The New Year signifies more than just a change in date; for digital marketers, 2020 brings a decade of blank canvas primed and ready for fresh ideas. To truly appreciate the potential for growth and dominance digital marketing holds in this decade, one must first acknowledge the evolution of digital marketing. From stuffy emails and formal social media accounts to businesses sharing memes and interacting candidly with their audiences, the evolution of marketing – particularly through the use of social media – is drastically different from past approaches.
Humanizing the Digital World
As legal marketing strategies continue to shift toward even more digital, a particularly interesting aspect is humanizing a brand and measuring the resulting effect on its audience as well as overall performance. Today’s digital consumers are less fixated on who is the “best in the business,” instead of focusing on supporting brands that aim to serve a greater purpose beyond industry rankings and revenue.
While client satisfaction and retention remain dependent on a law firm’s performance, a growing trend among the next generation of consumers is loyalty to compassionate brands. When a brand is transparent with its target audience, consumers are more likely to trust and remain loyal to it. Below we share tips on how to humanize your law firm brand on social media.
Personalized Content
One way lawyers can connect with their audience is through content creation, wherein they develop their own unique voice. Through content like blogs and news posts on a law firm website, lawyers can showcase their value, strengths, and position in the legal industry without pushy advertising lingo. Through reading educational and informative content written by attorneys, potential clients have the opportunity to learn more about what the lawyers do in their practice and what it might be like to work with them.
Social Media
It should be no surprise to any marketer that social media dominates almost every marketing campaign. Globally, 3.5 billion people (45% of the entire population) use social media, with an estimated 79% of the U.S. population actively using it. These statistics show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Audiences prefer to interact with brands that have moved beyond conventional self-serving posts to a more well-rounded social media marketing strategy. The top social media channels we recommend lawyers use include:
LinkedIn is the career fair of social media channels. Professionals flock to LinkedIn to connect with one another and share their accolades. Law firms should take this opportunity to mix-up the steady flow of business-only content from their peers with posts that give insight into what makes their firm unique. Sharing nontraditional articles, individual achievements, and even community events the firm participated in or sponsored allow peers to see who you are, beyond a logo or job posting.
Facebook features what makes a firm successful: its people. Taking a step away from the professional world of LinkedIn, Facebook posts can be lighthearted and focus on relationships the firm has built, not only internally but with clients and the community as well. Sharing pictures or videos of team-building activities, of employees and their families, or even of day-to-day life at the office can all help the firm connect with users.
Twitter can be viewed as the wild, wild, west of social media. It’s a sometimes snarky channel that welcomes debate and discussion. When tweets or retweets provide space for lively engagement to happen among users, it presents an opportunity for a law firm to give a voice to its online persona.
Sharing personalized content – such as pictures from an office holiday party – helps to build relationships with your online audience and reminds consumers that there are real people behind the screen they will get to work with should they hire the firm.
Community Involvement
Businesses that establish themselves as part of their community have the ability to connect with consumers on a much more significant level than via traditional marketing and advertising. Consumers take notice of brands that root themselves in a cause they are passionate about or one that is important to the community they serve.
Social media channels can be excellent tools to not only share good deeds (such as charity events or sponsorships) but also to promote the creation and growth of an online community. By giving your audience the opportunity to connect with your law firm in service to the community, a deeper relationship can be built.
Consumer Convenience
The chances are high that audiences across most if not all industries are consuming digital content through their phones. Just as traditional home phones have been largely phased out due to the ease of access to smartphones, computers are now taking a backseat to mobile devices.
More and more consumers make day-to-day life decisions based solely on convenience. Businesses with strong brands provide a smooth experience for consumers on their websites, through features like responsive design, live chat, and one-click contact options. Providing a positive, painless digital experience again reinforces the strength of your brand with its audience.
Creating More Than Just a Business
The world of digital marketing and social media is ever-changing, and 2020 is expected to be no different. While navigating new trends, coming up with effective marketing strategies and working on brand positioning can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. If your law firm is interested in optimizing its digital brand and establishing a lasting connection with its audience, contact the digital marketing experts at Stacey E. Burke P.C. today.
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