How to Make LinkedIn Work for Your Firm

As an attorney, you already have a lot to handle—chances are, one of the last tasks on your mind is going to be managing your LinkedIn presence. However, not everyone realizes just how beneficial LinkedIn can be as a tool for legal firms. Mastering LinkedIn could be one of the fastest ways to be seen and gain new clients, as well as improve your overall SEO.

If your firm isn’t taking advantage of social media marketing opportunities, then there’s a strong chance that you’re falling behind your competitors. LinkedIn is one of the easiest and most straightforward social media marketing tools for law firms; it is also a platform that many attorneys take for granted.

Still, it isn’t enough to know that you should be taking advantage of LinkedIn; you’ll also need to understand precisely how you should use the platform to benefit your firm the most. Fortunately, LinkedIn is a relatively simple platform to use effectively once you have a handle on it.

So, how can you make LinkedIn work for your firm? Here are a few tips to get you started.

5 LinkedIn Tips for Law Firms

1. Put Thought Into Your Headline (and Draw Clients In)

LinkedIn will give you the option to create a custom headline for your profile—and this is worth taking advantage of.

After your name, your headline will be the first piece of information that potential clients or employers see. In fact, before they even decide to click on your profile, you’ll have the opportunity to entice people with a compelling headline.

If you don’t fill in your own headline, however, that space will be automatically filled with your position and employer—it’s informative, but it’s not going to be particularly interesting to searchers. So, to stand out among the rest of the results, write a headline that captures who you are, what you do, and why you’re unique.

2. Keep Photos Simple and Professional

Choosing your LinkedIn profile image can be difficult because it will be one of the first (if not the very first) impressions that users will have of you. For this reason, it’s essential not to use just any old photo or portrait in this position.

Although it’s a wise idea to have a profile image to help your profile stand out, using the wrong picture could do you more harm than good. Remember, don’t treat your LinkedIn profile like you’d treat your Facebook—you shouldn’t be uploading and sharing just any photo without regard to quality or purpose.

Instead, try limiting yourself to simple, professionally shot images, which will give potential clients or employers a good sense of who you are. Avoid processing or editing the image too heavily, and try to take a clean, minimal approach. This is the easiest way to look professional to viewers from the very beginning.

3. If You Have Experience That’s Irrelevant to Your Current Practice, Don’t List It

As you attempt to market yourself and your practice on LinkedIn, keep your message and branding as focused as possible. In the case of attorneys, this means that you should be focusing on the experience that relates directly to your current practice and services. Otherwise, the information you’re sharing won’t be much better than filler in an attempt to impress the potential client. In reality, this isn’t what your clients are going to care about before hiring you.

Both your brand and your LinkedIn profile should be curated to best suit the services you’re currently offering. For example, while it isn’t uncommon for attorneys to switch practice areas during their careers, displaying a varied legal history on LinkedIn isn’t necessary if you aren’t currently engaging with those areas.

Let potential clients know that you have the skills necessary to take on their case. If you have any career highlights that have led you to your current practice, feel free to display those publicly. Otherwise, don’t bother cluttering up your profile with information that viewers aren’t going to benefit from seeing.

4. Keep Descriptions Concise and Avoid Fluff

Not only should you be letting viewers know what your relevant professional experiences are, but also, you should be providing a short description of each.

Sometimes, it can be tempting to go into an in-depth retelling of all that you’ve learned or accomplished during that experience—still, most viewers of your LinkedIn profile aren’t going to have the patience to read through a series of unnecessarily long blurbs. Again, this is another way to add clutter to your profile, leading you to appear less professional.

Further, these descriptions should be clear to a non-specialist. Avoid using any complicated legal jargon, which your clients might not understand. Keep any descriptions of your experience as straightforward and to the point as possible without resorting to substance-less fluff to fill up space. Finally, these descriptions should be concise and meaningful—generally speaking, before you put any new text in your LinkedIn profile, make sure that it serves a purpose and allows you to better market yourself and your practice.

5. Remember to Import Contacts From Your Professional Email

For the sake of convenience, don’t forget to import your professional contacts through email. This way, you can quickly and easily discover the connections you’ve already made before creating your LinkedIn account.

In general, it’s a good idea to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date with any professional connections you’ve formed. This is the case for several reasons—to start, if your profile shows a large number of professional connections, you’re likely to look even more credible to viewers. Additionally, when you have more connections associated with your account, it will be easier for you to get in touch and perform professional relationships.

Market and Expand Your Practice With RizeUp

If you’re currently looking to give your legal practice a boost in visibility and outreach to potential clients, you’ll need to have a robust digital marketing strategy. Not only is the team at RizeUp Media filled with digital marketing experts, but we understand the nuances of marketing yourself as an attorney.

When you’re ready to get started marketing your law firm with RizeUp Media, contact our team. You can get in touch with us via our site today. You can also request a proposal from us quickly and easily.