Social media is no longer just a place to connect with long-lost relatives and keep up with old college friends. It’s a hub where many people spend most of their lives. From local restaurant recommendations to groups that will answer any question you could ever think of about how to grow your plants, to, yes, legal education, people find it all on various social media platforms. In 2026, it is more important than ever to have the right social media presence for your law firm.
That said, not all social media strategies work, and different platforms call for different techniques. Understanding these nuances can mean the difference between an effective social media strategy that brings a return on investment and a fruitless waste of time—and those strategies are ever-changing. The most important thing to remember with law firm social media marketing is that intentional, engaging posts matter much more than posting daily, and it is a prime example of quality over quantity.
What a “Social Media Strategy” Actually Means for Law Firms
To understand what effective social media for lawyers looks like, you must first understand what it’s not.
Strategy ≠ Posting Schedule
You could post every day on every platform, but without the right kind of content, you’re likely wasting your time. When and where you post must be thoughtful and align with the goals of your firm. A law firm’s social media calendar is important to keep posts organized, but without understanding why you’re posting, it will never reach its full potential.
So what is a “strategy”? Your strategy should start by answering a few key questions:
- Who are we trying to reach?
- What do we want them to think, feel, or do?
- When are clients needing our services?
- Where does social media fit in the client’s journey?
- Why do our clients need an attorney during this time of their lives?
- How do we post in a way that helps our clients understand if our firm is the right fit for them?
Seeking legal counsel can bring up many emotions in your potential clients. Hence, empathy and looking at all situations from their perspective are essential when considering how to run social media for a law firm. It should be client-focused and meet them where they are.
Aligning Law Firm Social Media With Your Overall Marketing Strategy
Law firm social media marketing should never live in its own silo. It is a piece of the puzzle in your overall marketing strategy. The purpose of social media marketing is to highlight and support your firm as a whole, bringing potential clients back to your website, blog, or other content.
Different platforms may require different language or a slightly different type of tone, but should have an overall consistent message. Your general tone and authority level should remain consistent, along with your practice area positioning and the visual graphics. When entering a legal battle, consistency creates trust, something your client is likely looking for while experiencing difficult times.
One example of social media supporting other main content is when you have a new law firm blog post that needs more visibility. You create an Instagram post that shares a few key details from the blog but then directs your client to the full blog, thereby bringing them to your webpage. Since social media reaches a broad group of people using their algorithms, it essentially creates a funnel starting with a broad audience and narrowing it down to people who are in need of what you have.
What Platforms Are the Most Effective
While it may feel as though there is a new social media platform popping up daily, there are a few that have consistently remained popular and effective over the last several years. Those include LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and TikTok. While the core content may be similar on each platform, how they are used and who they reach can be vastly different.
LinkedIn is well known in the business world as the “professional” social media platform. It is often used in announcing company successes, congratulating colleagues on promotions and job changes, and as a general resource to find other professionals with whom you share a common ground. LinkedIn is more tolerant of longer posts, sharing more dense information that may include more jargon. LinkedIn is especially beneficial when promoting B2B services and making company announcements. Some of our friends and colleagues in the industry, including Tony Albrecht over at CONTENDER, have had wonderful success in helping individual attorneys level up their LinkedIn game, and we always encourage law firms to consider how each attorney’s LinkedIn presence can amplify this platform’s benefits.
According to the Pew Research Center, over 70% of Americans use Facebook, many of whom use it daily. Facebook posts are often more casual while still maintaining a sense of authority. You are able to connect with consumers directly and engage via the comment section or direct messaging (DMs). Facebook is a hot spot for those making and seeking recommendations for services of all kinds. It also allows for many content mediums, including short-form or long-form videos, graphics, written posts, live streams, and stories (short-form videos that appear on one’s profile then disappear after a period of time). Facebook offers a variety of ways to connect with clients.
YouTube
YouTube has been one of the most popular and widely used social media platforms since its inception in 2005. What was once a place to upload funny clips or video diaries has become the go-to knowledge source of the world. Who hasn’t needed a tutorial for something, and the first place they went was YouTube? Having a presence on this platform is great for those who like to be on camera and create educational content. YouTube allows for livestreams and short-form and long-form videos, making it very diverse. At Blue Seven Content, we help clients nail down their law firm video marketing strategy across platforms, including YouTube.
