Although LinkedIn may not be as trendy as other social media platforms, its solid, professional network is a valuable asset for lawyers and law firms. Having survived and thrived online since 2003, LinkedIn is used by millions of companies to promote their business and connect professionally. It is the most prominent social network for recruiting and hiring, and it is becoming more popular than ever to connect, market, and sell here. LinkedIn is the favored social media site for lawyers, with 93% of U.S. attorneys using the platform. Surprisingly, many users have not tapped into the full potential of LinkedIn, and part of the reason is that success starts with completing the LinkedIn profile. After your law firm optimizes its profile, LinkedIn can start becoming a crucial resource for your company.
Why Should My Law Firm be on LinkedIn?
Your law firm has probably snagged a profile on LinkedIn, and perhaps has already filled in some initial details. However, if your profile is not fully completed, chances are you have not maximized your LinkedIn space. Consider the following reasons for taking steps to optimize your profile and use the platform to your company’s full advantage.
Construct a Network
Designed for building networks, LinkedIn reports that two professionals join the site each second. With LinkedIn, your law firm can connect with local bar associations, attorney groups, and law school alumni. You can gain new leads and clients with various connections; every connection is a new opportunity for a fresh referral and a source of information.
Enhance Your Reputation
Potential clients gravitate to places like LinkedIn to learn about your law firm and its attorneys before hiring you. This is one reason why crafting a detailed profile is so critical. Law firms need to build a stand-out, reliable reputation in today’s competitive legal market, and this is where LinkedIn can assist.
Gather Talent
LinkedIn’s established professional network is a favorite spot to publicize open positions, and this is one way you can attract new talent to your law firm. Prospective employees have a great view here of everything they need to know about your law firm: history, reviews, satisfaction ratings and any other detail you choose to provide in your profile.
Employ SEO
Each social platform is another opportunity to use SEO to your company’s benefit, including LinkedIn. There is ample space to share keyword-rich content and choice links to your law firm website.
Attract Clients
We all seem to encounter legal issues when we least expect it, and any one of your connections could be faced with a legal problem at any time. As one of your connections, they are likely to browse your law firm’s profile and possibly contact you with their questions and concerns. People who are not necessarily connections of yours can also find your law firm when searching for legal help in your area of practice.
Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile
Perhaps your schedule has made it difficult to tinker with social media, and it even may seem initially like a waste of time to donate precious minutes to completing your online profile. However, with the benefits of LinkedIn, maximizing your profile and going beyond the sterile default settings is worth a few minutes of your time. With a little effort, your spot on LinkedIn can become a personalized reflection of your law firm’s brand and personality. By solidifying your profile and adding quality content when you are able, your law firm can start taking advantage of all that LinkedIn has in store.
Do More Than The Default
LinkedIn includes a standard background, but make sure you go beyond the default, just as you would customize your own personal office space. Choose a fitting banner and a headline for your law firm, and as you complete your profile, always incorporate your brand, your unique niche and relevant keywords to optimize your marketing goals.
Stretch Out Your Summary
There is ample space to share a summary of your law firm, its services, expertise, accomplishments, volunteer involvements and staff information, so be sure to fill in the space provided. Make it user-friendly with plenty of white space and bullets, include images and video, and be sure to proofread for errors.
Pick a Power Headline
The first thing people will see on your LinkedIn profile is your headline (120-character maximum), so make your law firm headline a compelling one, and remember:
- There is no rule that a LinkedIn headline needs to be dry and boring.
- Include what your law firm does and who it typically serves.
- Let people know why they should work with you.
- Be clear about the expertise you offer.
- Make your headline a reflection of your unique brand.
Involve Visuals
In addition to a striking banner photo, a quality (and preferably professional) headshot photo is a key way to get noticed on the LinkedIn platform. Add video segments that tell about your unique services, an introduction to your team, or a tour of your law firm’s office. Consumers favor video and attractive visual elements, so include these and stand out from your competition.
Ask for Endorsements
Your LinkedIn profile carves out space for you to include relevant recommendations and endorsements, and you need to fill this up. Time to move past the discomfort and contact clients and colleagues with the request for endorsements and testimonials that you can share with the world on LinkedIn. These endorsements are a valuable, authentic portion of your LinkedIn profile.
Add the Details
Adding details to your profile page can gain your law firm 30% more views than dull or incomplete profiles. Besides the information given above, here are some more details that will make your profile more compelling, attractive and noticeable:
- Add relevant hashtags (up to three) to allow your profile to be seen more often in searches.
- Add a custom button to your profile to encourage visitors to take some sort of key action step, such as visiting your website or contacting your law firm.
- Be sure to upload your brand logo and use your tagline. Although this step is optional and often skipped, profiles that include these items get six times more visits than profiles without these.
- When your profile is polished and complete, be sure to share it generously with all of your employees, contacts and professional connections.
- Use your website, newsletter, and social media sites to share and request follows.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is the ideal, professional social platform to create a fruitful network, gain information from experts, and build credibility. Your law firm can use LInkedIn to reach out and grow your business, but it starts with a stellar profile. It is critical to go beyond the platform defaults and create a profile that stands out and reflects your law firm and brand in a positive, professional light. Let your brand soak in to everything you add to your profile, from the language you use, to the video, visuals and content you include. You are using your profile to speak to colleagues, future employees and a big target audience, who is out there waiting to meet you and your business.
THIS WEEK’S DIGITAL MARKETING ACTION STEP:
- Survey your LinkedIn profile and see what you can change
- Look at other LinkedIn profiles that you would like to emulate
- Ask for some endorsements
- Start making positive changes little by little! You’ve got this!
Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com
