In 2022 the world is consuming more video than ever before. Over 720,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every day. That’s 500 hours of video being uploaded per minute. Are you using video on your law firm website?
Nowadays, a website without video is like an ice cream cone without any ice cream. 62% of businesses have jumped on the trend and use video marketing to promote their business. But only 28% of law firms take advantage of video marketing. That means that your law firm can still be an early adopter and an innovator in the legal industry.
Still on the fence? Here are 5 reasons why you should be using video on your law firm website.
Effective content marketing is fundamentally about providing value to your audiences. And people love video content—it is convenient, compelling, and creates an immediate connection with the brand.
On social media and in search engines, law firms are in direct competition with other firms for clicks and clients, but they must also compete with every business, thought leader, and media outlet for a share of audience attention.
The immediacy of video can help your firm to stand out from the noise and capture the eyes and ears, and hopefully the hearts and minds, of website visitors and fast-scrolling social media users. A busy professional is more likely to watch a three-minute video overview of an important regulatory development than to read an in-depth whitepaper. That’s not to say that in-depth content isn’t effective in engaging prospective clients, it absolutely can be. But consider creating a range of content, including short, punchy videos. This will help your firm to reach prospective clients at different stages of the awareness and acquisition journey. You can also use video to promote other content such as presentations, whitepapers, and podcasts.
Video can be an excellent method for demonstrating expertise and building a reputation in a subject area or industry. It can also be a great way of extending your firm’s brand presence and empowering your lawyers, staff, and supporters to champion your brand through their social media and digital networks.
Video can also be used more directly for client acquisition and onboarding. According to one study, 96% of people would rather learn about a product or service by way of video. While many firms are understandably hesitant about coming across as too “salesy”, potential clients often welcome the chance to learn more about a firm and its legal services through video. Clients seeking family law and personal injuries services want assurance that a lawyer is compassionate, responsive, and knowledgeable. Business leaders and in-house counsel tend to appreciate video case studies, industry focus overviews, subject matter presentations, and other video content that provides proof of a lawyer’s ability to deliver effective solutions to complex challenges.
Attracting visitors to your firm’s website is often the first step in the long, twisting road to retaining new clients. Using web analytics, you can track the flow of new visitors, which is great, but it can be frustrating when few of these visitors stick around for long or complete a conversion action.
Video is a great way for keeping visitors engaged on your website while nudging them, ever so gently, towards taking that next step.
While they are watching a (hopefully) entertaining video, visitors will also be learning about your law firm and feeling more connected to your brand. They will be more likely to absorb the content, retain the message, and take conversion action such as filling out a contact form or subscribing to your newsletter.
Carrying on from the previous point, one of the metrics that Google and other search engines use in their ranking algorithms is ‘dwell time’. That’s how long someone stays on your website before clicking away. The longer you can keep their attention, the better. That’s why it can be a good idea to have a video on your homepage or even as a background to your top slider. The user is immediately engaged and is more likely to remain on the website.
If you host your videos on YouTube, views from the popular video-sharing site can drive new traffic to your website. In October 2022, Google was the most popular size followed by YouTube, so law firms can certainly benefit from maintaining a presence on this platform.
Google also boosts posts and pages with a variety of content, like video and imagery, in addition to written content. Make sure to take advantage of YouTube’s tags, description, and closed captioning features to add more searchable keywords to your video.
Ever tried to read a long blog post on your phone while on a moving train? Not fun!
Video is much more mobile-friendly, and closed captions can be added to make the content accessible for all users. Over 55% of worldwide web traffic comes from mobile, so it is always worth making sure that your website and content are mobile-optimized. And one of the most popular activities for mobile users is—you guessed it—watching video (a close second behind checking email). Being mobile-friendly or mobile-first also has SEO benefits, as Google has moved to mobile-first indexing in its search ranking.
It’s not enough to just make video content, you have to make great video content that is entertaining and valuable to your potential clients.
Most importantly, the content you create must reflect your brand and company values. Video is another touchpoint for your potential clients to notice you, get to know your brand, and build trust in your services before they even contact you. A well-thought-out video marketing campaign could be an excellent lead generator for your firm.
Now that you know why video is so important for your law firm website, the next step is to figure out what kind of video content you can actually create. Remember that video doesn’t have to mean hiring a film crew, it can mean filming with a simple setup too. And if filming is not your cup of tea, creating animated content is also an option for professional videos.
Here are some ideas for video content for law firm websites:
Convinced that you need to add video to your marketing strategy? fSquared Marketing can help. Check out some of our video and animation work, and then contact us to get started on your journey.
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