In a digital landscape that’s constantly evolving, it can be challenging to know which Internet marketing strategies will push the needle for your law firm’s growth.
To help better you understand how the Internet is changing and what you can do to stay visible and relevant to your prospective clients, we’re covering three law firm digital marketing strategies you should focus on in 2019.
1. Topic clusters
People tend to judge the effectiveness of an attorney by their track record—when you have a winning record, you instantly gain credibility in the eyes of a prospective client.
The same rule applies in the world of online search—the more you can prove your website’s credibility to search engines, the higher your organic search ranking will be. How do you do that?—by creating content that helps searchers…
Which is why your legal practice needs to focus on topic clusters in 2019.
By creating topic clusters (various pieces of content that are strategically packaged to revolve around a single topic), an attorney can increase their online authority for that subject matter, which poses them as the “expert.”
For example, if you’re a criminal defense attorney who wants to raise your online authority for the topic of DUI defense, you would create a DUI Defense page on your website, and write various blog posts on related subtopics (“What to Do When You’re Pulled Over,” “Will a DUI Conviction Hurt Your Career?” “How to Choose the Right DUI Attorney for Your Case,” etc.)
After building an online “track record” of high-quality, consistent content, you will be able to secure higher organic rankings, which will lead to more visibility in search engines.
Here are the steps you should take to create topic clusters:
- Identify a core topic that will interest your prospective clients.
- Choose interesting subtopics that are related to the core topic.
- Build a flagship piece of content on the core topic (like a service page on your website).
- Create additional content on the subtopics (like blog posts).
- Link all subtopic content to the flagship piece, and to other subtopic content as appropriate.
- Optimize all content with relevant keywords to improve visibility in online search.
2. Social media
With social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube growing in popularity, the average US consumer now spends more than a third of their “online” time on social media and video streaming sites.
Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform, and it continues to see an increase in its daily average users (measuring 2.27 billion monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2018). Currently, 68% of US adults use Facebook regularly, and 74% of those users visit the site on a daily basis.
Second in line is Instagram, which, which happens to be owned by Facebook. Instagram is used by more than a third (35%) of US adults.
Savvy businesses (including law firms) have found ways to capitalize on the increased use of social media, investing more money in advertising on these platforms to capture the attention of potential clients.
So what does that mean for your law firm?
It means your firm now has more opportunities than ever to reach new prospects on the Internet.
To succeed on social media, your law firm should:
- Build profiles on popular platforms like Facebook and Instagram to increase exposure for your firm.
- Invest in advertising to expand your reach on these channels (unpaid content will only appear to a small percentage of your intended audience) and target specific audiences (e.g. people who fall within a certain demographic and geographic area).
- Engage with social media users to spark conversations and build relationships with potential clients.
3. Online video
Online video is another form of digital media that is taking your prospective clients’ attention by storm.
Today, more than 1 billion users watch more than 1 million hours of video per day on YouTube. On mobile devices alone, YouTube now reaches more than people in the 18-49 age bracket than any other broadcast or cable TV network. People aren’t just using YouTube for entertainment—they’re using it as a go-to source for information…to the point where YouTube has become recognized as the world’s second-largest search engine in the world after Google.
Why?
Because video media is faster, easier, and more entertaining to consume than any other form of media out there.
Research shows that social posts featuring videos generate 12X more shares than text and image posts combined.
With that in mind, make sure to incorporate video marketing into your digital marketing strategies for 2019 if want to maximize your visibility and engagement with your ideal prospects on the Internet.
To succeed in online video, your law firm should:
- Produce content that piques prospects’ interest and builds excitement around your firm and what it stands for.
- Produce content that informs and answers common questions clients are asking.
- Share your video content on your website and social platforms like YouTube and Facebook to gain maximum exposure and engagement.
Want to learn more about how to create a successful digital presence that leads to more paying clients in 2019?
Read the other posts from our State of Internet Marketing 2019 blog series.
(You’re currently reading Part 7.)
- Part 1: Is Your Law Firm Appealing to the Modern Consumer?
- Part 2: Here’s Why The Internet Is a Double-Edged Sword for Your Law Firm
- Part 3: How to Attract New Clients to Your Law Firm in the Age of Constant Connectivity
- Part 4: The #1 Mobile Trend That’s Changing the Way Clients Find Your Law Firm in 2019
- Part 5: Here’s the Missing Link to Digital Marketing Success for Your Law Firm in 2019
- Part 6: How to Build a Future-Proof Digital Marketing Plan for Your Firm
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