Social media has captured most of the world’s attention with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. These days, virtually everyone uses the medium in one form or another – the legal profession is no exception. An ABA survey conducted in 2020 found that nearly 80% of attorneys use social media.
If you’re not yet utilizing social media as part of your marketing strategy, you might be missing out on a significant source of business for your law practice. However, there are certain rules that lawyers should follow in order to effectively benefit from these platforms, some pertaining to ethical considerations. The sections below will cover some of the most important.
Utilize Social Media To Boost Your SEO Efforts
Technically speaking, social media doesn’t improve your search engine optimization (SEO) directly. Instead, it helps by affecting the factors that search engines like Google consider when it comes to ranking pages highly on its search results.
Nonetheless, the end result is the same: more traffic drawn to your business. Social media can bolster your engagement with potential clients, create backlinks to your content, boost your presence in local online searches, and give new life to content you’ve previously created, just to name a few ways it can help you as a lawyer.
If you keep this connection between social media and SEO in mind as you implement your strategy, you’ll be setting yourself up for more tangible results.
Focus on These Social Media Platforms
Lawyers can benefit from certain social media platforms more than others. As an attorney, you’ll want to focus on having a consistent presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.
Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, with nearly 3 billion monthly active users. It’s also still the most popular with businesses specifically. Facebook offers a chance for you to amass a sample of positive reviews for you as a lawyer, which can help increase your credibility across the web.
Instagram and Twitter are not too far behind Facebook in terms of popularity. Together, these three platforms allow you to publish and share a wide range of content and reach the widest audience. Instagram is a place for you to post helpful pictures and videos about your law practice, while Twitter offers an opportunity for you to regularly engage with potential clients.
LinkedIn differs from the other three insofar as it is professionally focused. With LinkedIn, you can appeal not just to potential clients but to colleagues and others within the legal profession. This social media platform sets the stage for additional connections that can help you and your business grow.
Make Sure You Comply With ABA Requirements
The ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct have been largely adopted by most states, and some of them pertain to social media. These include, but are not limited to:
- You cannot post about your clients without their permission
- Your posts cannot contain information about your cases or communications related to them
- You cannot state or imply that you are an “expert” in your area of the law unless you have been certified by the appropriate governmental entity
- You cannot state that you are the “best” or “cheapest” attorney
- Your posts cannot exaggerate any of your achievements or results
The ABA’s rules regarding the solicitation of clients also apply to social media.
These Rules Will Help You Utilize Social Media Ethically and Effectively
It can seem daunting to begin a social media campaign as an attorney, but it’s likely well worth your time. People rely on the internet for just about everything these days, and that includes finding a lawyer.
You’ll greatly strengthen your online presence through a sound social media strategy, which will, in turn, help you take on more clients and more cases. Of course, not all social media campaigns are implemented correctly or appropriately. But with these rules in your back pocket, you’ll be in a position to use social media in a way that complies with ethical requirements and is optimized for you as a lawyer.