We try to have longer weekly videos on our Blue Seven Content YouTube, which we can then repurpose into valuable snippets for Shorts and other social platforms.
Instagram is a more visually focused platform, perfect for graphics with a short caption directing clients to another page. It also gives you the ability to share a lot of educational information with a few pictures by utilizing carousel graphics or short-form videos. Instagram is extremely effective at creating brand recognition due to the visual nature of the platform. It allows for consistency with colors, fonts, and graphic structure that is often tucked away into our subconscious.
You can, if you want some mild occasional entertainment, follow Blue Seven Content on Instagram.
X
X is a platform that is most effective as an introduction, headline, or short snippet of a blog, whitepaper, or other page. While it only allows for a limited number of characters, it is effective at directing clients to other pages through its linking capabilities.
TikTok
TikTok has gained massive popularity over the years and is primarily a short-form video platform. It allows creators to post educational or entertaining videos, driving traffic to other content forms. The most effective legal content creators use the platform to share tidbits of information, discuss current events and the legalities surrounding them, or share funny sketches. It also allows creators to go live, directly interacting with potential clients by answering their questions, explaining different legal functions, and educating, thus creating trust.
For an effective social media strategy, you must use an intentional combination of different platforms. Not all apps will work for all firms, and it isn’t necessary to post on all of them. Based on the demographic you are going for, some platforms may be more effective than others. Having a team that understands how to promote a law firm on social media helps boost visibility, engagement, and clicks.
Intention Over Volume: Why Posting More Is Not the Goal
While consistent posting is a key pillar of a successful law firm social media marketing strategy, posting every day is not. More and more platforms are catching onto this and seeing it as spam, and their algorithms are filtering out creators who post daily without receiving engagement. The goal is always to reach the right audience, and if the algorithm sees people scrolling and not engaging, it stops pushing it out to more viewers.
Beyond pleasing the algorithm, overly high-volume posting can lower quality, be seen as “spammy” or overly salesy to potential clients, and even steer people away from your firm. How many times have you been scrolling and kept seeing the same product or brand over and over to the point where it’s a nuisance and you choose to buy elsewhere on principle alone—just me?
Content should feel intentional. The right hashtags, topics, and thoughtful, engaging content are much more effective than posting aimlessly every day, hoping someone clicks your link. Each post should be educational or entertaining, humanizing your firm and creating a sense of trust and authority. Every post should add value to the viewer, whether they can directly relate or not. You want people to feel as though they’ve gained something with each post.
Engagement Is the Metric That Actually Matters
Contrary to popular belief, likes and followers are actually secondary metrics. Unless your plan is to become a full-time content creator whose focus area just happens to be law, then you generally aren’t looking to make money off the app. Social media for attorneys is a tool to support your true goal of acquiring more clients and educating the public.
For your content to be pushed out to more users, many apps actually look at:
- Comments
- Shares
- Saves
- DMs
- Profile clicks
An effective social media post shares information that someone may send to their daughter who was recently injured in a car accident, their friend who is thinking of divorce, or a parent who needs help creating a will.
How to Promote a Law Firm on Social Media (Without Being Salesy)
When coming up with a plan on how to promote a law firm on social media, the marketing team must be able to execute this in a way that doesn’t feel overly salesy or gimmicky, and there are a few ways to do this.
- Educational authority
- Commentary on real-world issues
- Process transparency
- Behind-the-scenes credibility
Utilizing the correct call to action (CTA) is also paramount. Generally, CTAs should be subtle on social media. Rather than directly telling a client to call or schedule a consultation, you often want to direct them to another page where they can learn more about their situation or your firm. Legal battles often make people feel vulnerable, and demanding too much of them after a three-line X post leads them to keep scrolling.
Integrity and Intention Matter
Social media for lawyers is not, and should not be, your standalone star. It is a supporting character in your firm’s story. It offers a doorway into what your firm is really all about, allowing you to connect with those who would otherwise not have found you. Social media creates trust, brand recognition, and a less formal way to interact with clients than an official consultation. While it is important to follow ethical guidelines, such as not offering concrete solutions to people’s legal trouble without a full understanding of their case, it creates a path for general advice to then lead to a consultation.
