Social media is one of the most powerful digital marketing tools available today, and we all know we need to be using it. Having an active presence on the major platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) will ensure that you are reaching the largest number of people possible with your content. 

Social media is one of, if not the best, places to showcase your personal brand. What is your personal brand? It is the unique combination of skills and personality that you want the world to see. It is the telling of your story, and it reflects your behavior and attitude.

There are some key differences between each social media platform that you should consider when it comes to building your personal brand and important things you should know about how to create and share quality content that will get you noticed.

#1: Figure out which platform is right for your brand.

The first step in using social media to build your personal brand is deciding the sites in which you want to participate. Here’s the “big four” when it comes to legal marketing:

1. LinkedIn can help you get noticed. This is a site that can help you make and nurture professional connections with clients, prospects, potential employers, and employees. That’s not to say that it can’t be used by other people, however, since there are plenty of affinity groups on seemingly myriad interest topics available for anyone to join.

If your main goal is to connect with other professionals, LinkedIn is a good place to start.

2. Facebook is the largest platform by far, and also one of the most crowded. With close to 2 billion users, Facebook has become a go-to site for just about anybody. Because of the sheer volume of posts, it can be difficult to have content that stands out.

To succeed on Facebook, you will need to post more often than on other networks to be noticed.

3. Twitter is one of the easier sites to succeed on if you stick with it long enough. There are some days when nobody seems to be using the site at all, and others where everyone is tweeting their hearts out. One challenge of Twitter is the 280 character limit, which can make it difficult for newbies to breakthrough.

Consistent posting over time can yield good results.

4. What Instagram lacks in conversion potential (since no hyperlinks are allowed in your post text), it more than makes up for its visual appeal. By far the most popular site for posting images, Instagram gives you the opportunity to share everything from photos of your new puppy to your dinner last night. You can even upload short videos using some of your more engaging educational content, or information about upcoming speaking engagements via stories and reels if you so desire.

With so many people using the site and looking at images as a primary content source, this is an extremely important platform to be on.

#2: Understand each platform’s benefits.

Now that we’ve covered which social networks are out there, and what their characteristics are, it’s time to look at how you can use each one to benefit your brand.

LinkedIn is the place where you really want to make sure everything looks right before you post it. Because of its professional nature, this site will be used as a measuring stick for potential clients and anyone else who wants to know more about you as a person or as a service provider. Make sure that your profile (which should be complete) reflects the best version of yourself possible; don’t put any information on there that doesn’t highlight your abilities and attributes. Also, remember that this is where you connect with clients and colleagues, so striking the right balance between personal and professional is key.

The most important thing on Facebook is to remember that quality trumps quantity every time. Posting something only once a day, or even just once a week, isn’t necessarily bad if you’re putting out high-quality stuff instead of several halfhearted efforts. It helps to schedule all of your posts in advance using either Hootsuite, Buffer, HubSpot, or one of the many other options available. This allows you to focus on creating great content rather than constantly worrying about posting it all yourself.

With its character limit, keeping up with Twitter can seem like an impossible task at first. However, there are a few tricks to this site that will make your life a lot easier. First and foremost, use hashtags. These little keywords allow anyone who’s interested in the topic to find your post. Hashtags also help with getting noticed by bigger companies and people with large followings; like them enough, and they’ll be more likely to follow you back (and even share your stuff).

Instagram is easy: take quality photos, add a cool filter if you’d like, and voila! You’ve got yourself a photo worth sharing on Instagram. For lawyers, it may be hard to think of the types of photos you would post. The key here is showing your personal side. What are you passionate about? What do you do outside of work? Where do you volunteer? How do you spend downtime with colleagues?

If you’re feeling ambitious, go ahead with posting one or two longer videos but make sure there’s something meaningful in them before you do; nobody wants to see your cat sleeping if it isn’t doing anything interesting!

Each one of these sites has its own purpose, so it’s important to spend some time figuring out what will help reach your personal goals.

#3: Build your personal brand’s landing page.

One major challenge is branding yourself in a way that is unique and attention-grabbing.

The first step to creating an effective personal brand online is to determine what your brand would look like. What do you want people to say about you when you come up in conversation?  

Start by thinking of yourself as a company and ask yourself the following questions:

• Who are my clients?  
• What value am I selling?  
• Why should clients hire me rather than my competitors?

Once you’ve determined these pieces, it’s time to create the actual branding.

Start with your LinkedIn profile. What are you known for in your industry? How do you want people to describe you? What are some keywords that can be associated with you? Think of three adjectives that best characterize your personality. The more unique and well-thought-out this section is, the better it will resonate through all other social media channels.

#4: Create and post content that gets you noticed.

Next, think about what makes you unique compared to other professionals in your field—and share that! This can be done by highlighting original content that has been generated by you rather than the same content that is shared across LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Make sure to include this unique content on all of your social media channels and websites, as it will become searchable material for people looking to find out more about you.

Unfortunately, the majority of people will never bother to read past your short intro paragraph. So make it worth their time! You can do this by telling a compelling story or sharing an interesting statistic that will grab their attention and encourage them to keep reading.

No matter what type of content you put out there, have fun with it. Take some risks here and there by posting something a little different than your normal style, but always keep in mind the value it brings to those who chose to follow you.

You don’t need to be perfect, either. It is OK – and encouraged – to sometimes post things that might not turn out exactly as you had planned or don’t have anything to do with your brand at all! In addition to being able to express yourself freely, this will also help show people that social media is an extension of who you really are. These platforms may not be the only things that people see anymore, but they still help shape their first impression so do your best to make it a good one!

Remember to also curate content for your audience from trade publications and the news. (Wait…didn’t you just say don’t share the same thing that’s already being shared online?) Correct! You should aim to be novel. Don’t share the same thing everyone else is sharing. And regardless of what you’re sharing from another outlet, make sure you distill the key points for your audience.

In all likelihood, they’re not going to read the third-party article.

But they will read your analysis of the key points and the takeaways they need to know. Boiling it down for them saves them time and adds value!!

#5: Interact with others.

Lastly, remember that you can’t post anything online without interacting with others. Engage with other professionals in relevant groups and participate in current conversations. Don’t just comment with generic phrases like “great article” or “cool pic.” Think about what makes this particular topic important to you and how you can contribute value.

It is important to remember that the more value you give, the more value you will receive. Interacting with people online can be just as meaningful as doing so offline.

When it comes down to it, social media can be useful for many different things. It can help your career, creating opportunities for networking, learning new things, and communicating efficiently with clients/colleagues/friends/family, etc. It won’t be an overnight success story, but the more you do it and the more you learn, your reach will improve.

Social media has given us all a chance to show our individual personalities in an easy way without having to say much. This is why it’s great for building your personal brand.