Speaker after speaker at the 2017 PILMMA Summit emphasized the importance of Facebook in attorney marketing, as 175 attendees are gathering in Nashville for the largest conference in years. The Personal Injury Lawyers Marketing and Management Association Summit features 30 presenters, 26 speakers, and 36 exhibitors.

Emotional engagement

Michael Mogill, the CEO of Crisp Video Group, said attorneys must engage potential clients emotionally. Otherwise lawyers will be a commodity, as 34,000 new lawyers graduate each year, adding to the total of 1.3 million lawyers in the US.

"People make decisions based on emotion and justify them with logic," Mogill says. "To get people to take action you want to have that emotional connection in there." He said Facebook is the place to make that appeal:

• Facebook has 1.79 billion monthly active users.
• 79% of all American internet users visit Facebook at least once a month.
• Facebook takes up over 25% of the internet time Americans spend on mobile devices, more than Google and YouTube combined.

But lawyers should pay to boost their posts, because otherwise a post will be seen by only 2% of a law firm's followers (down from 16% in 2012). Also, attorneys can upload their list of email addresses, and Facebook will create a "lookalike audience" to market to. He also recommended using Messenger to market, because more than 1 billion people use it, and messages sent over Facebook achieve 80% open rates (compared with 20% open rates for email).

Mogill said that placing a Facebook pixel (a cookie) on your website allows an attorney to retarget people with Facebook ads specific to their legal issue. "Website visitors who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert," he says. "Retargeting ad click-through rates are 10X higher than regular ads."

The Holy Grail

Author Mark W. Schaefer said the key to success is getting known, and the essential skill is using social media, particularly Facebook.

For example San Diego Immigration lawyer Jacob Sapochnick -- @myimmigrationlawyer -- presented a livestream video about the revocation of the DACA program, which is on the minds of immigrants today. A few moments after he created the video it had 4,345 views and 35 shares. "Social sharing is your most important marketing metric," Schaefer says. "Other people are sharing your content and saying 'I believe in this. I learned from this. This inspired me.' This is better than any ad." 

He said that every time Sapochnick presents a live stream on Facebook, he converts three to five new clients.

Marketing strategist Cindy Speaker agreed, saying, "Facebook shares are the holy grail, if you can get your content shared that's the best outcome. Facebook Live is the best way to create content quickly, cost effectively and efficiently."

Using the BlueJeans video meetings app, she creates two-person videos for Facebook, interviewing an attorney on a single topic by asking five questions. "It's the easiest content creation I've ever seen. You just get them on a camera and interview them about what they do. You can do Facebook Live on a $300 budget and start next week," she says.

She recommends the Logitech C930 1080P HD video webcam (cost: $78) and a Blue Yeti USB Microphone Blackout Edition (cost: $129). She said captions are essential, starting with getting the video transcribed on Rev.com. She always creates a custom thumbnail graphic using Canva.com, favoring the 1280 x 720 pixel size. The video should be uploaded directly to Facebook -- not using a YouTube link. She also recommended boosting a post, even if an attorney spends only $5.

Attorneys can place video on their website, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn, Instagram, email, Messenger and Many Chat, in a podcast, drip campaign and blog post. The video can be repurposed into an E-book.

And with all marketing, "Content is king, and engagement is queen."