Instagram Mistakes Law Firms Make & How to Fix Them

It’s no secret that law firms are using social media to connect and engage with audiences and convert them into clients. Whether your firm specializes in tax law, employment law, or anything in between, you can apply these tips to curate your content and strategically plan your Instagram marketing to receive a measurable ROI. 

Lack of engagement 

In order to build quality contacts and clients from social media marketing, you need to be able to engage in quality conversation and have genuine interactions with your audience. Sure, replying to comments is engaging with them, but it simply isn’t enough. Use search intent to find hashtags that lead to relevant posts and users who could have an interest in your services. Avoid generic comments like “I love this” or “great post”. Use authentic language and prove that there’s a human behind the account.

Protip: Make sure you’re available online for at least 30 minutes after you post so you can quickly respond to questions or comments from your post. A quick response encourages another comment which can grow into a conversation or inquiry.

Wrong Use of Hashtags 

Hashtags can be a great way to find other people in your niche. We mentioned above how to use them to boost engagement, but make sure that you are using them strategically. Don’t oversaturate your post with hashtags. It may have an opposite effect and push your clients away with too much self-promotion. Hide your hashtags in your post simply by adding six periods between your caption and your hashtags.

We recommend sorting through the list of hashtags that your law firm uses and filtering out the ones that have too much traffic or are too broad. You don’t want your post to get lost amongst 3 million other posts using the same hashtag in a different context. You can narrow your hashtags by adding the city or location you are in. #NYCLawFirm or #LawyersofNYC are great examples. 

Protip: Use hashtagify.com to look up potential hashtags and see what is performing well online.

Too much self-promotion

Take a moment and think to yourself, what are the posts that you enjoy scrolling through and engaging with on Instagram? Your clients are more likely to engage with your post if it has some human qualities in it. Don’t be afraid to be funny, timely, unusual, or have a snarky undertone. You can take a break from self-promoting by publishing infographics, challenges, and office updates. Your audience has plenty of informational and more serious content to interact with on your page and a little laughter never hurt.

Protip: If you want to promote a service at your firm or have plenty of content to post, consider adding that onto Instagram Stories. Doing this adds a bit of creativity in your self-promoting, and if you have your Instagram Business features turned on you could gain a bit more analytics to monitor what kind of traction you are getting on these post’. 

Takeaway 

While it may make sense to post consistent content, utilize top hashtags, and promote your firm as much as you can, it’s easy to go overboard and create the opposite effect of your marketing goals.  By remedying these Instagram mistakes with a few simple tweaks, your Instagram account can become one of the most valuable assets in your marketing mix. With genuine engagement with people who are authentically interested in your content and brand, mentions, shares, and word-of-mouth marketing are bound to naturally increase

Let us know if your firm needs help in creating the right content for your Instagram or getting the most return on your social marketing investment. For more tips on managing your social media marketing, download our newest Ebook –  Advanced Social Media Marketing for Law Firms. 

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