The legal industry is known for being male-dominated. But women attorneys are continuing to take up more and more space, and it's important that you take steps to support other women attorneys like you. Not only is this a great way to build your network, but it can help your career blossom when other successful, like-minded attorneys surround you.
With this in mind, social media has become a marketing monster all its own. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are search engines all their own. If you want to make sure that your law practice is successful, having strong social media profiles and a strong social media presence are critical.
You can also use your social media space as a place where you can support other women attorneys online. Here's how.
Why Sharing Women Attorney's Posts Makes a Difference
When you’re using social media, it isn’t enough to simply create your own content and share it. You also need to be engaging with other pages and profiles. The way these social media algorithms operate, your content, and that of other women lawyers you want to support, is more likely to be displayed in other people’s news feeds the more the post is engaged with. This means that the more Likes, Comments, and Shares, the more visible the post will become.
Likes, Comments, and Shares carry their own weight with each search engine. But with nearly all social media platforms, the Share feature has the greatest pull. The more your posts are shared, the more they will be shown to others. If you have a large social media following online and share a woman attorney's insightful blog post, you are helping that lawyer gain exposure online. This can help them build up their own social media following and professional network and generate leads. If this is a referral partner of yours, this could indirectly lead to additional clients for your law firm as well.
Gain Support on Your Social Media Profiles
Sharing content and engaging with the posts of other women attorneys online is a great way to show your support. But you also need to be able to gain support on your own social media profiles. One of the best ways to network online is to start out by showing your own support. You shouldn't expect people to follow your page if you aren't following them first.
It's social media etiquette and simply a good networking practice to put forth the effort to engage with the content and pages of the people you want to show that same level of support to you. You can drop a quick Like on that news article they shared, Comment your "Congratulations" when Super Lawyers recognize a woman lawyer you admire, and Share a thought-provoking blog a woman lawyer wrote. In doing so, you'll catch their attention and open up another opportunity for you to get support on your content.
Tips for Getting Your Network to Like, Comment, and Share
If you're just starting out with a very small social media following, you may be unsure how to get people to engage with your posts and your social media pages as a whole. Here are some tips for how to ask your network to Like, Comment, and Share your content online.
Asking Women Attorneys to Share Your Content
Have you ever received a Facebook message out of nowhere from someone you’ve never talked to before asking you to check out their profile? And how many times did you actually check out their profile? Probably not even once. That’s because this is spammy and rude. Instead, you must first have some sort of existing relationship.
Whether you already follow the woman lawyer you want to connect with or have engaged with her posts in the past, when you reach out, be ready to show what they get out of engaging with you on social media. Are you going to share their content in exchange? Are you willing to refer potential clients their way? When you reach out to someone asking them to engage with your content, make sure to have your promotional materials ready to go so they can easily Share your message.
Make It Personal
You have a better chance of getting your content shared by fellow women lawyers if you take the time to personalize your request to share it. Maybe you took the time to create an informative infographic you want to be shared on social media. Which of your network's audience is most likely to respond well to it? Be selective in who you reach out to. You might not see many benefits from having your personal injury social media post shared by a criminal defense lawyer, and it isn't likely to help them either. You don't need everyone to share your content; you need the right people to.
Focus on Creating Excellent Content
At the end of the day, when you create engaging content, it speaks for itself. You want to create and share content on your pages that resonate with your brand and will resonate with your audience. You should share other women attorneys' content that would speak to your audience to show your support. When you’re creating your content, think about who you want to share it and how it can benefit them. How will their audience react to it? And how does that reaction benefit the person who shared it?
All these things considered, creating excellent content that women lawyers can share will be mutually beneficial. You will have the benefit of having your content shared and gaining exposure on social media. And you will be supporting your women colleagues by creating engaging content they can use to maintain their own social media presence. Likewise, be sure to share similar content of the attorneys you want to support.
Meranda M. Vieyra is the owner of Denver Legal Marketing LLC. She is one of the most visible legal professionals in Colorado law with over 20 years of service in the Denver legal community. Her award-winning marketing firm has earned a strong reputation as the go-to for impactful, cost-effective legal marketing strategies. She has helped her clients secure coverage by well-known publications and has obtained local, national, and international awards on their behalf. Meranda enjoys working with solo practitioners and small law firms helping them attract recognition, promotion, and visibility to their practices. She also advises medium-sized and national law firms on business development and marketing strategy. Meranda is a lecturer and author on issues related to marketing including how lawyers can use LinkedIn effectively, how to develop a personal brand, and the promotion of legal services through community service. In 2018, she was honored to be named to the 40 Under 40 list by the Denver Business Journal and to be given the 10 Under 10 Award by the Metropolitan State University of Denver Alumni Association (top 10 alum of the decade). In 2019, Meranda was named in the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce and in the Top 100 young professionals in Colorado through the Gen XYZ Awards published by ColoradoBiz Magazine.
