After “not enough time”, the next biggest complaint most lawyers have about their social media marketing is coming up with ideas for what to post. I mean, there’s a limit to how many times you can tell people that you’ve won an award or made it into Doyles guide, right?
So, since I’ve posted thousands of random thoughts on social media over the years, I thought I’d do a ridiculously long list of social media ideas that lawyers can use in their day to day social media marketing campaigns.
A word of warning: let’s accept in advance that some of these ideas:
- Aren’t super innovative
- Might strike you as “unprofessional”.
And then we can move on. The point of this is not to give you the “secret formula to social media success” or some nonsense like that, it’s to try and provoke a bit of creativity.
While these are social media friendly, there’s no reason you can’t run similar ideas through your firm’s blog.
The last thing I want to stress is this: don’t pick just one type of post. It gets pretty obnoxious if the ONLY thing you post is images of your latest google reviews. Let’s keep up a friendly mix of stuff and keep people a bit interested.
Let’s get started.
Informative Posts about your Law Firm
As the name suggests, informative posts are…. Informative. This is where you share your expertise on relevant, identifiable topics that your clients and potential clients care about. Obviously you want to stay mostly on topic here, because it’s building up the perception of expertise.
1. Your latest blog post
This one is really a no-brainer, right? And let’s face it most law firms do it anyway. But if you aren’t posting your latest articles to social media, then start doing it.
2. Links to Email Newsletters
One thing a lot of lawyers don’t know is that their email newsletters are, in most cases at least, available through their email marketing provider as a public link. So if you want to share your newsletter beyond just those who are subscribed, then this is the way to do it.
3. Podcast Episodes
Similar to blog posts, share out those podcasts if you’re actually doing them. But, if you’re not, then what about other people’s podcasts that you find interesting or participated in?
4. Video Thoughts
One massively wasted opportunity for lawyers is the “random thought” video. Because we’re a bit obsessed with the formal setting/lights/boardroom stuff, we don’t often just pick up the phone, record a quick (but coherent) brain dump, and post it online.
5. Curated, Relevant, Information
The vast majority of law firms seem to only post their own stuff – as if they’re the only ones who can think of things. That’s a bit wasted opportunity – sharing curated industry news that’s relevant to your existing audience saves them time by doing the hard work of selecting valuable things to read.
6. Quick style Q&A Posts
Every lawyer has a list of questions they get asked regularly. It’s time to turn all of them into simple text or image posts.
Heck – why not double down and do videos too ?
7. Upcoming Amendments to legislation
This gets done from time to time, but why not give your clients and potential clients a heads up if something interesting is about to happen?
Hot tip: don’t pick boring legislative amendments…
8. Links to Recent Decisions with a Valuable Comment
Similar to curated content but a bit more lawyery, if you’ve gone to the trouble of reading a recent, relevant case you might as well link it up with your observations. Doesn’t need to be Homer’s odyssey – just post a thought or a quote from the decision.
9. Government Releases in your Field
Sometimes governments do stuff that matters, and isn’t just the latest political posturing. If they do, make sure you’re on your game and tell people about it.
10. Snippets from Longer Work
All those beautiful articles you’ve written before MUST have in them a few paragraphs, thoughts or gems here and there that you can repurpose into shorter posts for social media, right?
11. Infographics
These take a bit of work to produce (although are easy enough to outsource) – but infographics can help compress a tonne of information into a nifty, shareable, graphic.
12. How-To Videos
Need to walk a potential client through how to respond to being arrested, or inspected, or interviewed? A practical how to video in a simple talking head style can do the trick.
13. Quick Stats
Even though 9/10 stats are made up on the spot, relevant statistics can be a great share.
14. Re-Shares
Got old content that hasn’t been put out there in a while? Re-share it.
15. Create a Series
If you have the staying power for it, creating a predictable, reliable series of posts that are regularly going to come out on X day at Y time can be a great way to get people watching attentively for what you have to say. Pick a theme, pick some topics (maybe off this list), and get cracking.
16. Guest Posts from Third Parties
Yep – it’s actually OK to ask other people to write stuff for you and post it. This links back to the “lawyers don’t know everything” principle I mentioned earlier.
