Facebook Page Options for Law Firms and Lawyers
Facebook, the popular social media platform, has many options for businesses as well as individuals. If you or your firm has a Facebook presence, there are some options to consider about how you can leverage this platform effectively and ethically.
Is It the Right Place to Be?
A law firm Facebook page can help promote the firm’s work and connect you with potential and existing clients. There are some best practices and cautions to keep in mind when leveraging this social media platform. Facebook is used by three billion people worldwide. If your practice areas are consumer focused Facebook is a wonderful place to have an energetic presence. Do lawyers get clients from Facebook? In 2022 the ABA Legal Technology Survey Report showed that of respondents who said their firms had a social media presence, 62% had a Facebook. You can visit the Facebook for Business site to learn about best practices, get free online training through Blueprint, get help building ad campaigns and engage with the Facebook business community.
Facebook Page Options
Facebook requires a personal user to create a business page. To create a Page, you can follow the Quick Start Guide. You type in the name of your firm, a description, and add categories. In categories type in words like “labor” and you will see “Labor & Employment Lawyer”. Type in “lawyer” to choose “Lawyer & Law Firm”. Choose all the categories you need to describe your practice. Continue to follow the prompts to fill in your website and physical address (if you have one), phone number, email, and business hours. Add your profile picture and a cover photo. You can add Action Buttons to indicate a Call to Action that appear at the top of your Page. You can add “Book Now” with a link to a scheduling tool, “Call Now” to start a phone call, “Send Email”, or open your website “Contact Us” page. Links to Follow are already included.
If you have created a Facebook Page before, be aware the interface is now different. It offers fewer options than the old Page, due to the rebranding and subsequent offerings through Meta.
Next, the Page will ask you to build your audience. You can skip this step. Keep clicking through until you receive the “Done” notification. The Page is now live.
While you are logged in you will see a brief overview of how to navigate the Page as an administrator. Click the Manage button in the upper left corner. Then click Settings – Page Access – and Add New. Add someone else to help create posts, manage and delete content, send and respond to messages, remove content, and see page performance. To give the person full control toggle the switch, but consider carefully who has full administrative rights.
The default Facebook page has a lot of elements: Posts, About, Mentions, Reviews, Followers, Photos, etc. You do not have to have all of those active. Logged in as the administrator click on “More” then at the bottom of the drop-down menu click “Manage sections”. You can unclick many, but not all, of the areas you may not want to have on your Page.
In the far-right corner click on the ellipses (…) to review your Page and tagging settings. Under Page, toggle to “Only Me” for who can post on your page, toggle off “allow others to view and leave reviews on your Page, change “Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your Page” to “only me”. Then click that you want to review posts you are tagged in. These settings will reduce your exposure to negative reviews, and give you more control over the content. You can, of course, allow these but you will want to set up controls to review the content before it goes up on the Page. On your Dashboard there is a Comments manager.
Measure to Manage
Facebook used to provide a separate site for your page’s analytics, which is now in Page Insights. This free tool lets you view an overview that defaults to the last 28 days. They also have the Meta Business Suite.
Ethical Considerations
Needless to say, there are some ethical considerations for a firm or lawyer’s use of Facebook pages. While turning off posting, commenting, sharing and direct communication tools may seem anti-social, there are a lot of rules and opinions to navigate, and it may be better to reduce your risk. This older Wisconsin Lawyer article also points out some issues that could arise from communication through social media.
What Can You Do?
Share educational content, written by you or curated content from othersDo not be afraid to inject some humor. Posts that seem like an ad – “Slip and fall? Call us today!” – won’t resonate well. Publishing tools let you create posts, schedule them, and set expiry dates. If you find that you can’t post regularly you may consider unpublishing your Page. It may say more about your firm if the last post was in 2018 than you think.
Posts with photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based posts, so it’s a good idea to include an image with your posts if you can. You can use your own photos or use stock photography. Videos, Facebook Live, Events, and other Facebook Page features let you see what resonates with your audience and adds interactivity
Information about your firm and the content you post should be focused on what you do for clients, not all about you.
There are more options than “Follow” for your Page’s call to action. Click on “Edit Follow” and choose “Edit Button”. You can add “Book Now” to link to your online appointment booking page, Call Now, Contact Us, Sign Up for your newsletter, Learn More at your website and more.
If you are using Messenger or What’s App for communication do not ignore it. Facebook shows how quickly a Page responds to queries. If you do not think you can be responsive turn this feature off. You can automate and customize Messenger in Facebook pages. You can also set up Instant Replies.
Finally, put the link to your Facebook page on your website, in your signature block and everywhere else you can to help promote it.
See Do’s and Don’t for Law Firm Facebook Pages for more ideas.