Lately we've been fielding more and more questions from lawyers and law firms about how to use Facebook as a marketing and communications platform. Even on calls with traditionally more conservative firms, more often than not, Facebook comes up in the conversation.
While we may not all agree on whether Facebook's time has come for the legal profession, certainly more and more people in the profession are compelled to dip a toe in the water, see what all the fuss is about.
From big firms to solo attorneys, everyone seems to understand that you claim a corporate presence on Facebook by creating a Business Page (versus a personal profile).
For those of you just starting out, here are three quick and easy tips to sprucing up your new Facebook law firm page:
1. Include Photos
Recently Facebook altered the way in which photos appear on pages (they now display prominently in a banner-like format on the Wall, your page's most important section).
See for example the above screen shot, taken from Fenwick & West's Facebook page. Besides the appealing way in which a row of images breaks up an otherwise-text-heavy page (and creates a nice visual header to boot), the photographs themselves offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Fenwick.
I don't need to tell you about the branding value of including corporate imagery online - suffice to say, here's a quick and easy opportunity to showcase not just your firm's brand, but also some of the more daily aspects of life at your firm: community outreach, seasonal events, conferences and presentations, and so forth.
[Additional: include your firm's logo; it'll appear as a "Picture" on the top left of the page. Keep in mind two things: 1. use an image file that looks sharp and clear on Facebook, and 2. the logo/picture also doubles as a thumbnail to accompany every Wall update. Be sure your image looks good in both instances. Examples of good logo/thumbnails: Loeb & Loeb LLP and Wilson Sonsini.]
2. Fill Out Your "Info" Section
In the bullet list of quick and easy ways to spruce up a Facebook page, here's a quick and easy no-brainer. Every page includes an "Info" section, available as a link below "Wall" in your collection of navigation options. Click to edit that Info page and fill it with as much useful information as possible.
"Info" sections of Facebook pages differ slightly depending on the type of page you've created (local business, product/service, brand/company, etc.) but generally this is where you cover basic but important information: Who are you? What type(s) of law do you practice? Whom do you serve? Where are you located? What's your website address? Contact info? And so forth...
I've seen it suggested that what's written in your Facebook "Info" section has SEO value, so you might as well make it keyword rich. Whether true or not, assume that page visitors might use "Info" to read more about your firm. Be thorough.
[Additional: do pay attention to the type of page you create (local biz, service, brand, website, etc.). I assume with time Facebook will organize these classifications and help to make each page easier to find. Also, each page offers slightly different benefits to the way "Info" is presented. Examples: Bryan Cave's page includes a map to HQ location; McAfee & Taft's page includes a list of relevant "likes" elsewhere on Facebook.]
3. Include Your Legal Content
All of the law firm pages mentioned in this post (and others) use JD Supra's Documents application to quickly and easily reproduce their portfolio of legal content directly within Facebook, as shown below:
Visitors can peruse your portfolio of updates, alerts, blog posts, newsletters and the like by clicking the "Documents" link in your page's navigation options. Additionally, anyone who has "liked" your page will see each of your new documents uploaded on JD Supra directly in their Facebook news stream, should you choose to that feature of the app. Example of a recent update from Bryan Cave, which goes to everyone connect to the firm's page:
[Additional: navigational links (previously called "Tabs") are now entirely customizable. You can call them whatever you like. Our app's default link is "Documents" but feel free to rename it however it makes sense to you. For example, Davis Wright Tremaine cleverly retitled the firm's JD Supra portfolio in Facebook as Blogs & Advisories.]
...
There you have them - three quick and easy ways to spruce up a new law firm Facebook page in a matter of minutes. What else might you do to establish a corporate presence on Facebook?
Well, plenty. Build a custom landing page. Incorporate your blog, either through custom design or using a publicly available app like RSS Grafitti. Add videos. Include the ability to signup for emails. Pose questions. (To name a few.)
We are fully immersed on Facebook, both as a channel for distributing law firm content published on JD Supra and also as a social platform upon which to build self-syndication tools for our clients and contributors. If you have any questions about these tips, or anything to do with garnering good attention on Facebook, don't hesitate to drop us a line.