17. Screen Recording/Demo
Tired of explaining to your clients how to do stuff that involves a computer? Why not grab some simple screensharing software, record it, and hey presto! Problem solved.
Not only can you share this on social as a useful piece of content, but if you have a bank of these you can save yourself and your clients a lot of time and headaches.
18. Common Mistakes in X
From witnessing affidavits to signing contracts to giving you proper instructions to swearing at the judge – if there are common mistakes in your field, why not do a series or a post about what they are and why they matter?
19. Quick Hacks
Everyone loves a hack, and if it happens to make them money, save them risk, or solve a problem then it’s even better. How can you help people hack their legal needs?
Engaging Posts To… um… Engage People
Social media is about engagement, right? But what the heck does that mean, and how can you go about generating some? Well, engagement means discussion. Here are a few conversation starters to get you going.
20. Ask a Question
Pretty obvious – ask a question, and hope that some people have an answer about it.
21. Market Research
About to offer something new and fantastic? Need a bit of input to make it a success? Ask away – people love giving advice and feedback.
22. What’s Your Favourite?
Car/Colour/Courthouse/Burger/Flowers/Whatever. You get the idea.
23. Take a Poll
Twitter and Facebook both allow you to take a poll – suggest a few potential answers, ask a relevant question, and invite people to jump in with their experience or views.
24. Preach to the Choir
Just because everybody already knows something that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t remind them of it on social media. Preaching to the choir can be a great way to get positive, if sometimes a bit shallow, engagement on issues that you and your tribe basically agree about already.
25. Devil’s Advocate
If you don’t feel like preaching, you can always take the opposite view. Putting forward a contrarian (if not controversial) opinion on a topic can generate a discussion and, if done right, doesn’t necessarily need to offend everybody you know along the way. Perhaps you could phrase it in the form of a question?
26. Fill-In-The-Blank
The best actor who has ever played the Joker in batman is _______________?
27. Ask-Me-Anything (Twitter)
Twitter and Reddit are your playgrounds here. Try running an “ask me anything” on a topic of your choice, and see if you can get a few great questions and answers out there.
28. Ask for Feedback on a New Idea
Had a lightbulb moment that doesn’t need patent protection? Why not share it and see if people agree with your genius.
29. How Did we First Connect
A simple question with often interesting answers.
30. Caption This Photo
Captions are even better if they happen to be pictures of you doing something… odd.
31. What Do You Predict?
These are great for discussion, because people LOVE having opinions. Even better if you combine this with a preach to the choir or devil’s advocate post.
32. This or That
A simple, two word question – no explanation generally required to get some traction here.
Tea or Coffee? Red or Blue? Flowers or Chocolate?
33. If You Could…?
People enjoy daydreaming, and sometimes an imaginative way to get them into it is to create an opportunity for them to spend a few minutes wondering… what would I do if?
Funny/Lighthearted Posts
Lawyers obviously have superior senses of humour to normal people, but for some reason we hide it from the world at large. Here’s your chance to cut loose with the comedic mastery that you’ve been hiding all these years.
34. Meme or GIF Posts
Look, I get that memes and GIFs aren’t usually the most important or intellectual posts – and yet, they generate massive response and give people a chuckle – so perhaps you could give them a go?
35. Funny Observations
Something funny happen? Can you poke a bit of fun at yourself? A bit of light-hearted commentary can show people that you are, after all, a person.
36. Image Scramble Things
You know those pictures where they zoom right in and you have to guess what they are and stuff? OK they’re hard to describe – here’s one (it’s a paintbrush, if you’re wondering):
37. Inspirational Quotes (yeah I know….)
Just gonna leave this right here.
38. Inspirational Misquotes
If inspirational quotes make you vomit a little bit more each time, then perhaps deliberately twisting or turning a common quote around into something a bit different or quirky might work?
39. Throwback Thursday
#TBT is a running hashtag on a number of social media platforms, used to show an image from your past. Got a few old photos lying around of you, your firm or your team? This is the place to put them.
40. Flashback Friday
Similar to throwback Thursday but… on a Friday.
41. Motivational Monday
Personally I love Mondays, so I don’t know what the big deal is, but a lot of people who hate themselves and their lives seem to find Mondays a bit of a drag. Why not be that person who picks people up with a bit of Monday motivation? At this point most people would add the ones for Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday to pad out the list, but I’m not that guy.
