Changes in Facebook’s news feed algorithm have been making it tougher for law firms to reach their target market over the past two years. Facebook has eliminated most promotional posts from news feeds in order to boost its ad revenue. So what can you do today that will help you make the best use of this social media platform? Consider these six tips:
- Drive people to your website or landing page, not your Facebook page.
You own your website or landing page; you do not own your Facebook page, so stop driving traffic to it. Chances are that most people who like your Facebook page will not see your posts in their news feeds for the reasons stated above. So stop encouraging likes and start encouraging people to visit your website, landing page or blog to get more of that valuable content you’re creating there.
- Learn about the demographics you want to target.
As with any marketing campaign, you need to understand who you are talking to so you can create content that will appeal to that particular demographic. Facebook has a great tool called Audience Insights for this purpose.
For example, let’s say that, as a DUI attorney in Riverside, CA, I want to provide my primary target audience with information on what to do if you’ve been stopped for a DUI. I set up a search for men between the ages of 25-50 who live in my market area and have annual incomes of $75K or more. Facebook tells me there’s an audience of 40-45,000 using those parameters.
Here is what I can learn about this demographic on Facebook, which helps me understand how I can develop an offer of interest to them and the best way I can reach them (mobile!):
- Create some stellar content.
Once you have your target audience identified and have discovered there are enough of them on Facebook for you to focus on that channel, you need to create content that will appeal to them and drive them to action — whether it’s to download your ebook off your website, sign up for your newsletter, etc.
First, think about the questions you answer every day from clients. That will give you a pretty good idea of what your prospective clients want to know. Type in a topic in Google search for inspiration. Obviously, you will not copy other content — this is just an exercise to spark ideas.
Once you have a good topic, either write a blog post (be sure to include relevant images) or shoot a video.
- Use Facebook ads to promote your content.
After you’ve done your homework on the Facebook Audience Insights page, there’s a link in the upper right of that page that says, “Create an ad.” When you click on that, your audience details are automatically added. Next, you will choose an objective for your campaign. Typically, the primary objectives for law firms include:
Website clicks — this option allows you to run ads that will take people directly to your website when they click on the ad. However, you need to remember that most people are not on Facebook searching for an attorney, so this option may not be the most efficient use of your money unless you direct them to a page on your site that asks them to sign up for your newsletter.
Website conversions — this option provides for specific actions from people who click on your ad, such as downloading a free ebook. It’s a good way to collect leads that enable you to follow up with an autoresponder email series. You should create a special landing page for your ads to house your offer, which allows you to better track conversions from your Facebook ads.
Video views — a great option if you have engaging videos that allow people to get to learn more about your services, what your clients think of you and what it might be like to work with you.
Be sure to use an attention-grabbing image for your ad and a short, snappy sentence that entices prospects to click on the link. The ad creation tool allows you to see how your ad will appear on mobile and desktop devices.
- Encourage social sharing.
One way to get more eyes on your ad and more engagement from your posts is to have prominent social sharing buttons on your website, blog and landing page. This allows people who have come to those places from your Facebook ad to share it with their followers. Give some consideration to the placement of your social sharing buttons — research shows the best placement is either floating left vertical or top horizontal.
- Capture emails.
Try to capture email addresses whenever possible by including an email capture form to your website, blog and landing pages. Email marketing services like Constant Contact and MailChimp make it simple to add these.
By using these tips, you can make marketing your law firm on Facebook more meaningful by driving lead sources to online properties under your control rather than relying on Facebook to do it — because, truthfully, they are not.
