06/28/2011
Lawyers have long acquired new cases through personal recommendations from friends, family members and co-workers, who are satisfied clients of the law firm in question. But, what lawyers don’t always realize is they could be getting more personal recommendations through law firm Internet marketing of their attorneys on the Web.
Although social media websites like Facebook are more widely known for connecting with friends and relatives, they can actually be powerful lawyer Internet marketing tools for attorneys, without having to do much work on their part. This is called “Earned Media.”
Earned media is steadily becoming one of the most trusted sources of information about your law firm, which is controlled by the law firm’s clients and legal industry influencers. Earned media is created through past or current clients, as well as influential people who leave comments on your Facebook wall or on the clients’ own Facebook walls consisting of reviews, recommendations, ratings, praise or stories about their experience with your law firm. Having influential people commenting and liking your Facebook page and posts are especially important because their opinion carries weight— consumers are more likely to pay attention to what your saying if someone of authority likes and/or comments on what you are talking about.
Facebook “likes” are also considered earned media, as they are essentially a “vote of confidence” from the client.
According to Adage:
• Up to 92% of consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations, but only 24% trust online ads.
• A recommendation from a trusted friend conveying a relevant message is up to 50 times more likely to trigger a purchase compared to another recommendation.
• 25% to 40% of all traffic and lead generation comes from earned media.
For lawyers, this is an easy way to help bring in new clients, not just by doing a good job with past cases and clients. But, lawyers shouldn’t just rely on people posting praise about their law firm on social media sites; they should also be actively marketing and maintaining a presence on the Web through earned media, like reviews, recommendations and comments. In addition, they might consider maintaining contact with past clients and offering them incentives, like a gift card, to post recommendations and reviews on some of the social sites designed for commentary. Earned media works best in conjunction with paid media and law firm SEO, so its value is not as a stand-alone lawyer marketing strategy.
A comprehensive lawyer Internet marketing campaign can help take earned media and cultivate it into a successful online presence, which includes a lawyer website, blog or Cepac-powered Vision Smart News attorney newsroom and social media. Your lawyers need to be found on the Internet if that’s where your past clients are raving about you.
CEPAC lawyer marketing, a legal advertising agency, offers “Grade-A” lawyer marketing services like newsrooms, social media and advertising campaigns, along with more the more traditional lawyer marketing approaches including TV, radio and print advertising.
For more information on Cepac lawyer marketing, law firm website design, SEO for law firms or Smart News Technology, contact Rene Perras or visit Cepac.com.
