Are You Using Your Social Media Presence to Continue the Client Journey?

Last week I spoke at The Law Society of Upper Canada’s 24th Annual Immigration Law Summit. My topic was “Using Social Media to Build Your Immigration Practice”. One of the key points I made was not to use social media as a tool on its own for marketing, business development or networking. Think about the client’s journey from awareness of you, researching you, and to retaining you. Also, think about how you can integrate online and offline efforts.

One way of considering the client journey is to think about where you want to link to and why. For example, social networking platforms usually provide an opportunity to include a clickable link somewhere in our profile. I’ve come across profiles of lawyers that don’t include any links. This is a missed opportunity. A link would make it easier for readers to continue their journey to learn more about you and potentially retain you when they have a legal matter requiring your assistance.

Examples of where to link to include your firm website bio, your LinkedIn profile, and your blog. For instance, if your goal is for readers to learn more about you, you may want to link to your firm website bio or LinkedIn profile.

If your goal is for readers to find information that will be of value to them:

• Link to your blog; 
• If you don’t have a blog but do contribute to firm newsletters, link to where the online version of those newsletters are located; or
• If you contribute to other online publications, add links to those publications into your LinkedIn profile, and then include a link from your other social networking accounts to your LinkedIn profile.

Your links can also be to online pages that relate to offline events. Moreover, they can be part of your updates, tweets and other posts. For example, add a link to a conference you’ll be speaking at, or to the industry or community event where you’ll have a booth at. These events will allow your potential clients to meet you and learn more about how you can help them with their legal needs.

When we meet someone in person, don’t forget our ability to continue the conversation online. For example, mention the latest blog post you’ve written about or what you tweet about that may be of interest to the person you’re speaking with. Then pass along your business card with your social media handles. Another example is writing your social media handle(s) on your name tag when you’re at an event. 

When I was practising law, I recall telling clients about relevant blog posts and then emailing them the link after our phone conversations. Have you been doing this? It was a simple way to nurture client relationships. What you share doesn’t have to be a post you authored. It can be one authored by someone in your practice group, at your firm or even published by a news outlet. The point is that you’ve thought about your client’s needs and the content would be relevant and helpful.

You may have realized that our social media profiles and shares act as introductions. In a way, they are like elevator speeches. Take a few minutes to review your elevator speech on the social networking platforms you use. Then ask yourself, “If I were a potential client, where would I want to click to next?”