8 Ideas To Engage Your Social Media Followers

“Nobody likes my posts!” “Nobody shares my posts!” “Does anyone even see my posts??”

Do you feel the frustration from the questions above? I sure do! It can be very hard to get your Social Media followers to interact with your posts, I know it’s a daily challenge on Facebook and the like.

I came across a great article from Social Media Examiner titled “8 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement.” The articles offers some amazing suggestions to boost activity on your social posts, creating more likes, shares and comments. The advice is also relevant for other social sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

So, how does this translate to your law practice? Read on …

8 Ways to Boost Law Firm Social Engagement

1. Solve Problems with Photos. The article gives an easy example of this technique using a post by Whole Foods showcasing a smoothie to ward off a hangover. If we spin this technique into a practice-related post, try posting a free image of a will or trust document with a description about planning for one’s estate.  Or you can post a photo of an elderly couple, with a caption about the importance of planning for long-term care. These are just examples, but remember that photos tell a story … and they take up more space or real estate on every social media platform.  Photos can be very impactful!
    
2. Give a Shout-out to Your Clients. Each week IMS spotlights one client on our social accounts, with a photo of the client and a brief description of their success with our program.  You can do the same with your clients! You may not have a photo, but sharing their success story of how your firm has helped them through a planning challenge will help engage followers through the act of story-telling.  Everyone loves a good success story! You can even tag your client in the post if they are a social connection, with their permission of course.  For confidentiality purposes, you may want to consider changes the names in your story (and disclose doing so). Do you like something that your client has posted themselves? Feel free to share their post to your followers as well!
    
3. Post a Question. If you want more comments on your posts, why not use a question to get a discussion going?  Even something as simple as “Have you created your last will and testament?” or “Are you a business owner?”
    
4. Fill in the Blank. Post a brief sentence with one word missing (using __ in place of the word).  Some ideas for your firm may be “My favorite charity is ___.” Or you can even use this to be more social, like “Fill in the blank! This weekend I’m heading to ___.” As an added bonus, this will help you get to know your followers interests creating a better relationship for future communications.
    
5. Photo Captions. Oh man, this one can be fun! As long as it stays PG ;). This tactic is used to create emotion in your followers, so simply uploading an image that correlates with your clientele or area of law will do just that. Let’s say you choose a photo of a family taking a walk through a park. When posting the photo, you can just say “Help us caption this photo” and see what they come up with. Again, photos are very engaging and command attention from followers.
    
6. Quotes. When posting a quote, make sure you reference who the quote came from. And make it relevant to your firm’s vision! You want to pick a quote that the majority of followers are going to relate to in order to boost engagement. Even something short like “Carpe Diem!” (seize the day) can attract several likes from followers.
    
7. Gather Votes With Likes vs. Shares. The article shows an example of posting a combo of two photos to create a voting post, using likes or shares to choose which photo the follower votes for. If that is out of your photo altering abilities, you can still use this tactic to encourage interaction.  An example would be, “LIKE this post if you have a Will, and/or SHARE if you have Powers of Attorney.” Be creative, this can be fun even for office staff photos, promotions, and events.
    
8. Hashtags. Yep, they are still here people – those silly hashtags! If you need a refresher on what they do, see my prior post about using hashtags in social media. They are basically a great way to categorize your posts using the # symbol.  The article recommends searching for hashtags used by your clients, competitors and affiliates to add to the discussion of a topic. You can also use these to promote events, such as an upcoming workshop (#trustworkshop). Example: “Are you a trustmaker, a trustee, or a trust beneficiary? #trustworkshop”

I hope these 8 tips will help spark some new social posts for your firm! Be sure to monitor your social accounts when followers start commenting on posts, any inappropriate or negative comments should be removed (you just can’t trust that everyone will be on their best behavior at all times).

Happy posting!

Brandi