PS – I put 39-41 in an odd order just to annoy everyone.
42. Social Media Takeover
How about instead of your marketing person doing absolutely everything you had over control of a social media account to one of your (trusted) staff members for a day? You’d be amazed how a bit of insight into #lawyerlyf can add spice to your social media accounts.
43. Before and After Posts
Gone through a big transformation at your firm? Helped a construction client on a big project? Anything where you can show visually a dramatic change is worthy of a before and after shot.
44. Favourite Book/Movie/Whatever
Most lawyers we know consume enormous amounts of information. Why not share a little bit about what you’re reading, what you’re watching, what you’re learning. Combine this with a question for some engagement and you might get some great ideas for your next purchase.
Social Proof/Brag Book Posts
Admittedly this category can feel a big awkward, depending what country you’re from (my US colleagues seem to be far more comfortable posting this kind of stuff than us Aussies). But, mixing in a bit of social proof that your clients actually like you is worth doing every now and again – just don’t make it your entire campaign.
45. Images of Google Reviews/Recommendations
Are you getting good reviews? Take a screenshot or a snippet of it and lob it up there.
46. Decisions with Successful Outcomes
The good thing about written reasons for decision is that they are public information, so sharing them doesn’t really encroach on confidentiality or privilege like some other things can. Share that decision and show the world what happens when they get YOU as their lawyer.
47. Appropriately Redacted Thankyou Notes
Be careful with these, because of course sometimes they contain case specific information. However, much like reviews these can show that not only do your clients appreciate your legal knowledge, they actually appreciated your humanity as well.
48. Testimonials
Self-explanatory in most cases since this is what testimonials are for. One word of caution: I’ve seen some firms posting “testimonials” that are so obviously made up that it’s amazing nobody vetted them first. Not only is this borderline deceptive it also makes you look foolish.
49. Case Studies
Can you post your client/matter experience in the form of a case study? Often you might need your client’s permission of course, but sometimes showing the gritty reality of the work you do can highlight just how hard you pursue your client’s interests, and what that means to the end result.
50. That Doyles Guide/Best Lawyers/Etc Humblebrag
If you must. Just try not to make everyone sick when you do.
Social Conscience Posts
Law Firms, despite what people think, often do a fair amount for charities and general good will to all people. While you wouldn’t want to saturate your social media feeds with neverending virtue signalling, sharing a few insights into how and why you firm is doing good things in the community can’t hurt.
51. Sponsoring an Event
Lots of law firms sponsor events all around the place – why not take a few happy snaps and post them? If you can do it well you don’t really even need to mention that you’re the sponsor – it will be obvious.
52. Speaking at a Charity Function
Along with sponsoring often comes the opportunity to give a presentation of keynote of some kind. Can you record it or livestream it? Can you snap a picture of a nice moment? Document the event and use the records to create a few posts about it. Don’t forget to tag the others in the picture…
53. Attending Charity Function
OK so you didn’t make that keynote position, but you paid a small fortune to book a table. Snap some shots, capture some quotes, document the event! Functions have enormous opportunities for social sharing.
54. Why you Support X
Often there’s a more personal reason behind why you’ve decided to support a charity. I get that a lot of Australian lawyers in particular don’t really like over-sharing on this stuff, but sometimes the power behind your decision to support X offers a chance for a moment of authentic connection. Don’t be afraid to explain why you’re throwing your weight behind a particular cause.
55. Compelling Story behind X
Whether or not it’s a charity, sometimes you’ll be involved in something that has behind it, or ahead of it, a story that your clients are going to find compelling. Share the story! Perhaps you don’t even need it to be your own – get it in the words of the person it’s most connected to.
56. Call To Action – Support X with Us!
Along with documenting your charity events, every now and again you can ask for others to jump on board. Of course you don’t want to use all of your political capital here, but occasionally you can take a crack at garnering support for the cause you believe in.
57. Pro-Bono Numbers in your Firm
People regularly underestimate just how much time lawyers spend helping others free of charge. It’s fine to disillusion them about that every now and again.
