Pinterest for law firms

Pinterest

Pinterest is the fastest growing website in internet history. It grew even faster than Facebook and Twitter. At first it seemed as if Pinterest was just a fad, but it’s here to stay and law firms should get on board fast.

Pinterest is popular because it is all about images. People need a break from reading so many emails and text heavy websites. In 2012 web users shifted their attention to visual content and the trend does not seem to be slowing.

What is Pinterest all about?

Pinterest allows users to create and manage collections of images in what are called pinboards. Themes include things like news, events, interests, hobbies, recipes, wedding gifts ideas etc. While Pinterest is skewed more female, you always have to keep an eye on the ever-changing demographics of social media sites. Facebook for example started with younger people and now has a large older following as well.

The Pinterest profiles of others are fodder for pinning and it is all about sharing with other users. Every piece of content that gets pinned, has to link back to its original source/website. So when people discover your content on your Pinterest profile or when it is re-pinned on others pinboards, they can then discover your site. Comments, I’m sure on images is a big part of the process as well.

How Lawyers Can Use Pinterest

Getting started is easy and Law firm’s should at least register their brand name on Pinterest and put up one Pinboard to plant your flag in the sand. You can do at least that in less than an hour so there is hardly an excuse not to have a basic presence.

When you link your Facebook and Twitter to your Pinterest account, you can share with those sites when you pin. You can also connect Pinterest to your Facebook timeline to auto share or simply share what you are doing on Pinterest with other networks manually.

The essential features of Pinterest:

  • Pins: Images and videos can be pinned.
  • Pinboards: This is how you categorize your pins
  • Following: You can follow law schools, bar associations and law media/magazines as well as things that are of interest to you to show a tad bit of a personal element.
  • Repinning: This is like retweeting where you simply re-pin the content of others. Eighty percent of all pins are repins.
  • Likes: Similar to “liking” on Facebook.

Planning your Pinboards

You will have to plan what are called your ‘pinboards‘. You don’t need to make your pinboards overly corporate. Sharing information that potential clients would like in any of your practice areas shows a human side to your law firm.

It is also a good idea to use local content if you want to be associated with a particular area.
Since there are a lot of different types of people/personas, it can help to have a few different people in your firm come up with ideas and content.

Examples of Law Firms and Law Related content on Pinterest for Pinboard ideas

  • pinterest.com/sokolovelaw
  • pinterest.com/tgllaw
  • pinterest.com/benitezlawfirm
  • pinterest.com/canceralliance
  • pinterest.com/survivingmeso
  • Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman, P.C on Pinterest

Even though not all Law firms are actively using their Pinterest accounts, many have registered their brand name there.

Some ideas for Pinboards for law firms

  • Charity and volunteer work for positive “visual PR”
  • “Newsboards” to visually show off what you are up to and info on your practice areas
  • Case study stats and infographics
  • Screenshots of speeches, seminars, educational programs and webinars
  • Pics of your team including some lighthearted ones as well as some at events etc.
  • Recipes for health related practice areas
  • Video pinboards with your FAQ / helpful videos and videos across the web you think potential will like
  • Inspirational quotes for those suffering with problems of any kind

When you’re finished establishing your pin boards, it’s time to start pinning. It’s completely fine to be ‘re-pin-happy‘ and fill up your boards quickly. Try not to re-pin too much from one person’s pin-board though as that can be annoying for them.
You will want to make sure to upload your own pins from your website as well.

Quick tips to using Pinterest for law firms

  1. Create original visual content (Repurposing existing content from other formats is an easy way to start)
  2. Re-pin content
  3. Make at least 10 Pinboards
  4. Make short / relevant pinboard names
  5. Use keywords in your descriptions and board names
  6. Link 200 character descriptions to your site
  7. Don’t be overtly promotional or you will lose followers
  8. Pin content from sites your target audience will like
  9. Engage with people who repin you to keep it social
  10. Track how many visitors Pinterest sends using Google analytics, how many pages they visit and if they convert to leads/customers.

SEO for law firms using pinterest

Google loves Pinterest, so make sure you take the time to do keyword research and insert keywords / links to get organic search engine traffic.

Insert links into captions and Pinterest posts. When people repin your posts it also gives you backlinks. While they may not pass link juice you could “go viral” and have people actually follow the links / share the content.

Pinterest page links are do-follow links which will help with SEO. The links on pins and re-pins are no-follow and don’t affect SEO directly.

Google loves social signals, so don’t focus just on passing link juice, instead be aware that having your brand in more places is helpful for SEO and in general.

Use keywords in the descriptions with each post and you have a good chance of ranking in Google via your Pinterest account.

Pinterest business accounts

You can now use a firm name and get your website verified. A verification badge lets others know the profile that is the official account for your firm. You can use “pin” and “follow me” buttons for your website as well.

My prediction is in the upcoming year Pinterest is only going to get bigger. It’s not a fad, is a force to be reckoned with and holds strong promotional power for your law firm website and internet marketing strategy.
Since there are some copyright issues and controversies surrounding Pinterest, an intellectual property lawyer would be wise to become a visual thought leader in this area!

Since many law firms have not jumped on board yet, you have a chance (for a short time) to be an early adopter.

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