LinkedIn is a social network that focuses on professional networking, career development and recruitment. It is owned by Microsoft.
It is the number one social platform of choice in New Zealand used by Lawyers and Law Firms. At the start of 2020, LinkedIn users in New Zealand was just above 2 million. By January 2021, the numbers spiked to 2,300,000 showing a 7.47% increase.
Lawyers and Law Firms prefer LinkedIn as a trusted professional network and business community compared to other social media platforms. While many people think of LinkedIn as a recruitment platform, it’s actually a place you can connect and network to grow your firm, acquire new clients and increase your revenues.
Covid and Lockdowns have resulted in less physical networking so firms have turned to social platforms to develop online opportunities. LinkedIn wins hands down for professional networking in New Zealand
Here are 12 key tips how Lawyers and Law Firms should use LinkedIn:
Setting up your LinkedIn Profile
Your profile is your personal brand. Ensuring you complete your profile information fields will result in being viewed 20 times more than an incomplete profile. Here’s some essential basics:
Make sure your photo is of good/professional quality (head and shoulders).
Add a background image that reflects your personality and your profession.
State your industry and location in your headline.
Include a concise summary of yourself, your firm and your services. Upload some of your work or link to your website to add vivacity to your profile.
2. Connect with other LinkedIn Users
Connect with some of the two million+ NZ professionals. With LinkedIn, you can widen your network by inviting people and organisations to connect with you. This is about building and developing relationships for mutual benefits. When you make a connection, you can access the person’s profile and their public connections. This provides a fast way to become known.
3. Initiate Conversations
LinkedIn has a messaging feature that allows you to communicate with connections. You will know that your connection is online when you see the green dot beside their profile. It also has a Smart Replies function, which is short and automatically generated, that allows you to keep your conversation quick and productive.
4. Provide and Obtain Recommendations and Endorsements
If you can build connections, they can make recommendations for your profile as well as extend endorsements of your skills. And you can do it for them as well.
You can ask your connections to provide recommendations that highlight your expertise and capabilities.
5. Setup or Join LinkedIn Groups
Setting up or joining LinkedIn groups is a great way to develop your professional network. It’s a valuable source of information and you may be able to share your knowledge with people in your group. Just avoid self-promotion. Keep aware of the rules and/or code of etiquette to ensure you are not removed or blocked from the group.
6. Contribute Engaging Content Exclusively For LinkedIn
Similar to other social networks, LinkedIn enables you to do the following:
a.) Post text, images, and links to other sites;
b.) Record and upload video from your device directly to your page;
c.) Publish full articles with presentations and infographics.
Just make sure that your post is informative, useful, and relevant to your professional connections. To reach more users, adding hashtags to the post is valuable.
7. Establish your Firm's Professional Profile
Setting up your company’s/Firm’s LinkedIn page is essential to increase the visibility of your business, your brand, your services and your expertise. By doing so, you can create priceless connections with your prospective clientele, employees and contractors. Your Firm’s page replaces the old style glossy brochure. It should be professional and impressive.
8. Follow Professional Decorum on LinkedIn
Maintaining a good reputation on LinkedIn is vital to the success of your image, reputation and your business. It means that you have to be mindful of your posts and your interactions with other users. As much as possible, consider the following:
a.) Avoid posting personal materials
b.) Avoid spreading rumors or gossip
c.) Avoid exaggerating yourself or your Firm
9. Develop awareness with prospective clients
Whether you specialise in real estate, small business, employment law, trusts and probate or corporate business, expanding your network and brand with potential clients will increase the chances of them coming to you when they need legal services.
10. Establish a community of like-minded professionals
If you are a real estate specialist, you can connect with real estate agents so they can refer or ask for your assistance when their clients need advice. If you are an Employment Law specialist you can connect with other HR professionals. You can post articles, published opinions and other relevant content to your blog or website where your connections can get more information.
11. Build an employer brand.
Use LinkedIn to promote your brand and Firm. Find and attract the best talent and people for your Firm. Use it as a more cost-effective way to recruit. Make use of the advertising feature to attract applications when you need them the most. Share content, photos and videos that promote your Firm as a great place to work.
12. Stay up-to-date with what’s happening in your industry
By joining a group where your peers, colleagues and competitors belong to will help you keep updated on current trends, problems, concerns and even cases in your niche. You can write an article that will promote your Firm and your particular expertise. This will help your profile and ability to be recognised as a subject expert. This in turn will help the entire process of networking.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool and platform for professionals. As soon as you start networking on LinkedIn, your chances of reaching new clients and getting referrals will increase. You should develop a simple LinkedIn strategy and plan. You MUST keep your LinkedIn profile active. It requires consistency and dedication. It must be managed properly so that your connections are aware of your existence.
DigitalxMarketing can help you with getting the most out of LinkedIn. We can perform a review and profile audit, redesign your profile with full SEO & custom-designed graphic header. We can then monitor & manage your LinkedIn page/profile, build your reputation, create posts & articles and assist to increase your engagement.
If you need help with your digital marketing, feel free to reach out to us today at info@digitalx.marketing.