The Content Coach is a weekly tutorial allowing lawyers to improve their content marketing and online presence in an hour or less each week.
In October 2020, we are focussing on social media and kicking off with a topic that has plagued the legal sector for years – what should law firms post on social media?
We all know that the benefits of getting social media right; mastering social can be monumental for your business or your personal profile. However, capturing the attention of your audience, conveying your brand, and posting across all platforms consistently can be daunting. In this instalment of The Content Coach, we provide tips, tasks, and tools to get you started in just one hour.
Tips
Find your why
Why are you posting on social media? The obvious reasons for lawyers are ‘to get more business’ or ‘to build my profile’. However, these goals should be considered in the context of the below to inform the type of content you post.
I want to build relationships with my audience online
What to post: Share your story. Post behind-the-scenes photos and videos. Be open and honest, letting your audience get to know you and why you do what you do.
I want to grow my digital presence
What to post: Relatable, consistent content your audience will want to share. Think quotes, tips, infographics, competitions and causes.
I want to use my platform to sell my products or services
What to post: The problems your services are solving. In the legal sector, this can be complex and lengthy so you will need to be creative. Why not try video case studies or carousel posts? Simple infographics can help clients to understand how you can help them too. You can even have quick video or audio segments from different lawyers in the firm addressing common client problems. Remember, it’s not all about the law, do you offer video consultations? That is solving the problem of attending your office. Do you offer flexible fees? You are solving the financial difficulty of paying legal fees upfront.
I want to build trust with my audience
What to post: Share reviews, statistics and infographics proving your value, and testimonials. These types of content make compelling evidence for why clients should trust you.
Create template posts
Creating templates of the types of things you post can help keep your social media platforms consistent and allow you to delegate much of the work. You may also want to categorise your posts by the day of the week they are shared. Here’s an example:
‘Monday Mindset’ – A motivational quote in our own branding, will help to grow our audience and improve brand awareness as people will want to share it. Use motivational hashtags to reach new followers.
Mark key dates, create in advance.
These can be key dates for your firm or key dates for the world at large. For example, October 10th is World Mental Health day. Creating content with this in mind keeps you in the conversation and is more likely to be shared by your audience.
Gather
You don’t need to start from scratch! Gather a bank of content related to the above. Here’s a list of ideas:
- Testimonials
- Explanatory videos (if these are long, you could break them into sections for social media)
- FAQS can be used to create graphics
- Behind the scenes photos
- Free imagery from online photography sites such as Unsplash
- Pull insights from your blogs or articles
- Any press you have received
Tasks
Identify why you are using social media and the type of posts you should share as a result (5 minutes)
Draft 5 types of template post – these don’t need to be perfect. Think about captions, images, video, audio, hashtags and what platform they might be posted on. (20 minutes)
Identify key dates for the rest of 2020, consider what content you might want to create in advance. (20 minutes)
Create a basic posting schedule (15 minutes)
Tools
Unsplash –https://unsplash.com/ Unsplash is a platform powered by an amazing community of photographers around the world. Here you will find over a million photos under the Unsplash license—which makes them free to do-whatever-you-want with. Because they are taken by creative photographers, they are far better than traditional stock photos.
Tailwind – A scheduling app with features to help your content, help you.
- Schedule Photos & Videos and save time by scheduling with Auto Post.
- 1-Click Hashtag Suggestions allowing you to multiply your reach with perfect-fit hashtags for every post.
- Always post at the best times using SmartSchedule which picks the times when your audience is most engaged.
Get one month for free to try it out with our referral link
Hootsuite – Allows you to manage all of your social media profiles in one place. Hootsuite offers a free plan for planning, scheduling and automatically posting.
Hey Creates – If you are ready to take your social media to the next level, we can help. We offer a range of social media asset creation and management options specifically tailored to meet the needs of your business. Get in touch to discuss how we can help you – hey@heylegal.co.uk