LinkedIn® Corporation provides one of the most versatile networking and marketing tools available. This business networking platform helps legal professionals showcase their experience and qualifications for potential clients and referral sources alike. Indeed, 94 percent of LinkedIn® users use the platform for research before hiring an attorney.
As legal marketers, our law firm clients often ask us, “How do lawyers use LinkedIn®?” One common use for lawyers on LinkedIn is making connections. Whether you became friends with a fellow law student at your university or met another legal professional during a conference, LinkedIn® helps you make those connections and keep them strong.
Insightful Tips from TOPDOG’s LinkedIn® for Lawyers Course
LinkedIn® offers many free advantages that outweigh traditional paid methods of growing a law firm, a solid B2B client base, and plenty of connections with potential referral sources. Aside from expanding visibility, lawyers can use LinkedIn to connect with other professionals in the following various ways:
- Advertising or exploring job opportunities;
- Posting helpful information for followers;
- Running ad campaigns to target a specific audience; and
- Describing their firm’s practice areas and services in the About (formerly called Summary) and headline to make it easy for preferred potential clients to learn more about them and their practice areas.
Firms can also list job postings and advertisements on LinkedIn, but unless you have a strongly optimized profile, many of those potential clients and even potential partners may move on to someone else or not see your profile at all.
Making your law firm visible to those searching LinkedIn®—or the wider Internet—is essential to successful networking on the platform. The key to visibility is optimizing your profile so that those searching for your practice areas and skills will find you. Two main focus areas can help lawyers the most with visibility: optimizing the headline and About sections of your profile.
One Tip on Using LinkedIn® for Lawyers: Optimizing the Headline
An eye-catching headline is a key feature attorneys can add to make their LinkedIn profiles stand out and improve responsiveness to search queries. A headline is like a book cover. Many viewers will judge your content by reading your headline first, so make it count.
One way to make your headline “pop” is to contain just enough content to cover the most important aspects of your law firm practice while showing why your firm can help potential clients with their needs.
This takes careful consideration. Think about your LinkedIn® headline the same way you greet your clients or potential referral sources. Alternatively, think about the language clients might use when searching for an attorney with your skills.
Presenting a strong headline makes it easier for potential clients or employees to follow your lead.
How a Lawyer Can Write an Effective About Section on LinkedIn®
Writing the About section of your law firm or individual profile, even if you have no marketing experience, can be helpful in many ways. In this section, you highlight for clients where your experience lies and what you do best. Here are some helpful LinkedIn® tips for lawyers on what to aim for when writing this segment:
- Make it brief, strong, and persuasive;
- Try to cover the who, what, where, why, and how questions; and
- Conclude with a closing statement or law firm motto to leave a lasting positive impression.
The About section should help potential clients or employees decide whether to choose your firm.
The online tips and ideas cover two critical areas that can change how people view your firm. Moreover, learning how you can leverage LinkedIn® to reach potential clients can help you gain vital online visibility.
Are You Ready to Build Up Your LinkedIn® Profile?
TOPDOG Legal Marketing can help your law firm by using SEO research tools to draft impactful profile content that is designed to ‘get found’ online. Additionally, because our team cares about helping build law firm client bases efficiently, we offer our LinkedIn® for Lawyers training course, which attorneys or staff members can take online.
To learn more about how TOPDOG can optimize your LinkedIn® profile or explore our other services, contact us at tdog@tdoglegal.com or give us a call toll-free at (844) HEY-T-DOG (439-8364).
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