becomes even fuzzier. Due to our busy lifestyles, most of our Facebook or LinkedIn accounts likely have references to both work and home, personal and work-related. So, the question remains, who owns the content of your collective social media?
Who Cares About My Facebook Page?
Many professionals have career-related blogs which attract other companies, clients, etc. During that person’s tenure, who owns the content to those blogs? If the employee generates a source of revenue from the blogs, should that revenue then be given to the employer? If you launch a career blog during your employment with XYZ Law Firm, which discusses information specifically related to the firm, who, then, owns that information? You may be wondering—what the heck, my employer could care less what I post on Facebook. And you may be right to some extent. However, consider the Twitter account of Padmasree of Cisco, who created this account during her employment at Cisco. She frequently discusses both personal issues as well as content specific to Cisco, and her Twitter account has over 1,200,000 followers. It is clear that this is an asset to Cisco, and that should she leave, it would be a decided loss to Cisco, so, again, who owns the content?
Intellectual Property
Some attorneys feel that a clause claiming all “intellectual property” created during the term of employment covers tweets and blog posts as well as anything else creative the employee did on the side during his or her term of employment. If you are presented with a contract of this type, consider having the wording restrict the intellectual property to only that which was created within the scope of your job duties under the agreement. The theory behind this would be that if you are not being paid to create something—such as a Twitter feed or a blog posting—then the company shouldn’t own it simply because it was created during your term of employment. In other words, the ownership should only be tied to the type of job you were actually hired for.
Policy Aspect
Obviously there exists the question as to whether the job or industry you are in is of the type that your company would find it beneficial for your to be blogging during work hours or using work equipment. Many believe that people will find a way to blog, Tweet and use social networks, so they might as well give in to it and try to find the value in such activities, and relate them to their company’s benefit. Keep in mind that literally thousands of attorneys spend their days reviewing literally millions of company e-mails which have been subpoenaed for various lawsuits. Companies should always remind their employees that they have absolutely no right of privacy regarding anything that goes through a company computer. If all employees keep this fact in mind, and the employment contract is strictly spelled out regarding intellectual property, an employee’s blogging can actually benefit the company. Companies should also update their policies to reflect our changing world, which is full of social media, and even set up training for employees so they can fully understand what happens when the workplace and home collide.
Free law firm social networking marketing advice when you call Lawyer Success, Inc. Call (769) 218-6099 to speak with a Social Media expert not a sale representative. Call today!
Tags: free law firm social networking marketing advice
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, LinkedIn.com For Lawyers, Twitter for Lawyers | Comments Off on Who Owns Your Tweets, Facebook Wall Posts and LinkedIn Profiles?
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
More and more businesses, both large and small are turning to Facebook in order to create an additional online presence, as well as giving their customers a less formal platform with which to engage. Even if you are a true Facebook addict on your personal time, you may wonder how Facebook can be successful for your law firm. Considering that the average Facebook fan logs on a minimum of six hours per month, there are many ways Facebook can increase your legal website’s exposure in the most positive ways imaginable. Some of them include:
- Search engine optimization is very positively impacted by your firm’s Facebook page. Once your law firm has an up and running Facebook page, it will show up high in the search results for your business because Facebook lists pages on the individual users’ public search listings—therefore each user who “likes” your firm’s Facebook page instantly adds another link back to that business page. This process can provide numerous links back to different areas of your legal website, thus dramatically improving the search rankings of your site.
- Facebook can facilitate communication between you and your potential client by updating your firm’s Facebook page to let clients know about a new service from your firm. The members of your group then comment about your new legal service, thus opening a positive dialogue, and engaging potential clients. Facebook also allows for customized applications on your firm’s Facebook page, which could include things such as “join our mailing list.” This allows you to add potential clients to your e-mail marketing program sending them out interesting and informative articles each month.