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Related:
- Facebook As Major News Source: You Stand to Benefit
- You Should Be on Facebook: Here's Why (and How)
- Three Apps for Your Law Firm's Facebook Page
- List yours in the Facebook Law Pages section of ThePageFinder
While we may not all agree on whether Facebook's time has come for the legal profession, certainly more and more people in the profession are compelled to dip a toe in the water, see what all the fuss is about.
From big firms to solo attorneys, everyone seems to understand that you claim a corporate presence on Facebook by creating a Business Page (versus a personal profile).
For those of you just starting out, here are three quick and easy tips to sprucing up your new Facebook law firm page:
1. Include Photos
Recently Facebook altered the way in which photos appear on pages (they now display prominently in a banner-like format on the Wall, your page's most important section).
See for example the above screen shot, taken from Fenwick & West's Facebook page. Besides the appealing way in which a row of images breaks up an otherwise-text-heavy page (and creates a nice visual header to boot), the photographs themselves offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Fenwick. I don't need to tell you about the branding value of including corporate imagery online - suffice to say, here's a quick and easy opportunity to showcase not just your firm's brand, but also some of the more daily aspects of life at your firm: community outreach, seasonal events, conferences and presentations, and so forth.
[Additional: include your firm's logo; it'll appear as a "Picture" on the top left of the page. Keep in mind two things: 1. use an image file that looks sharp and clear on Facebook, and 2. the logo/picture also doubles as a thumbnail to accompany every Wall update. Be sure your image looks good in both instances. Examples of good logo/thumbnails: Loeb & Loeb LLP and Wilson Sonsini.]
2. Fill Out Your "Info" Section
In the bullet list of quick and easy ways to spruce up a Facebook page, here's a quick and easy no-brainer. Every page includes an "Info" section, available as a link below "Wall" in your collection of navigation options. Click to edit that Info page and fill it with as much useful information as possible.
"Info" sections of Facebook pages differ slightly depending on the type of page you've created (local business, product/service, brand/company, etc.) but generally this is where you cover basic but important information: Who are you? What type(s) of law do you practice? Whom do you serve? Where are you located? What's your website address? Contact info? And so forth...I've seen it suggested that what's written in your Facebook "Info" section has SEO value, so you might as well make it keyword rich. Whether true or not, assume that page visitors might use "Info" to read more about your firm. Be thorough.
[Additional: do pay attention to the type of page you create (local biz, service, brand, website, etc.). I assume with time Facebook will organize these classifications and help to make each page easier to find. Also, each page offers slightly different benefits to the way "Info" is presented. Examples: Bryan Cave's page includes a map to HQ location; McAfee & Taft's page includes a list of relevant "likes" elsewhere on Facebook.]
3. Include Your Legal Content
All of the law firm pages mentioned in this post (and others) use JD Supra's Documents application to quickly and easily reproduce their portfolio of legal content directly within Facebook, as shown below:
Visitors can peruse your portfolio of updates, alerts, blog posts, newsletters and the like by clicking the "Documents" link in your page's navigation options. Additionally, anyone who has "liked" your page will see each of your new documents uploaded on JD Supra directly in their Facebook news stream, should you choose to that feature of the app. Example of a recent update from Bryan Cave, which goes to everyone connect to the firm's page:
[Additional: navigational links (previously called "Tabs") are now entirely customizable. You can call them whatever you like. Our app's default link is "Documents" but feel free to rename it however it makes sense to you. For example, Davis Wright Tremaine cleverly retitled the firm's JD Supra portfolio in Facebook as Blogs & Advisories.]...
There you have them - three quick and easy ways to spruce up a new law firm Facebook page in a matter of minutes. What else might you do to establish a corporate presence on Facebook?
Well, plenty. Build a custom landing page. Incorporate your blog, either through custom design or using a publicly available app like RSS Grafitti. Add videos. Include the ability to signup for emails. Pose questions. (To name a few.)
We are fully immersed on Facebook, both as a channel for distributing law firm content published on JD Supra and also as a social platform upon which to build self-syndication tools for our clients and contributors. If you have any questions about these tips, or anything to do with garnering good attention on Facebook, don't hesitate to drop us a line.
---Related:
- Facebook As Major News Source: You Stand to Benefit
- You Should Be on Facebook: Here's Why (and How)
- Three Apps for Your Law Firm's Facebook Page
- List yours in the Facebook Law Pages section of ThePageFinder
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