9 Tips to Drive More Web Traffic from Social Media

In the old days, a lot of legal firms didn’t put enough effort into social media. After all, it’s just for showing photos and silly status updates, right? Now, we know differently – we understand the real value of social media in a comprehensive digital strategy. Now, we know that social media is key for driving more web traffic (which leads to more leads…) and a host of other benefits. 

In fact, according to Social Media Examiner, 9 out of 10 marketers say that increased web traffic is a benefit of social media. In that research, respondents stated overwhelmingly that enhanced web traffic was one of the main advantages of social media activity. So, what can you do to take advantage of this benefit in your own firm?

9 Tactics To Drive Traffic from Social Media 

1. Make sure your profiles are optimized. It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many professionals are skipping this step. Remember that when people want to learn more about you or your firm, a social media bio is one of the first places they’ll look. Your profile needs to communicate your overall value quickly and with the right tone. However, that doesn’t mean including a whole biography. People scan, so keep things concise and to the point, with a clear call to action about where they can learn more and a direct link. 
2. Add social proof. Social proof is a powerful tool in a legal marketer’s arsenal. Reviews, testimonials, and other forms of social credibility not only enhance your profile and your reputation, they can bring a more human voice to your content. Look for positive social media comments to highlight or create impactful snippets from case studies. Don’t forget to include any positive media coverage you’ve received as well. Make sure to include a “learn more” button or link whenever possible. 
3. Try some non-traditional platforms. You probably have LinkedIn and Facebook down to a science. However, you can get creative with some other platforms and see if they add to your web traffic. In particular, Pinterest and Reddit are two platforms where people tend to conduct research and appreciate expert opinions. Don’t be afraid to create a Pinterest board and pin your latest blogs and other material there. Similarly, on Reddit you can find subreddits to engage in, with lots of active users. For example, Reddit has a “Legal Advice” and “Ask Lawyers” subreddit where you can lurk and get a feel for what people are challenged with. Obviously you don’t want to give legal advice on these platforms, but don’t be afraid to share generally helpful information and leave links to your content. 
4. Test timing. Are you posting when people are more likely to engage? Try testing some different times and formats for social media, and then check your analytics to see what was most engaging. From there, you can use automatic scheduling tools to optimize the timing of your posts. 
5. Have clear share buttons. If someone reads your latest blog and absolutely loves it, could they share it? What if they come across a white paper and have a friend who would really value that information? How can they send it to someone else? Make sure to embed share buttons really close to your content. Make them visually obvious and show the number of shares to date as a bit of social proof. You might even experiment with placing the share button at the top of blogs rather than the bottom. 
6. Actually promote your content. No matter how great your content is, people are unlikely to just discover it on their own. Use social media to promote your blog and other key content regularly. At a minimum, you should take the time to promote your best-performing content. To drive more traffic, post excerpts or teasers from your most-downloaded material and encourage people to head to your website to read more. And don’t forget, social media is a great place to promote evergreen content that is still helpful or intriguing. Those posts can be perfect for a low effort social media post when you’re short on time. 
7. Engage with people. Make sure that your social media activity centers on your audience. Make sure to offer information that’s truly valuable to them, and then interact with them when they make comments or ask questions. When you create posts, focus on asking open-ended questions to encourage more of a dialogue. Things like polls or interactive quizzes can be an easy way to drum up some engagement. 
8. Be responsive. This tip is somewhat related to the point above, but make sure to actually respond to people that engage with you in some way. Make every effort to reply to all of your social media comments. In many cases, the information you share can be a link to a web page. Use social media to be responsive, engaging, and actually build relationships. That will not only drive more web traffic but really set you apart from competitors that people may also be viewing. 
9. Be more visual. There’s lots of research that people respond better to visual content than static text. When posting, consider all formats from images and video to infographics and presentations. Look for ways to make content easier to consume and more engaging. Additionally, you’ll want to avoid stock imagery and stick to real photos whenever possible. Infographics in particular are a great way to repurpose important findings in a visual way. And of course, live videos have become more popular and should be a key part of your social media strategy. Whenever you post, include links to other spaces online and offer clear CTAs. 

Takeaway: 

Try these nine tips, but make sure to stay consistent. When it comes to social media, success comes from repeated activity on a regular basis. It’s not enough to try these tactics once or twice, and then give up. Keep with it, and you’re sure to see improved web traffic over time. If you need more advice on developing a powerful social media strategy that helps you to generate web traffic and leads, reach out to our social media experts. After all, social media is today’s word of mouth, which has historically been the legal industry’s bread and butter!