Over the past several years, I have witnessed a branding and revenue generation trend that, candidly, is one of the easiest that has hit the market, period. With the massive growth of LinkedIn within the legal community, its popularity amongst professionals is reminiscent of the social popularity of Facebook during its meteoric rise (see also: MySpace for those of age).

I have coached many attorneys through the value of LinkedIn, from setting up a profile to diving into the nitty-gritty analytics behind the platform. No matter where you are on the spectrum, LinkedIn is an extremely valuable tool that you should be using in some capacity. 

The best part about LinkedIn is that it is extremely easy to set up and even easier to maintain.

Now, I know you’re probably thinking “I don’t have time for business development or social media.” I would counter that by saying, “Actually yes, you do.” By scheduling as little as 15 minutes twice a week, you could develop a positive branding habit that will become easy to maintain. 

Pick two days next week (and recurring the weeks after) and block that time in your preferred down time part of the day. Then, choose 1 (or all 5) of the following tips below to kick your new good habit off easily:

1. Read/Re-Read Your Bio

With over 70% of GCs doing some due diligence on LinkedIn first when vetting attorneys and firms, your bio will jump out (or lay flat) when a certain type of attorney is being looked for. Assuming that the percentage will rise as a younger tide of attorneys move into in-house teams, this will be a critical point of focus.

70% of GCs do some due diligence on LinkedIn first when vetting attorneys and firms...

Read your bio and/or have a couple of colleagues review it. Does your expertise stand out? Are you using keywords that are aligned with your specific area of law? Does it compel with a story or bore with bland facts? 

You want your bio to 1) show up in search results and 2) impress when viewed. I can’t stress enough how critical it is that you knock both factors out of the park.

Oh, and please, use a professional headshot on your bio. Bios with professional photos get 14x more profile views than those with a selfie.

2. Follow Your Firm & Your Colleagues

I am consistently surprised at how many attorneys I work with that, when viewing their firm through their profile, don’t follow their firm company page and/or follow only a few of their colleagues within the firm.

Step 1 – Absolutely follow your firm page. This will keep you notified of upcoming events, articles, webinars and similar news that may pass you by otherwise. This is especially crucial for mid-size to large firms with multiple offices where not everything is shared firm-wide.

Step 2 – Go to the “See All Employees” link on your firm page. As you browse through the names that are associated with your firm, make sure you’re connecting with those that work in the same industry space as you, as well as attorneys that you don’t know that well.

This will create more awareness around cross-selling opportunities and also show your interest in others, which drives up your likeability score.

3. Like, Share, Comment or Post 

After you’ve increased your network, scroll through your feed and pay attention to what your colleagues or clients are writing about, posting about or commenting on. This will give you key insights into what they’re focused on. 

Post an article that you’ve written or a link to an event that you’re speaking at...

If your firm company page or your firm colleagues post something, and it’s relevant to your client base, like, share or comment on it. This will increase the visibility of the content to your network. More importantly, be sure to highlight your own thought leadership or events. Post an article that you’ve written or a link to an event that you’re speaking at. Awareness is incredibly important on LinkedIn and by just reading and not interacting, you’re limiting your impact and visibility.

4. Follow Key Clients & Competitive Firms

LinkedIn is a phenomenal place to keep up with what is going on with your clients, connections, competition and more. It is imperative that you take time to search for your top 10 clients (people or companies) and follow their pages on LinkedIn. 

“Knowing is half the battle.”

By following your clients, you can look for a few different ways to harvest talking points:

• Company page updates
• What they Like, Post or Share content wise
• Leadership changes or company appearances in news stories
• GCs moving to new companies (Side note: LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a massive competitive tool to use for this)

In regards to competitive firms, don’t be afraid to follow them to see:

• Content posts
• Upcoming events (Keep an eye out for webinars that they’re hosting on specific topics)
• Key trend identification in certain industries 
• Lateral hires

The more you know, the better informed you are on your clients and your competition. As I fondly remember G.I. Joe saying, “Knowing is half the battle.”

5. Mobile App, QR Code, and Why They’re Important

Chances are, you are reading this article on your mobile device. In fact, in 2018, over 63% of all information and internet access was used through mobile devices. Back in 2017, it was reported that 60% of LinkedIn traffic is coming in through mobile devices.

So, this is your cue. If you don’t have the LinkedIn app on your phone, download it right away. 

At the beginning of this article, you probably agreed with my statement when I said you didn’t have time for another business development or social media task, right? By using the app, you just found your time. Waiting at a restaurant, coffee shop, in between meetings, on a plane or during some downtime (just not while driving please), a few minutes here and there can get you to your 30 minutes a week of using LinkedIn.

Now, the QR code is a newer feature and is likely to replace the business card and the “Questions/Contact” slide for any presenters in the near future, in my humble opinion. 

The QR code does allows someone to scan it right away to go directly to your LinkedIn profile and connect with you rather than do that awkward dance where you start typing in their name, maybe misspell it once or twice and then hold it up to them saying “Is this you?”

For presenters, this is a must. Gone will be the days that you flash a slide up on the end of your presentation that has “Questions?” and your e-mail address for follow up questions. You can save the QR code to your computer, paste it on the final slide, encourage the audience to scan it and then take note of who shows up in your request queue. Send each of them a follow up note, thanking them for attending your presentation and asking to set up a call/coffee soon.

I created a video for a conference that I spoke at that walks you through finding and utilizing your code. That video is available here.

As a proponent of the saying “Work smarter and not harder,” these are the easiest tips that you can incorporate into your week to stay ahead of the game on knowledge and differentiation when it comes to client interaction. 

To learn more about each of these, and other strategies, as training sessions and webinars, please contact me at rich@society54.com to discuss your needs.  

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[Rich Bracken, Director of Coaching for Society 54, advises attorneys and professional services firms on revenue generation initiatives by leveraging data analytics, client service strategies and differentiated branding. He is also the Chair of the Legal Marketing Association of Kansas City, a frequent conference speaker and a regular contributor on Fox 4 News in Kansas City. Connect with Rich on LinkedIn and Society54.com.]