By April 2017, LinkedIn had reached half a billion members in 200 countries. That’s a huge universe of people based on just one website. Some will be using LinkedIn for job hunting – others for client prospecting. Whatever their reason for being there, their presence provides a great opportunity to raise awareness of your law firm. Your LinkedIn connection may indeed become your next client. But how?
Reaching out to prospective clients
Traditionally, solicitors have been seen as aloof, unapproachable and expensive. But through regular articles and posts on your LinkedIn profile, you can share the human aspect of your business. You can demonstrate that you care about issues affecting the industry, and how to deliver the very best service for your clients.
Getting to know you
Inviting people to connect with you can be the first step. Adding a personal note to that invitation allows you to share some of your personality and your reasons for connecting. You can also now post a live video directly to LinkedIn, in a similar way to how Facebook Live works on Facebook. This can be an excellent tool for legal firms, as well as other businesses. It enables you to show behind the scenes content, build engagement and quickly showcase news within the industry you work in.
Building trust through real-life reviews
Asking current clients to write recommendations on your LinkedIn profile is an excellent way of building trust in the mind of potential new clients. Online recommendations are word-of-mouth marketing for the digital age. They give people a sense of what it might be like if you were to represent them. They deliver third-party endorsement that encourages people to trust you with the issue they are facing. You can request recommendations directly from your LinkedIn connections. Adding a personal note, reminding them of the case you worked on for them or any positive words of feedback they gave to you can make the process more efficient.
Particularly in certain age groups (and no longer just 18-25-year olds), people expect all companies to have an active presence on social media. Some even prefer to use social media as their main communication platform with companies. As a proactive business, you need to be where your customers are – including sites like LinkedIn. You genuinely never know where that customer enquiry will come from.
I would welcome hearing about how you are building on the “know, like and trust factor” for your law firm on LinkedIn.
