Specialists show lawyers how to use social media to advertise effectively
A good social media plan is especially helpful for newer firms, says Shlomo Zalman Bregman, founder of the law offices of Samuel M. Bregman and CEO of Bregman Success, a social media and sales consultancy based in New York City.
There are plenty of attorneys and firms doing similar things on social media. And while you may be the best in your particular field, Bregman says, if no one knows how to discover you, then you won’t attract clients.
“If social media is where the biggest number of eyeballs and attention is, I’d be there,” says Bregman, who has more than 90,000 Facebook followers. “You will be perceived as just another number and another face in the crowd unless you’re able to get a form of distinction in the marketplace.”
But first, you need to find the correct person to run your social media page.
A LITTLE ASSISTANCE, PLEASE
Tyson Mutrux is managing partner at Mutrux Finney, which has three Missouri offices in Clayton, Columbia and St. Louis. He says his firm hired a social manager via Upwork, paying about $20 per hour. But they only used the expert for about six months because the firm didn’t feel like it helped at all.
“If anything, it made things worse because we lost that crucial connection that is so important with social media,” Mutrux says. “You have to remember that social media is not a billboard; you actually have to interact for it to work.”
Still, it’s possible for it to work well, as long as you hire someone who specializes in law firms, says Ethan Wall of Miami, president of the marketing company Social Media Law and Order and founder of the Social Media Law Firm.
Attorneys need to understand legal advertising rules, along with legal ethics. They should also be a legal expert in social media for lawyers, Wall says.
“Work with someone who understands what their goals and objectives are as an attorney, because there’s no one-size-fits-all marketing approach for lawyers,” Wall says.
“The strategy that might work for a large law firm is going to be different from a solo practitioner in a small town.”
This article was published in the May 2018 issue of the ABA Journal with the title "Outside Help: Studies show most lawyers don’t know how to advertise effectively on social media, so some have hired specialists."
