Why should lawyers use social media marketing?
If your firm relies on referrals, social media marketing helps you stay top of mind when someone finally needs a lawyer. Most prospective clients don’t need legal services today. They scroll, observe, and remember. A consistent social media presence keeps your firm visible during that gap.
For law firms, social media works best as an education and trust channel, not a hard-sell machine. Sharing clear explanations of legal topics relevant to your practice areas, from immigration laws to filing taxes, helps people understand what you do and whether they feel comfortable reaching out when the time comes.
Here are the top reasons lawyers use social media marketing:
- Prospective clients expect clear signs of expertise before contacting a law firm. Sharing general legal tips, explainers, and common questions helps establish credibility without legal jargon or individualized advice.
- Regular posting across the right social media platforms keeps your law firm visible while people research legal services, strengthening your digital presence long before they are ready to reach out. This will improve your law firm’s brand.
- Social media channels like LinkedIn support professional networking within the legal community, making it easier to connect with other legal professionals, referral sources, and peers.
- Following other law firms, bar associations, and legal influencers helps you stay up to date on industry news and legal updates, while also providing ideas for timely social media posts.
- Social media lead generation works best when education comes first. Helpful content paired with a clear invitation to book a consultation attracts potential clients without aggressive solicitation. 71% of lawyers say they generate leads directly from social media.
Before you post: ethics and risk checklist
Do
- Share general education and legal topics relevant to your audience
- Comment on industry news and legal updates
- Invite people to book a consultation for case-specific questions
Don’t
- Imply outcomes or guarantees
- Disclose client details, even indirectly
- Give individualized legal advice in comments or direct messages
- Ignore platform-specific solicitation rules
Best social media platforms for law firms
Not every social media platform serves the same purpose for law firms. The best results come from choosing channels that match how your target audience looks for legal information and how comfortable your team is creating content for that format.
The American Bar Association’s legal tech survey shows that about 80% of law firms use social media, with LinkedIn used by 78% of firms and Facebook by 53%.
Below are the platforms that consistently make sense for law firm marketing, along with how each one is typically used.
Facebook remains one of the most practical social media platforms for law firms, especially for local visibility and community involvement. Many prospective clients use Facebook to look up businesses, read reviews, and follow local updates.
Law firms often use Facebook to:
- Share legal updates, firm announcements, and community news
- Maintain a professional business page that reinforces trust
- Participate in relevant Facebook groups without direct solicitation
- Run targeted ads based on location, interests, or life events
For firms focused on local clients and relationship-building, Facebook supports steady social media efforts without requiring complex content formats.
LinkedIn is the strongest platform for professional networking and thought leadership in the legal industry. It’s where legal professionals, business owners, and decision-makers expect to see expertise and commentary.
LinkedIn works well for:
- Sharing insights on legal topics relevant to your practice areas
- Commenting on industry news and legal updates
- Connecting with other legal professionals and referral partners
- Reinforcing your law firm’s brand through consistent, professional posts
For B2B-focused practices or firms that rely on referrals, LinkedIn often delivers higher-quality engagement than other social media channels.
TikTok
TikTok can work for law firms that are comfortable with video content and clear, plain-language explanations. The platform favors short, educational videos that answer specific questions or explain legal processes simply.
Law firms use TikTok to:
- Break down legal topics into short, accessible explanations
- Address common misconceptions without legal jargon
- Reach social media users who prefer video over written content
TikTok requires consistency and a willingness to show personality. It’s best suited for firms that can commit to regular posting and stay mindful of client confidentiality and ethics rules.
Instagram supports visual storytelling and works well for humanizing your firm online. While it’s not always a primary lead generation channel, it plays a role in shaping your professional image.
Instagram is commonly used for:
- Behind-the-scenes content that shows firm culture
- Short educational posts or carousels explaining legal topics
- Video content through Reels for quick legal tips
- Reinforcing a strong online presence through consistent visuals
For firms that want to improve brand awareness and appear approachable, Instagram complements other social media platforms well.
YouTube (optional)
YouTube is an optional channel that works best for firms willing to invest in longer-form video content. It’s particularly useful for evergreen educational content that stays relevant over time.
Law firms use YouTube to:
- Publish in-depth explanations of legal processes
- Share educational videos tied to frequently asked questions
- Build long-term visibility through searchable video content
Because video production takes time, YouTube is usually a secondary marketing channel for lawyers that supports broader digital marketing efforts rather than a starting point.
How to create a social media strategy for lawyers
If you want to make sure your law practice is going to be visible and trusted on social media, then what you need is a strong social media marketing strategy.
