Last week, we looked at creating an effective law firm social media marketing strategy, the third module in the Good2bSocial Digital Marketing Certification for law firms. Previously, having an active law firm social media profile as a place to promote firm content was an effective strategy; however, the social media landscape has changed. Due to a saturation of business content on social media networks and shifts in algorithmic preferences, in order to achieve organizational goals and the desired ROI for social media, a paid advertising strategy can help ensure your social media efforts gain traction. Good2bSocial Digital Marketing Academy was developed after years of law firm training and is designed to meet the unique marketing needs of professional services firms and offers paid social media advertising best practices targeted to the needs of legal marketers.
Jay Plum, Director of Communications of Bracewell LLP, says, “The Good2BSocial Digital Marketing Certification program provides current and practical information that is tailor-made for legal marketing professionals at all levels who want to up their digital and social media marketing game.”
Below is a short preview of what’s included in the fourth module of Good2bSocial’s Digital Marketing Certification.
Benefits of Paid Social Media Advertising for Law Firms
A paid social media advertising campaign is an effective strategy offering a variety of benefits. For example:
- A paid social media advertising campaign expands your reach beyond your firm’s existing followers; opening up a new audience to educate about your law firm and its abilities.
- The targeting abilities of social media advertising can allow you to choose who you want to see your content–putting the client persona’s your firm developed (discussed in module 1) to good use.
- Most social media platforms run on a pay-per-click budgeting system which simplifies budgeting and helps with cost predictability. Additionally, your firm only pays if the user takes the action you want.
- With a paid social media advertising campaign, you have flexibility–the campaign can go for as long or as short as you want, and it is easy to stop, start and manage.
How to Get Started with Paid Social Media Advertising
Having a clear objective and understanding of the goals of your social media advertising campaign is a cornerstone of success. Are you looking to expand brand awareness through promotion of a brief introductory video about your firm? Perhaps your goal is to net qualified leads through content marketing, or to promote a webinar or other event designed to showcase attorney expertise? The key is to ensure your strategy is thought-out, and measurable, with a clear idea of what success will look like.
Additionally, creating a budget and having a clear idea of your target audience is crucial. Uncovering the ideal buyer’s persona is a good cornerstone for developing your paid social media advertising campaign.
Through the Good2bSocial Digital Marketing Certification course, legal marketing professionals can learn about the pros and cons of each social media platform, and use that information to help develop their own paid social advertising campaigns. Legal marketers learn about the standard costs associated with Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin, as well as a look at YouTube and Instagram. Through the course, students learn about the different targeting options as well as other helpful tools offered through each social network to facilitate targeting. Building on previous segments of the course, students learn to use the information gathered about their law firm’s goals and client profiles to create their own paid social media advertising campaign.
How to Use the LinkedIn Account Targeting Tool
Research conducted by Good2bSocial’s Social Law Firm Index reveals that 37% of AM Law 200 firms are using paid LinkedIn to increase brand awareness and for lead generation, and this number is expected to increase. LinkedIn’s Matched Audience components, Account Targeting is a way to market B2B and integrate Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategies into paid social media advertising. This is a technique that has demonstrated its efficacy–according to ITSMA 85% of businesses indicate an ABM strategy has increased their ROI.
The Linkedin Account Targeting tool is a self-service ad platform that allows sponsored content and sponsored InMail campaigns to be structured to a list of targeted accounts. A user can upload a list of up to 300,000 company names in .csv formats, and Linkedin will cross-reference this list based on the site’s 8 million company pages. An advertiser can go with the information provided by Linkedin, or can refine the list manually.
The Linkedin Account Targeting tool is a self-service ad platform that allows sponsored content and sponsored InMail campaigns to be structured to a list of targeted accounts. A user can upload a list of up to 300,000 company names in .csv formats, and Linkedin will cross-reference this list based on the site’s 8 million company pages. An advertiser can go with the information provided by Linkedin, or can refine the list manually.
Best Practices for Facebook Lookalike Audiences
Facebook also offers a Lookalike Audience tool which takes a current audience, and builds a similar audience based on shared characteristics of individuals who are not currently connected to your organization. By providing Facebook with a prospect or client list, or analyzing engagement on your website, or looking at who is currently following your Facebook or other social media pages, Facebook can take that information and build a campaign to an audience with those shared characteristics. There are a few options available for building a Lookalike audience, but the effort can pay off with higher Click through rates and ROI. Again, understanding of your buyer’s persona is crucial here, to ensure you are able to effectively harness the power of Facebook’s targeting abilities.
Additionally, in 2018, Facebook announced an algorithm change that would prioritize “meaningful interactions” from friends and family over content from brands. Thus, paid support on Facebook has become crucial part of the mix for firms looking to make a meaningful impact on the platform.
Social media moves fast, and while that’s great for getting results and data, it can be hard to keep up with the changing trends, shifting algorithms and targeting tools. Additionally, creating effective thought leadership is big time and money investment, so harnessing the power of social media to get your desired message out there is crucial. Our goal here was to highlight pieces of the course available, but there is more information available through the Good2bSocial Academy. By going through the Good2bSocial Digital Certification, legal marketers are able to master the fundamentals–and better keep up with the shifting trends and changes in landscape.
To learn more about the Good2bSocial Academy and the law firm-focused topics covered please click here.
To Read Part 1 Good2bSocial Digital Academy for Law Firms – Inbound Marketing and Client Journey Mapping, click here.
To read Part 2 Good2bSocial Digital Academy – Content Marketing Strategy for Law Firms, click here.
To read Part 3 Good2bSocial Digital Academy – Developing a Successful Social Media Strategy for Law Firms
Stay tuned for more details on the topics and key takeaways included in the other six modules of the Good2bSocial Academy.