- The personal communication which takes place on your firm’s Facebook page can be invaluable in giving you feedback regarding your firm’s services. You can see firsthand what clients have to say about your services, which in turn allows you to resolve customer issues and gain valuable feedback you might never have been aware of before. The kind of information you receive from clients can advance your market research efforts and allow you to improve your customer service. Because Facebook’s members choose to become so, you can keep in constant contact with new, old or potential clients through uploading content whenever you want. This content shows up on your client’s newsfeeds, giving them information about your firm in a much less intrusive manner—your clients may even look forward to new content being added!
- Facebook business pages can be a wonderful addition to your online business presence, and can be a sort of less-formal extension to your firm’s website. The Facebook page drives increased traffic to your firm’s website and with numerous links back to your regular website Facebook becomes yet another way your potential clients can find you.
- You will gain invaluable information about your clients, including graphs and stats on the types of users your Facebook page attracts, whether they are male or female, ages, locations and other demographic data as well. The average Facebook user has 130 friends in their network, therefore if one of them “likes” your Facebook page, there is the potential for all 130 of their friends to see that, causing them to investigate and look at your Facebook page themselves. If you attempt to do the math on such a phenomenon, you will see that the “reach” of Facebook is literally beyond your imagination.
- Having “Fans” makes you business more credible and legitimizes your business.
- Your comments, articles, etc can be distributed to others at no cost to you.
Facebook offers law firms the chance to show a different, less “buttoned-up” side of themselves than what is typically shown in their legal website. Your firm can post photos and videos of a staff function, or an attorney’s television or court appearance. It can show the softer, more personal side of the attorneys who make up the law firm, and give potential clients an insight into the firm they might not otherwise have.
So let’s review: Having a Facebook page for your law firm’s website has a huge reach, is completely customized and branded, is almost as powerful a marketing tool as your website itself….and it’s free!
FREE ADVICE (from real experts, no sales people) concerning Facebook and other social media management services for law firms, lawyer, and legal companies. We also offer custom Facebook design and programming. Call (769) 218-6099 for free advice.
Tags: reasons why law firm needs facebook fan page, The Best Reasons for Your Law Office to Have a Facebook Page
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Media Advice, Social Media SEO, Social Networking for Lawyers | Comments Off on The Best Reasons for Your Law Office to Have a Facebook Page
Saturday, September 18th, 2010
Social media websites like FaceBook, Twitter and others are driving a substantial amount of Internet web traffic. To search engines and your website visitors, when you see icons or buttons which show how many likes, tweets, shares or digs the post on a law firm blog post or law firm web page has, the more attractive the information on the website becomes.
Most people are unlikely to share or bookmark just any piece of law firm web content. So when someone does, it provides extra value and credibility when someone does share your law firm website content with their social network. This social sharing is one of the most essential part of any law firm website conversion. This also has an impact and will have an even greater impact on your law firm search engine rankings.
Everyday, law firm search engine optimization (law firm SEO) methods are being used online to obtain enormous amounts of LOW COST web traffic to a law firm website. Your competition is steadily and consistently at work trying to reach the top of Google. Most click-throughs on a legal website only happens off of the first page. Also, a majority of the users searching for legal information or legal representation rarely ever go past the first page on a law firm website. Law firm websites that are ranking at the top of the search engines attract a substantial stream of qualified traffic.
So what is another technique to ensure that you have high traffic and visibility to your law firm website?
Social marketing can achieve this. Every time time an law firm article or legal blog post is visited by a user, their is a potential that it will be shared to their social network. One way to encourage this is by offering the user to add his or her comments. As your law firm blog or website is visited and the visitors leave their feedback, this helps influence the interaction to promote sharing. In addition, if your legal website provides an incentive to comment, this will lead to bigger conversations that will auto pilot your content and updates to your website or blog!
In some cases, the commenting may carry over to the commentator’s website. That is why it is equally important for commentators, who do consider leaving feedback, to say something of value. Social bookmarking through Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious and others has made it possible to further spread the influence of your high quality legal content. In turn, the commentators that make the effort or take the time to leave their comments or feedback will be 10 times more likely to share your blog post or article with their followers on the various social networks they are involved with.
