Podcast Ep. 125: Social Media in the Legal Industry and the Birth of The Quintessential Gentleman

In this episode of The Legal Marketing 2.0 Podcast, Guy is joined by Eric K. Thomas. Eric is the social media and digital media manager for Bracewell and the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Quintessential Gentleman, which is a media platform dedicated to telling the positive stories of Black and Brown men. As social media becomes a more critical avenue of communication for law firms, Guy and Eric talk about important trends that legal marketers should be aware of. Tune in to hear the story behind The Quintessential Gentleman (and how the page has amassed over 45k followers on Instagram). You can connect with Eric on LinkedIn here.

Episode Show Notes

How did you get started with social media in the legal industry?

Out of college, I gained experience working for various advertising companies in the digital space. My first job in the legal industry was working for Shearman & Sterling. I began working in their digital marketing department and then transitioned to running their social media accounts. While I was there, social media was becoming increasingly popular in the legal world and we began putting a greater emphasis on LinkedIn and pushing out content on the platform.

What is unique about social media when it comes to law firms? What was your biggest challenge when you transitioned to the legal industry.

Transitioning into law, I found the content marketing strategies to be the most challenging. Making sure legal content is easily digestible and written for consumers.

In the our 2020 Social Law Firm Index, Bracewell came in second place in the category of Instagram. What’s your secret? What strategies have been most successful on the platform?

One of the biggest suggestions I would say, is to understand the channel in which you’re speaking to and making sure that you’re curating content specific to that channel. We’re not going to post the same content to LinkedIn as we do to Instagram. 

For Instagram, we really focus our content around the culture of the firm.

What do you think is the future with regards to social media marketing and law firms?

There’s going to be a lot of opportunity in social media advertising. With social media advertising, firms can promote their content to specific audiences that don’t already follow their account.

I think law firms should have budgets for each of their practice areas so as long as you’re creating content. It’s important that firms have a very focused approach and make sure that they surface content that resonates with their target audiences.

Tell us about The Quintessential Gentleman. How did you get started with it?

The Quintessential Gentleman is a media platform that focuses on telling the stories of black and brown men. I started it back in 2016 when all the news around me was about black men being killed by police officers.

Around this time, the media was perpetuating negative stereotypes of black and brown men and I wanted to tell different stories. I wanted to create a platform that spoke to more positive stories because what the media was publishing was not reflecting reality.

So I started Quintessential Gentleman which started out as a blog. We published stories about black entrepreneurs and business owners and how they’ve triumphed and overcome challenges in their lives.

Now we’re a media platform with a quarterly magazine and I have writers under me contributing to articles.

How have you leveraged social media during the pandemic to grow The Quintessential Gentleman?

During the pandemic, we really took advantage of opportunities to engage people while they were home and spending more time on their phone and computers. We began engaging on social media more creatively. We hosted numerous Instagram Lives, virtual happy hours with a DJ and mixology class, etc which really helped us grow and amass a following of over 45k.

How have you been able to leverage what you’ve learned at your past jobs and at Bracewell to The Quintessential Gentleman?

A majority of our website traffic at Bracewell comes from Facebook and LinkedIn, which is where we promote all of our content. So, I focus on pushing out relevant content consistently to those two channels.

Do you have a single piece of legal marketing advice you’d like to convey to our listeners?

I would say don’t discount Instagram, especially when it comes to your diversity and recruiting campaigns. 

I would really like to see more law firms take advantage of Instagram to showcase their culture and educate audiences on the great causes firms are getting involved in.

Takeaway

It’s very clear search engines and social media have dramatically changed the way law firms market their services and the tools they use. Additionally, the pandemic has accelerated the need for law firms to have a well-thought out presence on social media. Law firms need to get onboard with social media, including Instagram, if they don’t want to risk being left behind. The new reality is full of fresh opportunities for law firms who are willing to adapt and evolve.

If you need assistance with your social media presence and strategy, reach out to us today. We have vast experience helping lawyers and law firms achieve measurable success on social media.