Here is how you can create one step by step:
Step 1: Decide what social media is responsible for in your law practice
Social media should support your SMART goals, not distract you from practicing law.
Before I plan platforms, content, or posting frequency, I always define the single job social media is expected to do for the law firm. Without this, content becomes inconsistent and hard to measure.
Social media works best for lawyers when it focuses on one or two outcomes, such as:
- Building trust before a potential client ever calls
- Staying visible to referral partners and past clients
- Educating people on when they need legal help, not how to handle it themselves
- Reinforcing credibility in a specific practice area
This step matters because social media for lawyers is rarely about instant conversions. Most clients don’t hire a lawyer the moment they see a post. They follow, watch, and remember, then reach out when the situation becomes urgent.
If you skip this step, you end up posting regularly without knowing whether the effort is helping your practice at all.
Step 2: Define who you’re trying to reach and what they’re worried about
Effective legal content starts with your client’s concerns, not your credentials.
When you start building your social media strategy, you need to start with the moment that makes someone realize they might need a lawyer. That moment is usually stressful, confusing, and time-sensitive.
“It’s not about being everywhere or going viral or writing the perfect post. It’s about creating trust, visibility, credibility, and connection online,” says Ali Katz, Founder of New Law Business Model and the Personal Family Lawyer® program
To get clear here, define:
- The exact type of client you want more of
- The situation they’re in when they start searching for answers
- The questions they’re asking before they ever contact a firm
For example, most people aren’t asking, “Which lawyer is the best?” They’re asking:
- “Is this serious enough to call a lawyer?”
- “What happens if I do nothing?”
- “Am I already in trouble?”
Your content should address those questions in plain language, without offering legal advice or guarantees. The goal is to reduce uncertainty and build confidence that you’re someone who understands their situation.
This step also helps you avoid generic posts. When you know exactly who you’re speaking to, your content naturally becomes more focused, more compliant, and more effective.
Step 3: Choose the right social media platforms
Being present on every social media platform is rarely useful for law firms. Managing multiple social media accounts without a clear purpose usually leads to inconsistent posting and weak follow-up.
The better approach is to choose social media channels based on how your target audience actually finds and evaluates legal services. The goal isn’t reach for its own sake. It’s relevance.
Before committing to a particular platform, ask yourself:
- Where do your prospective clients already spend time researching legal topics?
- Are people using this platform for professional networking, local recommendations, or education?
- Does this channel support the type of content you can realistically create, such as short explainers, written insights, or video content?
- Can you show up consistently without stretching your marketing efforts too thin?
- Does the platform’s format align with client confidentiality and ethics guidelines?
It also helps to look at what other law firms in your practice areas are doing. Notice which social media platforms they invest in, what kind of posts generate comments, and how they handle engagement. This kind of light research often reveals where your social media efforts will have the most impact.
Step 4: Study competitors to understand what already works
Competitor research saves time and exposes gaps you can use to your advantage.
Before locking in a content plan, I always look at how other lawyers in the same practice area are using social media. This step isn’t about imitation. It’s about pattern recognition.
I pay attention to which posts actually get responses, not just likes. Certain topics, formats, or tones tend to show up again and again on accounts that feel active and credible. That tells you what audiences already understand and engage with.
At the same time, competitor accounts reveal common missteps. Some rely too heavily on legal jargon. Others post inconsistently or lean on promotional language that feels out of place for a law firm. Noticing these patterns helps you avoid repeating them.
The real value of this step is opportunity. When most firms sound the same, clarity becomes a differentiator. When others stop posting, consistency stands out. Keep up with your competitors to get a faster path to relevance without guesswork.
Step 5: Plan and schedule your posts so social media doesn’t interrupt your workday
Planning and scheduling content ahead of time is what keeps social media from turning into a constant interruption.
For many lawyers, deciding when to post is already a challenge. Add in the manual work of logging in, rewriting captions, uploading visuals, and second-guessing timing, and social media quickly becomes a drain on focus and time.
This is often made worse by unrealistic expectations. Posting every day sounds productive, but it rarely survives a busy caseload. When consistency breaks, social media feels unreliable and easy to abandon.
A better approach is to start with capacity. I look at how much time is realistically available and build the schedule around that. For most law firms, two or three posts per week on one main platform is both manageable and effective.
Planning content in advance and scheduling it in batches removes the daily friction. Creating several posts in one focused session saves time, reduces decision fatigue, and keeps your content aligned with your content pillars instead of reacting day by day.
Timing still matters, but consistency matters more. Posting regularly at reasonable times, such as early mornings or midweek afternoons, builds familiarity and trust far more reliably than chasing the perfect posting window.
