TikTok or TikNot: understanding social media for law firms

Since LinkedIn first burst onto the scene in 2002, social media has been a feature of most of our working lives. 

You’d be hard pressed to find a law firm these days that doesn’t have a presence on the platform, as well as others like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Some have even tried their hand at TikTok. 

Having a page, or even posting content to it, doesn’t necessarily equate to success though. Getting engagement is tougher than it looks, as many firms are finding to their cost. 

No one can deny the growing prevalence of social media, and most people are on it in some form, but how many of us really understand how it works and how to make it work for us? 

Our survey says

Research as part of our latest white paper entitled ‘TikTok or TikNot: Law firms in the Social Media Age’ found that law firms, on average, spend a quarter of their marketing budgets on social media activity, but are seeing little return on investment.

Of the 100 firms we spoke to, the average marketing budget ranged from £84,000 to £159,000 depending on their size and make-up, so social media spend is significant. 

Marketers cited the ability to use social media effectively and keep up with trends in order to engage prospective clients among the main challenges for the year ahead. 

But when asked what they thought was the single, most effective means of generating new business, SEO, email marketing and event sponsorship were the most popular answers. Social media platforms, with the exception of LinkedIn, were bottom of the list.

Curiously, given that it is predominantly a B2B platform, LinkedIn ranked only just behind personal recommendations and online search as the most popular way firms thought that prospective clients were likely to find them.

When consumers were asked the same question via our own YouGov research of 1,000 people, however, neither LinkedIn nor any other social media platform came close. When choosing legal services, recommendations from friends and family or a professional, online searches and review sites were all more likely to help them reach a decision. 

Our research revealed some muddled thinking as well as a recurring theme. Law firms set significant store by social media, but struggle when it comes to understanding how to make it work for them. 

Making social media work for you 

We spoke to a range of experts for our white paper and the main take away is that there is no one size fits all with social media. Making it work for you is a work in progress. 

One of those experts, Attwells Solicitors, for example, has made an extraordinary impact on TikTok, but the platform isn’t for everyone, which is evidenced by the fact that only 10% of the firms we spoke to were actually present on it.

Resist the temptation of having a presence on every channel simply to ‘cover all the bases’ and instead drill down into where your audience actually is. Define and build your tribe. A third of the firms posting on Facebook were talking to fewer than 500 followers and, in one case, 98. Not quite screaming into the void, but not an effective use of their time. 

Speak to them in a language they will understand and with good quality, informative, authentic and easily digestible content. Short-form video, in particular, has seen a surge in popularity. Savvy consumers will scroll past most promotional posts, whereas giving away a little free advice on topics they’re interested in, for example, is much more likely to grab attention. 

Post consistently – two or three times a week at least – and try repurposing the same content for different platforms if resources are an issue.

Putting money behind social media posts will undoubtedly increase your reach far faster than trying to achieve this organically, but the quality of your content will still be the biggest factor in terms of whether people engage with it or not.

Finally, and most importantly, mix it up. From SEO to events to PR to social media, I haven’t come across a successful marketing strategy that’s limited to just one channel. 

Social media marketing is undeniably an important ingredient in the marketing mix, but it shouldn’t be the only one.