How To Use LinkedIn In Your Law Firm’s Marketing Strategy

As traditional marketing begins to decline in engagement, it is so important that your law firm builds an online presence. This can be done in a variety of ways via digital marketing. However, if you like clients and your peers to see you as a thought leader, it is critical that you engage with your audience on LinkedIn. Array Digital provides social media management services as well as content for you to personalize and post on your LinkedIn profile. Reach us through our contact page or call 757.333.3021 for help with building your social media presence.

Why Should Law Firms Use LinkedIn?

Your prospective clients are using social media. One study found that people in the U.S. spend 2 hours and 3 minutes a day on social media. It also found that the global penetration rate of social media is 54%.

Considering this, it is critical for law firms to be on social media. It is one of the most important forms of communication for consumers today. Prospective clients are using it to talk about their legal needs, search for recommendations for lawyers, and even learn about their rights. If you do not have a social media profile and use it frequently, you are missing key opportunities to connect with your potential new clients.

What Are the Benefits of LinkedIn for Lawyers?

LinkedIn is one of the best social network options for lawyers. It provides an opportunity to get potential clients through referrals but also allows for firms to build a strong online reputation. This may help with endorsements, too.

LinkedIn is a different type of social media platform compared to more casual forms like Facebook and Instagram. Most lawyers have a following on LinkedIn. Research indicates that this is the most popular social media platform for lawyers in the U.S. One study by ABA’s Legal Technology Report found that as much as 90% of attorneys in the country have a presence on the social media platform.

You don’t just have to have one social media profile, either. The same report found that about 39% of lawyers maintain a presence on Facebook. 

LinkedIn isn’t just about making professional connections. In many ways, this social network creates an opportunity for these connections to see you as a thought leader. This is very important for lawyers who are looking to build their brand.

Another valuable component of LinkedIn is its ability to help with business development for firms that are B2B rather than B2C. A B2B law firm can use LinkedIn to start conversations with their peers and share recent accomplishments, like publications or awards. It can also serve as a way to be a recognized law practice when companies need to reach out to a private firm.

LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool for lawyers. No matter your target audience for any content you create, this social network values professionalism. That is sure to help encourage new clients to contact you after reading about your accomplishments and achievements on your profile page and then taking in the thought leadership content you’ve created.

How Do I Get Started?

There is a lot that goes into creating your LinkedIn profile and page. Taking a few steps now can help you to create a fantastic personal profile that helps you to stand out as a leader in your practice areas. These are some of the most important steps to implement right away on LinkedIn profiles.

1. Update That Old Headshot

An old, outdated headshot is not only a distraction from your profile, but it can also make you seem out of touch. Many people want a modern and up-to-date lawyer working with them. If you have not done so, get a new headshot created.

It’s always best to have this done by a professional as the quality of the image is likely to be much better. There are a few things to keep in mind when creating your headshot:

• Keep hair and makeup simple and professional. You want to seem genuine in everything you do.
• Dress to impress. Attorneys are seen with the utmost professionalism and expected to dress as such.
• Use proper lighting and a simple, professional backdrop. These are things that your professional photographer can help with, but be sure you are a part of the process.
• Stay loose and confident. Good posture counts, too. You want to look like a positive, friendly person that people feel okay with reaching out to with their biggest problems.
• You don’t have to smile, but you can if you want to do so. People often find smiles more inviting, so keep that in mind when choosing a new headshot.

2. Make Your Bio Relevant

Aside from your profile picture, your readers are likely to make their first impression from your bio. The legal industry is diverse with numerous practice areas. When a person lands on your bio, they need to know right away if you are someone that is even somewhat related to their needs or interests. Be sure that you discern the areas of practice so that LinkedIn users can easily find them.

Another important point is your location. Many times when creating LinkedIn connections, people want to be able to find those who are located close to them. For this reason, you may want to include terminology that shows where you provide services, such as “personal injury lawyer serving all of South Carolina.” Do this instead of just “lawyer in SC.” Make sure your expertise is clear. This will add context to your posts on your profile. Add any specialization you have to this area, as it could help your legal marketing on the site.

