PROCESS DOC
These are the process docs that I created throughout the semester and used to complete my final strategy.
Interview Summary and Project Proposal
I’ve recently had the pleasure of interviewing Karina Dunbar, a professional model that I used to go to high school with. As it stands, she currently has 14.8 thousand followers on Instagram. I asked her a range of questions from how she got started on social media to how she continues to grow and brand herself. She said that one of the major keys of using social media is to network as much as possible to create opportunities for yourself. To do this, you need to follow the people you want to work with on the social media site and like what they post. This plants the seed so that person notices you, then if they follow you back and see your content, the two of you can direct message each other and collaborate. These are some of the opportunities Karina was able to take part in because she correctly networked. She was a part of numerous viral Instagram and Twitter videos. These videos usually contain famous social media stars and beautiful women, are short, and attempt to be funny. Karina was also on the back cover of R&B artist Bryson Tiller’s last album. On top of this, she was able to be one of the models featured on the popular MTV show, “Wildn’ Out”. Without social media, these opportunities never would have presented themselves.
Another really big thing that stood out to me was Karina’s strategy on social media and her content. To make money on social media, you need the most followers you can get. Companies will pay Instagrammers money to promote their product if a person generates a lot of “Impressions” from their posts. This simply means the amount of people who see the post that you put up. Karina flat out told me that she could easily be sitting around 100 thousand followers right now if the posted risqué pictures showing off her body. Instead she opts for beautiful pics, and tries to make a lasting impact on people from her message in the caption.
I would like to create an Instagram page for my former ice hockey goalie coach, Terry Denike. The name of his goalie school is Denike Goaltending Development, or DGD for short. I feel like using Instagram as a networking tool could really help Terry expand his business. By using some of the techniques and following big goalie accounts on Instagram, he can bring other goalies to his page. He has a very successful business as is, but a few social media tweaks and it could be bigger than ever.
Brand Analysis
After analyzing Cirba Law P.C. on social media, it has become increasingly more obvious that Ronald Cirba does not have any social media presence at all. I checked Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and none of these platforms have any traces of his law firm. Because of this, he has no sort of following on social media. This leaves a huge window of opportunity to explore and expand his brand onto these platforms.
The only online presence I could really find was Cirba’s website: https://www.cirbalaw.com . I immediately could tell that the design of this website was intended to be as professional as possible. Cirba is a personal injury lawyer, so the menu at the top lists different cases clients would potentially file for.
The pictures that are on the homepage are very stereotypical pictures of what someone might see in a courtroom setting. This includes two pictures of judges gavels, and a generic “accident report” slip in a yellow folder. While these pictures are not unprofessional, to me, they seem a little corny. If you are trying to brand yourself, you don’t want to use cookie cutter images from google on your website. Instead, try inserting more personalized pictures. Maybe take a couple pictures of your office space. Take a picture of yourself at your tidy work desk while you wear a clean cut suit. In my opinion, this will make the experience much more personal for the viewer. Instead of seeing these generic pictures from google and feeling like they’re giving their money to another shallow lawyer who could care less about them, they will feel like they are going to invest in someone who will take the time to really help them.
Under the “Attorney Tab”, there is Ronald Cirba’s accolades and mission statement. He does a good job explaining to the audience that they are in good hands with him. Personal injury law is special because the lawyer does not get paid unless he is able to win money for his client. Because of this, they will do everything in their power to make sure the client comes away with a decent chunk of money. My strategy is to take this brand that Cirba has created for himself, try to personalize it a little more, and exploit the openings on social media. For this particular form of work, I feel like Facebook would be the appropriate platform to focus on because the users on Facebook typically tend to be older and more likely to pursue Cirba Law.
Competitor Analysis
After googling for personal injury lawyers in the Reading, PA, area, the big one that came up first was Edgar Snyder and Associates. The first thing I notice when I go onto their website is that it is very similar to Ronald Cirba’s website. The picture used on the home screen is very generic, not very personable. One thing that I really liked about the website was that there was an interactive chat that was available to use. A viewer could message them and hopefully get a message back to learn more. I wish that Ronald Cirba could do this but because he is the only attorney in his firm, and he doesn’t have endless resources, this type of interaction with people is probably not possible. Maybe if he were to hire another receptionist he would be able to add this feature, but it’s most likely not worth it.
Another thing I noticed about Edgar Snyder and Associates page is that they have all of their accolades on the first page. They gave many examples of cases potential clients might be inquiring for, and how much money they have won in cases like these in the past respectively. I think this shows that they know what they’re doing. There is also a spot at the bottom of the home page where future clients can enter their case situation, phone number, and email to get in touch with the firm. The firm can then review the case and get back to the client. Just from looking at websites, I would have to give the edge to Edgar Snyder and Associates.
However, after looking around on social media, again, there was no Edgar Snyder and Associates presence on any platform I looked at. I don’t know if it’s just very uncommon for lawyers to use social media, but if it were my guess, I think it’s because of the age of the attorneys. Both attorneys are both around 55-70 years of age, and I would guess that they both don’t have much experience using social media even for personal use. The key to more success in my opinion is taking advantage of this opportunity and trying to branch out onto social media.
In this example, I like how the website makes it easy for the viewer to contact the attorney. They don’t need to flip through menu screens or struggle to find a phone number. They just have to scroll to the bottom of the home screen and enter their information into this box. The attorney can then review the case and get back to the client in a timely manner to schedule a meeting.