58. Various Equality Related Things
Equality is a hot topic right now, as a cursory glance at your social media news feed will tell you. Are there things you do well in this space or are trying to do better in this space? Share those accomplishments and decisions if you think they are heading in the right direction.
59. Employer of Choice
It’s a bit of a glib term, but along with marketing there’s always a chance for social media to play a role in recruitment. What’s great about your firm? Is it the hours, the culture, the complexity of matters, the best clients (whoever that might be…)? Showcase why it’s fantastic to work at your firm.
60. Make a Statement
If your firm is prepared to “take a stand” on something, and doesn’t mind the world knowing about it (announcing a new 20 hour day policy is unlikely to be a good fit), then why not pop it up on a little image or text post on social media?
NewsJacking Posts
Newsjacking is the process of taking a current/big news cycle event, adding a relevant spin or gloss on it that reflects your firm’s expertise, and getting it out to the world fast. There are right ways and wrong ways to do it, but here are a few options to consider.
61. Video Commentary on Breaking News
The fastest way to jump on a news story is video. Read the news, figure out your angle, and post a video ASAP. Often the first movers get the most attention, and this is a great way to do it.
62. Curated News Articles with your Comment/Question
If you can’t (or won’t) do a video, just share the actual news with a discussion question. This can create good engagement because people care about newsy stuff.
63. Industry Surveys
Big survey just come out? Great! Find a tidbit of information, quote it and share the survey results. People love data, they just won’t usually admit to that out loud ?
64. Commission/Report/Finding Summaries
Similar to industry surveys, there’s a lot of reporting and commission enquiries that go on in legal spaces. If you’re keeping your ear to the ground you can regularly get these reports and offer some commentary very quickly – again, create a discussion around the report findings. Given the length of many of these, there’s often more than one opportunity to comment, question or share.
65. News Roundups
Lots happening in your industry? How about a wrap up – a few dot points, a summary of the goings on – you can save people time and generate discussion along the way.
66. “On This Day”
On this day in 2019, Chris Hargreaves published a post with more than 100 awesome social media ideas for lawyers and law firms.
67. Screenshots
You’ve seen a few of those here already. If you use the Snipping tool or Snaggit or something of that kind, taking a screenshot, adding an arrow or two, and posting as an image can offer a great way to share – especially good for “how-to” style posts.
Collaboration Posts
Social media is about connecting with people, not just always sharing your stuff (especially since we run out of things to say). Collaborative posts are a good way to connect with others and expose your ideas to new audiences. The key here is to tag people – get them involved in the discussion you’re having.
68. That Podcast you just got Interviewed On
I’m sure you share these already, but if you’ve done a podcast interview always share it. Don’t forget to tag the interviewer and anyone else that’s relevant.
69. Inception Posts (Comment on a Comment)
Somebody posts something interesting and you have an interesting thing to say about their interesting thing. Of course you could just share it, but how about a screenshot (see 67 above) and a comment on their comment? Create your discussion around theirs, and tag them along the way ? Works as well for newsjacking and other things you can capture and comment on.
70. Promote your Clients
This can be tricky, but not impossible. Are your clients doing a big project, or did they have a great win, or are they doing something amazing in the community? Don’t be afraid to give them a nudge – you don’t need to talk about their legal work or even say that you are their lawyer – just be generous.
71. Industry Leader Conversations
Most industries have people who are the “go to” experts in their fields. Pay attention to what they say and shoot out their discussion points with your own observations, questions or comments.
72. Share/Repost/Repin Etc
Pretty obvious – sometimes a fast way to create a piece of content is literally just to share somebody else’s, directly from the platform in question. You might not even need to tag them given that they’ll get a notification about it anyway…
But why not take it up a step – if you share something, send them a private note saying how much you liked their post and have shared it with your audience.
73. Tag-A-Friend
Basically this entire section includes tagging, but it’s also its own thing. Tag someone in comments who might be interested in a news article, or in a post if they might have a particular perspective or interest in the topic.
74. Q&A With a Guest (Outside your Firm)
Simple, text style interviews – what is success? What’s the biggest risk to industry X at the moment? Doing a bit of Q&A can offer both long form content and shorter snippet posts (video, audio, image or text) if you care to break it up along the way.
