Most of the business owners I meet know a little bit about marketing, are aware they need to be using social for their business, but often lack understanding as to how powerful it can be. The story of Jacob Sapochnick, an immigration attorney from San Diego, California, is one example of a business owner that has amplified his law firm’s growth using social media marketing and is crushing it.
Today Jacob’s business page has just under 118,000 fans and generates so much organic reach with the content he shares he rarely pays for advertising. His page generates 4-6 new leads per day, with no advertising cost and we’re going to share with you how he did it.
Traditional Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing
Jacob had been using traditional media resources for his practice, direct mail, cold calling, and networking but with limited success. He knew a little about social media and he hired an outside agency to help him develop his social presence. He quickly found that the agency was not a good fit for his practice and that he needed to take a different approach on using social media to reach his target audience.
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- He started blogging for his practice.
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- He started creating video and using YouTube.
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- He and his team started commenting on others’ blogs, leaving a signature including a link to his blog
He found that people started to show interest in the content he was sharing. His blogs were specific to immigrating to the US, the different types of visas needed, marriage as an immigrant in the US and more. He was beginning to realize great content was leading to more brand visibility, more credibility, and he was starting capture more targeted leads.
Jacob’s YouTube channel from 2010:
His Channel today:
Jacob began branching into other channels including Facebook and sharing his content through regular, consistent posts that helped him reach his initial base of 12,000 fans. He began to find that the more he could relate to his audience with video tips on how to help them with their immigration and transmit good inspiration the more his information was being shared.
The more his content was shared, the more potential new clients came rolling in.
Based on these results, he identified Facebook as his go-to social media channel for his practice, then hit the gas. He placed Facebook links in email communications, printed links to his page on business cards and even placed a sign on his office’s front door to drive walk-in traffic to his growing Facebook presence.
He started to run contests to drive engagement on his Facebook business page, and maximize fan growth, promoting the contests as clients or prospects visited the office.
In 2012, he had gained 12,000 fans without paying a dime by sharing consistent, engaging content and maximizing organic reach. In 2013 he began using targeted Facebook ads spending approximately $1500 -2000 per month. By the end of 2013 his page had reached over 80,000 fans, and was generating a ton of engagement.
Today he has just under 118,000 fans and he uses Facebook ads on a limited basis. Why? His page generates so much organic reach with the content he shares he no longer has to pay for advertising. He and his team post up to eight times per day with an average post reach of 3500 to 5000 organic users.
He averages 4-6 new leads per day from his Facebook page. Yes. 4-6 new leads per day.
Social Media Marketing success did not happen overnight for Jacob. It took hard work, “trial and error”, and resolve.
Tips for Social Media marketing Success
Jacob has identified the keys to his social media success for you to keep in mind as you grow your presence.
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- Create Content– Jacob provides real-time, relational content to his audience then personalizes this content based on his background, team collaboration, and the clients that he services every day.
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- Listen to Your Audience– Jacob and his team track which pieces of content their clients are engaging with. They monitor and watch which types of content get the most engagement then fine tune as needed.
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- Test, Test, Test– He tries different types of content all of the time. For example, Does video get more reach than static images or text? For certain topics absolutely!
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- Be Consistent– His team consistently posts to all social media channels, including their blog. They post up to eight times a day on Facebook and repurpose content to other social sites.
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- Always Provide Value– Jacob always looks at his content strategy on how he can provide the most value to his clients and potential clients. Jacob is consistently asking himself “How does this content solve their problems and answer their questions?
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- Be Relational– Many of Jacob’s team, including himself has experienced immigration first hand which they include as part of the content strategy. They use their background history to relate to their clients. They include employee recognition, community involvement that the practice is involved in and timely happening news related to immigration.
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- Retain Your Current Clients- Social Media is a great platform to connect with your current clients. They are your word of mouth marketing on steroids. Reach out to your clients, connect on social media and let them help spread your voice across your social channels. Jacob and his team always encourage clients to connect with them on social.
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- Gain New Prospects- Word of mouth marketing leads to more prospects, more prospects leads to more revenue. Jacob and his team are courteous to their audience and often thank people for sharing and are always building trust with their audience. Communicating with their prospects in a timely manner is important to Jacob. They make sure to respond to a new lead within a few hours, which typically moves that sale to a faster closing.
Today, Jacob uses blogging, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, and Google Plus for his practice, though Facebook is still his number one driver of new business. He repurposes content across all social channels to maximize his team’s time. He does minimal traditional marketing these days because he has built a revenue engine through social.
Take time and build great content, it will be the key to your success in any business. If an immigration attorney can build a law practice through social media and hard work, you can too.
To learn more from Jacob connect with him here.
Have you had success growing your social media marketing or do your struggle with building a solid presence? I would love to hear more success stories just like Jacob’s. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