Each time you visit a website take notice of the number of the bookmarks made and look at the feedback as well. The correlation between the bookmarks made and the number of feedback comments is really interesting. Social media, if performed and managed by a expert such as Lawyer Success, Inc., is an important part of the law firm search engine optimization process. Also, the number of legal consumers that vote and/or share their links are more than likely to share again and present the same link to their followers. This can result in a cycle of viral shares which really adds value to law firm Internet marketing and makes social marketing for law firms an attractive strategy for law firm SEO.
Tags: social marketing for law firms, Social Media Marketing is Important to Law Firm Search Engine Optimization
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Law Firm SEO, Social Marketing, Social Media Advice | Comments Off on Attorney Social Media Marketing is Important to Law Firm Search Engine Optimization
Friday, July 16th, 2010
I would recommend starting with one Facebook business page for the law firm. They take a lot of care and feeding, so to build more than one at a time might be a monumental task at first. One option is to have it focus on one major practice area, industry group or area of focus in your business and marketing plan, but I would suggest making it multi-focal to start. Your clients and friends need to be reminded what your firm is capable of, so let it cross-sell for you. Try to encourage conversation, an emphasis on your clients’, as well as your, activities, and don’t ever stop creating topics and conversation, and inviting people to come visit through its promotion on all of the social networks you are using.
Tags: Does each attorney have their own page for marketing purposes?, facebook for law firms
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, FAQs From Attorneys, Social Networking for Lawyers | Comments Off on Does your firm have a firm-wide Facebook page?
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Facebook accounts or profiles should always be separated in to two different types – personal and professional. How embarrassing it would be to have had a fun night out on the town only to have an embarrassing photo of you tagged to your Facebook page where clients and future clients will view. We recommend always getting permission from partners or management if you do set up a professional blog, social networking profile or anything else that will use the name of a law firm or company name. Even if the name of the company or law firm is only in your biography. Get it in writing.
Now, if you have a professional law firm or company FaceBook Fan Page or account set up you may want to have your IT staff create the accounts using the employees law firm / corporate email address. That way the firm always has control over the account.
I strongly urge law firms to set up individual Facebook accounts for each member and to advise the of their individual policies such as the purpose, what you will allow and not allow on the Facebook page, and making sure they use them for “law firm” business only. I would encourage the employees or attorneys of the firm to also add friends to their account that would be appropriate and to use care. Also I would encourage them to have their network become “a Fan” of the law firm’s Facebook Fan Page or Account.
There are a lot of legal pitfalls to avoid so we would recommend obtaining advice from employment lawyer that specializes in reviewing employee handbooks and Internet policy to make sure your covered.
Tags: Does each attorney have their own Facebook page for marketing purposes?
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, FAQs From Attorneys, Social Networking for Lawyers | Comments Off on Does each attorney have their own Facebook page for marketing purposes?
Monday, July 12th, 2010
Facebook is developing their own social search engine to provide better placement of those companies, products or service providers who are well received by Facebook users. Facebook’s Open Graph will have attorneys taking note of the value of their law firm “like” button popularity since this may ultimately challenge Google’s dominance as a search engine.
This shift and the ability to communicate credibility has law firms positioning their law firm’s Facebook like icons on high visibility areas of their web pages. This means that lawyer and law firm Facebook fan pages that have the most Facebook users who “like” what they have to offer will appear higher in Facebook search rankings.
Right now there are two different ways that a Facebook user may “Like” your law firm’s fan page. The first technique is by adding a Facebook “Like” link or plug in on your law firm website so that users of your website may click on your law firm’s Facebook’s “Like” icon. The other option to generate more Facebook.com fan page “Like” votes is by creating a fan page within Facebook for your law firm that is separate from your personal Facebook page which gives Facebook users the option to “Like” your law firm.
Facebook has confirmed that there is no difference, at this point, which option is best for placement on its search engine.