75. Inspiring Person
Every industry has those inspirational individuals, or the ones that you or your firm in particular find worthy to aspire towards. No harm in sharing a bit of why they’re great and what you have learned from them.
Give Stuff Away Posts
You’ve got lots to give, so let’s talk about it. From free downloads to seminars to lead magnets to everything else – don’t forget to post what’s going on in the land of free stuff.
76. Links to your Lead Magnet/s
If you have gone to the trouble of developing a lead magnet (a thing of value to incentivise people to join your email list) then you need to tell people about it sometimes. So make a page and share it around.
77. Run a Giveaway (if it’s Ethical in your Area)
Giveaway fall into ethically ambiguous territory, depending on what it’s for and what you do. But if you can swing it, sometimes a little competitive fun with a giveaway at the end can be good to share.
78. Temporary Promotions
Perhaps you have a time sensitive offer for people to take advantage of. A special or a season or an offer that contains a bit of scarcity about it (limited time, limited seats, limited whatever). Share away!
79. Free Events and Seminars
Law firms around the land are running free webinars, events, talks, presentations, workshops all the time – tell people on social that it’s coming up, and don’t be afraid to cut this up a few different ways. A quote, a practice session, a sample slide, or the bio of your speaker are all fair game.
80. Coupons/Vouchers
Similar to giveaways, sometimes you’ve got some merch or special offers (perhaps from clients) that you’re allowed to share with your audience – do it, and don’t forget to combine it with a bit of love for the provider too.
Behind the Veil
Despite the old adage, everyone does, in fact, like to see how the sausage is made. So take people into the human side of your practice – show them some bits and pieces about how it works, who you are, and how you work together as a team.
81. Staff Bios Profiles
This is a no brainer – introduce your staff. I’ve seen a few firms doing this recently, although I have to admit a lot of it looks like contrived nonsense. Try to avoid the cliché “Ms Smith loves finding commercial outcomes for her clients” nonsense – nobody talks like that.
82. Video Discussion/Fireside Chat
I don’t know about you, but my legal career has been FULL of really interesting conversations. And, within reason, many of them would have been great to record and post online. So next time an interesting chat comes up, why not swing a camera or two on and post it to social. Nutting out a tough problem, talking about strategy – obviously careful about confidentiality, but you can sanitise fairly easily if you know it’s coming.
83. Intake Process Video
Why not talk potential clients through what it’s like to become a client? People are often a bit leery if they haven’t used lawyers before. Make it easy, make it friendly, and let them know how it’s going to go when they use your firm.
84. How you Prepare for X
Clients have to be involved heavily in all legal processes, so why not make it easier? How to prepare for an interview or a witness statement, how to prepare for court, how to give a deposition (if you’re in the USA). Again, take away the mystery and fear a bit, and your clients will do better for it.
85. Differentiation
Lots of firms SAY they’re different, but how much more effective would it be if your SHOWED people you were different. The fun thing is, even if you’re mostly the same as many others, if you’re the only one talking about it people will assume you’re unique.
86. The Human Difference
Lawyers are people too. We have hobbies, care for causes, celebrate birthdays, and much more. People connect with people, and this is a chance to let that happen.
87. Company History
How did your firm start? What risks did the first owner take? How small was it? What work did you do? How did you grow? Why? What happened next? Tell some camp fire stories about the history of your firm, just like you would if you were talking to your friends.
88. Firm News
Stuff happens – tell people. Appointments, career changes, personal achievements are all fair game.
89. Firm Events
Did something big happen in one of your teams? Did your firm score a big win, or help a large matter? Did you run a significant event or a successful one? As well as sharing what’s going to happen, you can always share what HAS happened.
90. Opportunity/Job Listings
Need staff? Let them know. But what if you did something more interesting? Get the group leader to record a video about the position, tell a story of what people in that team did recently, show a picture of the team camp – something more interesting than just posting a link to Seek would be great!
91. New Starters
If you do (90) successfully, then your new starter should be a great fit – time to show and tell, welcome them to the world. People love career moves, and posts about people starting new positions tend to get lots of engagement even though they really aren’t that interesting.
92. Behind the Scenes
How did you prepare for the Melbourne Cup? What happens during Christmas at your firm? How do you deal with large files, encourage your staff, celebrate birthdays? It’s easy to capture and share some of this stuff along the way.
