IG Post Ideas for Law Firms: Reaching New Clients in a Visual Landscape
With over 2 billion active users per month and 500 million per day, Instagram has become the fourth-largest social media network globally. In the United States, 75% of Generation Z and 57% of millennials are on the platform. Lawyers are, too – but not as much. Only 18% of respondents in the American Bar Association’s 2023 Legal Technology Survey reported using Instagram, whether for personal or business purposes.
Maximizing Instagram for lawyers may seem tricky at first because of its visual nature and the younger audience it attracts. That said, law firms in the digital age have captured and engaged followers by showing attorneys in action, highlighting culture and values, and sharing insights on trending topics.
This article offers practical tips on how to market a law firm on Instagram, aiming to help legal professionals capitalize on social media and maximize marketing campaigns.
Understanding Instagram as a Marketing Platform
Instagram is not the most obvious choice for professional marketing–in the ABA survey cited, LinkedIn is the most preferred platform by lawyers. IG marketing requires a different strategy.
Do Visuals Matter in Promoting a Law Firm?
Visuals are important in marketing a law firm because of their engagement potential. One study by 3M Corporation and the University of Minnesota found that visual aids make presentations 43% more persuasive. The human brain loves visuals as a mode of communication; it can process visual information in a quarter of a second and still remember it later.
Law firms can use visuals to:
Condense complex information: Infographics, flowcharts, and graphs are appealing and digestible methods of presenting data.
Reinforce identity: Consistency in the design and use of branding elements helps people remember what the firm is about.
Connect with audiences: Apart from improving branding, visuals can be used to add a human touch to the firm’s name. Videos and images of lawyers are well-suited to this purpose.
Improve SEO performance: Using the right visuals and tagging them properly can increase organic traffic.
Is Instagram a Good Platform for Lawyers?
Instagram is good for small teams or solo practitioners with a knack for creating visual content. For larger ones working with a marketing budget, it may also be worth investing in lawyer Instagram. Industry benchmarks show that IG users engage at a rate of 1.4%, higher than average rates in other social media platforms. This means audiences are more likely to react to or share lawyers’ posts on Instagram than on Facebook or X, for example.
Leveraging Images of Lawyers
Do Professional Portraits Impact Law Firm Marketing?
Images of lawyers on Instagram give potential clients faces to relate to. The quality of images can also impact one’s impression of a firm.
While it can be tempting to simply grab a smartphone and take selfies on a regular workday, law firms should consider investing in professional photography. According to A/B tests done by Visual WebSite Optimizer, professional portraits can boost conversion rates by up to 45% when used instead of stock photos.
Photographers have the skill and equipment to capture portraits in a way that looks right and natural. Here are some photos that can be used for law firm marketing:
Remember to keep photos updated to reflect staff and branding changes.
Can Law Firms Post Behind-The-Scenes Photos?
Posting behind-the-scenes photos helps add a sense of authenticity to one’s perception of a law firm. Unlike stock photography, behind-the-scenes images are unique to a firm. Get informal and candid shots that show a legal team genuinely working together, whether inside the office serving clients or out in the world giving back to communities. Short, casually worded captions go well with these photos.
Should Lawyers Share Client Success Stories?
Law firms should highlight stories that indicate how they positively impact clients’ lives. Success stories can further cement attorneys’ credibility. These can also come in the form of testimonials, case studies, and social media posts.
What’s more, they double as user-generated content. Success stories can serve as an avenue for engagement and community participation.
How to Market a Law Firm on Instagram
Step 1: Build a Cohesive Feed/Brand
Since Instagram is a visual medium, it helps to imagine how a viewer will see and experience your feed. It is good to have a plan and a vision from the get-go. This way, as your feed grows, the posts will look like they come from the same firm, effectively conveying its culture and values.
Here are some tips for pulling your Instagram feed together:
Choose a Color Palette
Using the same color or set of colors does two things: First, it reinforces brand identity, especially if you use colors from your law firm’s logo. Second, it creates a common thread that runs across your feed. McKinney Law Group’s Instagram looks striking with its commitment to black-and-white posts.
Maintain Unity in Visual Elements
Apart from color, you can use an array of graphic elements, including patterns, borders, textures, and photo filters. Whichever you choose, it should be prominent when someone scrolls through your feed.
Plan Your Content
Make a content calendar based on your firm’s events, cases, and court appearances. Creating content in batches not only saves time; it is also practical for organizing content ideas and synchronizing the look of specific sets of posts.
Experiment with Grid Layouts
Instagram’s grid format is a canvas for interesting combinations. Posts can be arranged diagonally, by rows, or even by color blocks to maximize visual impact. A puzzle-like grid narrative, which splits a single image into several posts, is also an option. You can use tools like Planoly to mockup and preview grid layouts.
Step 2: Maximize Instagram’s Features
In addition to photo posts, Instagram offers unique features. Here are their functions and some feature-specific content ideas:
Lawyers on Instagram can also take advantage of hashtags. These consist of the pound sign (#) and a word or group of words about specific topics. While not unique to the platform, hashtags thrive on Instagram. They allow users to pick up on trends and quickly find related information.
Here are some ways to maximize hashtags in IG captions and comments:
Create a unique hashtag for your firm’s name.
Include case types and practice areas (e.g., #ImmigrationLawyer).
Include location (e.g., #NewYorkDivorce).
Step 3: Engage with Your Followers and Potential Clients
You must engage on Instagram to build recognition around your law firm. This should be an ongoing process and is especially significant before and after posting new content. Doing so can boost your profile visits and engagement rates, prompting Instagram’s algorithm to push your content up on users’ news feeds.
Here are some things you can do to engage your followers and attract new ones:
React to comments on your posts as soon as possible.