So, what does this mean for lawyer marketing on Facebook? It means there is a value to promote not just your Facebook profile, but more importantly to push users, visitors, clients and colleagues to vote or “Like” your law firm Facebook Fan Page. Also, using a dual strategy where you include the Facebook Open Graph API and website/blog plug-ins you will achieve the very best results. Also, becoming more active on Facebook with a law firm page is am important step toward increased visibility in social search results resulting in more new clients and establishing effective web credibility.
Lawyer Success, Inc. (lawyersuccess.com), has been a leader in solo and small law firm web lead generation since 2003. We help law firms get ahead of their competition through the use of highly specialized law firm Internet marketing techniques. Call the law firm marketing experts at Lawyer Success, Inc. now at (769) 218-6099 or log on to http://www.lawyersuccess.com to learn more about turnkey blogs, social media marketing and other web lead generation solutions for lawyers, attorneys, legal professionals and law firms of all sizes.
Tags: Facebook-seo-rankings-for-lawyers-attorneys-law-firms, Facebook's "Like" Button Effects Lawyer Rankings on FaceBook
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Networking for Lawyers, Tips for New Law Firms | Comments Off on Facebook's "Like" Button Effects Lawyer Rankings on FaceBook
Monday, July 12th, 2010
The point of having a face book page for law firms is to keep the public informed of what is going on in the firms practice area. This gives potential clients the confidence that the firm is active and current. What I have found useful is to link both facebook and linkedin to twitter. Post a comment on one and it proliferates through all sites. For longer articles make a post to facebook. The end goal is to keep everyone informed.
Tags: What is the point of having a Facebook Page for Law Firms?
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, FAQs From Attorneys, Social Networking for Lawyers | Comments Off on What is the point of having a Facebook Page for Law Firms?
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Justin Kistner, an analyst at Webtrends said that social media websites like Twitter and Facebook would likely diminish in popularity by 2012. Our law firm marketing consultants have been involved with Web marketing for 11 years and have seen the rise and fall of many popular websites. We agree that social media is likely to peak around 2012 and that the next big thing is right around the corner probably likely to appear some time in 2015. This is consistent with some other observations about specific sites.
Other exerts in the field of web traffic and usage analysis such as Compete, say that the number of Twitter users has flat-lined. Compete, a Web analytics firm, says that the microblogging website’s number of visitors hasn’t changed much since June and that its roughly 22 million visitors in December 2010 was about 770,000 fewer than its highest number, which was in August 2010. And other analysts paint the same picture, raising the question: Has Twitter peaked and what does this mean for lawyer advertising and marketing effectiveness?
Although it appears that the “Twitter fad” may have indeed peaked, another social media website, Facebook, continues to see steady growth in both visits and new accounts. In January 2010 Facebook drew 133.6 million unique visitors which out ranked the grandfather website Yahoo that garnered 132 million visitors. Another important statistic is that Facebook is the number one website when it comes to the amount of time people actually spend online using the website.
Compete.com, the popular Web analytics firm stated, “In January, 11.6% of all time spent online was spent on Facebook (compared to 4.25% for Yahoo and 4.1% for Google. Google still holds the number one spot with 147.8 million visitors, or nearly half the U.S. population.”
The question becomes, what does this mean to attorneys and law firms when it comes to their Internet marketing strategy? We believe that social media marketing for lawyers is here to stay and will continue to grow in importance as these social media sites learn how to turn their massive membership in to business opportunities.
I particularly like websites or social media sites that take in detailed information or demographics from their user. The user can add personal details such as their favorite movies, books, career, job title and more valuable information for marketing purposes. Unlike Twitter, this enables advertisers to zero in on specific demographics or groups that offer the best match for their services making pay per click advertising very attractive and targeted.
Call Lawyer Success, Inc. to discuss any questions you have about marketing your law firm online or on social media sites like YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter or others. Call (769) 218-6099.
Tags: Has Twitter Peaked and What Does That Mean To Law Firm Internet Marketing?, Has Twitter Peaked in Usage?, How-effective-is-twtter-for-lawyer-advertising-marketing
Posted in Facebook for Law Firms, Social Networking for Lawyers, Twitter for Lawyers | Comments Off on Has Twitter Peaked in Usage?
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