“Hi, I own a law firm, can I use social media to promote my services?”
We hear questions like this almost all the time. And the simple answer is Yes.
Over one-third of people looking for an attorney search online, according to iMarc. And 83% of law firms get their clients from social media, which suggests people spend most of their online time on social media looking for you.
So, if you’re not promoting your services there, where else?
Of course, we understand the challenges around using social media marketing, especially for a profession bound by an infinite number of rules.
We’ll explore all these limitations and also provide tips on how to successfully navigate your way out while using social media to grow your firm.
Legal Regulations and Principles In Law Firms
Law firms provide an extremely sensitive service to the general public related to issues like Litigation, contract drafting, legal consultation, intellectual property protection, employment law advice, real estate transactions, corporate law services, family law, estate planning, tax law, and regulatory compliance.
“Each of the services demands the highest level of trust, integrity, and professionalism. After all, people are literally putting themselves at the mercy of your expertise, so you have to be on your toes all the time to protect their privacy and serve them well in return”, Leigh McKenzie, Community Advocate at Traffic Think Tank, says.
But many things can go wrong—such as carelessly misusing your client’s data for third-party activities on social media without consent, misrepresenting your services during campaigns, acting beyond your jurisdiction of allowance, and so on.
Any of these acts damage your client’s reputation, influence the outcome of a potential case, and potentially impact people’s trust in the global legal body.
That’s why there are certain rules in place to keep you and other firms in place.
Another thing to note is that different countries and states have different governing rules. For instance, there’s a California Rule of Professional Conduct approved by the State’s supreme court to govern legal activities within the region.
To unify all these regulations, the Solicitors Regulation Authority came up with a summarized version—known as the SRA principles. The SRA principles guiding communications involve acting:
- in a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of law and the proper administration of justice.
- in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services provided by authorized persons.
- with independence.
- with honesty.
- with integrity.
- in a way that encourages equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- in the best interests of each client.
The American Bar Association also agrees that you can promote your firm’s services on any social media. There are no rules against that. However, the organization created certain social media marketing rules that must be followed:
- You must keep case information and communications confidential and off social media.
- You need your client’s permission before you can post about them.
- Follow the rules for client solicitation on social media.
- You must avoid misleading or exaggerated service ads.
- Don’t claim to be the “best” or “cheapest” in ads.
- Only state expertise if certified by the state.
- You can’t tell others to do what you can’t do on social media.
- Don’t pay or promise rewards for recommendations or referrals.
How Do These Regulations Influence Social Media Marketing?
According to Alan Parkes, Owner of Denver Roofing & Colorado Springs Roofing, “Social media primarily opens the space for relationship-building and business opportunities by exposing your profile to billions of active users. For a law firm, those are also your goals—to generate more clients and boost your revenue.”
However, the social media environment is so lax that it becomes easy to flaunt the rules and engage in unregulated or unscrupulous methods just to gain potential leads. For instance, a paper by Legal Check found that lawfluencers produce subpar content—advice, legal tips, and so on—to suit Tiktok algorithms and scale their vanity metrics.
Some law firms also use social media campaigns to discredit other legal businesses or make unfounded claims in a bid to entice clients. These tactics downplay the integrity of the professional body as a whole and reduce people’s trust in your firm’s services.
The SRA particularly received flurries of complaints that allege the involvement of lawyers in inappropriate communications on social media, such as:
- making offensive or pejorative comments relating to another person’s race, sexual orientation, or religion.
- referring to women in derogatory terms and making sexually explicit comments.
- making comments that harass or victimize the recipient.
- using language intended to shock or threaten.
- making offensive or abusive comments to another firm about that firm or its client or to individuals who are unrepresented.
The first complaint particularly violates the SRA’s principle that encourages “acting in a way that encourages equality, diversity, and inclusion.”
Since these instances breach the global code of conduct, it is therefore paramount to pay attention to them before putting your firm live on social media.
Consequences Of Ethical Breach On Social Media
The legal field is a complex one, and simple breaches can cost you a lot—talking about financial penalties that range in thousands of US dollars, several client lawsuits, and the marring of your business reputation.
Susanna Heley, partner at Weightmans LLP and co-author of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on Lawsociety, reported a perfect real-life study in 2022. The lawyer involved was found posting falsified content on social media, claiming imaginary case successes, and representing clients who did not exist in the first place to promote a firm.
“Great result at Cambridge Magistrates Court! I am so pleased and proud to represent our client, who eventually proved her innocence!”
It’s very easy to believe such posts and assume the cases were real, but the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found out they were all made up.
The accused lawyer later confessed to using such tactics on social media for pure marketing and claimed ignorance of existing ethics surrounding the use of social media marketing for law firms.
However, ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaching two major SRA principles:
- Act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors‘ profession and in legal services provided by authorized persons.
- Act with integrity.
In one way or the other, the solicitor also breached the “honesty” conduct, but this was not alleged or admitted. Regardless, SDT declared a £15,000 fine, six months suspension, and two years of restriction from managing any firm.
If the consequence of making up a case and client on social media is that serious, then you can imagine the consequences of misrepresenting your client, using data without consent, and derogating other firms on social media.
8 Tips To Safe Social Media Marketing For Law Firms
Employing social media marketing for your law firm is no problem at all, so long as you follow the rules guiding your legal practice and communications.
To get you on the road, here are some tips you keep in mind for safe marketing on social media platforms.
Know Your Regional Laws
As we’ve previously discussed, different regions, whether states or countries, have unique laws guiding the legal conduct of law firms on communication channels like social media and emails.
