Don’t keep your charitable activities secret. The fact that your law firm cares about others in more ways than one is not only something worth celebrating but sharing. Doing so will both strengthen bonds within your network as well as help you connect with prospects in a deeper way than traditional outreach or advertisements. After all, a prospective client is unlikely to forget someone who donated thousands of dollars to help recovery efforts after a natural disaster or who has dedicated years coaching a local Special Olympics basketball team.
When your efforts benefit your community, you can benefit, too. As the season of giving back approaches, it’s essential to implement a plan to promote your charitable activities through social media, press releases, and other marketing efforts that can help boost your SEO and gain new clients.
When you get involved in your community, donate to nonprofits, and give back to the causes you believe in, you have the chance to create natural conversations and activity online through earned links, social media interactions and mentions. More than any other time of year, the Holiday season is a time when you might be most active in your community and when people will appreciate these kinds of conversations the most.
So what do you need to know before getting started? Here are tools for you to spread the word about your acts of service this Holiday season, and beyond:
Link Building: Since quality links can show Google that a website has merit, it’s beneficial to gain links from the organizations you’re serving. This is good news if you’re sponsoring an event, since organizations often link to their sponsors. Larger organizations will have high domain authority which is a great way to earn a high value link.
While link building might be the strongest way to boost your SEO, creating name recognition and utilizing social media are the most valuable. Which brings us to...
Social Media: Social media is a powerful tool because showcasing your actions can help start conversations with other local organizations and leaders in your field, and create the strongest impact on prospective clients.
Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, you can tag the organization you’re sponsoring with an “@”, and the event organizers are likely to reshare your post. Further, they will likely keep your post on their profile feed, thus opening up their audience to your firm. Engaging with comments will keep the conversation going and add popularity to the post.
Press Releases: Publishing press releases about your charitable activities is a great way to keep positive content showing up when people google a law firm’s name, which builds trust with prospective clients. Pushing press releases through channels like Law Firm Newswire is a great way to keep audiences informed of your latest activity.
Website: It is part of many law firm’s regular practice to get involved with causes they care about. Take the Todd J Leonard Law Firm as an example. As a personal injury lawyer in New Jersey, Mr. Leonard plays an active role in his community by coaching Morris County Special Olympics basketball program for over 15 years, and starting the Leonard Foundation for individuals and families battling pancreatic cancer. His law firm’s website features his charitable involvement which easily allows users to see a full picture of his character and passion for his community.
Content: The Steinberg Law Firm, a personal injury law firm in Charleston, South Carolina, has a Community Foundation that has been giving back to local organizations who are dedicated to improving the lives of others for over 90 years. Their site is kept up to date with community news and updates, including blogs that showcase their recent activity and impact. We recommend having a dedicated page with newly updated, timely, and quality content.
This Holiday Season, your firm may be participating in charitable activities worth promoting. Everyone benefits when you take a strategic approach when sharing your good deeds.
Cristina Fríes is a MA in English/Creative Writing from UC Davis (2019), and is a legal marketing strategist and content developer for CLM. Her interests include creating compelling marketing content, writing books, and traveling the world.