Whether you’re a solo or small firm attorney — or an attorney working at a large firm — if you’re trying to grow your client base in the legal industry, then you’ve probably explored the possibility of marketing your legal services on social media as part of a broader digital marketing strategy. Social media for lawyers can be a murky and confusing space for those who do not have experience growing a professional social media presence. There are many complexities below the surface that can impact your ability to grow sustainably — and to do so efficiently, given whatever marketing resources you have at your disposal.

Here at Walker Advertising, we can help. Contact us to speak to an expert on our team who can explain what options you have, and how best to maximize your marketing efforts on social media.

That being said, if you’d like to learn a bit more about social media for lawyers, then keep reading! We’ll cover some fundamentals that are worth understanding before you move forward.

Is social media marketing for lawyers worthwhile?

Yes, social media for lawyers is worthwhile — if you have the resources to spend on social media marketing efforts, and if your law firm does not have healthy in-person client acquisition networks.

Traditionally, law firms would rely on references, word-of-mouth, and legal partners to gain access to potential clients. However, much has changed in recent years. Millennial and Gen Z individuals are much more dependent on online marketing channels to identify worthwhile services — including professional services, like legal representation. Thus, to secure prospective clients (in the form of inbound leads that match your law firm’s practice areas), you will want to explore various marketing options online, such as social media marketing for lawyers.

Even if you do not push content heavily on social media platforms, merely having a social media profile as part of your online presence is a matter of “legitimacy” in the context of millennial and Gen Z audiences. An active social media profile indicates that you are actively taking on clients and engaging their claims, whereas an inactive social media profile gives the impression that your firm is no longer actively involved in litigation. So — as a default matter — it’s worth doing at least some basic social media marketing.

How frequently should lawyers post on social media?

For many years, the prevailing advice — regarding sustainable social media growth — was that creators (including professional services creators, like lawyers) should post as frequently as possible.  In some cases, daily content uploads were encouraged.

Managing multiple social media accounts can be challenging, but it is essential for reaching a broader audience and ensuring consistent engagement across different platforms.

Using a content calendar can help manage multiple social media accounts and ensure consistent engagement across different platforms.

These days, however, the prevailing advice has shifted considerably.  User consumption patterns have changed, after all, as have the algorithms that help push content out to broader audiences.  Though every social media platform works differently, a high frequency of posts is not only resource-intensive but is also likely to have minimal positive impacts for most content categories.

Content consumption patterns have changed from channel-based (i.e., a user follows a particular channel and is interested in seeing all their new content as soon as it’s uploaded, like a traditional TV show schedule) to funnel-based (i.e., the user is led towards a content funnel that shows them a variety of shortform content in a reels format, like TikTok, and the channel creating the content is not emphasized to any significant degree.  Users depend on the “algorithm” to show them the content that they want to see — they will not necessarily check in to see the new content posted by a given channel).

Consistency is worthwhile, of course.  The more consistently you post, the more value your channel’s content has in the complex promotional algorithms used by modern social media platforms.  That being said, it’s not necessary for you to post content on a frequent basis.  Post high-quality, shareable content at a consistent clip — that is a simple recipe for growth in today’s digital landscape.

Traditional vs. Social Media Marketing — the Advantage of Social Media

Traditional marketing (i.e., TV, newspapers, radio, etc.) and social media marketing operate quite differently. If you’ve been exploring social media marketing to take your law firm growth to the next level, then you may be curious about how these two forms of marketing are different, and where social media marketing “gets it right” – especially since much has been made about social media marketing and how it’s the future.

Social media marketing has a number of advantages. These include:

• Social media content can be targeted towards hyper-specific demographic slices, making for much more effective targeting in your marketing campaigns
• Social media content tends to be more interactive – users can engage in conversations about your message in the post itself, making for a more engaged audience that is potentially primed to convert
• Social media marketing tends to be much more cost-effective than traditional marketing, which makes it particularly attractive for solo lawyers and small law firms looking to expand
• Social media marketing allows for real-time tracking of engagement metrics, enabling you to adjust your strategy based on what resonates with your audience

Perhaps most importantly, social media attracts more eyeballs when it comes to younger generations, like Millennials and Gen Z. As younger adults increasingly “cord cut,” television use continues to drop precipitously (in fact, radio and newspaper/magazine use has already dropped). Thus, social media marketing remains one of the few pathways to access the attention of Millennials and Gen Zers en-masse.

Social media strategy trends to consider moving forward.

