Why Attorneys Shouldn’t Always Trust Facebook

Over the years Facebook has become more than just a platform for friends to connect with each other on. Now businesses can connect with clients and customers all over the world. Facebook can certainly be a great place for law firms to interact with current and potential new clients whether it is through organic posts in their feed or via paid advertising. To accommodate all types of businesses, Facebook has tried to make the platform as easy to use as possible, but how easy to use is it and how much can you trust what Facebook is telling you?

Facebook Ads for Law Firms: How Easy is it?

Facebook has made it simple to boost posts and has recently launched its tailored campaigns feature to make creating ad campaigns easier as well. However, just because it’s “easier” doesn’t mean it’s better. These options are simpler to use, because Facebook takes control with preset settings they think should perform better, key word is, “think.” The one thing about Facebook is they don’t tailor their settings for niche businesses, they tailor their settings to drive the most traffic possible. As you probably already know the goal for any law firm is to drive a lot of qualified traffic, not a lot of unqualified traffic. 

While using Facebook’s tailored campaigns feature might seem enticing, taking the extra time to set up your campaign manually is better for your law firm because you are able to make the selections that are best aligned with your law firm rather than letting Facebook pick the settings they assume will be best for everyone. Realistically this will only take you a couple of extra minutes and you’ll be able to optimize your ad specifically for the needs of your law firm. 

Can I Trust What Facebook is Telling Me?

When you’re building your ads out on Facebook, the platform will give you an idea of what results you can expect from your ads, but it’s often only an estimate. When you have a highly targeted audience there will even be times that Facebook will tell you there’s a chance no one will take the action you want from your ad. Take this with a grain of salt. Just because that is Facebook’s guess doesn’t mean it will be reality. Dialing in on your target audience is a good thing, especially for law firms. You don’t want your firm flooded with calls from individuals that can’t afford or aren’t an appropriate match for your services offerings. You want calls from high-quality leads. 

The only way to get high-quality leads is to be highly targeted. While this may narrow your audience, it’s okay, because you’re looking for quality, not quantity. Additionally, the only way you can know if your ad is actually performing up to standards is to test it out and analyze the data. Let your ad run for at least two weeks. This should give you a good idea of how much you can rely on the projected results Facebook is giving you. It’s also a good idea to track campaign results outside of Facebook. For our own law firms we are able to track the results of our campaigns through Lawmatics. Our end goal is to retain enough clients from our social media ads that our advertising spend is covered with a positive return on investment. Whether you are using Lawmatics, Clio, or any other CRM software, we’d recommend using it to know how many of your leads became clients. Cardinal Concepts provides custom reports and dashboards for clients to provide social media ads performance insights. 

Does Law Firm Advertising on Facebook Still Make Sense?

The answer is absolutely! Meet your clients where they are at, which is probably on social media. Advertising your law firm on Facebook and Instagram can be a great way to increase your firm’s visibility and attract potential new clients. Additionally, advertising on Facebook is relatively inexpensive compared to Google Ads or traditional advertising methods like television and radio ads. You can set a budget that makes the most sense for your law firm. This makes it a cost-effective option for small and medium-sized law firms that may not have large advertising budgets. Creating an effective campaign can be as simple as setting a budget, narrowing in on your audience targeting, creat high quality optimized ads that your target audience can relate to, and monitor your campaigns regularly for the best results possible. If you find yourself struggling to figure our where to start or how you can improve your existing campaign, Cardinal Concepts can help you achieve the results your looking for. Reach out to us today!