Take a moment now to:

• Define which practice areas you hope to include on your LinkedIn page. There is no reason to limit what you do – but be sure the most important practice areas are first.
• Define where you provide services. You may be able to practice law throughout the state, but you may want to focus on just a city and the surrounding area, depending on your need.
• Clarify any specialization you have. Even a small firm partner can make big strides in their marketing when they are able to optimize their profile for what they do best.

3. Highlight Your Stepping Stones

Take a look at your stepping stones, the area of your LinkedIn profile where you will document your work history. This is an important step, and it can define your success in some ways. What is most important here is to explicitly state your most important roles. This may include listing things like founding your law firm or becoming a partner at your current practice.

It is a common mistake to simply list a title. Doing that is fast and easy, but it does not provide enough information and could lead to missing core opportunities. Instead, flesh out the role you have. Include a full summary of what you did in that role.

You also want to make it point to who your target audience is in your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you hope to use it for referral sources, be sure your summaries show what you did to help clients and how you supported them in their efforts. If you are looking to switch practices, your focus is obviously different in that it is tailored more to recruiters and other LinkedIn users.

Make sure that there’s a logical path for people to follow to see how you have progressed. That includes law school, your Bar Association membership, and even that first internship you took that helps to provide you with insights into your client’s needs.

When you create a display like this, including your job title, a summary, and the dates you worked in that position, you portray your experience in a clear and easy-to-follow manner. Even if some of those job titles didn’t really seem to make a difference, they help to show what you’ve done to gain the expertise you have now. That is valued by your prospective clients.

4. Keep Your Posts Consistent

Attorneys are busy. There is no doubt that you value your law firm’s marketing efforts and your LinkedIn profile, but you have several tasks to accomplish every day. How do you effectively communicate a message on LinkedIn on a consistent basis, then?

This is the biggest challenge for many attorneys. Adding content to their LinkedIn profile regularly is necessary, but it is time-consuming. Yet, you cannot be viewed as a thought leader if you do not share your knowledge in a timely and consistent manner. 

When you use consistent quality in your posts, and you position them in front of other LinkedIn connections and professionals on a constant basis, you are then better able to create opportunities to engage with others. Ultimately, that is the goal.

Content like this allows you to connect with a number of people who may need your services. It also allows you to stand out in the industry and with other legal professionals on LinkedIn. Remember that as a social network, to work to build your success, you have to find people, connect with them, and create conversations with them.

So, what do you do when you do not have the time to manage the creation of engaging thought leadership content like this? You hire a team to do it for you. Array Digital can help you. We can write posts for you that give you that consistent, high-quality content. You can then show up in a LinkedIn search for those posts or use them to help build your network.

You still remain in control over that content. You can update and ensure it communicates your message. You can also provide insights into the types of topics that are important to you. Taking these steps helps ensure you have the content you need on the site but that you are also able to keep up with your schedule.

When you work with our team, we can help you to determine the type of consistency that is best for your needs. That could be posting once a week or even more or less often, depending on the level of engagement you want to create with your LinkedIn account.

5. Make Your Posts Relevant

One of the things that many lawyers face is being unsure of what they need to include in their posts. How do you become a thought leader if you do not know what to talk about when it comes to reaching your audience?

You cannot post just for the sake of posting. It does take some time to really flesh out a plan that can fit your needs. If you want to use LinkedIn for legal marketing, it is important to spend some additional time focused on this goal – writing high-quality, engaging content that your readers appreciate and can use in some way. 

Rather, look at the types of content that would help you to stand out. There are a few things that you may be able to do to come up with content that’s really valuable to add to your LinkedIn page.

• News Topics: Is there something in the news that you want to talk about on your page? Keep it professional whenever possible, but share your opinions. A personal injury attorney, for example, may want to communicate about a recent event and discuss who has the right to file a claim. Look for ways to stay relevant.
• Cases: Perhaps you have just wrapped up an important case that could change the foundation of law. Likewise, the case could have been heartwarming and stuck with you. With the clients’ permission, share insights about cases and how to go about similar situations.
• Opinions: You can always share your opinions and thoughts on areas of the law that are important to your practice. This can also be a part of your marketing strategy in that you help to educate your audience about the various rights they have.

