LinkedIn drives more traffic to law firm websites than all other social media sites put together. Several recent surveys indicate that nearly two-thirds of the traffic to corporate websites from social media sites is coming directly from LinkedIn. Based on that figure, LinkedIn is probably driving much more traffic to your firm’s website(s) than all other social media sites combined, and for a number of reasons.
Firstly, LinkedIn is widely perceived as a reliable source for information about professionals and firms. Secondly, a lawyer’s LinkedIn pages will usually land near the top of a user’s Google search for an attorney or law firm. And thirdly, someone making a referral is likely to send a link to the attorney’s LinkedIn profile. Additionally, most attorneys now routinely print a link to their LinkedIn profile on emails, business cards, and other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Be sure that you’re taking advantage of everything that LinkedIn offers. Make sure your profile is thorough and complete, and update frequently. Otherwise, you’ll probably miss potential traffic to your site.
While the importance of LinkedIn can’t be overstated, professionals and small businesses should also note that Twitter’s influence is up significantly while Facebook seems to be in decline. Twitter generated 14 percent of all visits from social media sites to corporate websites, up from 4 percent only two years ago. While Facebook generated 17 percent of all visits from social media sites to corporate websites, that figure represents a huge drop from Facebook’s 30 percent figure in 2011. Visits from Flickr, YouTube, and Google+ are virtually nonexistent. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook now generate 95% of the traffic to corporate websites from social media sites.
The takeaway for attorneys and law firms is clear; for the best results from social media, take full advantage of LinkedIn and start taking advantage of Twitter.
