LinkedIn for Lawyers: 15 Simple Steps To Make It Work in 2024
Introduction
LinkedIn is notably the social media platform of choice among lawyers. Following LinkedIn in the ranking is Facebook, which serves as another significant platform where a significant portion of legal experts maintain a professional presence.
But being present is not the same as making it work for you. LinkedIn can connect you with a potential employer, talent agent, and client. You just need to know how to harness this power to your advantage. Not sure yet? We've summoned the assistance of dry facts and numbers to persuade you.
How Will LinkedIn Make You More Competitive?
We talked to Lisa Lang, the Vice President and General Counsel at Ohio Northern University, about her way to success on LinkedIn.
"Building a professional brand is something all LinkedIn lawyers need to do. It is not about creating a false media persona. It is about highlighting who you are, what you stand for, and how you stand out. For most of my career, I didn't give much thought to building a professional brand. My focus was on practicing law and building a reputation as a trusted legal advisor. Don't make my mistake."
Lisa Lang, Vice President and General Counsel at Ohio Northern University
Here are the key benefits of crafting an expert LinkedIn profile as a legal professional.
Clients will find you
Not the other way around. The more you make yourself visible online, the greater the chance of your potential clients approaching you without any effort on your part. If you regularly appear in their LinkedIn feed sharing your legal expertise, they'll subconsciously perceive you as a legal expert and have no reason to go to someone else. Moreover, they'll likely recommend you to their colleagues and friends as you'll "own" the concept of legal services in their minds.
Your industry authority will grow exponentially
Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn shows every post you like. It means that every time someone from your network likes your post, it will be seen not only by your followers but by this person's followers. Thus, you're getting the right tool to reach out to the audience you want and organically build your professional brand.
You'll build the team of your dream
If you have an opening, LinkedIn makes it amazingly easy to see the company or the candidate, the perks of the position, and the comparison of skill sets required. Scanning prospects on LinkedIn is a perfect and quick pre-interview candidate research method.
You'll find your dream job
It takes one click to apply for a job on LinkedIn. All you have to do is to keep your profile updated. What's even better is that sometimes your dream job will find you without you trying. Hiring managers are always looking for true professionals to join their teams. To have a filled-out profile is half victory.
You'll be visible even outside LinkedIn
A solid LinkedIn profile with many connections and followers will increase your imprint and credibility for Google or other search engines, which can promote your page higher in their search results. Also, LinkedIn for lawyers increases the opportunity for your content to be shared beyond the platform and attracts media attention.
15 Steps To Making LinkedIn Work for You or Your Firm
Soon after deciding to share valuable content with fellow LinkedIn lawyers, Lang reached concrete positive results. "With a little practice and determination, I was able to increase my LinkedIn connections by 1326% and my post views by 500%," she said.
By applying the right strategy, Lang managed to build quite a following on social media, which translated into growing visibility outside LinkedIn. She got many offers to become a guest on podcasts, write for legal media, and "speak to a variety of audiences."
"I showed up as an authentic person in my posts and comments. I let my values and personality shine through. I treated LinkedIn as an opportunity to build substantive professional relationships, and I gave my audience a reason to read my posts and connect with me. I gave my audience something of value."
Lisa Lang, Vice President and General Counsel at Ohio Northern University
The main thing you should avoid is attempts to be someone else but not yourself. When you're trying to pitch people in a sales-heavy way and then chasing the slightest changes in your connections and post views, it will not work – authenticity and your unique personality matter most. Everyone can become an influencer if they know their profession perfectly, stay true to themselves, and are honest with their audience.
For lawyers
Make your personal profile shine.
Fill out all possible fields in your profile, but indicate only the jobs you think are relevant or that make you proud (nobody has to know about your first job as a dishwasher). If you don't have much work experience, bring on everything you've got. Still, remember to keep your profile clean and easy to read.
Get recommendations from your favorite colleagues.
