The reasons seem obvious to us and to others who are LI fans, but reading this will tip the doubters over the edge!

Note: This is a guest post from a client and friend, Lee Brady-Revell, who works in marketing in the legal sector. She wrote this for specific chambers, and we thought it’s so good we need to have this as a guest post! Over to Lee:

Why should you use LinkedIn?

A: In short, why not?

Theory: LinkedIn is the professional social media platform – it doesn’t ask for photos of your kids, your family relations, or who your exes are. It centres on your professional credentials, achievements, and expertise.

There aren’t as many users on LinkedIn as there are on other platforms – in early 2021, LinkedIn had 770m users, compared with nearly 3 billion on Facebook. But, if you maintain a decent number of connections and understand how to filter them (which I can show you in around 30 seconds), you can tap into the most up-to-date industry-relevant news, keep in touch with linked businesses and professionals, and possibly generate leads with meaningful connections.

However, the most compelling argument for using LinkedIn is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Your regular activity on LinkedIn WILL UNDOUBTEDLY boost the set’s ranking in Google searches. Google changed its core algorithms in c.2015, essentially to remove the trickery of clued-up marketing professionals who knew how to come up top in searches. The most important thing required online since then is activity and engagement to boost results. The easiest way to do that is via social media.

Furthermore, your page will always be your page. It will never be owned by the set; you take it with you wherever you go. You build your own brand in it. But building an effective and active profile will only enhance chambers’ brand, and it’s an extra platform for you to promote your practice.[KL3] 

Logic of LinkedIn

1. The work/life/location balance has changed for most employees since the start of the pandemic, with current trends pointing to a 3/2 split with office v. home working. If this sounds familiar at all, you will have at least four commutes each week, and probably some downtime at home. Why not use it to network on LinkedIn?
2. It is a social NETWORK. Barristers establish their whole career in their practice and by networking. LinkedIn is the only social media site where you can be certain (or fairly sure) that you are doing it with the right people.
3. It’s free.
4. It’s very easy to refine your connections into groups and select the ones that are useful to you. You can’t do that at conferences.
5. It may not directly win you a new client, ever. But if you’re about to secure one, and they look you plus a competitor up on LinkedIn, what happens if your competitor has a better profile than yours?

In practice

Not everyone wants to be on LinkedIn every day (a daunting prospect for most!) but it’s very easy to start small:

• The most important thing is to have a decent, recent, professional photograph. My profile picture was taken on an iPhone.
• Your career history will be more interesting if it isn’t just job titles! Give a few bullet points of detail.
• Like, share, engage. Search hashtags relevant to your interests, find articles and read. You might like it.

To finish off, and offer help:

At Top Left Design, we have a 1-hour quick training session that can get you up to speed with all the things you need to do to get a head start – and make it much easier to start using it effectively. Contact us if you’d like some help!