One exciting new feature from Facebook allows an entirely new way of advertising on a pay per click basis that is “demographic” based instead of “keyword” based.
With traditional forms of pay per click, your ad is shown to viewers performing a certain type of search using certain keywords.
With Facebook Pay Per Click Advertising, you can target the ad to a certain demographic.
Although only time will tell whether this form of advertising will work for attorneys and law firms, the relatively low costs of each click makes it an interesting option to consider especially for law firms that market to other attorneys or certain types of businesses or industries.
Facebook Pay Per Click for Attorney Advertising
Our services are built around content based SEO. We generally advise the attorney not to spend one penny on pay-per-click ads until they have properly optimized their website with informative content and used every other free (or nearly free) resource available.
Those resources include Google Place Page, Google Profiles for each attorney, a Facebook Business Page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn Business Profile, and many more.
Demographic Pay-Per-Click Marketing for Law Firms with Facebook
The Facebook Pay Per Click program allows you to target certain users based on location, age, and interests. Your law firm can use a simple image, such as your logo and a text-based message. You can promote your law firm’s Facebook Page or your law firm’s website.
When viewers use the “Like” button, it can increase your ad’s influence. Facebook allows you to create a daily budget that can be adjusted at any time.
You can pay only when people click (CPC) on your Facebook ad, or you can pay when people see your ad (CPM).
Facebook Ads – Visit the page that explains how to create a Facebook ad with links to the sales team, a user guide, the Facebook Ads 101 Webinar, Costing and Budgeting, Targeting and Reach, and Reporting Information.
Advertise on Facebook – Facebook allows you to design a sample ad to see what it would look like.
Facebook Ads Profile – Of course, Facebook created a business profile for Facebook Ads with announcements, tips of the week, and other information to target business owners.
Limitations of Facebook Advertising for Lawyers
Although we certainly recognize the limitations of this form of advertising, the most cost-effective way to market your practice is to find innovative marketing techniques that have not yet become mainstream.
The cost per click for Facebook advertising is a fraction of that of similar Google Adwords campaigns.
If you have a particular niche area of your legal practice related to a particular demographic in a certain geographical location, then Facebook Pay Per Click Advertising provides an important option to consider. Certain types of attorneys may have particular success with this form of advertising.
Other practice areas such as family law, DUI / DWI, criminal defense, personal injury, or immigration law are probably less likely to benefit from this form of advertising because it is nearly impossible to create an ad based on narrow demographics tailored to the viewer’s particular interest.
Attorneys that want to market their practice to other attorneys would probably find this form of advertising particularly beneficial.
The one drawback of this form of advertising is that Facebook users are often annoyed with ads on their profile page. Many people escape to Facebook in order to connect with friends and family.
As Facebook struggles to find innovative ways to bring revenue to the company, only time will tell whether users will embrace this new option, especially regarding attorney advertising.
Benefits of Facebook Ads for Legal Professionials
The average user spends 22.7% of their online time on social networking sites. That is more than twice the time the average user spends on any other type of activity.
People are increasingly getting their news from social media instead of traditional sources such as evening news or a newspaper.
Law firms are social. Attorneys form professional relationships with their clients and other attorneys and legal professionals in the community. Most attorneys rely on referrals for a significant part of their business.
Those social aspects that the law firm already uses to be successful can be translated to social media. In the future, every law firm, no matter how big or small, will be impacted by social media. The benefits of advertising on social media sites will become more obvious over time.
Demographic-Based Pay Per Click – Target the Ideal Audience for Your Legal Services
You can look at different demographics such as sex, age, education status (college graduate, in college or high school), workplaces, relationship status, and those interested in either men or women.
For instance, you can target only college students. You are even given the option of targeting students in a particular university.
Furthermore, for the demographics you enter, Facebook shows you the number of individuals who have shown a certain interest in a certain topic. For instance, you can target a view based on a particular interest, favorite music, movies, job titles, etc.
Getting Started with Your Law Firm’s Ad on Facebook
To advertise on Facebook – you can advertise your law firm’s website or your law firm’s Facebook page. You can create a 25-character title. The body of the ad can be up to 135 characters. You can add an image to your ad, including your logo.
The click-through rate is meager. For instance, for many Facebook Ads, only one in 5000 people will click through to the ad.
However, even if the viewer doesn’t click through, they will see your logo on the page, which is important for branding your image in certain legal fields, including personal injury and family law.
Facebook Ads Allow You to Reach a Certain Demographic
You can pick the location, including a state or city. You can choose to display your ad on the profiles of only male or female Facebook users. Furthermore, you can choose the age of the viewer.
This type of demographic-based advertising may be useful for niche legal practices that allow the law firm to target a particular audience based on certain user profile demographics.
Price Your Law Firm’s Facebook Ad
You can either pay for clicks or pay for views (we recommend pay-per-click). You can set a daily budget and the maximum bid. Then you can run the ads continuously or during specified dates. Then you can “Place Your Order” and enter your credit card information.
Facebook will then manually review your ad and either approve or disapprove the ad. In the Ads Manager Section, you can see important data about how each Facebook Pay Per Click Advertisement is doing.
Contact Internet LAVA to discuss innovative ways to market your law firm today.
This article was last updated on Thursday, April 13, 2023.