While it is most certainly true that you would like to build your law practice using social media, it is important to focus in more closely to identify your social media objectives.  Now it is time to teach you what social media marketing is NOT.

Social networks are NOT a place to sell.  Social networks are for building relationships.

Social media marketing is about getting into the mind of the consumer. Today’s consumer no longer responds to ‘push’ marketing.  They don’t want to be told what to buy.  They want to make their own decisions about the products they buy and the services they use.  The ‘selling’ aspect on social media is much more subtle than in traditional channels.  Smart Estate Planning attorneys realize that prospects want to be educated, inspired, or entertained.  Therefore, it is critical that your objectives be something like:

• Position yourself as a subject matter expert
• Be a conduit for your community’s questions about Estate Planning
• Build your brand and manage your reputation

These types of objectives go a long way towards giving you a strong ROI – Return on Influence, that is.  Return on Influence is measured using different benchmarks than the quantitative Return on Investment.  Returns on Investment benchmarks are specific, measurable, and quantitative.  Return on Influence has more to do with brand authority and your growing levels of engagement and influence in the social media channels.  Some examples of Return on Influence measures are:

• 200  new Twitter Followers over the past 3 months
• 50 participants in Facebook Group
• Growth in conversations about business on Twitter and Facebook
• 100 new subscribers to your blog

So while the Return on Influence measures can be quantitative, the direct impact on your Return on Investment is more subtle.  But, it definitely has an impact.  Having new Twitter followers doesn’t guarantee that all 200 will be calling your office, but maybe 20 will, having a positive effect on your bottom line!  The more you put your name out there, the higher that number can become.  And there are several good tools on the web that you can use to track your Return on Influence.

Bottom line: if you have a clear social media objective, mapping out your strategy becomes clear, tracking your results is clear, and the impact on both your Return on Influence AND Return on Investment becomes clear, as a result of the time and effort you’ve put into your social media strategy.