Developing a comprehensive social media strategy is crucial for navigating these trends and achieving your marketing goals. A well-developed social media strategy can significantly enhance your brand awareness and help you reach a broader audience. That being said, social media platforms have changed considerably over the years. So consider the following trends (which are likely to influence your content strategy on social media):

Content should not be too variable.

All too often, corporate and professional brands create a diverse range of content for their social media channels, not realizing that the diversity is actually undermining their success and growth on these platforms.  It might seem counterintuitive, but let’s break it down — when a platform like YouTube is considering whether to recommend your content to a wider audience, it first tests your content against your subscriber base.

If you have diverse content, however, then not all of your subscribers joined your channel for the same content.  For example, if your subscribers joined because they enjoyed an accident reaction video, then they may not want an informational video defining a legal term.  As such, they are less likely to click on that second video.  This sends signals to YouTube’s algorithm that the new content is “not good enough” for even your loyal audience — the algorithm is therefore not going to promote the content more widely if it is not a hit with your preexisting audience!

So stick to a narrow range of content at first.  Grow an audience that knows what to expect when you create social media posts, and you can experiment with other content pillars once your subscriber/follower count has grown enough to do so!

Reshares (and conversations) are king in today’s digital landscape.

In 2024, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed something that many creators had already started to observe: that the recommendations algorithm for organic content was hyper-valuing reshares and direct message shares more than any other factor. If your content receives fewer likes, but more shares, then it would be promoted more widely, increasing your organic reach. Mosseri not only confirmed that this was true but pointed out that social media engagement — which Instagram and other platforms are trying to maximize — is improved when a piece of content is shared, whether on a profile or in private messages, as it can begin “new conversations” about that piece of content, keeping multiple people engaged on the platform for a longer period of time.

Improving the likelihood that your content will be shared means making content that demands a conversation: relatability, entertainment, and controversy are all elements that can increase the likelihood of a reshare, so focus on maximizing those elements when you’re ideating content for your social media efforts.

Slow, consistent growth is okay.  Virality (usually) takes time.

With organic content (as opposed to paid advertising), growth trajectories tend to be slow, until they suddenly get a “viral hit” and growth spikes. These slow growth trajectories — before the viral hit — can take a year or more.

Brands that fail on social media tend to play the organic content game the same way that they play the paid content game. In other words, they incorrectly believe that it’s a matter of “fail fast and pivot.”

While pivoting away from poorly performing content is a good idea, it’s important that you give your content time to breathe. If you don’t post consistently and give your content time, you may be actively undermining your social media marketing efforts. Play the long game and let your content succeed (or fail) over a reasonable period of time before you pivot. Utilizing social media tools can help streamline your content management process and support consistent growth over time.

Algorithms and audiences are growing less friendly to branded content

According to industry insiders, social media platforms are increasingly prioritizing content created by single creators — as opposed to content created by corporate/professional brands. This promotional suppression is well-recorded, and there are a number of explanations as to why social media platforms have been deprioritizing the organic reach of businesses using their platforms.

For example, some industry insiders have theorized that social media algorithms deprioritizing the organic reach of corporate and professional brands are meant to encourage those same brands to invest in paid advertisement efforts on the social media platform at issue.

Of course, deprioritizing corporate and professional brands is also a natural reflection of changes in user behavior. User consumption patterns have shifted significantly, and in recent years, there has been more aversion to branded content on various social media platforms. While sponsored content (posted by individual creators) continues to be a reasonable outreach mechanism, fewer and fewer users are outright following the brand profiles themselves.

To overcome these algorithmic and user consumption pattern shifts, lawyers have to be much more intentional about the content they create for social media. It’s not enough to create compelling content (i.e., informative, entertaining, controversial, etc.). It must be designed in such a way that it minimizes the “feeling” of being corporate or professional in its branding. High-performing law firm content in recent years tends to lean into lawyer personalities — they’re quirky, energetic, and positive, without losing the authoritative element. Don’t make your content like an advertisement. Look at organic competitors for inspiration!

Consider Implementing a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy

LinkedIn is more popular than ever. In the United States alone, there are over 200 million LinkedIn users — more than 50 percent of the country has a user profile! Given that kind of broad demographic penetration and reach, it’s absolutely critical that lawyers at least consider investing in marketing efforts targeting the LinkedIn platform and audience. It’s no exaggeration to say that when it comes to social platforms, LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms to grow your law firm’s brand online and secure new clients.

One of the more notable advantages of engaging in social media marketing on LinkedIn is that the platform tends to be friendlier to self-promotion. Sales pitches and educational content are entirely expected (and even encouraged) on the LinkedIn platform, making it a lot smoother to promote your own law firm’s services to your social media network without receiving any backlash from potential new clients. This is particularly relevant for lawyers practicing in the employment law and work injury arenas (whether it’s an area of legal expertise or not), which — naturally — the LinkedIn audience is likely to find more relevant to their interests on the platform.

