Glenn Reid

This is not to say you should ignore social media when marketing your practice. It has its place, it’s just a little further down the pecking order when it comes to the overall legal marketing strategy.

Some social media agencies might try to convince you otherwise. So, I’ll argue my case in this column and you can make your own mind up.

Let me explain. Consider your marketing strategy is a row of 10 dominos. This symbolises the “marketing mix”. Each domino is a marketing tactic such as events, social proof, advertising and SEO.

Each domino needs to be set up in order of importance for the next to succeed. In my view, social media is perhaps the sixth in the line of dominos when the primary aim of the marketing strategy is to win more clients.

Being the clever lawyer that you are, you might be thinking that social media should then receive the sixth most amount of the time and resources that you dedicate to your law firm’s marketing efforts.

This is perhaps not the case, though.

Applying the Pareto principle, one might conclude that a disproportionate amount of marketing success (around 80 per cent) stems from just 20 per cent of your efforts. Therefore, while social media is essential, its impact must be weighed against more significant contributors to your firm’s marketing success.

Allocating resources to social media is indeed worthwhile, given its role in amplifying the reach and impact of your primary marketing strategies. Its power lies in its ability to extend the visibility of your services and expertise, acting as a multiplier of your existing marketing efforts rather than as a standalone solution.

Consider this scenario, familiar to many law firms: you’ve got a high-performing website and a robust SEO strategy, but a lacklustre social media presence. The consequence? A missed opportunity to maximise your content’s visibility and reach. A healthy social media presence would not only increase your content’s exposure but also enhance engagement with potential clients.

Conversely, if your firm excels in social media but neglects other marketing fundamentals, your efforts are akin to building a facade without a supporting structure.
The visual appeal may attract attention, but without the depth of quality content, SEO, and other marketing tactics, it fails to build a measurable and tangible stream of new clients.

The ideal scenario is a comprehensive, full-mix strategy where social media is woven seamlessly into the fabric of your overarching marketing plan, complementing and enhancing other efforts.

This holistic approach ensures that each element of your marketing strategy, including social media, works in concert to achieve your law firm’s goals.

Beware the agency that says otherwise. As famed psychologist, Maslow said: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

• Glenn Reid is a columnist and law firm marketing consultant at Reid & Partners Legal Marketing.