"Everything you've been told about building
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Unleashing the Power of Facebook Ads for Your Law Firm

Let’s face it, your chance of getting a new client through your website is a roll of the dice. There are millions of websites and the Google algorithm is a mystery—one day your website ranks #1 in a Google search and the next day, it’s booted off the first page of the search rankings. And even with the best lawyer website, the competition is overwhelming.

Facebook advertising is the great equalizer. You can determine how much you want to spend and how long you run an ad. On Facebook, you can target only those persons who you want as potential clients. Once your ad gains traction with your targeted audience, you increase the spend. You are building a digital bridge to your law firm and you control everything.

Why aren’t all law firm advertising on Facebook? Lawyers are notorious for copying the marketing tactics of other lawyers, and that, my friend, is a recipe for mediocrity.  You are facing a do or die moment—either you embrace digital advertising or your law firm will die. This is your crash course in your most powerful marketing weapon: Facebook ads.

The Magical Powers of the Facebook Pixel

When it comes to Facebook advertising, there is nothing more powerful than the pixel.  A pixel is a string of JavaScript code that you embed in your website, or specific individual pages of your site, that you want Facebook to monitor.  The Facebook pixel collects data as to who is visiting your website, what pages they are visiting and what, if any, actions they’re taking. No one knows the pixel is there but you.

“If the overwhelming majority of your clients are on Facebook, shouldn’t you be there as well?”

The Facebook Effect for Lawyers, by Jacob Malherbe

You want to know two things: #1: who is visiting your website, and more importantly, #2: who is actually filling out a form and providing contact information.  You need to build an audience of potential clients. Every phase of a Facebook ad campaign builds on the previous one; as you acquire more data about the visitors to your website, you can become more selective in targeting new clients.

The 3-Step Funnel Process for Getting New Leads

You don’t need to be a computer guru to create a digital ad on Facebook “Ads Manager”.  The Facebook Ads Manager provides a simple step-by-step process of filling out questions and the FB manager takes you to the next question.  Better yet, Facebook will show you how to create ads by assigning an account representative to work with you for free.                                  

Step #1:   Creating Your Facebook Ad

A  Facebook ad should have teaser copy that grabs the attention. A Facebook to acquire lawyer referrals, “How to get More Clients on Facebook”, is intended to do one thing: get a click through to your landing page.

“A good Facebook ad is one that stops people dead in their tracks as they scroll through their news feed…It distracts. It teases. It compels you to slow down and read.”

The Facebook Effect for Lawyers, Jacob Malherbe

Video is more effective than text or still images for Facebook ads. The recommended duration for a video is 15 to 30 seconds. Run multiple Facebook ads to determine which is getting the most engagement, e.g., clicks to your landing page and allocate your budget for the ads that get the most traction.  Run the video ads on auto-play for maximum effect.

Your image must be 1,200 x 628 pixels in size with an image ratio of 1.91:1.  No more than 20% of your ad can be text. Text should be added above and below the image.  You can subscribe to a stock image service, such as Shutterstock, for images. Use bright colors, such as red, orange, and deep greens.

Step #2:   Create an Individual Action Page for Your Facebook Ad

The Facebook ad is designed to lead potential new clients to your landing page that is created outside of Facebook’s platform.  The purpose of the landing page is to pre-qualify potential clients through a series of simple questions. Do not ask for personal information upfront.  Most new clients will not call a law firm until a level of trust has been established.

“If you’re a lawyer, it [Facebook] happens to be the single greatest marketing tool ever created.”

The Facebook Effect for Lawyers, by Jacob Malherbe

Create a landing page that is specifically tailored for your FB ad.  Create two buttons, “Do You Qualify” and “View Frequently Asked Questions”.  If your objective is to get new leads for truck wreck cases, establish strict eligibility criteria on your landing page.

Do You Qualify?

  • Were you, or a family member, injured in a truck wreck?
  • Did the truck wreck happen within the last 3 years? [the deadline to sue in New York]
  • Are you still receiving medical treatment for your injuries? [assesses the severity of the injury]

Supplement these questions with a tab, entitled, “View Our Most Frequently Asked Questions” on the landing page.  For the landing page for the Mastermind Experience, there are 3-5 questions and answers:

  • I do not practice personal injury law. Is the Mastermind Experience a good fit for me?
  • I am a young lawyer and I don’t feel that I have much to offer the other members. Am I a good fit for the Mastermind Experience?
  • How is the Mastermind Experience different from other lawyer masterminds?