Getting social proof makes your profile more lively and valued. Get your colleagues or your favorite boss to leave their feedback on your page. Ask them to focus on things that matter to you (for instance, your leadership skills or communication) so your profile visitors can see you from the right angle.Showcase your licenses and certificates.
Coupled with recommendations, this will help you be perceived as a highly trained professional.Post regularly.
It's essential to learn from the best. Subscribe to experienced LinkedIn influencers like Colin Levy, Sharan Kaur, and Lisa Lang, among others, determine what attracts you to their posts and try to use it in your storytelling. Then, define the topics you'd feel genuinely happy to share, create, and stick to your posting schedule.You may not feel like Shakespeare every time you post something. But practice makes perfect. Eventually, you'll find your voice. Just be persistent.
Tell relatable work stories.
Sharing your successes and failures and being honest and lively is always a good strategy. People like people. They also love to recognize themselves in the stories they read.No matter what you think of your job, you have hundreds of little anecdotes or achievements that other people might find interesting. Use these stories to build human connections.
Provide useful tips.
Write professional advice and valuable insights that may help your peers. You may be surprised how information and tips that seem obvious to you might find many thankful readers (and potential clients).Share testimonials from existing clients.
Many of us are too shy to ask, but asking a happy client to write a short testimonial on your LinkedIn page is nothing to be ashamed of. Don't forget to tag people when you write a testimonial for somebody else — they usually like to share everything they're tagged in.Do a little research based on a popular topic and share it.
Is there something that you felt curious about LegalWise? Take some time and research it. You can also ask your network's opinion and compare your research results. Make a decent post explaining your findings and tag some people who helped you. You'll be surprised how much your readers can appreciate a simple research insight.Show you are human.
Don't be afraid to show people your human side. This approach creates empathy and connection, which are much more effective at building trustworthy relationships with your audience than dry legalese.Check your inbox.
You may be doing a great job promoting your profile on LinkedIn. However, you will lose many potential clients and quality connections if you fail to check your inbox regularly and respond to requests. Also, don't forget to allow everyone to send you messages in your page settings.
For law firms
Create a business page.
If you're a law firm partner, create a business page if you still don't have one. Starting an ad campaign or engaging potential clients in your firm is easier when you have a business page.Fill out all the information on your business page.
Name, tagline, logo, firm description, URL of the website, location, hashtags — filling out all this information, is important to get prioritized in LinkedIn's search results.Have any discounts or special offers? Tell your audience about them!
Discounts show that you are active on LinkedIn and engage more potential clients to reach out. If you don't have any, discuss the issue with your colleagues and come up with something (discounts are not the only thing you can refer to; free consults work, too) you can show off on your business page.Master LinkedIn ads.
The best news of the day: you don't need to be a digital marketer to launch ads on LinkedIn! Go to the advertise section in the upper right corner, create an account for your firm, create a campaign group, and then a campaign inside it. Decide on your final goal and start a campaign. If you want your audience to get to know about your firm, you can set a Brand awareness objective. If you want to engage people with your content or make them follow your firm, you should pick an Engagement goal.Use groups if you don't have an ad budget.
No budget — no problem. You can promote your firm by using free tools like Groups. Search for groups, join them, target the restricted ones because they often collect the best audiences, share your content or job openings in their feed, and see whether you'll get results.
Conclusion
In conclusion, harnessing the tremendous potential of LinkedIn for attorneys doesn't need to be complicated or daunting. Regardless of whether you're an individual legal practitioner or a law firm, a meticulously filled profile, regular engagements, and authenticity are keys to leveraging this platform. Use your unique voice to share your journey, experiences, and tips — after all, people connect with people. It's time to let the world see the accomplished and dynamic legal professional you truly are.
Inna Lohvin (Ptitsyna) was a Product Communications Manager for Lawrina. Inna has a law degree and great expertise in legal innovations. Along with her work for Lawrina, Inna is a part of the international community of legal hackers, where she gives presentations about the importance of PR and marketing for lawyers.