This example is great because it shows different types of cases the clients might be inquiring about, and they show how much money they are able to make for their previous clients.
Joseph Haydn
Audience Analysis
The characteristics of audiences of Cirba Law are people who were severely injured in an automobile accident, work accident, or family members of someone who wrongly died. His audience are that they are injured, feel as though it was not their fault, and looking for immediate legal representation. The demographics of the audience is made up of people of all ages, races, and sexes. The beauty of personal injury law is that the lawyer doesn’t get paid unless they get some sort of money for their client. Because of this, people of all social classes are able to afford representation. This really expands Cirba’s audience and gives him much more opportunity for business. Also because of the huge diversity in demographics, his audience’s interests and behaviors will also vary a lot. The location of the audience is preferable in the Berks County area or within an hour or two of Philadelphia.
Cirba’s primary audience is definitely people who were directly injured and are looking for legal representation. The secondary audience is people who may not be injured but have heard of Cirba Law. These people are important because when someone that they know gets injured they can refer them to Cirba. Getting your name out there to as many people as possible is important. Cirba’s tertiary audience is the government and insurance companies. The policies that are in place effect insurance policies and in turn effect how much Cirba can make in lawsuits from settlements.
The audience is using social media for some sort of gratification. In this instance, Cirba’s audience’s social media goals are to let their friends and family know what happened to them. Often times people will post pictures of their car accidents or pictures of them in their hospital beds with a description of how they were injured. They post this to inform people of course, but also to get loving feedback. Friends and families will comment on posts saying that they’re happy that the person is okay, they’ll show concern, ect. Getting support from people on social media, especially when you’re injured, feels good.
Goals/Outcomes and Alignment with Business Goals
The main goals that Cirba Law has, are to get the name of the law firm out to as many people as possible. To do this we will have to effectively get people onto our social media sites, and make sure we create a brand that will stick in the minds of the people visiting. We will track the KPI in a number of ways. We can look at the number of people who visit the page, track how many people comment and like the posts, and if people are talking about Cirba Law on their personal social media pages.
Getting people to visit the site is a challenge in itself. This will be done by advertising on social media. We will target all demographics, but more specifically those who have recently posted about being in automobile accidents or workplace injuries. We can use analytics tools such as NUVI Social Analytics. This can track how much traffic our social media sites are getting as well as the Cirba Law website.
Strategy Distribution Plan
Because Cirba Law is not selling merchandise, the approach that will be taken will be a little different. The strategy will be to establish a base following on social media since there is no media presence present yet. To do this I think the smartest thing to do would be to start a campaign on Facebook. The page would post videos of clients speaking about their positive experiences with the law firm. They would be short 1-2 minute videos briefly describing the process and how the law firm was able to win them a bunch of money.
There are a couple major keys here for the videos. For one, the videos should have some sort of emotional feeling that people watching can connect with. People looking for Cirba Law’s services have more than likely experienced some sort of trauma and the key is for them to be able to relate to the people in the videos. Secondly, it would really benefit the page to have the people who were clients in the video re-post the video on their personal page. That way all of their friends and family can see. If we have 30 videos of successful stories to being with, that should be enough to establish a presence on social media. We would then take to other platforms to continue the growing process.
Goal: To establish a social media presence on Facebook using success story videos, and then move to other platforms.
Target: Upload 30 videos onto the Facebook page and have the clients re-post them on their own personal pages as well.
Strategy: Use the Facebook video sharing option to our advantage so as many people can see the videos as possible.
Tactic: Make the videos as emotionally connectable as possible so people who have been injured can relate.
Measurement
We will be doing a number of things to measure the the action on the site. For one, we will be looking at how many times the page is visited. Since people are not likely to re-share our posts due to the nature of the content, the goal will be to try and drive as many people to the page as possible. Engagements on the social media pages themselves will most likely not be very high. Because of this, we will pay attention to see how many people contact Cirba Law for business. This could be from phone call, email, or direct messages on social media. We will then compare the amount of people calling for business before the implementation of social media with the amount of traffic afterwards. The whole goal is to bring more business to the law firm, and to do that we need to be as visible as possible on these social media platforms. Having videos of success stories are something that could be shareable and bring more traffic.
Rationale
As hard as it is to really market a law firm on social media, using my strategy will really benefit the firm in the long run. By adding as many friends as possible on Facebook, and by posting good content a reasonable amount, we will help fuel the amount of clients Cirba Law can represent. An example of a Law Firm that posts very regularly and successfully is The Sam Bernstein Law Firm. They “Post to Facebook regularly, at least several times a week. They have a clear call-to-action, somewhere that it will be easy to find, and they respond to comments left on the page in a timely manner. (4. WiseStamp)
Executing will also be a big part of being successful on social media. If we do not stick to the plan then we will not see an increase in business at Cirba Law. In order to assure the success of the plan, we must create a posting schedule/content plan, use a content management system, monitor the analytics, and stay in our lane (Shields 266-267)
I also believe that running a social media campaign where Cirba Law posts 2-3 minute videos of their successful experiences. It will be an on-platform campaign on Facebook, and the videos will be posted about once or twice a week. The reason I believe this will be successful is because the clients can explain the process it took to get representation from Cirba Law. From this, people will get a better understanding of how easy it is to get the representation they need. They will also be able to connect with everyday people in the videos, and this will help because contacting lawyer can be very intimidating. With a plethora of success stories to watch on Facebook, they’ll be more confident and know that contacting Cirba Law is the best choice.
