There are many benefits to posting on social media to help build your law firm’s brand and potentially find new clients. However, there is a limit to your reach on social media when you only use the free features on these platforms. That is why you may want to consider paid social media advertising.
If you develop a plan that is carefully tailored to your firm’s goals – a plan that makes the best use of your budget – you may reap significant benefits. PMP has helped firms across the nation use paid social media to attract clients and expand their reach. Through testing and customization efforts we have figured out what works, so we know how to help you reach your goals.
What is Paid Social Media Marketing?
Paid social media advertising involves sending targeted messages or sponsored content being sent to a specific type of audience on social media platforms, like Facebook or LinkedIn.
If you post something on your firm’s Facebook page, the only people who are going to see it are those who already follow your page or those who search and happen to find your post. However, when you pay for a post, you can determine the types of users who are going to see it. You can also determine how much you want to pay for this post to be sent out and the duration of your campaign.
Paid social media advertising varies on different platforms. Some of this is because of the types of users and how they utilize these platforms. For example, people use Facebook for both personal and business reasons. Those using LinkedIn, however, are mostly looking to network and build relationships with people in a certain profession.
Paid Advertising on the Major Social Media Platforms
Each social media platform is slightly different, and not just in terms of their process for paid advertising. Below, we discuss some of the things you need to know about the major social media platforms for law firms.
While your firm can reach people on other social media channels, Facebook is still the top dog for law firm marketing on social media. There are many reasons for this. For one, more than half of the U.S. population has a profile on Facebook. When you combine Facebook’s reach with the low average cost to get started with paid advertising, it is easy to see why this is one of the first places lawyer turn to market their firms.
Facebook allows you to set the age, income, employment, family status, neighborhood and interests of the types of people you want to target for your ad. Facebook collects a large amount of data about its users, which gives it a huge advantage over other platforms. Another advantage to using Facebook over other platforms is that it collects a huge amount of useful data about its users. This data helps to give paid advertisers a clearer picture about users, including their:
- Spending habits
- Interests
- Behavior of their friends
- Habits while on the Internet
- And more
Facebook users are also open to commercial messages from the businesses they follow.
There are more than one billion users on Instagram. Facebook also owns Instagram, which allows you to run advertisements on both platforms at the same time. This feature helps to expand the reach of your paid social media campaign.
You can run an Instagram ad for as long as you want, while spending as little as $1 on an ad. Instagram also allows users to simply swipe up to learn more about an ad they are presented with.
People use LinkedIn for professional reasons. For example, they may want to expand their professional network, get information about challenges they face with their business or their career, learn about issues impacting their jobs, and potentially connect with new clients.
LinkedIn is a great place to share thought leadership on legal issues you are interested in, allowing you to connect with others who share your interest.
LinkedIn is also a popular tool for lead generation. You can target your advertisements using keywords and categories of audiences.
One of the advantages of paid advertising on Twitter is that it is hard to distinguish regular tweets from sponsored tweets. This means users often do not realize they are looking at an advertisement. You can narrow down audiences by demographics, including geography. These ads often help to drive traffic to your website, which can be especially useful if you are focused on thought leadership.
It is easy to control your investment in paid advertising because Twitter’s settings are based on your budget.
What Are the Benefits of Paid Social Media Advertising For Law Firms?
There are numerous benefits to paid advertising for law firms. One of the most important is that it is cost-effective. You do not want to use up a lot of your advertising budget for minimal benefit. However, social media advertising does not cost nearly as much as other forms of advertising. You can limit how long you run a campaign and the maximum amount you are willing to spend.
Social media advertising also allows you to target your ads to specific audiences. That way you can make sure your ads are seen by the people you want to see them. This helps ensure you are getting the most from your campaign.
Another factor to consider is social media platforms are making it harder to find law firms and other businesses organically. They are favoring paid advertising much more than organic results.
How Can My Firm Get Started With Paid Social Media?
PMP is ready to help your firm reach its marketing goals on social media and on other channels. Contact us to learn more about how we can assist you in building your brand and reaching the types of clients you are looking for.
One of the first steps in paid social media is assessing your goals. For example, we need to determine the audience you want to reach. This includes the age range, occupation, location, gender and other demographic information. At PMP, we have significant experience determining the right audience for marketing campaigns.
We also need to establish the goal of your advertising campaign. For example, are you looking to gain more brand awareness, get more people to call your firm, or increase the number of people who fill out contact forms.
Another critical step is creating your main message to encourage people to take action. You need to make sure the message is tailored to the audience you are targeting. For example, some calls to action are better for younger audiences than they are for older audiences.
If you have questions about paid social media, contact PMP to learn more about how it could benefit your firm.