93. Office Fitout/Makeover/New Stuff
Of course be careful about telling your clients how much of their money you spent on fitout, but generally speaking they will enjoy seeing you have fun exploring the new premises, open the boxes with the new computers, or try out the new chairs. Let them share in your excitement!
94. Milestones
Firm anniversaries, new partners, big events, celebrations – again, let people celebrate with you.
Right Hook Posts
There’s a lot of giving in this list, and that’s about right. But sometimes you can throw out a right hook into social media land and say OK DO THIS THING.
95. Ask People to Sign Up to Your Email List
Exactly what it says. You have a valuable thing to offer – literally ask people to sign up from time to time.
96. Ask for Recommendations/Reviews
Just signed up for Google reviews and need to collect a few? Then ask! Sure you might not want to post on social media if you’re terrified (a common ailment for lawyers), but at least email a few people.
97. Say What you Do
Often our positioning as law firms gets confused. People think we’re small matters only and we’re not. People think we do X and instead we do Y. You can clarify that through other messaging, but sometimes you can literally just say “Hey we won $10m of litigation this week alone – and it was a LIGHT WEEK!”.
98. Call Us If…
Describe your ideal client – who are they and when might they need you? How can you help them and what will you achieve for them? #bettercallsaul
99. Time of Year Posts
Family lawyers get a lot of calls around Christmas and holiday time – why? Because that’s when arguments happen. What times of year often industry relevant opportunities for you to share?
Personal Shares
And, of course, sometimes you can share stuff that has almost nothing to do with your firm or your efforts as a lawyer. These help connect people at a more human level once more, because you’d be surprised how many people out there share your interests (um… most of them).
100. In Your City
What’s going on in Brisbane? Or Sydney? Or your suburb? Nice architecture, street parties, interesting lights? Share away!
101. Spotify Playlists
What are you listening too? Are you a full year Mariah Carey Christmas Album person? Why not share and see whether your connections are tuned to your tunes.
102. Human Struggle
Things aren’t always great, despite what 99% of these posts describe. Can you be a bit vulnerable for a moment? Many people are these days, and it doesn’t seem to be doing them too much harm. That said, I’m confident they’re not sharing everything and I’m not suggesting you do either. Just a bit of reality every now and again to demonstrate that you’re a person.
103. Human Achievement
On the flip side, sometimes we do awesome stuff – the marathon we never thought we’d run, the house we finally build with our hands, the endeavour that we accomplish. These are worth sharing with your clients and friends.
104. Holiday/Special Day Posts
Christmas, Easter, holidays, significant days – you can capitalise on these fairly easily with a simple message.
105. Anything with Pets or Babies
‘Cause they’re cute and stuff.
106. Morning Routine Posts
A twist of lemon, some affirmations in front of the mirror, and a single plum in perfume served in a man’s hat. What’s your morning routine, and could you convince anyone to care?
If you hate this (and you might) then you could also do an anti-morning routine. That is, a non-routine routine post.
107. What You’re Doing Today Posts
I’ve seen a few lawyers who do this and only this, and I’m not recommending it – “today I’m at Court for a XXXX hearing” does not make for an interesting read, nor does “it’s catching up on admin day”. But if you’ve got something out of the ordinary happening, then sharing it might make sense.
108. Your Favourite Things
What do you like? What particularly made you happy today? What do your people like? Are you a cat person or a dog person? A little positivity can be good amongst a see of information.
109. What’s your Why?
Why did you become lawyer, and why are you still there? Why did you devote yourself to a life of service? Why do you work in the area you work in, and why do you get out of bed in the morning each day?
Not only will this help you understand your why, it will help others understand you better.
An important note though: don’t contrive some nonsense here – not only is it obvious, it looks worse than just saying nothing.
110. Bucket List Posts
What do you want to achieve before you walk off this place? What have you done in that list? What amazing things await you and how are you working towards them?
And Now… It's Over to You!
If you got this far, there are no more excuses – pick 5 to 10 of these from a range of the different categories, and start cycling through them in your social media queue.
Keep up the variety, keep it human, and… keep turning up!
In the comments let me know: what have YOU found to be the most successful type of social media post?
