When it comes to marketing your practice with video, there’s a mountain of information to consider. Which marketing technique is the most effective? Where will I find the time to devote to marketing? Should I outsource these tasks or delegate them to someone in-house?
For attorneys specifically interested in video marketing, there are even more concerns. We make videos for law firms, and we know that distribution is just as big of a challenge as making the video in the first place.
And it makes sense — there are so many different platforms these days for sharing video, each with their own unique quirks, benefits and drawbacks. Which platform is the best for attorneys? How do I reach my target audience? Where should I prioritize my efforts?
Combine these nagging questions with an attorney’s limited time, and many professionals are apt to throw up their hands and give up on video marketing altogether.
Video is Worth it For Lawyers
Don’t give up. While it can be overwhelming at first, video is an excellent way for attorneys to build trust with their networks, spark interest in their practice, and generate referrals. Video technology (and subsequently distribution) is only expected to grow in the coming years. Tech giant Cisco estimates that by 2022 video will account for 82 percent of internet traffic.
Keep reading to learn a little about the things attorneys must consider when it comes to distributing video through the different available platforms. To be clear, we’re not writing an article about producing the stereotypical sales commercials so popular with attorneys of the past (I’ll fight for, no surprise bills, better call Saul!). What we’re talking about are videos that help you build trust with potential clients by bringing something of value to their lives. In the process you’ll hopefully raise your virtual profile so that you can generate more leads.
If you have questions about leasing our pre-made videos, or creating custom videos for your firm, contact our office to discuss your options.
There are a Ton of Ways to Distribute Attorney Videos
When it comes to distributing your videos online, the choices are many: YouTube, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, even Twitter supports video. These are just a few of the available options.
One way to approach to the question of which is best, is to first consider your audience.
Keep in mind, many firms have a ready audience thanks to their contact list. Newsletters can target this audience. And newsletters can make great video distribution systems.
Newsletters
If you haven’t yet read our blog on the benefits of newsletter marketing for attorneys yet, be sure to check it out now.
While newsletters are generally thought of as text focused, it’s relatively easy to include a short video to further entice your contacts to check out what you have to say. The beauty of newsletter marketing is that the content you distribute once or twice each month is targeted directly to your audience: colleagues, former clients, prospects, friends and family.
While other platforms are capable of reaching a larger audience, the newsletter offers a more tailored approach. And at the end of the day, the clients in your contact list are the ones you most likely want to work with.
Additionally, you have slightly more control over who sees the video — your newsletter isn’t subject to the algorithms found on YouTube and other sites. While you can’t control whether or not a person will open your newsletter, there is evidence that suggests people are more likely to open a newsletter that includes a short video.
There are a number of different methods for including video in a newsletter. For instance, your newsletter could contain a compelling static image with a play button that links to the site where your video content is hosted.
If you’re comfortable with HTML, you can actually embed the video in the newsletter itself. However, the challenge with this method is that not all email subscribers can support video in their inbox. So we recommend just including a link.
You can see how we use videos in newsletters for our lawyer clients if you take a look at our sample newsletters.
Your Law Firm’s Website
Videos distributed on your website come with a number of benefits. In addition to putting a face to your practice and personalizing your firm, video has the added benefit of raising your site’s searchability on Google and other search engines. In fact, Google is increasingly giving priority to websites containing video. Adding strategic key words in video titles will also give your site’s searchability an added boost.
Remember, search engines like Google rank websites based on their clickability. If you’re creating good content that gets people to visit your page (and stay on your page), Google will rank your site higher and your site will appear toward the top of search results pages.
Pro tip: If you’re creating multiple videos, it makes sense to dedicate individual pages to each one. According to Web Designer Depot, the reason for this is that Google gives ranking preference to the first video it finds on a web page, ignoring further video content on the same page.
YouTube
This is probably the first resource most people think of when considering video marketing. And what’s not to consider? YouTube has 1.3 billion users, and each day users watch 5 billion videos. YouTube is also the second largest search engine after Google.
Videos uploaded to YouTube can be shared to other platforms where they can target your social network.
