Facebook, Social Media, Technology

A Lawyer's Guide to Social Media (Part 2): Facebook

Legal technology columnist Jeff Bennion offers tips on how to develop a good Facebook business page for lawyers.

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In my first installment, I discussed some of the reasons why an attorney might have a social media page, and some ways to develop a Twitter presence. Here, I want to pick up with how to develop a good Facebook business page for lawyers.

Why Social Media?

The best way to get clients is to build a reputation as a really good lawyer by winning lots of big cases. Then comes networking, then maybe SEO-optimized websites, and then probably social media. Winning cases is great, but it takes a lot of effort. Having a website is great, but it takes time and can be expensive. Going to Twitter.com and clicking “sign up” takes no time. So, it might not be the best, but it can be a great return on investment, so attorneys should look into social media marketing.

How to Facebook: Lawyers Edition

First off, don’t make the mistake of using your personal page as your business Facebook page. You need to create a separate page for your business. On the left side of your Facebook page, there is a button called “Create Page.” Use that to create a separate business page.

The Problem with Facebook

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For most of us, Facebook is the one platform that we keep to family and real-world friends. Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, for example, are fine for acquaintances or even people in your industry whom you’ve never met in person. However, people are less eager to grow their Facebook network if they post pictures of family vacations or pictures from their wild weekends. So, if your Facebook network is limited to friends and family, how do you reach outside that circle to reach potential clients?

Did you hear about the lady recently who put duct tape on her dog’s mouth and posted the picture to Facebook? By the time the lady took down the post, it had over 300,000 views. That’s not because people randomly found her site and saw the picture, it was because people on her friends list saw the picture she posted and liked it, commented on it, or shared it, which made it so their friends could see it, then their friends of friends, then eventually the police and 300,000 other people. The goal on Facebook, or any other social media platform for that matter, is to create things that people want to click on and share so that their friends can see it.

You are not going to get any viral posts by posting things like, “I’m a lawyer, here’s my contact info. Hire me.” Think about the things you click on on Facebook. Statistically, people click on pictures or links to articles more than just word posts. Share links to articles that are relevant to your industry and add some commentary. Before you do that, check with your state bar’s guidelines on social media usage. Here’s an example of the California Bar’s social media ethics page. So, be careful about posting things like “Just won my case, who wants to be next?” to make sure you are not running afoul of your ethics obligations.

Fill Out Your Profile

Add some images of your firm and a professional headshot to your profile. Fill out the business details and a link to your website and your other contact information. One of the unique things you can do on a Facebook business page is to create a Call to Action:

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Calls to Action are curious from a psychological perspective. Obviously, if someone reads your Facebook page and wants to contact you, they can find a way to get a hold of you, even if they need to click the mouse a few times. But, statistically, people are much more likely to contact you if there is a button telling them what to do, and they can do that thing in one click. So, creating a Call to Action is a great way to invite potential clients to get a hold of you.

Read Your Insights

The last thing you should do is to monitor your insights. You will see how many people viewed each post. Remember, if you have 100 followers on Facebook, and you post something, that does not mean that 100 people saw it. You might post something at 9:00 a.m., and one of your followers doesn’t log in until 3:00 p.m., at which point your post is buried under a lot of garbage, and your follower scrolls down through his page, but never makes it down to stuff posted at 9:00 a.m. Your insights will let you know which days people view your stuff, and at what times. Make your posts the most visible to people by posting things in a time frame when they are most likely to see it.

Conclusion

You should never rely on just one marketing strategy, but because social media is so easy, lawyers should definitely look into how to own their Facebook presence.

Earlier: A Lawyer’s Guide To Social Media (Part 1): Twitter

Jeff Bennion is Of Counsel at Estey & Bomberger LLP, a plaintiffs’ law firm specializing in mass torts and catastrophic injuries. Although he serves on the Executive Committee for the State Bar of California’s Law Practice Management and Technology section, the thoughts and opinions in this column are his own and are not made on behalf of the State Bar of California. Follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here, or contact him by email at jeff@trial.technology.

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