Why You Shouldn’t Worry About the End Results in Marketing

As a lawyer, what would you say is your primary focus in the day to day?

Do you look back on the previous failures of old cases and wonder what you could’ve done differently?

Do you look ahead at your current cases and think, “I’ve been on a good streak here. We’ll probably win this next one too.”?

Or do you focus on the process of gathering the facts, building your argument, and planning a counterattack against whatever gets thrown at you?

In order to do what you do, you need to be able to think practically and be strategic in your approach. Without that sense of logic and order and control, you’d likely be too distracted by everything else swirling around you—and you can’t afford that. In fact, I’d argue that no one who’s serious about their business can afford that.

This process-oriented approach to work is what’s known as process thinking. Process thinking is “a philosophy that emphasizes preparation and hard work over consideration of outcomes or results”. Now, that’s not to say that you don’t care what the verdict of your cases will be. Of course you do; that’s what motivates you to work so hard to defend your clients.

But proponents of process thinking believe that focusing too much on that end result can detract from successfully getting there. This is something that’s used heavily in sports, thanks to coach Nick Saban, and it’s something I’d argue has a place in marketing, too.

Proof That It’s the Process and Not the Results That Lead to Success

One of the more famous supporters and implementers of process thinking is Nick Saban. The story about how he came to develop “The Process” and change the face of college football is an interesting one.

Before he became the coach at the University of Alabama (which also happens to be my alma mater), Saban coached for Michigan State University. As the team prepared for an upcoming game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, he turned to his friend Dr. Lionel Rosen, a psychiatry professor, for help. The players were nervous and their lack of confidence was showing. Saban wanted to see if there was anything Rosen could do to turn that around.

This is when The Process was developed.

“Rosen emphasized that the average play in the football game lasted about seven seconds. The players would concentrate only on winning those seconds, take a rest between plays, then do it all over again. There would be no focus at all on the scoreboard or on the end results.”

Despite having a rough start to that game, Michigan State was able to systematically disable the Buckeyes through the use of Saban’s and Rosen’s “Process”. They stopped worrying about that final score and just focused on each play. In the end, they beat the Buckeyes, 28 to 24.

As Saban moved on to work with other teams, he continued to find that The Process worked, so much so that he led the University of Alabama to three BCS championships and an SEC title many years later.

Why You Shouldn’t Worry About the End Results in Marketing

I often notice that lawyers (as well as many of the other clients I work with) struggle with this concept of process thinking in marketing. Which I totally get. You’re investing money in something that has to pay off in the end. And so it becomes stressful and you unintentionally focus on things like:

• How many visitors will my site get?
• How many people will call us after the Facebook ads run?
• How long before the search engines put us at the top of results?

But as process thinking and Nick Saban’s history with his own “Process” have shown, you can’t afford to let your brain go there. And the reason for it is simple: thinking about the past or the future as you work on achieving a goal is futile. These distractors cause an emotional reaction, which can keep you from handling the task at hand.

All you can do is take it step by step, day by day. Sure, it’s okay to glance up every now and again to make sure you’re still heading the right way, but then it’s time to put the blinders back on.

I think lawyers are at an advantage when it comes to tackling online marketing with process thinking. It’s already in your nature to work this way.

So, the next time you take a look at your marketing strategy, view it as you would a case. Think about how you can break it down into smaller, more logical, and more manageable pieces. Break up your website optimization based on top (e.g. speed, images, SEO, user flow). Handle the various phases of content creation separately. Spend time on specialized tasks like link building. Just keep in mind that the goal here is to give each task 100%. The marketing wins will follow.

 

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Facebook Is Changing Its Algorithm Again… And It’s Not in Your Favor

For as friendly a place Facebook has made itself for publishers like yourself, they certainly have a history of making the conditions under which you can thrive there more difficult.

In 2015, they updated their algorithms based on user feedback, claiming that overly promotional posts from pages were intrusive to the experience of using Facebook.

