For decades, traditional media has generated exposure for many businesses, but in a digital era, social media has taken the ad industry by storm. Here is a breakdown of the most effective social media advertising platforms and their respective benefits.
Facebook ads:
- This is one of the largest social media sites with over 2.45 billion monthly active users. Facebook ads give you detailed targeting options to help you reach the general public. For example, if your goal is to drive traffic to your law firm’s website and increase brand awareness in your community, Facebook will allow you to choose the audience’s age, location, gender and potential reach via the Facebook Ads Manager feature. Facebook ads allows you to pay per action, meaning you only pay for sales made as a direct result of your ad. If you want exposure, Facebook gives you the option to pay for impressions, meaning the amount of people who saw your ad. Consider using Facebook ads if you have a more broad and general consumer target audience.
Instagram ads:
- Quality images are your best friend if your law firm is considering running an Instagram ad. Instagram ads are based on awareness, consideration and conversion. Like Facebook, you can hone in on your ideal consumer demographic with custom targeting options. You can select to have ads pop up on the feed, story, or Instagram TV. Instagram typically bears more ad engagement than other platforms. Don’t forget to create an appealing profile page with photos that tell the story of your firm. If someone clicks to your profile from your ad, provide them with additional reasons to pick up the phone and call your firm.
Twitter ads:
- Twitter Promote is a way for law firms to promote their tweets about legal news or law firm updates. Twitter utilizes advertising by promoting the first ten daily organic tweets and your profile. The caveat is that you can’t choose which tweets to promote, but you can focus up to five interests or locations. You can choose to promote existing Tweets or craft Tweets specifically as an ad. Remember to test your campaigns to see how your audience responds to your copy. This will help you make the necessary tweaks and changes.
LinkedIn ads:
- LinkedIn is geared toward professionals and targeting options are based primarily on job title and seniority. Ads appear as sponsored content or sponsored InMail. Sponsored InMail allows you to directly inbox a prospect only when they’re active on LinkedIn. If you keep the text under 500 characters, you’re bound to get the highest click-through rate, meaning the rate of people who click on the ad to your website or landing page. LinkedIn ads are great if you want to showcase your firm’s expertise and connect with prospects or other attorneys for potential referrals.