Of all the social media platform options, the professional network of LinkedIn should be part of every lawyer’s marketing plan. Not having an updated profile on this well-respected platform puts you at a disadvantage in today’s marketplace. If your clients are using it, your competitors are using it, and your prospects are too, then so should you!

The numbers back this up. According to the ABA’s 2024 Legal Technology Survey Report, 80% of firms maintain a social media presence, with 78% using LinkedIn – the most widely used platform among firms, and by a wide margin. On the individual level, an earlier ABA report found that 71 percent of lawyers personally use social media for professional purposes, with LinkedIn the most popular site among them at 88%.

LinkedIn also pays off in business. In that same report, 29% of lawyers who use social media said a client had hired them because of their professional social media presence. An earlier ABA survey found the effect was even stronger for small firms: 42% of small firms reported gaining new clients through social media marketing.

LinkedIn offers a variety of marketing opportunities for lawyers. It’s a great way to showcase your work and experience, and a respectable way to maintain regular contact with clients, prospects and referral sources. Many attorneys also use it to educate themselves about a new practice area, a new facet of an existing practice, or what’s happening in the legal industry overall, including business, trade, and legal news, or news specific to a particular company or individual.

If you choose to be active on LinkedIn, be sure your profile is regularly updated and gives a comprehensive overview of what you do. I typically recommend that lawyers keep their LinkedIn profile in sync with the bio on their law firm website. For some attorneys, LinkedIn offers more room for an expanded bio than the template on the firm’s site. Whenever you update your bio on the firm website, apply the same updates to your LinkedIn bio.

One more point: your LinkedIn content is subject to the same rules as any other lawyer marketing. Attorney advertising rules apply to social media, and requirements vary by state. Be mindful of how you describe your experience, results, and areas of practice, and check your state bar’s guidance on social media before you post.

LinkedIn is just what the name implies: a way to link to and connect with other professionals. These could be new contacts you’ve recently made or contacts from eons ago that you’ve been thinking about reaching out to. LinkedIn is a comfortable, non-intrusive way to reignite old relationships and build new ones.

If you’re not sure how to get your profile established, need help populating it with content, or want to make the most of it once it’s built, give us a call. We’re happy to point you in the right direction so you can start using this valuable business development tool.

For more information about how Firm Evolution can help, contact Jennifer Macqueen at 206.321.3220 or jennifer@firmevolution.com.