Social media has become an integral part of the legal landscape. Lawyers are using social media to speak to their clients, promote their law firms, and grow their practices. Nowadays, lawyers that don’t have a social media presence are at a huge disadvantage. Social media has been taking the world by storm. It has done wonders for everyone and not just lawyers. Lawyers can use social media to build up their law firm’s visibility, attract new clients, and keep in touch with their current clients. Social media is a powerful tool that lawyers have at their disposal to help them grow their law firms as each and everyone uses social media these days. Social media has made it easier to connect with clients, lawyers and other legal professionals. It has also made it easier to educate the public about law in general or specific areas of law. Here we will discuss two major social media platforms, one for each- formal communication and informal communication. There are multiple software and digital platforms that lawyers can use like, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. That being said, lets start with the formal and the foremost platform for lawyers- LinkedIn.

Set Up the LinkedIn Profile 

Reach out to www.linkedin.com and get started. Fill in your details and join in. select a profile picture that shows your face clearly and looks professional.

Then we come to headline– it is a brief about yourself, add your positions, sector you work in, experience in brief.

Then add your Skills- this is a good way for recruiters or clients to filter you. Make sure you add all your skills and accomplishments to make an impact. There are various options available in the database for you to select from. Your accomplishments can include certificates, honors, publications, awards, etc.

Get Started- start searching for people from your field and sector, send connections to important people from your field. Search for specific keywords like space law, lawyers in India, etc. follow relevant hashtags and pages to keep yourself updated.

Points to Remember:

• Be active on LinkedIn
• Post Frequently
• Post only relevant content
• Use important hashtags in your content
• Tag the necessary people
• Keep it short and insightful
• Take skill assessment to get certified on LinkedIn
• Request for recommendations
• Add comments on others posts
• Follow relevant influencers from your industry.

Set Up Instagram Profile

Reach out to www.instagram.com and get started. Upload a profile picture, if you ae making an individual account- add your picture. If it’s a firm’s account, add the firm logo as profile picture. Set up your username and add bio. Bio is usually a brief about what you do, for eg IP Lawyer or Corporate lawyer along with your email id or firm website.

Now Network, follow people from your industry. Before you send follow requests make sure your profile has some valuable content so that when people open your account, they can see what exactly you do. Post quality and relevant content, about you or your firm, the services you provide, work you do, mission, vision, etc. follow the industry people, important pages and hashtags. Try to increase your follower base to increase your profile credibility. If it takes so long to increase the engagement then looking for an Instagram bot may save your time and energy to get the success faster.

Why Instagram for Business?

A large chunk of your clientele is on Instagram these days. Instagram is also monetized now, if you post relevant content and it has a good reach, you can monetize it.

Create awareness through your profile. Reach out to people, put stories for engagement, create brand awareness and local awareness, tag people so they can see you, talk about important things. Let the prospects know about you and your brand, put your website there, add videos, try to reach as many people as you can. All this engagement will help you to convert leads, increase sales and site visits.

Points to Remember

• Post Regularly
• Don’t go Obsolete
• Post relevant content
• Give insights about you and your company
• Post pictures and videos of your work station, staff, a day in office, etc
• Explore all features of Instagram- polls, stories, quiz, etc.

There are many other social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. make sure to explore all the platforms since it the digital age and 90% of your clientele is on social media.

Author: Apoorva Mehta, Executive Manager, Legal Desire Media & Insights