Using Video Content To Grow Your Immigration Firm: Insights from a Lawyer

Introduction

The landscape of marketing is rapidly evolving, and nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of video content. But why is video content so important in the field of immigration law? In this blog post, we’ll delve into the reasons why video content is crucial for building your brand, establishing trust with your audience, and ultimately converting them into clients for your firm. Drawing from real-life experiences and insights, we’ll explore the power of video marketing and provide practical strategies to help you grow your immigration law firm.

The Shift to Video Content

In recent years there has been a notable shift in consumer behavior, particularly among younger demographics. Rather than consuming traditional written content, people are increasingly turning to platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram for information and entertainment. This trend has significant implications for marketers, as it suggests that the future of marketing lies in video content.

In fact, traditional search/PPC like Google are VERY concerned, because the younger generation is relying less on search engines like Google and more on their favorite social media platforms (and influencers) for answers to their questions (don’t believe me? Here’s one report that claims “82% of consumers prefer to search on social media over traditional search engines, and 2 in 5 would rather use TikTok than Google or Bing”).

The Personal Touch of Video

One of the key advantages of video content is its ability to convey a personal connection with the audience. In the world of immigration law where trust and rapport are paramount, video content can be particularly impactful. By showcasing your expertise, personality, and authenticity through videos, you can establish a stronger bond with potential clients, making them feel like they already know you.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had calls with people who said “Oh I love your videos!!” and building a relationship with people who already feel like they “know you” is much easier.

Real-Life Success Stories

How do I know all of this? Because I’m a living, breathing example of it from back in the day when I was a practicing lawyer, and also a few years ago because Visto used to sell direct to aspiring immigrants (we don’t anymore, but that is a story for another post).

I decided that – even though I can’t dance and sing – I should probably start posting video content to spread the word. With a little foresight and dedication, yours truly built the Visto Tiktok channel to over 50,000 followers pretty quickly, and with that came a lot of inbound – website clicks, form fills, consultations (paid), and yes, paying clients.

In fact, I still post to this day and get warm leads on a weekly basis even though I don’t even practice anymore!

Second story is from a Visto user who told me about how he got into the immigration world, and he said that he actually started out working at an immigration firm. But his instincts were also pretty good and he started his own Tiktok account to start posting video content. Well, a few months went by (with consistent video posting) and he ends up with tens of thousands of followers and enough clients to start his own practice – which he is still growing. 

Imagine: starting and growing an entire practice all because of 1 Tiktok account!

Now that’s leverage.

Practical Strategies for Video Success

Now that we understand the importance of video content, you may be wondering how to get started. Here are three fundamental tips to help you kickstart your video marketing efforts:

1) Be consistent

This took me YEARS to learn and I wish I knew it when I was starting out. Social media and building a genuine brand online is about quantity, not quality. Your content of course has to be good, but more importantly you need to post consistently for months (ideally years) to see real, valuable growth.

If you are looking for some hack to get you 10k followers in a week, you’re following the wrong guy (and those 10k would probably be terrible quality leads anyway). But if you want to slowly build a loyal, trusting following (on any platform), understand that you will need to post consistently for a minimum of 3-6 months – minimum!

To put this into perspective, it took me a good 3+ years of posting consistently on LinkedIn to crack 15k followers (with zero dollars ($0) spent on ads).

But think of every post as an at-bat. The more you post, the more opportunities you have for people to find/follow you, and you’ll continue to grow over time.

2) Keep content creation simple

Know why I used to rarely post on social media? Because I was busy and it took too much time.

Know how I was able to post hundreds (at this point maybe thousands) of videos on Tiktok, for 2+ years, to grow a massive following? Each day I sat down on my couch, clicked record on my phone and talked for 60 seconds.

That was it.

I did barely any research (although I kept a list of topics/ideas to discuss, and used comments from previous videos to give me new video ideas), I didn’t dance, I didn’t add any music, I did zero editing, I used the same 3-5 hashtags over and over (you can scroll down on our Tiktok account and still see all of these old videos for yourself).

But I posted 2-3 videos per day, 5 days per week, for months on end. And got tens of thousands of followers because of it. Yes, you can spend more time to optimize each video and get even better results, but if you’re just looking for the 80/20 then keep it simple.

Which leads me to my last suggestion (for now):

3) Schedule it like an appointment

Another big game-changer for me was when I finally realized I had to post consistently (lesson #1) and stopped letting it fall off my to-do list. I’m sure you can all relate to wanting to post more on social, and you may even put it on your to-do list. But then you have a busy day, a big client needs something important, your staff need you for something, your kid has to be picked up from their hockey practice, and next thing you know you’re too tired and ready for bed.

In short, social media posting was always the thing that wasn’t urgent and got pushed down (and eventually off of) my to-do list.

But the problem with that is, if you keep skipping it, you’ll never be able to post consistently and growth will be capped. So make sure to do this:

1. Decide on exactly where and how many times you want to post per week (ie. 2 videos, 3 times per week on Tiktok)
2. Schedule those as events on your calendar for a time you know you can get it done (ie. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1-130pm right after lunch)
3. Treat those calendar events like an appointment with a client (ie. unless there’s an emergency, you stick to it every week and don’t book anything else during that time)

That’s it.

Maybe it seems too “simple” (ironically, what I’ve learned in the last 8+ years of business is that the simpler you make things, the more effective you are), but if you read, re-read and apply those 3 tips to social media, I promise you will slowly, organically grow a quality following and your firm will grow because of it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, video content is not just a passing trend—it’s the future of marketing, especially in the field of immigration law. By harnessing the power of video, you can establish a stronger connection with your audience, build trust, and ultimately grow your client base. Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just starting out, incorporating video into your marketing strategy can yield significant results.

So why wait?

Start creating compelling video content today and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

To free up more time to spend on things like video creation then make sure you’re using Visto, and make sure you’re on our email list for more immigration updates, news, tech and more.