In 2016, they updated the algorithms again. This time it was to give priority to posts Facebook believed would elicit more interactions (namely, those from friends and family).

In 2017, Facebook “quietly” tested an update to the algorithm that would push all non-promoted posts out of users’ news feeds and into a separate tab. After the swift and harsh feedback they received, they killed the initiative.

Now, in 2018, Mark Zuckerberg has announced their latest update. While there is a lot of talk about wanting to improve people’s moods when using Facebook, what it boils down to is this: posts from business pages will be phased out almost entirely in favor of posts from friends and family.

Keep reading to find out what this means for your law firm’s Facebook page and what you can do to make this social media platform a worthwhile form of marketing going forward.

What Your Law Firm Should Do About the Latest Facebook Algorithm Update

Facebook has been saying the same thing for years and it always boils down to the same point:

“Our goal with News Feed has always been to show people the things they want to see. When people see content that’s relevant to them, they’re more likely to be engaged with News Feed, including stories from businesses.”

However, what they’ve shown us is that stories from businesses are in fact receiving less and less engagement in the news feed… because they’re not appearing there anymore. Organically, anyway. With each new update to the algorithm, Facebook has essentially told businesses that they need to pay for sponsored posts since users don’t find their content relevant or inviting.

But is that really the case with a business like yours that serves the public? If people have run into your firm on Facebook and actively liked and followed your page, then they must want to hear from you, right?

Based on many users responding to Zuckerberg’s announcement, it looks like both consumers and business page owners are concerned about this very point. Scott Ayres did a good job of summarizing this:

“Businesses built this platform and made it what it is. You’re taking that away more and more every day. Those businesses are also users, don’t forget that. Also small businesses are like friends in little towns. Pages by the Police department, schools, chamber of commerce, city, etc. are super important to see. To squash their Reach and make them pay doesn’t make sense. You need to rethink this.”

Regardless of how Facebook consumers feel about this, Facebook is not likely to reverse course on this decision or algorithm update which means your law firm needs to take steps to keep it from severely affecting your marketing efforts. If Facebook is telling you that your content needs to be more meaningful and engagement-worthy, then that’s exactly what you need to do.

Here are seven ways in which you can reshape your Facebook marketing efforts in the face of these changes:

1. Continue Using Facebook

Even if you struggle to get users to find your content organically in the news feed, your Facebook page is a strong authority in search when users are looking for local law firms.

2. Get Client Reviews

Encourage your clients to leave reviews of your law firm on your Facebook page as well. Those reviews, again, will help your firm show up in local search results.

3. Be Transparent

You won’t want to beg or entice your followers to engage with your posts as that could work against you. Simply remind them about the changes to the news feed and let them know that if they want to continue seeing updates from you that they can set you as a preferred contact in Facebook.

4. Be Mindful About What You Share

Facebook conducted a study with Carnegie Mellon University that revealed that users felt better about using Facebook when they actively engaged with others. If your post is only meant to promote your firm or is completely irrelevant to your followers, don’t share it.

5. Interact More

Rather than share more content in the hopes of breaking through news feeds, take more time this year to interact with others on Facebook and develop meaningful connections that way. You can discuss topics that your firm specializes in covering or you can provide answers to questions that you’re an authority on.

6. Use Live Video

Facebook says that “live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos.” If they want to see more engagement, this is a great way to do that.

7. Pay to Play

Until the reconfiguration of your Facebook strategy through the above methods doesn’t work or takes a while to kick in (which may be the case), think about moving some of your paid marketing funds over to Facebook. It’ll give you the initial exposure you need to show new and old followers that your posts are worthy of reading and engagement.

Wrapping Up

This is likely to be very frustrating news for you as a local business owner and marketer. Facebook has always promised to be business-friendly, but more and more are making it too difficult to do so unless you’re willing to pay to play. It might not seem fair at the moment, but with an honest and thoughtful marketing strategy implemented, you can circumnavigate your way around these structures working against you.

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