With these questions, you are pre-qualifying leads to determine if they meet your criteria for a new client.

Step #3:   Immediately Text Anyone Who Fills Out a Contact Form

If a targeted client meets your criteria, you should respond immediately via text.

“Congratulations! Based on your answers, we believe you have a claim. Fill out the contact form for a free consultation with our law firm to start your case.”

All of this is a waste of time and money if you don’t immediately follow up with your client, ideally via phone call. Hire an intake specialist to call your new leads and use a lead intake software (we love Lead Docket!), so you tracks new leads and follow up with them on an automated basis, e.g., Lead Docket sends a new reminders when there is a lapse in time between contact with a new client. 

4 Tips for Targeting Leads with Facebook Ads

It will increase your conversion rate to allow Facebook to show your ads to someone who has already interacted with an ad or post.  You can tell Facebook to re-target your FB ad to anyone who has (a) opened the contact form; (b) opened the form, but didn’t submit it; or (c) filled out the form.  You can set timeline parameters. Do you want to target those who visited your website in the last year, two weeks or two days?

Tip #1Create a Custom Audience

If you have an established database of clients, you can upload the names and email addresses and Facebook will create a general profile for you. If you have an email newsletter or a list of those who have purchased a book, you can create an “Audience” on Facebook Ads Manager.  

“In most cases, law firms are so shocked by the number of potential clients that Facebook can generate that they eventually need help just to keep up with the influx.”

The Facebook Effect for Lawyers, by Jacob Malherbe

To upload your client list to Facebook, click the “Create a New Audience” tab and look for the “Custom Audience” tab.  Select “Customer File” and you will be given options, including “Add customers from your own file” and “Import from Mailchimp” (Mailchimp is for those with a digital newsletter). Once you select “Add customers from your own file”, you will be given instructions to transfer your client list.

Tip #2Detailed Targeting with Keywords

“Detailed Targeting” provides keywords to Facebook to search its database.  Through “Detailed Targeting” on the Facebook “Ads Manager”, you can enter a series of keywords that will be used for your Facebook ad.  For a truck wreck Facebook ad, you might target the keywords, such as head-on collision, distracted trucker and rear-end collision.

“Finding and continually refining the best possible audience is the key to finding success with Facebook advertising.”

The Facebook Effect for Lawyers, Jacob Malherbe

What is the demographic profile of your ideal client?  Once you identify your ideal client by gender, age and geographic region, you can target them with FB ads and Facebook will expand your audience by sending your ads to others with a similar profile.

Tip #3Expand your Audience with Lookalike Ads

The most effective approach is to have Facebook create a Lookalike audience for those who filled out a form on your website.  

Lookalike ads allow Facebook to look through its database to find persons who meet the profile of those who have already interacted with your ads.  This can include persons living in the same geographic region, persons in the same age group or those having similar interests.

Tip #4The Power of Geo-Targeting

For personal injury lawyers, Facebook ads can target a one mile radius around every hospital, trauma center and rehabilitation facility in your region. Similarly, criminal defense lawyers can create an advertising ring of Facebook ads around jails.  

If you want to target persons injured by the drivers of Uber or Lyft, you can send the FB ads to the cities or towns where there is heavy use of ride sharing or have the highest population of Uber or Lyft drivers.  Similarly, if your practice is limited to a small town, you can limit the Facebook ads to your small “X” on the map.

Set a Budget and Watch Magic Happen

Set a daily budget of $25 to $35/day or set an upper limit on the total amount of money you’d like to spend over the lifetime of your campaign (“Lifetime Budget Option”). The minimum spend is $5 per day.

Facebook may not be your thing, but you have no choice. Everyone is on Facebook.  If you don’t join the party, you’ll miss out on the most powerful marketing platform that exists.


Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels

Leave a comment below telling me what surprised, inspired or taught you the most (I personally respond to every comment). And if you disagree with my take on running a personal injury law firm, or have a specific, actionable tip, I’d love to hear from you.
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