Another hidden advantage of using LinkedIn as part of your social media marketing strategy is that — if you are able to get in front of the right lawyers in your professional network — you could gain access to inbound leads through legal referrals from other lawyers. This is the “classic” or more “traditional” way of networking and gaining a client funnel, so it’s great to have a platform that enables you to more smoothly engage that paradigm. It still works well!

Cross-posting maximizes your social media marketing efforts across several platforms.

When evaluating your social media marketing spend, it’s important to understand that you are not limited to posting your content on one platform. As the functionality of social media platforms increasingly converge (i.e., short-form vertical video is popular on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube), cross-posting your content on various platforms is easy and worthwhile. This gives your content multiple opportunities to succeed — it’s not unusual for a video to “blow up” and go viral on TikTok, but to flounder on Instagram or YouTube, for example.

Content repurposing allows you to adapt your content for different platforms, maximizing its reach and effectiveness.

Since every piece of content you create for social media can potentially be cross-posted to other platforms, you may be willing to spend more on each piece of content — its production can be higher quality, or the content can be more thoughtfully made (i.e., more time is spent on ideation and execution). Since your efforts will not be wasted on one platform, it’s easier to justify the investment of resources.

Don’t reuse labeled content

Worth noting: don’t reuse content that has been labeled for one platform. The algorithms for these social media platforms can detect labels (such as the TikTok tag) and will deprioritize and/or suppress content that has them from other platforms. Have a baseline file of unlabeled content, and use that one to post to various platforms, adding platform-specific flourishes where relevant.

Minimize the production of content that cannot be cross-posted

Another note: content that is suited for only one platform (i.e., long-form video which is suited to YouTube), may not be worth engaging until you have the resources to do so, as it cannot be as easily cross-posted to other platforms. If you are deeply invested in a particular type of content and feel that it matches your brand identity, then monitor engagement and evaluate your content marketing and social media marketing efforts once you have the data to do so.

One of a few tips on social media for lawyers: don’t create selfish content

On social media, corporate and professional channels often fail to meet their growth goals, in part because they are not creating content that fosters audience engagement — in other words, they are not meeting the audience “where they are.” This sort of content, which is ideated internally and meant to serve the creator’s own biased perspective on what qualifies as “compelling,” can reasonably be considered selfish content.

Law firm content such as:

• Behind-the-scenes photos/videos
• Constantly focused on brand mentions and designed to generate leads
• Public relations content regarding law firm engagements (i.e., awards, scholarships, community engagement, charity events, etc.)
• Promotional content about your law firm’s services
• In-depth legal content that is written and directed in such a way that it pleases a lawyer audience, not an audience of prospective clients
• And more

This sort of content almost always fails to gain traction on social media, but corporate and professional brands continue to make it. The key is to step back and consider what your audience would want to see — not what you want to see as a lawyer in your firm.

The cost of failed content on your social channels is higher than many people realize. See, if you post poor-performing content, and you do so consistently, then your content will be deprioritized in that social media platform’s recommendation algorithm. This will hurt all future content until you have reversed the trend consistently.

Contact Walker Advertising for Helping Growing Your Firm’s Client Base

Whether you’re a solo lawyer, a small firm lawyer, or part of a larger firm with plans for further expansion, it’s important for legal professionals to grow their client base and improve client acquisition in order to hit their revenue and client growth goals. To do so, you may be exploring social media for lawyers. Here at Walker Advertising, we can help. We operate a number of popular attorney networks (including our Los Defensores and 1-800-THE-LAW2 brands) through which law firms are able to access leads for various legal claims.

The leads we acquire through our various online marketing efforts — from social media marketing to targeted web ads — have been pre-qualified by our team so that you aren’t hassled by a flood of leads that are simply not relevant or actionable for your purposes. By accessing these quality leads, you’ll be well-equipped to select the best ones to grow your firm business.

Best of all, you won’t have to spend your valuable time and effort on building out your online marketing efforts. Don’t worry about SEO optimization, social media accounts, trend analysis, or any other complex marketing issues. Instead, use us to access pre-qualified inbound leads, and focus your law firm’s limited internal resources on providing quality representation to your existing (and new) client base.

Contact Walker Advertising today to connect to a member of our team who can explain how our legal networks can help law firms thrive, find their target audience, secure more clients, and effectively compete against other law firms in this ever-changing digital marketing landscape.

We look forward to assisting you with your law firm marketing efforts and getting more clients.