With 800 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the most popular online network of professionals.
And that's true for the legal industry, too. A recent study found that upwards of 94% of legal associates have active LinkedIn profiles. However, the same study noted that most of these fail to optimize their profiles. So, how do you avoid missing out on the opportunities that this platform can provide?
LinkedIn isn't just a networking platform — it's also a great place to create a brand for yourself or your law firm. An active profile on LinkedIn can increase your visibility on Google search results and help you gain more clients or prospective employees.
We'll examine how to set up and nurture your LinkedIn profile and show you how it works for lawyers and law firms.
Is LinkedIn Worth It for Lawyers?
You might be wondering if LinkedIn is beneficial for legal professionals. Here are a few things you can do with a professional LinkedIn profile page:
- Attract more clients. You can do this by creating content about how you help people. People who know you exist are more likely to refer you to their friends and family if they need your services. They can't refer you if they don't know you exist, and producing content on LinkedIn is the best way to spread awareness of your firm's brand.
- Network with colleagues. LinkedIn is a great way to meet other lawyers with whom you can help by referring leads and vice versa.
- Grow your personal brand or law firm brand. This goes hand in hand with attracting more clients. The more aware people are of your personal brand, the better. Additionally, it can increase the likelihood that you get media coverage (though for lawyers, Twitter is often better for that).
To reap all these benefits, first, you need to set up an excellent LinkedIn lawyer profile.
Set Up Your Profile for Success
It only takes a few clicks to create a LinkedIn profile. However, you need to carefully add your details to make it compelling. Here's how you can create an attractive, professional, and effective LinkedIn lawyer profile.
1. Use a Professional Headshot Photo
Your LinkedIn profile photo occupies the prime spot on your profile. It's the first thing most people notice — so it needs to create a great first impression. Use a recent professional headshot photo. LinkedIn recommends you keep it simple, friendly, and professional.
2. Set a Cover Photo To Make Your Profile Stand Out
Your LinkedIn cover photo helps display your interests, passion, and personality. It's an excellent way to tell your clients what you stand for. Make sure you have a correctly formatted cover photo with the following specifications:
- JPG or PNG
- Under 8MB
- 1584 width x 396 height in pixels
You can use a free online photo editor tool like Canva to modify your cover photo to fit the above requirements.
Below is an example of a bad cover photo. The picture is dark, and it's difficult to see the subject.
3. Write a Compelling, Search-Optimized Headline
Your LinkedIn headline is a 120-word pitch that appears right below your profile photo. A well-crafted headline is a crucial part of your professional LinkedIn profile. It should include much more than just your job title or practice areas.
Your headline should include at least some of this information:
- Your area of specialization
- The type of clients you serve
- Your unique selling point
- Your authority in the industry
- Your significant achievements/licenses/certifications
When you write your headline, make sure to include some keywords your prospective clients might search for. You can also use partial sentences and separators to help you work within the character limit. While this won't help a lot when it comes to ranking on Google, it will help people find you if they ever search for attorneys on LinkedIn directly.
4. List Your Professional Experience
Potential clients who look you up on LinkedIn will want to know your legal expertise, so add it with concise, meaningful descriptions. Instead of just mentioning your job title, describe your role and achievements.
List all your previous experiences that are relevant to your current practice. You don't need to include experience that isn't relevant to your current legal services.
5. Highlight Your Expertise with Licenses and Certifications
Licenses and certificates let your client know you're up-to-date and ambitious. They also position you as a competitive lawyer, so be sure to list them on your profile.
6. Be Careful About Labeling Yourself as a Specialist or Expert
Be careful while wording your profile. If you use words like “expert” or “specialist,” make sure you meet applicable criteria and don't violate any guidelines. Some bar associations have strict guidelines on who can bill themselves as an expert or specialist.
Always follow applicable regulations while crafting your LinkedIn lawyer profile.
7. Write a Summary Section That Sets You Apart
Your LinkedIn summary is an open section that appears right below your profile picture. You have 2,000 words to describe who you are and what you do, so make it count.
Using the summary carefully can establish you as a skilled lawyer, attract more clients, and help you appear on top of search results.
8. Add Your Contact Information
Once people find you on LinkedIn, make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Add the following details to your LinkedIn lawyer profile:
- Your website URL
- Social handles
- Work phone number
- Any other channels where you want people to reach you
9. Add Skills and Seek Endorsements From Colleagues
You can add up to 50 skills to your profile's Skills & Endorsements section. Once you add a skill, LinkedIn automatically asks your connections to endorse you. Follow up with other legal professionals who can best recommend your expertise.
Add skills and get endorsements to increase your credibility.
