Social media is a terrible place to make a mistake. Whether we’re talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, social media is a public forum that spans the world and is open 24/7. If you make a mistake, everyone will see, but because it’s online, it will never go away. When you’re marketing your law firm, you have to be careful, but there are a few marketing mistakes that a lot of businesses, including law firms, make.
We want other businesses and law firms to get social media marketing right, for two reasons. First, as a marketing firm, ENX2 wants our clients, potential clients, and nascent neighbors to succeed. Second, we all like to use social media in our free time and it’s never fun to see an account miss the mark. When you’re on social media, trying to gain a following for your business or law firm, make sure you don’t make these marketing mistakes.
Marketing Mistake #1: Posting Nothing But Business
Social media apps already have ads of their own that people see all the time. It can be welcomed because, on sites like Facebook and Twitter, they’re off to the side. They get into their target audience’s heads without getting in the way of their audience’s consumption of their favorite social media site. If you only post promotions with substantial content or interaction-worthy remarks, you’re invading their feeds with an unwanted ad.
When you post, be informational, and have business-appropriate opinions on topics in your industry. You can’t only be promoting yourself because you’re going to get a lot more mutes and blocks than you are new followers.
Marketing Mistake #2: Being Too Informal
This may seem confusing considering the last tip, but don’t forget that you’re a business, because people on social media won’t. People will be turned off by politics, hobbies, and general opinions coming from accounts with a business’s name on them. You might think to yourself that you can name several accounts with a personal voice despite having a company’s name attached to them. Everyone can name those accounts too because they’re the rare exceptions.
Accounts like Wendy’s, are not something 99% of businesses can emulate. This means that while you do want to sound like a person rather than an entity, you need to talk about topics related to your practice. People will see the name of your brand and expect to read about your industry. A personal injury attorney should talk about personal injury law like they would in person. That’s the perfect balance between formal and informal.
For our clients who enjoy social media on a personal level, we recommend having a separate account for their hobbies and interests. That’s the best way to avoid making a marketing mistake that will hurt your business’s brand.
Marketing Mistake #3: Targeting the Wrong Audience
Like any ad, targeting the wrong audience is a waste of time. If you’re a criminal defense attorney, and that’s all that your law firm practices, replying to posts about real estate law is a waste of time. People who read tweets and posts about real estate law don’t want to hear from a criminal defense attorney. They have a target in mind and likely even a goal they need to meet.
At best, all you have done is waste your time doing this. At worst, you’ve possibly annoyed and alienated people who could potentially need your help in the future. But, after an unnecessary interjection on Twitter or Facebook, they’re going to actively avoid your criminal defense firm when they need a criminal defense attorney.
Marketing Mistake #4: Over-promoting
The tips on what to post and what not to post don’t stop coming. There are so many parts to the mistake of posting nothing but business. It’s good to post information about your business that people might find interesting or need to know. But it’s possible for this to become too much of a good thing, so much so that it turns from informal-but-appropriate social media marketing to over-promoting.
Sharing information is good when it’s not the only thing you do. Otherwise, it can become just more business. If you’re on social media, you have to like other posts, retweet/share/repost them, and reply to accounts that reply to you, or are talking about your industry. Social media is a two-way street. If you treat it as something where people come to you, you’ll never grow a following worth promoting to.
Think of it this way, you don’t meet new people and potential clients by standing in place. You have to go to each other. If you make posts that people can find, you’re getting out there, and your new followers/potential clients will meet you halfway.
Marketing Mistake #5: Failing to Respond
The idea of social media being a two-way street is never more prevalent than with replies. Replying to your followers and those you are following creates a public conversation that people interested in your account or someone else’s will see, likely for extended periods of time. The human attention span is short, so this helps you maintain mindshare until you make a long-lasting impression.
But when it comes to responding to your replies, you need to be on top of it. As was stated before, the human attention span is short, and they will forget about you if they feel you’ve forgotten about them. Many people are capable of posting long, informed answers and questions to your posts, but then have nothing to say less than an hour later. Then your name, and sometimes even the topic you were talking about, aren’t hot anymore. If you’re going to tweet or post something that you think will garner attention, pay attention to it yourself as well.
Bonus Marketing Tip: Not Hiring the Marketing Firm You Need
Marketing is difficult, and there’s always the chance of making a mistake when you’re not terribly experienced with it. Marketing your business can sometimes be as big and stressful a job as selling your service or product in itself. That’s when you need a marketing firm to make sure your business isn’t making any of these social media mistakes.
What you need is ENX2 Marketing, a team with the experience and ability to make sure your social media accounts are up to snuff and growing in followers. With our help, you’ll have social media followings worth promoting your business to.