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Social media mistakes lawyers make Part 2
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: November 6, 2020
Last week’s column started a discussion on what lawyers should not be doing on social media. Here is Part 2 of that discussion.
Do not just type out ideas. Go multimedia. Lawyers use words more than anybody, but videos and pictures drive eyeballs to social media posts. Use them. Even something as simple as reading your blog post into a video to post on Instagram will reach many more people than just publishing the post on your website.
Not understanding your target market makes all of that work somewhat futile. If you are not getting much engagement, it might be because you’re not targeting the message to the audience. Look at the people who do respond and check out their demographics, then try to tailor your message to that audience. (Like target a divorce message to married people. LOL. (old divorce attorney here)). Another tip is to avoid message fatigue by using different media and types of posts.
Another mistake is not aligning the message to the platform. Although the content may be the same or similar between each channel, the means and target audience will be different. Do some research on the best way to reach an audience within the framework of each social media channel. (Look at this for starters: https://good2bsocial.com/what-to-post-on-each-social-media-platform-the-complete-guide-to-optimizing-your-law-firms-social-content).
Knowing when to post is just as important as knowing what to post. As long as you post regularly, this won’t be a problem, but if you post intermittently, time of day can make a difference. Take a look at when your followers check in online to get a feeling for the timing of your posts.
Finally, use links, mentions and hashtags appropriately. If you quote a study or mention a case, link to a news story or other mention of that topic. At the same time, leverage mentions. Tag people and link to any mentions (but don’t tag regular citizens without a warning or permission). And study the use of hashtags. It is too long of a topic to get into here, but I do plan on talking about this some time soon.