With over 740 million users worldwide, LinkedIn’s social network reigns supreme for professional networking. Any lawyer who hopes to attract new clients and be known as a thought leader in their practice area can benefit from having a strong presence on LinkedIn. If you don’t know where to begin to start using the platform to grow your business – you’re in the right place. We’ll walk you through an easy 3-month plan to create a winning LinkedIn marketing strategy of your own. Lawyers can follow these steps to begin spending intentional, impactful time on the platform.
A 3-Month LinkedIn Marketing Plan for Lawyers
Many lawyers don’t start using LinkedIn because they’re not sure where to start. Since it’s so feature-rich, LinkedIn can feel overwhelming for beginners. In order to start slowly and get comfortable, try following a phased approach.
Month 1
Determine the specific niche you’ll focus on.
In order to properly communicate your value, you need to speak directly to the audience who your messaging most appeals to. When it comes to demonstrating thought leadership, LinkedIn is one of your best bets for gaining authority in your niche, with a large number of engaged executives and decision-makers serious about honing their craft and learning new things.
Focus on your unique industry and work to become an insider that can be trusted. Whether you’ll be posting content or sending messages, all of your activities will be more effective if you narrow your activities down to a defined niche.
Create your profile.
On LinkedIn, you need to develop your personal brand and position yourself as the go-to lawyer in your niche. Whatever you share should lead people back to your profile, so you need to do a good job of writing it.
You should choose career highlights that have directly led to your current practice and business focus, and make sure everything that appears in your professional history reflects your current experience and goals. Avoid simply pasting points from your resume that focus on education and credentials only. Instead, focus on what problems you solve and how you add value.
In LinkedIn for Lawyers: 10 Steps to The Perfect Profile, we dive into specific tips and best practices to help you improve your LinkedIn profile and reach All-Star status
Month 2
Start building up your network.
Once you feel your profile is optimized, begin attempting to grow your connections.
In order to tap into your existing network, try syncing your email contacts and using LinkedIn’s search bar to find friends, co-workers and colleagues.
If you’re trying to connect with someone you’ve never met, simply search using the function on LinkedIn to find and filter people you might want to “meet”. Narrow down by industry, job title, geography, etc. You should look to see if you have any mutual connections. If so, you can ask your connections for an introduction.
Carve out time to spend on LinkedIn.
At this point, you’ll want to make time each week to dedicate to LinkedIn activities. Sit down with your calendar and block off time on a regular cadence. Commit to taking the time and keep the commitment if you really want to move the needle.
Engage with your connections (and theirs).
LinkedIn users need to become comfortable on the platform and gain visibility. You start to engage by liking, commenting on, and sharing content. Spend time reviewing the home page, updates from your connections, and activity within LinkedIn groups. When something is interesting to you, comment on it or share it for others to see. This is a great way for others to see your name – and possibly click through to your profile – as well as to potentially reciprocate once you begin sharing more content.
Month 3
Develop and share content.
This is one of the most important aspects of a lawyer’s LinkedIn marketing plan. The best way to use LinkedIn is to become a thought leader, building a reputation and a following. To begin with, create compelling and relevant content that provides real value for your readers and future followers. Then, try these tactics:
- When you have content published on another platform such as your blog or another website, write a short summary and post it using the “LinkedIn Status Update” in your LinkedIn Profile. Remember that if someone likes or comments on your content, then it will be shared with their followers. Your goal is to earn this kind of spread.
- On LinkedIn, posts with visual media get more engagement. You can upload Slideshare, PowerPoint, PDF files, or video content to support your posts. Keep your content concise by sharing interesting stats, key points, and quotes–instead of dense legal content.
- Add value for your audience by sharing content that you find helpful or relevant. Your content doesn’t need to be original to resonate with your audience, you can share content from reliable sources and add in your 2 cents. As your audience what they think about a new law or legislation. Look to start a conversation.
Engage and interact.
The benefit of LinkedIn is that users can gradually build relationships that lead to business opportunities. You can interact directly with people through the messaging service (in a way that respects their privacy). Look for opportunities to add value in discussions or by sending people digital content that they might find helpful.
Nurture your leads offline.
Digital platforms are great for finding and generating leads, but that can only take you so far. Once you’ve established connections, consider tactics for taking the conversations offline. Whenever appropriate, recommend that you take discussions offline and continue to nurture the relationship.
Takeaway
Lawyers can break down their LinkedIn marketing plan into manageable 30-day chunks. It’s a great way to keep perspective on end goals and accomplishments, set sensible priorities and much more. Just like with any marketing endeavor, not every effort will lead to success. That being said, being intentional and strategic with your LinkedIn programs is a lot more likely to lead to success than just posting a few updates sometimes. Consistency is key. Start slow and follow these steps, and then move onto more advanced efforts with LinkedIn.
If you need any help developing an effective LinkedIn strategy, contact us today.
