Social Media for Lawyers & Law Firms: What and How?

Posted on 29th August 2023

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Social media is a pretty powerful tool when used correctly. And when used incorrectly or without much thought and planning, it will give you exactly zero leads and sales. Just having accounts on 5 social media websites and posting the same stuff on all of them robotically will take years before you get your first client from these sources.

You need to have a platform-specific approach and plan a content calendar. It’s also important to consider the type of content you will publish. It sounds like it’s all a little too much. Fret not. We will demystify you and you’ll find out that it’s all pretty simple—And that it just needs time and thought.

Choosing the Platforms

The first call a lawyer marketing agency will take is to determine which social media platforms are going to be the most successful for you. It’s true that some platforms work better for lawyers and law firms than others and that there is only a handful, but the approach and how much effort to give each of these platforms can differ from one practice to another.

For example, you might want to have an exclusive LinkedIn and Facebook presence in some cases where your clients are middle-aged people, potentially in stable jobs, looking for quick fixes to their legal problems. But if you’re trying to crack open a harder market, like telling teenagers why they need to invest in insurance or get good representation in court for a DUI case, then the strategy is very likely to change.

Google Business profile for lawyers finding themselves in a brand awareness problem, for example, is pretty important. And some might even want to create short videos answering legal questions for YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, or TikTok.

So, choose the platform that you want to be present on. You can identify the best platforms for your practice by answering two questions:

1. Is my target audience more likely to be present on a particular platform?
2. Which platforms are my closest competitors using?

With a little bit of research, you will know which platforms to stick to. It doesn’t hurt to only start with a couple of platforms and grow from there. That being said, we do recommend that you at least grab your username on all major social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter (now X). You might also need profiles or usernames on Reddit, Telegram, Snapchat, Quora, etc. in the future. 

Making a Platform-Specific Strategy

Every platform is unique. You should have a strategy for each platform that you’re going to be present on. Here’s a brief summary of all platforms but know that there are always exceptions and something different and creative can work almost anywhere.

• Nice images, landscapes, and human portraits work well on Instagram. The platform can be used for testimonials, process walkthroughs, behind-the-scenes stuff, and legal interactions.
• Short clips work well on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. You can make a how-to or FAQ type of content for these.
• Longer explanatory videos that provide a lot of value and cover a topic comprehensively in 10-20 minutes are effective for YouTube.
• Publishing thorough and opinionated articles or long posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Medium can be a great way to capture traffic.
• LinkedIn is full of working professionals so having an authoritative account that comments on current legal trends or issues can pull in significant eyeballs.
• Commenting on something in your domain that’s trending is always a good idea on Twitter. Keep it short and simple and there’s no need for tweets to have images or videos. 
• Well-written and designed guides or infographics can get you a lot of traction from Pinterest.

What Kind of Content Works?

Content, in this context, means the text you put in your creatives or videos and the captions that go with them when the item is published.

Clear, to-the-point, no-nonsense, and factual content is the only content that works. It should also be honest and valuable for the audience. Anything that beats around the bush takes too long to get to a point or just repeats generic stuff that everybody already knows will simply fail regardless of how well-designed it is or which hashtags are used.

Make sure every piece of content is valuable and solves a query or a problem. Experts also have a unique voice that should be reflected in the content they post on social media platforms. This helps build credibility and trustworthiness in the domain and increases your followers over time.

If you’re looking for more information on content marketing and developing killer posts and videos that go viral, you can check some guides about online marketing for lawyers in particular.

In Conclusion

Social media is a game of hit-and-miss. You will only learn with constant experimentation, so don’t be afraid to try out different forms of content and strategies. Here are some bonus tips as a parting gift:

• Posting once every 2-3 days is more than enough.
• Hiring a social media copywriter or designer is going to be significantly more cost-effective in the long run.
• All content you create should have quality, consistency, and some level of branding. Note that you’re not competing with DIYers or TikTok dancers. You cannot afford to look casual even though you’re on the same platform.