Attorney Marketing on Facebook

I am generally not a big fan of using Facebook to market your practice. The main reason for this is that you need to diligently monitor your Facebook account for scams or anything that may harm your firm’s reputation – like your aunt who insists on selling Amway on your wall. Most attorneys simply don’t have the time to monitor a separate firm Facebook account. This is a problem, particularly when you consider that even the most savvy Facebook users can fall victim to scams. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg was tricked into joing a NAMBLA fan group just last year.
But if you are diligent, Facebook can be an effective 2nd home page for your business. For me the best use of Facebook is to build up an audience for your BLOG content. For example Board Certified Dallas Family Attorney, Lisa McKnight, has a very active and effective Facebook page, where posts from her BLOG automatically post to her firm’s Facebook page.
If you are just starting a Facebook page for your firm, be sure to pick a good name. Just like picking a website URL, having a keyword rich Facebook URL is helpful. Arizona Bankruptcy Lawyer, Joseph McDaniel has a great one: http://www.facebook.com/bankruptcy.arizona. The bankruptcy focused Facebook page is one of the best and most effective attorney Facebook pages I have ever seen.
Once you have established your facebook fan page, the next step is to optimize it. I use the word “optimize” loosely here because the chance of a Facebook page coming up in a competitive legal search in Google is very remote – ecspecially now that Facebook has signed an agreement with Bing. But if you have the time, you should maximize the content and keywords in your “info” and “about” tab. The website InsideFacebook.com contains a number of helpful Facebook SEO strategies that you can also employ to boost your Facebook Fan Page.

One thing I would avoid is Facebook Paid Advertising – Facebook’s version of PPC. The idea is seductive – a person on Facebook complaining about his recent DUI arrest will see your ad pop up on the right hand side and click on you. I have had numerous clients try this method of advertising with little to no success. Until I see differently, I am convinced that people on Facebook are there to connect with friends and waste time on things like Farmville, not shop for legal services. The relatively low cost of these ads is no defense. Remember, cheap advertising is only a good deal if it works.