Facebook Ads for Law Firms: What You Need to Know

If the social media juggernaut Facebook is ever going to slow down, it won’t be in 2021. According to their 2020 fourth-quarter report, there are an average of 1.84 billion daily active Facebook users, 2.8 billion monthly active users, and an increase of 11% and 12% year over year.

With that large of an audience, perhaps it’s not surprising that $27.2 billion of Facebook’s $28.1 billion in 2020 revenue came from paid advertising.

For law firms who need to grow their brand awareness and attract new clients, Facebook Ads are a powerful tool in your marketing toolkit. However, if you’ve never run a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign on social media, it can be hard to know where to start or what to do. In this blog, the LaFleur team breaks down what you need to know about Facebook Ads, and how to craft an effective campaign for your law firm. Keep reading to learn more!

Target the right audience for your firm with Facebook Ads

The most effective Facebook ads are both relevant to your firm’s practice areas and targeted to your various client personas. Fortunately, Facebook Ads Manager gives you the tools to choose your campaign audience, much like Google Ads or LinkedIn PPC campaigns.

Facebook currently offers three audience groups:

Core audiences
Custom audiences
Lookalike audiences

These groups separate audiences by different demographic data, user history, and other factors.

Let’s explore which audience is the best fit for your firm’s needs.

Core audiences

With core audiences, you can adjust your targeting to be as specific or as broad as you want based on demographic criteria:

Location: Cities, communities, or countries
Demographics: Age, gender, education, job title, and more
Interests: A variety of interests and hobbies, such as cooking, gardening, sports, etc.
Behavior: Past purchases and device usage
Connections: You can either target or exclude ads based on the people connected to your Facebook Page or events

For a successful ad campaign using Core Audiences, a law firm could create targeted ads based on your ideal clients’ age, location, education, job title, and other relevant demographic information.

Custom audiences

Custom audiences include people who have shown an interest in your business, from repeat clients to new website visitors. Targeting criteria includes:

Contact lists: This may be information from your CRM or newsletter subscribers.
Site visitors: A Facebook pixel (an analytics tool used to understand behavior) can be installed to show people targeted ads for items they’ve previously viewed on your website.
App users: Installing the Facebook SDK can drive people to take in-app actions like viewing a video or filling out a form.

Custom audiences are an efficient and effective way to engage with people who are familiar with your firm. If you need to convert clicks into leads, a custom audience campaign could be right for your firm.

Lookalike audiences

A lookalike audience uses the demographics and interests of your current followers to find new potential matches and serve them ads. If you already have a good idea of the makeup of your existing audience, this can be a useful tool to target similar people you might not have reached in the past, but would benefit from your services.

Once you understand who you’re targeting and how, you’re ready to create ads to reach them.

Which Facebook Ads Are Right for My Firm?

Facebook currently highlights eight types of ads that you can use to promote your firm:

Photos: Use high-quality images and illustrations to tell people about your firm.
Video: These come in a variety of lengths and styles and can include GIFs.
Stories: Full-screen images, videos, or carousels that appear between Stories on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. 
Messenger: Ads that appear in the chats tab in the Messenger app.
Carousel: Highlight up to 10 images or videos in a single ad.
Slideshow: Like video, these can include motion, sound, and text.
Collection: This will include a cover image or video with four product images.
Playable: These offer a short interactive preview prior to downloading an app.

Depending on your ideal client, firm, and goals, you can use any of these ads to craft an impactful campaign. You can also test your ads in a few different formats to see what performs the best and delivers a return on your investment.

No matter what ad type you select, the key to engaging with people is providing content that is meaningful and relevant with pertinent links, quality images, and up-to-date information.

If you want to learn more about AB testing or testing across different formats, we’d love to share our perspective and approach.

Use retargeting tools to reconnect with your audience who use Facebook—and covert them

Retargeting is a form of online advertising that attempts to reengage people who already visited your website but never took an action, like filling out a form, downloading a resource, or calling your office. Facebook uses this user data to find their profiles and then target them with ads designed to convince them to return to your site and take an action.

For example, you can use retargeting tactics to reach people who liked one of your posts on Facebook or Instagram. Or, you could get more granular and create two retargeting campaigns around a single video, with one aimed at people who watched more than 50 percent and another for people who stopped after only a few seconds.

Retargeting campaigns can also start with ads designed to build awareness and brand recognition, followed by ads that are focused on converting them into a new lead. There are a variety of options available to you; what you choose depends on your firm’s goals and ideal clients. If you’re not sure where to start, our team of social media experts is happy to help!

3 Facebook ad campaign best practices to remember

Like any other digital marketing effort, Facebook ads have their own set of best practices that range from general to granular. Here are three to keep in mind as you move forward:

1. Use video ads to gain attention

Video continues to be a top-performing medium on social media; according to Facebook, more than 500 million people watch video on their platform every day. This user preference for video makes them a powerful tool in your Facebook Ads toolkit.

Here are a few best practices to consider when publishing video ads:

Short videos attract more eyes: Don’t worry about making a minutes-long, scripted video for your ad. A 20- or 30-second video with a clear, concise message will be more impactful than a long video that takes minutes to get to the heart of your message.
Movement makes you stand out: Even if you don’t have the time or resources to create a 30-second video, there are plenty of tools that can easily help create short clips with time lapses, loops, and other animation elements that will make your ad stand out.
Make videos vertical or square: Most people watch videos on their phones; publishing videos with vertical or square frames makes interacting with your content intuitive.
Include captions: Since many people (including those in the deaf community) watch videos on Facebook without sound, your videos should include captions or subtitles.
Don’t autoplay sound: Sound that plays automatically is considered annoying; avoid making a negative first impression by muting your sound to start.

2. Design Facebook advertising with your target audience in mind

It can be all too easy to create ads that you would want to see, rather than what resonates with your target audience. When you’re ready to reach potential clients on Facebook, here are a few additional things to keep in mind:

Design for a mobile experience: The overwhelming majority of people access Facebook through the app on their phones. Remember that when you’re creating ads.
Avoid legal jargon: Unless you’re trying to seek out referrals from lawyers or judges, you will want to ease up on the legalese in the text.
Include a call to action: The goal of your ad is to convince potential clients to visit your website and take action. While “schedule a free consultation” is powerful, even something as basic as “learn more” or “get started” can be effective.

3. Ads should comply with your state’s bar association rules

Like your other law firm marketing assets, your Facebook ads must comply with your state’s Bar Association advertising rules. While these guidelines vary from state to state, it’s generally wise to avoid unfounded claims, make promises you can’t guarantee, or promote outcomes without sufficient context. This can be a particular challenge for firms states with strict rules, or with locations in multiple states. If you want to learn more about our approach to handling these restrictions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Contact LaFleur Marketing for help with your legal marketing needs

At LaFleur Marketing, our experienced social media and content marketing specialists stay up to date on all the social media trends and marketing strategy so you can focus on your clients and cases.

If you’re ready to implement an effective, affordable, and wide-reaching Facebook campaign for your law firm, contact us today by completing this brief online form or calling us directly at (888) 222-1512.

We look forward to speaking with you!

References:

Facebook. (2021, January 27). Facebook Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Results. Retrieved from: https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2020-Results/default.aspx

Newberry, C. (2021, January 11). HootSuite. 47 Facebook Stats That Matter to Marketers in 2021. Retrieved from: https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-statistics/#Facebook_ad_statistics

Facebook marketing for law firms: Attract new clients using paid ads