So, beyond the common ethics of social media use, it’s important to find out the locally specific ones.
Know what the bar association in your region permits and what they don’t. For instance, some countries might permit conducting ad campaigns to promote your services, while others might not permit or ask you to restrict it to certain audience groups.
Other than regional laws, ensure you’re up-to-date with global regulations if your firm services span more than two regions. This will help you connect with your clients effectively without breaking any cross-border standards.
Remain Independent
“You have to understand that you’re not your client’s gun. As much as you can be intellectually and emotionally involved in a case, don’t resign yourself to a client’s desires or control. Your job is to advocate for, represent, or provide legal advice and maintain your professional integrity”, Jonathan Feniak, General Counsel at LLC Attorney, advises.
For instance, taking a dig at your client’s opposition or opposition lawyer on social media directly eliminates your independence and turns you into a weapon rather than a legal body. This is against the SRA’s principle for conduct online or offline.
Uphold your professionalism and ensure legal battles remain legal. Your client’s case should not influence your personal communication or representation of others at any time.
Ensure Client Confidentiality
Michael Marchese, Founder and CEO at Tempesta Media, says, “What people entrust with you is their pain, vulnerabilities, and deficiencies. Those are all valuable data they might not share with even their families and friends. And that’s why you have to handle it with sufficient care.”
Turning client and case-related data into social media marketing material without explicit approval and due consideration of the impact it’ll have on your client is a big NO, whether the case was successful or not.
You also have the responsibility of keeping your client’s data safe. No one else, including your closest kin, is supposed to have access, otherwise, you’ll be breaching your client’s trust of confidentiality.
Avoid Misleading Advertising
Remember the case study of a solicitor who falsified case details and put up non-existing clients just to promote an owned firm on social media? That’s categorized under misleading advertising.
“As a law firm, honesty and integrity are paramount principles you should follow if you want to build business-client trust. Promote only services you have the instruments, resources, and experience to offer. If it’s beyond your jurisdiction, do not make blind promises”, Chris Aubeeluck, Head of Sales and Marketing at Osbornes Law, adds.
Other things that count as misleading advertising include:
- False claims about success rates.
- Exaggerating qualifications or experience.
- Guaranteeing specific outcomes.
- Misrepresenting fees or costs.
- Implying endorsements or affiliations that don’t exist.
- Using fake testimonials or reviews.
- Suggesting non-existent specializations or certifications.
Making unsubstantiated comparisons with other firms or creating misleading information about the size or capabilities of the firm should also be avoided.
It’s also important to ensure the accuracy of your content—data used, theme, grammar, etc.—on social media and your website. Content quality and reliability indirectly position you as an authority in the industry. If you’re the busy type, you can use tools like AI copilot to create well-researched and edited engaging content to engage your audience.
Separate Personal And Professional Profiles
It’s quite easy to mix up your personal and business lives. Lawfluencers, in particular, do this by using a single social profile to engage with the public as an individual while managing a work page as a law firm.
However, that’s not ethical as it can lead to conflict of interest. You want to share notorious memes and cause chaos in your feeds, but you also want to maintain professionalism to ensure your firm’s reputation is unaffected.
At the same time, a mixed profile can confuse your followers and clients. So, it’s extremely important to create a separate account for each, one for living your life and the other for connecting with potential clients or promoting your firm.
Engage Ethical Practices with Competitors
There are thousands of law firms out there, and you’re likely to stand off one or two when representing a client occasionally. While there’s no hard-fast rule against connecting with other organizations, it’s important to limit such connections or avoid them on social media if possible.
The reason is that you might be connecting with your future opposition’s law firm, which undermines the integrity of your service and raises suspicion of a shady negotiation behind the scenes. This is not healthy for your reputation or client.
Of course, you can learn from their marketing strategy on social media and use it to supercharge yours. No need to reinvent the wheel if one is already working.
Educate Client On Social Media Interaction
When there is an open case, it’s very easy for your client to seek justification or relieve pent-up emotions on social media. They can go as far as sharing the details of their representations on public posts, with friends, or even strangers, so long as it makes them feel relieved.
That’s not advisable, as oppositions can use such details, if they contain valuable data, against them in court.
So, educate them on what to share and what not to share, what is sensitive and what is not, the consequences of their interactions during and after the case, and any other social engagements that can influence their case outcome. If possible, you could recommend staying off social media for the meantime, but don’t enforce it.
Get A Reputable Social Media Management Agency
Following this DIY playbook to keep your firm safe on social media is a great idea.
However, you can always contact a reputable social media management agency with an underlying record of working with law firms instead.
First, they have the necessary experience avoiding things that can earn your firm a busty fine. Second, they can optimize your business profile for more efficiency and effectiveness, generating new clients and building your firm’s reputation.
Wrapping Up Social Media Marketing for Law Firms
There you have it—a guide to using social media marketing for your law firm without flouting the ethics that guide your conduct.
As we’ve previously iterated, using social media for marketing is not a problem. The problem is that you can easily break the rules that guide your conduct, especially if you’re not aware of them in the first place. And this can result in hefty financial penalties, lawsuits, or reputational damage.
To avoid that, study regional and global regulations that oversee law firm communications on public channels like social media. Maintain your independence and ensure you don’t become your client’s gun. Ensure client confidentiality, avoid misleading advertising, and educate clients on proper social media communication when a case is on.
Finally, hire a reputable social management agency that understands the rules governing your profession and can grow your business.