Do some research – or let our team do it – to develop some topics that are trending in your area of law. Then, develop a cohesive opinion to share with them.

6. Understand the Intent of Your Page

Like your firm’s website, there needs to be some focus on your LinkedIn page that helps people know who you are and what you have to offer. Do you want to be seen as a thought leader? Some attorneys want to bring recognition to their firm instead. You can use your personal profile to showcase your knowledge and skills, or you can create a business account for your firm at large, or you can do both.

Take a moment to define what you want from your page and who you want your target audience to be. This will be important for LinkedIn marketing, too. Use your company page to talk about the firm and all of its details, such as contact information and the type of work you do in various areas of law. You can then use your personal page as a way to communicate thought leadership on topics that are important to you.

7. Use Visuals to Augment Written Content

To further improve engagement, you need to make sure your page stands out from others. Give people the information they need in a way that captures their attention. For example, influencers with thought leadership may find that creating a long piece of content is not connecting with enough people. However, if you create a short video to summarize your thoughts outlined in the written content, that is going to contribute more to your efforts. You may even want to create a podcast and use your LinkedIn to share it with LinkedIn groups or others in your professional network.

It is important to work closely with a marketing agency to accomplish these goals. Without the help of a marketing agency, you can risk spending hours writing content that does not meet your goals. You want any investment of your time in your marketing efforts to offer a positive result.

8. Organize Content in a Meaningful Way

The next step to keep in mind as you work to develop your LinkedIn page is to provide information in the right manner. You want people to be able to read and take in information quickly and easily. Unless they take in that information, they generally will not value your piece. How can you do this?

• If you are giving tips in your content, use bullet points to help formulate them and to create an easy-to-read format. Readers will contextualize and understand the information you are sharing more easily in this way.
• Use short sentences in the content. Readers really need to be able to skim through the information to determine if they need to read further.
• Be sure to use visuals as needed, like infographics and photos, if they contribute to the content you are providing. Make it stand out.

9. Create Attention-Grabbing Headings

It is also important to grab people’s attention. You can do that in a catchy heading. It is a good idea to really think about your audience when creating a title. What are they interested in? What is going to make them click on what you are saying? That is the most important element to include here.

Again, you do not have to manage this on your own. Use Array Digital’s dedicated marketing team instead. We know just how to do this and can ensure your posting headings that are going to get the most clicks by your target audience.

10. Learn The Importance of Cross-Posting

The content you create for LinkedIn can be cross posted. That means that you can use it across all platforms on which you are present. This is a great way to get the most mileage out of your content.

When you use Array Digital, we can write content for you that you can use on all of your social media platforms. LinkedIn is a great tool due to its professionalism, but we also specialize in social media management for Facebook and Instagram.

Not all of your prospective clients are using LinkedIn. Many of them are using other platforms, like Facebook, to find the help they need, including attorneys to help them with their specific situations. That is why you need to be on those social media sites, as well.

Keep in mind that once you set up these accounts, they are not complex to manage, especially if you use our team to help you do the work. Also, note that the costs for managing and updating several platforms will not be much different since you can post your content on multiple sites.

Your Social Media Presence Can’t Wait. Call Array Digital for a Solution Now

You may have your firm’s website up and running and possibly invested in SEO and online advertising. Now, it is time to focus on social media. If you are not on social media just yet, you are missing numerous opportunities to bring in new clients. There is a huge percentage of people to target – including some of your potential clients.

Having a LinkedIn profile can help you to grow your brand and build your law firm’s success. To achieve this, though, you have to start by working with a team that can help you.

To request a free consultation, call 757.333.3021 now or complete the online contact form to speak with an experienced digital marketing expert at Array Digital today. Let us help you build a strong online presence with LinkedIn.