LinkedIn For Lawyers

People often have a misconception that LinkedIn is only for job searching. Although it's true that LinkedIn is a social media platform for professionals, the fact is, it can be used for many things, from finding a job and finding employees to spreading the word about your business, growing your networking and obtaining new clients. As a lawyer, you can use LinkedIn to achieve more of your business goals, no matter what they might be.

Best Practices For Lawyers

As a lawyer, you'll need to keep your LinkedIn page professional-looking so you come across as trustworthy and credible. At the same time, don't forget to make it easy to read and interesting.

In general, it helps to keep your content short and conversational. These might be professionals who are looking at your LinkedIn page, but they're not necessarily all lawyers. So stay away from legal jargon as much as you can.

Post regularly and consistently on LinkedIn, while sharing valuable content to your network and beyond. Curate and share the content of others so you don’t feel pressured to create original content all the time.

Personal LinkedIn Pages vs. Law Firm LinkedIn Pages

Personal LinkedIn pages tell readers what you’ve done in terms of work, your education, interests and causes you’re passionate about. However, a business LinkedIn page is an introduction to your law firm, its goals and what it has accomplished in the past. You don't need to be as detailed in your LinkedIn Company Page as you are on your personal page. At the same time, you do need to keep adding content if you want to reach more potential clients.

Use your Company Page to keep readers up to speed on legal trends, recent case law, new blog posts you’ve posted, new attorneys you’ve hired and cases you’ve won.

Set The Right Tone On LinkedIn

People contact lawyers when they need legal help in their personal or professional lives.

If you're a divorce or personal injury lawyer, keep your tone understanding yet professional. Focus on how you can make things easier and help people get the property or money they deserve.
If your area of law is transactional in nature, write your content in a friendly, conversational tone that will give people the impression that you are here to solve their problems.
Keep your photos relatable as well by including people of various ages, sexes, races etc. This will help you to come across as more inclusive.

You'd be surprised how often people choose a firm simply because they feel more comfortable with the general feel of the law firm and not because the firm has done well in other, similar cases in the past.

How To Make Your LinkedIn Profile More Robust

To ensure that you’re getting the most out of LinkedIn, complete all of the sections LinkedIn provides you with, and use as many of the available words/characters allowed. Keep adding content. Don’t create a LinkedIn profile and just leave it sitting there forever without regularly updating it.

If you already have a Facebook page, you can update both your LinkedIn and Facebook page at the same time, with similar content. You may also want to update your Twitter feed with similar content. These updates can include what's going on with your company, new attorneys you may have hired, newsworthy legal cases you might have taken on, your analysis on legal issues which are currently in the news, and more.

How To Position Yourself As An Expert on LinkedIn

To position yourself as an expert on LinkedIn, add content that’s relevant to your practice or the legal field in general. For example, if you're a divorce lawyer, you can clarify certain points of divorce law in your LinkedIn posts. You can also weigh in on important issues that are currently in the news. You can respond to what others are saying on LinkedIn or other social media platforms. The idea is to provide people with as much information as possible and to keep doing so on a regular basis until you come to be regarded as a thought leader in your area of expertise.

Don't lose sight of The Code of Professional Responsibility as you get more active on LinkedIn. Remember to remind readers you aren’t providing legal advice, all cases are different, and you are not currently their attorney.

How To Use LinkedIn Messaging

You can use LinkedIn messaging to get in touch with people directly, to inform them about your services or to engage them further. LinkedIn messaging is also a great way to reach out to people who could potentially be referral sources. You can also use messaging to keep in touch with people who read your posts and leave comments.

How To Advertise On LinkedIn

There are two types of advertisements you can place on LinkedIn: sponsored content and text ads. Sponsored content will show up at the top of the list when anyone searches for content similar to yours. Text ads show up at the top, the side or the bottom of the page.

On LinkedIn, keep your advertisements short, simple and striking. You can also specify the groups that you want to target with your ads. This type of targeting is key to effective advertising on LinkedIn. For example, if you only represent women in divorces, make certain your ads are targeted at women, of an appropriate age and in the location where your law firm is located.

Tracking Your Progress Through LinkedIn Analytics

Once you've been active on LinkedIn for a while, you can use LinkedIn analytics to determine who is looking at your content and your advertisements. Pay attention to demographics and work titles to make certain you’re reaching your target marketing of potential clients. If not, tweak your LinkedIn strategies until you get it right. In every situation, you will need to test and tweak, sometimes for several months, before you’re successful in meeting your goals.

For more information about LinkedIn for lawyers, call 720.248.8185, or click here to schedule a free social media marketing consultation.

Please note: Our social media marketing firm is in Denver, Colorado, and we provide social media support and advertising for law firms throughout the United States. Brad Friedman, President of The Friedman Group, practiced as a lawyer for 16 years and has extensive social media and marketing experience.