Like Google, YouTube uses keywords that make your content searchable both through Google and YouTube. Ideally, thumb nails of your uploaded content will appear next to the content of other attorneys as suggested video enabling you to reach a larger audience.
A common question folks have when it comes to video marketing on YouTube is how frequently content should be uploaded. Some marketing experts will say as often as possible, which means multiple times a day. For most attorneys, this isn’t realistic (and probably not helpful).
YouTube, like other search engines and networks, uses an algorithm which ranks videos based on the amount of times people click on certain content.
If you’re creating content that doesn’t get people interested, everything you post is likely to get demoted in terms of ranking, which means it’s less likely to be seen. Therefore, feverishly uploading videos when your content isn’t stellar is not recommended.
But attorneys don’t typically need to be uploading video content daily. A good video explaining an update in the law, or the awards a client might be eligible for in an employment case can help raise a firm’s profile if uploaded once or twice a week and shared on other platforms.
Facebook is known both for its news feed and stories feature.
Facebook stories are 20-second long videos viewed by people in your social network. They remain viewable by folks in your network for 24 hours, after which, they disappear.
Stories appear at the top of the Facebook page, which is good for engagement since it’s the first thing people see when landing on the app. These short, informal spots give the attorney an opportunity to craft a message in a conversational manner.
There is also the potential to post longer, better-produced videos in Facebook’s news feed. Many folks prefer to publish video in the news feed since video is more eye catching than the text that clogs the news feed.
A common question folks have in regard to distributing video on Facebook is whether they should share videos published previously on YouTube via link, or publish directly to Facebook.
It’s generally believed that Facebook doesn’t favor YouTube content, and that the chances of YouTube content being viewed are less than if you post a native Facebook video.
Some have suggested that it makes sense to both post video directly to Facebook as well as a link to your YouTube content.
Instagram Stories
Like Facebook, Instagram allows users to share with their followers photos as well as brief video clips known as stories. These stories can be stitched into longer stories made up of 15-second bursts. Like the Facebook stories feature (Facebook owns Instagram), Instagram stories also disappear after 24 hours. Additionally, the platform recently introduced a live feature, which allows users to broadcast video directly to their followers. Live video also remains in your feed for 24 hours.
Like Facebook and YouTube, Instagram also has an algorithm that favors hot content. A watched video will rise in the rankings and is more likely to be seen by others in the social network.
Since it’s primarily used to share short videos and photos, Instagram might not be the first choice for attorneys looking to jump into the video realm. When it comes to consuming news and more complicated content, people are more likely to visit Facebook. Instagram, meanwhile is focused on shorter visual images that allow people to share their best life moments.
This platform is famous (or notorious depending on your perspective) for allowing users to blast 140-character messages at a time. But many are unaware that this micro blogging platform also provides opportunities for video distribution. This is a social network that’s particularly geared toward mobile users, with 93 percent of Twitter views occurring on mobile devices. Videos on this platform can be as long 140 seconds. There’s also a live feature.
Twitter video can be used to drive traffic to your other sites, give updates on court cases, or engage in question and answer sessions with followers. Content shared on Twitter is by nature short, and quickly buried under the never-ending onslaught of daily tweets.
In terms of getting your content seen by the most people on Twitter, it’s important to consider the time when traffic to the site is high. Noon to 1p.m. in each time zone is a popular time to post, and 11 am to 1pm. is also a good time to reach viewers.
Is Twitter the ideal platform for attorneys to share video? Probably not. That’s not to say that an enterprising lawyer can’t carve out a niche on Twitter by providing compelling content. However, for most attorneys, it’s going to make more sense to focus on other channels.
Have Questions, Give BAR Digital Media a Call
As you can see, promoting your practice through video distribution requires time and research to thoroughly explore the many available options. With so many different platforms, each with their own quirks, it’s easy to see how people can become overwhelmed and frustrated.
At BAR Digital Media, we specialize in video packages geared toward employment, personal injury and family law. Our videos can be personally tailored to your firm’s website, and will proudly feature your firm logo and contact information. We also specialize in custom packages. We can do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to video production for your site, so that you can focus on the practice of law.
If you have questions about utilizing video in your marketing practice or our video packages, give us a call for more information.