10. Create a Custom URL That Stands Out
When you create your LinkedIn profile, you'll get a default, alphanumeric URL — which isn't user-friendly or attractive. The good news is that you can create a personalized URL.
custom URL will help because it looks more professional, especially in your email signature and business cards. It's also much easier to remember.
Here's how to create a custom URL on LinkedIn:
1. Go to your LinkedIn homepage and click Me, then click View Profile.
2. Click Edit public profile & URL.
3. Click Edit your custom URL. Type in the URL you want and click Save.
Start Building Your LinkedIn Network
After you've created an outstanding LinkedIn lawyer profile, it's time to start networking. Networking on LinkedIn is a great way to begin building your network by connecting with people you already know and creating content.
Let's look at the steps to build your LinkedIn network.
11. Import Contacts From Your Email
Jumpstart your LinkedIn network with people you know professionally. Importing your email contacts is a quick and effective way to make connections.
Here's how to add your email contacts to your LinkedIn connections:
1. Click My Network at the top of your homepage.
2. Under Manage my network, click Connections.
3. Click More Options on the right panel.
4. Add your email address.
5. Authenticate LinkedIn so you can access your email contacts.
6. You'll see a list of your email contacts who are on LinkedIn. Check the boxes next to the people you want to add.
7. Click Add Connections. Once that person receives the request and accepts it, you'll be a part of each other's network—just like on Facebook.
12. Join Groups and Bar Associations
LinkedIn has various groups for lawyers and bar associations. Joining relevant groups for lawyers will help you succeed on the platform in different ways. You can:
- Find people in your niche
- Share ideas and knowledge
- Participate in engaging discussions
- Meet potential employees and recruiters
Don't just lurk silently in groups — be sure to contribute with your own content. A majority of LinkedIn users don't create content at all. If you do, you'll stand out, and more people will remember you. Just make sure you're posting valuable content. Limit the self-promotion stuff and news about things your firm has done.
Tell stories, champion other people, talk about things happening in your local community, and take a stand on things you care about (be controversial on things you truly have controversial opinions on as well—it creates a ton of engagement and increases the number of people who see your content).
Aim for a cadence of 4 non-promotional posts for every self-promotional post and you'll be off to a good start.
Consider joining the following LinkedIn for lawyers groups:
- Your law school's group
- Your area's ABA group
- Groups for legal trends and news — for example, Legaltech News
13. Install the LinkedIn Mobile App
As lawyers spend a lot of time out of the office, installing the LinkedIn mobile app will help you stay connected on the move.
Here are the benefits of installing the LinkedIn mobile app:
- Quickly reply to urgent messages
- Monitor and respond to discussions
- Network and create content in your free time
If you've built up your network and profile, you never know when a potential client may reach out to you or if a colleague at another firm may contact you with a referral. Having the LinkedIn app helps you stay on top of important opportunities and leads.
14. Check Your Inbox
LinkedIn messages are as important as business emails, so make it a habit to check your inbox frequently. Not every message is relevant, but you don't want to miss anything important. Just be prepared to deal with a ton of annoying sales pitches. Have an assistant go through it each day to clear those out for you so you don't get too bogged down.
15. Build Relationships by Engaging With Others
LinkedIn isn't just a network for attracting clients. It's also a great way to build professional relationships with other attorneys.
To nurture professional relationships, you need to engage with your peers on LinkedIn. Try doing the following:
- Post regular updates
- Like and comment on other people's posts
- Write recommendations and endorse skills
- Send direct messages
- Respond to personal messages
- Read and comment on your peers' posts
16. Use the Featured Section to Your Advantage
LinkedIn's Featured section empowers you to pin articles and news that resonate with your ethos. You can use the featured section to create a positive impression on your visitors.
You can include the following content in your featured section:
- Articles/blogs that you've written for your firm's blog and across the web
- News featuring you or your firm
- Documents that you want to highlight
- Links to external sites featuring your work
LinkedIn Content: Creating and Posting Articles
LinkedIn isn't just a social networking tool — it's also a great content platform for professionals looking to connect with their peers and potential clients.
Before you begin posting on LinkedIn, think about what you want to achieve with it. For example, it could be to:
- Attract clients
- Establish yourself as a thought leader
- Engage with other attorneys
- Get referrals
Here's how you can create and promote content effectively.
17. Understand Your Audience and Tailor Your Posts to Them
Always consider your target audience when you create LinkedIn content. As a lawyer, people in your geographic area are usually going to be your prime audience since they're the ones more likely to refer you to others if someone they know gets injured or needs an attorney.
Tailor your content to talk about things going on in your local area.
