13 Tips & Tricks to Grow Your Law Firm’s Instagram

Is Instagram an important piece of your marketing mix? With over 1 billion active users, the platform can seriously help to drive qualified traffic and build a positive brand image for your firm. It’s important to give Instagram the respect it deserves. But while you do that, you should also be aware that studies have proven up to 48 million Instagram users to be fake. That leaves some legal marketers in a conundrum about their efforts. Drive followers, but only genuine ones. How? Keep reading for 13 tactics that drive an authentic Instagram following for your law firm. 

1. Craft a memorable bio and profile:

Your profile is the backbone of your presence on Instagram, and a well-crafted one is key to growing your law firm’s Instagram. People won’t be compelled to follow your account if your profile is unclear, incomplete, or unappealing. Here’s what you can include in your profile:

• Name: Up to 30 characters, and included in Instagram search, so you may wish to include a keyword (lawyer, law firm, legal).
• Username: Make it the same as your other social channels. This will make it easy for your followers on other platforms to find you on Instagram.
• Website: The only place on Instagram where you can include a clickable link (aside from calls to action in ads or swiping up on Stories).
• Bio: 150 characters to convey your firm’s identity and show new visitors the benefit to following you.

2. Your bio url is prime real estate:

Use the clickable link in your profile to drive traffic where you want it. Don’t make the mistake of just linking to your homepage and never mixing it up. We suggest changing the link bi-weekly and linking to your latest or most popular content. 

3. Have a clear strategy:

Just like you need an overall content strategy and social media strategy, you need one for individual channels. Have a documented marketing strategy for your law firm and identify your goals before posting your first image or video to Instagram. 

4. Post consistently:

You likely hear this one a lot, but that’s because it’s true. People won’t follow accounts (or see them in the first place) if the firm doesn’t post regularly. You don’t need to post more than a couple times a week, but create a schedule so that someone in your firm is posting on a regular basis. 

5. Share engaging content:

In other words, post content that your followers are actually interested in. Understand how testing works so that you can ensure you’re posting the right content at the right time. You can also analyze your competitors to see what’s popular.

6. Write compelling captions:

The caption of your post is where you can give a voice to that visual content. Although Instagram is a visual platform, your captions play a big role in increasing engagement. A good Instagram caption explains what the photo is about, tells your followers to take action, or cracks a joke that makes your content all the more delightful and shareable.

7. Depict your law firm’s culture:

How do you want your law firm to be perceived? Like Facebook, Instagram can be used to humanize your law firm. Sharing behind-the-scenes visuals of your office or doing short bios of lawyers can help potential clients trust your firm and gain an understanding of your company culture.

8. Schedule posts in advance:

Your calendar is already crammed. Instead of dropping everything to craft your next Instagram post—every single day, at the exact right time for your target audience—an Instagram scheduler lets you plan ahead. To help with scheduling, you can use a tool like HubSpot.

9. Have other accounts post your content:

The more people that are exposed to your law firm’s content on Instagram, the more likely you are to gain followers. To get your content in front of more eyes, try asking for user generated content. For example, you can work with larger Instagram accounts if you’re willing to provide something of value. For example, ask if a large consulting firm would like to share a link to your tax checklist for their followers. 

10. Spot fake Instagram followers:

This is difficult, but you can sometimes spot inauthentic followers based on a few items. They tend to have inactive feeds with tens of thousands of followers. They also don’t like, comment or share, and so end up providing little value. It’s important not to buy Instagram followers, because you’ll likely get some fake ones in the bunch. 

11. Use trending hashtags:

Instagram is known for being hashtag heavy. Therefore, it’s important to always include a few relevant hashtags in each caption. This will allow more users to see your post and you won’t feel like you’re just shouting into the void of the internet. Remember only to use two or three primary hashtags and add as many as you want in a follow-up comment. Your post becomes clutter free and is still discoverable when someone searches for relevant hashtags.

12. Post Instagram Stories:

Stories should be an integral part of your law firm’s Instagram marketing strategy. Stories appear at the top of followers’ feeds, which makes them stand out — and they’re a lot more dynamic than regular feed posts, with tons of cool features. You can post multiple Stories a day without cluttering up your followers’ feeds.

13. Promote your Instagram:

Sounds simple, but make sure a link to your profile is posted on your website and anywhere that you list social. We also suggest you add a link to your Instagram profile at the bottom of your law firm’s newsletter so your subscribers can follow you.

Takeaway

There are many ways to grow your law firm’s Instagram this year. Think about the overall look of your profile, make sure you post regularly, and provide value to your followers in the content you share. If you want to widen your reach, don’t forget the importance of hashtags. As you get used to posting on the platform, you’ll discover what resonates and what doesn’t and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Contact us today to discover how we can help you achieve greater success through your social media marketing efforts. We have vast experience developing and executing revenue focused social media strategies that deliver real business results for law firms of all practice areas and sizes.