Direct marketing isn’t always considered a very effective marketing tactic by law firms and their clients; but applying the same strategies used for direct marketing campaigns to your social media efforts will definitely help you see more value and ROI.
When devising a direct marketing campaign, what are three things you must consider before spending any money?
- your audience
- your offer
- the medium used to send this offer
You have to make sure these three things are identified before moving forward with any direct marketing campaign. If you don’t, you are wasting your time and money, and can be hurting your firm’s reputation in the process too.
While most legal marketers understand why these strategies are important to direct marketing campaigns, many haven’t yet realized how these same tactics can be – and should be – used for their social media campaigns too.
Your Audience: These are your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, blog subscribers, email list, etc. To determine their demographics and psychographics, send out the occasional survey and regularly review your site analytics. This way you will know who you are reaching and can provide appropriate content and valuable offers.
Note: Even though these people are subscribing to your blog, friends with you on Facebook and following your tweets, it doesn’t mean they are going to your website and creating ROI. This is why the offer is important.
Your Offer: To start seeing some ROI on your social media efforts, it’s important to drive people to your site, where you can really showcase your practice and expertise. Offer them something of value. This could be an article on a hot topic, a white paper on the latest legal trends, or even an invitation to register for an upcoming seminar at your firm. Make it valuable enough that they are happy they took the step to come to your site.
Note: Make sure you understand what your audience needs and wants. You can get a better understanding of these needs when you survey your followers. Include a question or two on what they would like to see, then tailor your offer so it’s in line with what they say.
Your Medium: Once you have your audience identified and your offer established, you need to figure out the best way to send your message. Are you going to use LinkedIn? Facebook? Twitter? Your blog? An email campaign? All five?
Your connections on LinkedIn may be very different from your blog readers, so match the offer with the audience that will value it most. (A great tool for keeping up with what your various audiences are saying about your firm is SocialMention. It aggregates all mentions of your firm, or individual partners, in one place. This can help you get an idea of who is following you in each place too.)
So even if you aren’t sending out many direct mail pieces any more, those same strategies are vital for you to get the ROI you want from your social media efforts.
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