Many law firms remain skeptical about the advantages of social media until a line can be drawn directly from the use of social media to an increase in conversions—or an influx of new clients. What is sometimes more difficult to see is how social media return on investment can transcend gaining new clients in its ability to strengthen relationships with prospective clients, partners, existing clients and even competitors. There is a huge interest in social media return on investment, with webinars and conferences devoted to the subject. When you go about calculating your ROI, you will naturally want to factor in the cost of the necessary resources needed to maintain your social media presence. From that point you will attempt to calculate your relative return on sales from your social media investment.
What you may not be factoring in are other objectives such as brand engagement or customer behaviors. The social media you engage in with your potential clients allows your firm not only to increase visibility, but to get immediate feedback. Social media may also be the simplest manner of communication you currently have at your disposal. In other words, if you want to know what clients and potential clients think about your firm, social media is the best tool in your arsenal to get those answers quickly. So if your ROI is not always directly tied to your forays into social media, what is the purpose, you may ask?
Well, first of all, suspend your use of dollars and cents for a moment and measure your ROI on customer investment—namely their time. Through social media you can quickly find out what topics your prospective clients and current clients care about, and what the most important topics of the day really are. You will also get a good sense of how your reputation and authority on your subject compare to that of your competitors. Social media is controlled by the consumer as opposed to more traditional forms of marketing which are controlled by those who market and their brand. Social media allows potential clients to determine the very best decisions for themselves in their own time at their own convenience.
Forms of Social Media
While you may believe YouTube is just for kids with too much time on their hands, in fact it can be used in a highly constructive manner for law firms. Creating videos which provide education, awareness or brand engagement can bring your users back time after time. You might also consider testimonials from satisfied clients or actual case studies which can help potential clients solve their own problems. LinkedIn and Facebook are also very good social media sites used to enhance your firm’s brand. If you participate in LinkedIn’s Answers and Groups you can either simply answer questions posed by others or you can mediate a specific discussion group in your specialty, lending your expertise in the subject.
Keeping up with your own legal blog can also enhance your brand as well as provide your users with an outstanding post they will want to share with their friends. As you can see, all of the social media you engage in actually does ultimately lead to sales, so why you may not be able to put a concrete number on the ROI you’ve gained from social media, it nonetheless exists. Ensuring your social media presence is effective involves controlling how those who locate you via social media will engage with your brand. One thing to remember, however, is that simply launching your social media campaign is hardly enough. You must follow your social media closely, as well as responding in a timely manner to comments and questions. While you may not be able to get a solid financial number which you can plug into your overall ROI, it is a sure bet that maintaining a solid social media presence will definitely increase your bottom line.
