Today’s brands must be active on social media if they are going to remain competitive in their markets. This is true even in the realm of law—many firms and attorneys have begun attracting new clients by embracing social media and engaging in conversations with their friends and followers. If you are going to make social media marketing a priority for your law firm (and you almost certainly should), it is important to maintain consistency in terms of how you present your brand to the public. The following are some tips to help you accomplish brand consistency on social media.
How to Accomplish Brand Consistency on Social Media
Always use the same brand items.
All your communications and designs should feature the same branding, including your firm’s colors, logo, fonts, taglines, and images. This will help your social media profiles “feel” more like people can engage with your firm and its attorneys. A crucial step for brand consistency on social media, this step is the most important because without it, your brand will appear nonexistent. Develop a style guide for your brand.
Develop a style guide for your brand.
Create a list of guidelines for how you will create content. All your social media posts should have the same voice. You will be able to use this same voice across all different types of media, including social media, formal presentations, articles and blog posts. Your voice and tone should be reflective of what your messaging is. Who are your ideal clients? What kind of law do you practice? Keep those in mind as you determine your voice.
Be consistent with your account names.
If possible, you should use the exact same account name across all social media profiles. If your firm’s name is Smith & Smith P.C., for example, you should attempt to get the Twitter handle @smithandsmithpc and the Facebook URL www.facebook.com/smithandsmithpc. This will remove the confusion that could arise among users who follow you across multiple platforms.
Have some personality.
Most attorneys understandably want to maintain a professional appearance and tone on their social media platforms, but you can do this without feeling cold or sterile. There should be at least a little bit of personality injected into your posts.
Don’t be overly self-promotional.
Have a lot of quality content on your website that you want to share? Great! But you need to maintain a balance between your own self-promotional content and content that is helpful or particularly interesting to your target audience. The goal of social media is building relationships, rather than using it as just another means of selling your services.
Tell a story.
Be engaged with your audience. When you tell them the story of you and your firm, they will start to feel like they know you. Personal connections are key to growing your client base.
Respond to comments.
You can strengthen your brand by responding to people who leave comments on your page or your posts—whether those comments are good or bad. If you are not going to engage with people on social media, then what’s the point of even using it?
Link your social profiles everywhere.
Have links to all your social media profiles on your website, blog posts, email newsletters and even in your email signature. This will encourage people to find you, follow you and share your content if they find it interesting.
Social media is a critical component of a cohesive digital marketing strategy for today’s law firms, allowing you to engage potential clients and set yourself apart in your market. Consider these tips to ensure you are creating and maintaining a brand consistency on social media. Surely, your marketing efforts will pay off!