Think of meaningful responses to people’s comments on lawyer Reels.
Incorporate interactive elements in your content, such as quizzes and polls.
To further increase your activity, you can also follow with influencers who may have an interest in your practice area. Engaging in their posts can expose your law firm to a wider audience.
Instagram Bio Ideas for Lawyers
Instagram is designed such that the bio ranks quite high in the visual hierarchy. After a law firm’s username, profile photo, and follower count, it is the next thing that catches a user’s eye. An IG bio should, therefore, be strong, making the most out of its 150-character limit.
What Makes a Lawyer IG Bio Compelling?
A strong bio encapsulates what a lawyer or law firm is all about. Ideally, it leaves a lasting impression on profile visitors and convinces them to hit the “Follow” button. Here are some elements to consider when brainstorming Instagram bio ideas for lawyers:
Concise summary of one’s practice
Law firm tagline or motto
Noteworthy qualities, like skills, years of experience, or a client-first approach
Short overview of what followers can expect to see on the feed
Relevant keywords with search volume (e.g., immigration lawyer)
Contact information
Call to action based on goals (e.g., get more followers or boost website visits).
Note that Instagram bios have the option to include a link to a law firm’s website, a fundraiser landing page, or an appointment calendar.
What Are Some Examples of Good IG Bios for Lawyers?
Because of its limited length, a good IG bio can only say so much. Some examples, depending on what an attorney wants to highlight, include:
Practice area: “Your partner in immigration matters”
Accomplishments: “Award-winning family lawyers”
Approach: “Fighting for your insurance rights in court”
Content: “Follow us and know your consumer rights”
Brown Rudnick LLP has a straightforward IG bio that reads:
Brown Rudnick represents clients from around the world in high-stakes litigation and business transactions. Content may include attorney advertising. (linkin.bio/brownrudnickllp)
The bio highlights two practice areas and the types of clients the firm represents. It goes on to set content expectations and ends with a Link in Bio. This tool leads clicks to a mini-landing page where viewers can see a link to the firm’s website and other social media accounts.
Brown Rudnick ranked second in Good2bSocial’s 2023 list of top legal performers on Instagram. Other firms that made it to the list had even shorter bios, with some condensing the essence of their practice into a tagline or two. Some chose to highlight the nature of their clients, but most notably, each of the Top 5 ranking firms left a link in their IG bios.
Instagram Caption Ideas for Lawyers
Despite the visual nature of Instagram, captions or texts that go with posts (not to be confused with captioning in videos) are still important. Captions give lawyers additional space–albeit limited to 2,200 characters—to provide context and further connect with potential clients.
How Can Lawyers Write Engaging IG Captions?
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing engaging Instagram captions for lawyers:
Use a Casual Tone
Write in a way that sounds friendly yet professional. While captions are a great place to give out valuable information like legal tips and FAQ teasers, they must be accessible enough to people. Captions should also be consistent with a law firm’s “voice” or personality.
Keep Captions Short
In general, there is no need to max out the character limit. IG users will only see the first 125 characters of captions when scrolling through their feeds. If you opt for longer ones, use a catchy hook and split the text using line breaks.
Be Strategic with Hashtags
End captions with hashtags relevant to the post’s topic and the law firm’s branding. Doing so will make your posts more visible to people who might be interested in them. At the same time, avoid using too many hashtags in a single post, as this may seem too attention-seeking. Tools like Later can be used to research hashtags.
Can IG Captions Serve as Calls to Action for Law Firms?
Incorporating CTAs into IG captions is essential for boosting engagement. They can be as simple as asking users to like or share a post, tag a friend, or tap the “link in bio” to go to a law firm’s website. But for deeper engagement, it is good to ask questions like the following:
What is your opinion on this topic?
Have you or a family member experienced workplace discrimination?
Did you know mental health patients have rights under the law?
Do you have any topic requests?
Such questions spark conversations, prompting others to share their thoughts and experiences.
Instagram Username Ideas for Lawyers
Should Law Firms Aim for Catchy IG Usernames?
Usernames, along with one’s bio and captions, are one of the things the platform looks at when ranking profiles on search results, according to CEO Adam Mosseri. As such, Instagram usernames for lawyers should communicate who they are while being memorable enough to stick with profile visitors. A catchy name can also encourage word-of-mouth recommendations from clients.
Since law firms are often named after their founders or partners, attorneys creating a fresh IG account may find that their firm’s name is already taken. When this happens, they can get creative with a unique username that echoes their firm’s culture or the kind of content they would like to publish. Experimenting with puns may also work.
That said, lawyers who are already on other social media channels like Facebook or YouTube may want to keep their usernames as consistent as possible.
What Are Some Examples of Good IG Usernames for Lawyers?
A lawyer's IG username may include the following elements:
Name of the law firm or lawyer
Practice area
Content niche
Keywords like legal, lawyer, law, and law firm
Location
Articles, pronouns, and/or connectors like the, your, and with.
Special characters.
A family lawyer named John Smith can come up with various options like @smithfamilylaw, @yourmaineadvocate, @lawyersmith_portland, and @thecustody.attorney.
How Can Lawyers Benefit from a Quality IG Profile?
A law firm’s IG profile contributes to its social media marketing efforts, serving as a channel to boost online visibility and connect with prospects, previous clients, and other lawyers. Building a quality profile requires time, skill, and discipline, but it can pay off in attracting the younger generation and interacting with people in a more friendly and personal manner.
Boost Your Digital Marketing Campaign with Expertise
Expertise.com can help lawyers who are ready to up their game on Instagram and other social media channels. Feel free to check the website’s directories of marketing professionals who create customized content and online marketing plans.
FAQs on Instragam for Lawyers
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