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Social media mistakes lawyers make, Part 1
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: October 30, 2020
Face it: we are now living in a virtual world, powered by social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et. al. are not only a primary way of finding new clients, they are primary means to communicate with current clients and get your name out into the world.
The issue is settled. Every lawyer should have multiple social media accounts by now. Right? Given that, then, the only thing worse than not having social media accounts is using your accounts improperly. The latter--badly using social media in a way that embarrasses rather than enlightens-- is what is known in the parlance as a “self-own (or pwn, but enough of that).
So, without further ado, here are some things not to do on social media, courtesy of Good2bsocial.com.:
You will get comments. Do not responding angrily to negative comments. Use any negativity as a learning moment. Respond to negativity with humor and curiosity (like: “why do you say that?”), or just ignore them. If you respond with class, that speaks for itself.
Not editing is really bad, especially for lawyers. Make sure that grammar, spelling and syntax are correct and that your ideas make sense. Edit before you hit send.
Don’t be unpredictable. Have followers expecting posts at certain times.Always post at regular intervals, even if you don’t feel like it. Make a calendar and stick to it. Pro tip 1: when you are inspired, write a lot and then post it later according to the calendar. Pro tip 2: schedule when to write your posts on your work calendar.
Not taking time to respond to commenters is insulting to potential clients and militates against the way algorithms work. More engagement means more distribution and a greater reach. And actually respond individually.
Using only one social media channel is kind of defeating the purpose of the whole thing. Maybe Facebook is the biggest platform, but Instagram and Twitter can be just as powerful a way to reach people. In addition, you can cut-and-paste your comments between platforms. That creates a consistency of brand and also increases the size of the audience for any one post. For reference, see: https://good2bsocial.com/how-to-adapt-your-law-firms-blog-content-into-an-instagram-story/.