Promote and tag prominent figures with large followings in your city/area to increase your reach as well. For example, you could write articles about new laws or legal procedures that will help them.
18. Be Authentic
Add a personal touch to your content. Instead of writing things from a generic angle, bring your perspective on the topic. Writing original, authentic articles will increase your authority as an experienced lawyer.
One of the easiest ways to be authentic is to be controversial. If you think the insurance companies are always trying to screw your clients over, then say that.
19. Start Posting Regularly
Create a content calendar for LinkedIn and post articles regularly. If you post content consistently, your audience will tune into it. According to LinkedIn, profiles that post weekly see twice the engagement than those that don't.
Try to post at least twice a week. Don't worry about fancy tools to help you schedule this out—just start jumping on the LinkedIn mobile app and speak your mind. Once you get comfortable creating content, then you can start thinking about writing posts and scheduling them out in advance.
20. Share Articles From Your Firm's Blog
An easy way to create content is to share insights from your law firm's profile and blog. That way, you'll get engagement, and your firm will gain more visibility.
This is an excellent method for educating potential clients about your firm and its activities.
The key here is to avoid sharing links to your website. LinkedIn wants people to stay on LinkedIn. When you share links to your site, LinkedIn will diminish the amount of reach you get.
Tip: Post your content and get some engagement first. Then, come back in and edit the post to include a link to your website.
21. Share Client Testimonials
Testimonials are a crucial part of your LinkedIn lawyer profile. Request testimonials from clients who have found value in your service. If your client approves, you could also turn testimonials into case studies.
Testimonials and case studies from real people will help your prospective clients trust you as an attorney.
Have someone take what they've said and put together a simple graphic in Canva with their picture. Post it and tag them in it if you have permission.
22. Provide Useful Legal Tips
As a lawyer, you have a wealth of information that most people don't have. By providing legal advice and tips, you can help others understand the complex legal world. Prospects might even start visiting your profile for these tips.
Don't use complex legal jargon in your posts. Your audience will value a concise article that explains complex legalities in simple terms.
23. Research a Trending Topic and Post Your Thoughts on It
As an authority in your area of practice, your audience will want to know what you think about trending topics. Try to convert your thoughts on trending topics into LinkedIn content, which willhelp you establish yourself as a thought leader.
24. Post Relatable Stories About Work
You don't just need to post about complex legal topics. Share stories about your work, which will show your audience that you're authentic and relatable.
Tips for Law Firms on LinkedIn
LinkedIn isn't just for individuals. Most successful law firms have a LinkedIn profile. Let's see how you can leverage the power of LinkedIn for your law firm's success. According to the ABA survey, 76% of law firms use LinkedIn — so you should definitely create a LinkedIn profile for your firm.
Let's look at a few tips on LinkedIn marketing for lawyers.
25. Create a Business Page for Your Firm
Create a business page for your law firm using LinkedIn for business. Your company page will help your firm gain more visibility on search engines and attract more clients.
Here's how to create a business page:
1. On the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions page, click Create Your Page
2. Choose your business type
26. Add the Required Business Information
After you choose your business type, add the following information to finish creating your page:
- Company name
- LinkedIn public URL
- Website URL
- Industry
- Profile photo
- Tagline
27. Consider LinkedIn Ads
Once your law firm has a business page on LinkedIn, consider advertising it. To set up an ad, you need to create a LinkedIn Campaign Manager account.
Once you set up your account, you can create an ad by filling in the following information:
- Objectives of your ad
- Target audience
- Ad format
- Bid and budget
- Ad creative
- Billing information
Advertising on LinkedIn has its advantages, such as:
- Helps you reach a wider audience, especially top executives
- Allows targeted advertising to reach the right people
- Easy to set up
But it also has its drawbacks, like:
- Higher cost per click compared to other advertising channels
- Needs an excellent strategy to get a high ROI
- Interface to create ads is pretty basic compared to other social media
- Ads might reach more job seekers than job suppliers
28. Promote Your Firm Using Groups
In addition to LinkedIn ads, you can market your law firm using groups. It's a great method if you don't have an advertising budget. Start by searching for LinkedIn groups that suit your area of business.
Post your services and offerings in these groups to gain more visibility.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is the most popular platform for professional networking. LinkedIn is useful for lawyers to find prospective clients, partners, and employees.
To establish yourself on LinkedIn, you need to:
- Create content
- Build a network
- Create an engaging profile
- Create a business profile
And most importantly, stay consistent and be genuine with the content you post. If you're always trying to get something out of it, you won't succeed. Give without the expectation of receiving anything in return, and LinkedIn will pay you back tenfold.
