With over 800 million monthly active users, TikTok has some law firms ready to jump on the fast-growing app. The legal industry may be mostly traditional, but faced with mounting competition, more lawyers are experimenting with novel marketing approaches. TikTok has a lot of potential for law firms, but some are unsure about how to approach this non-traditional platform or whether it’s worth the effort. With growing engagement on #legaltok and #lawyertok, TikTok has plenty of lawyers leveraging it for success and generating high-quality leads. Here are some ways lawyers can use TikTok to build a brand presence and gain new clients and prospects.
Why Lawyers Should Be on TikTok
TikTok may be a non-traditional app to grow your business, but it is a serious marketing platform that has proven to drive growth sometimes overnight. Virtually anyone can go viral on TikTok and get their 15 minutes of fame, including lawyers and law firms.
When users open the TikTok app, they see video content from the accounts they follow and featured videos according to their past interactions on the app. New accounts get featured videos on the #ForYou page, which is the newsfeed equivalent, and the first posts can go viral quickly.
TikTok also allows businesses to link their blog and other social media accounts to their TikTok profile, so TikTok views can lead to other traffic on websites and social media accounts. Lead generation can come from a variety of sources, which is perfect for law firms in a competitive industry.
Tips for Law Firms on TikTok
Understand Your Law Firm’s Audience
Like any marketing platform, it’s crucial for law firms to understand their ideal audience before posting content. Each post should educate, inform, and nurture the target audience, and it’s impossible for law firms to do that if they don’t know who they’re speaking to.
Law firms should create profiles for their audience to understand their age, gender, profession, marital status, occupation, language, and income level, then create content that will speak directly to this audience and their pain points.
Create Quality Content
Once law firms have a clear audience, it’s easier to make content that will engage followers. All content should be informative and valuable to the audience, like Q&A sessions, in-depth answers to complicated questions, and insights into more complex aspects of the justice system.
Ideally, law firms will offer an array of content that focuses on the area of practice and the larger industry, such as news stories, general advice, legal updates, and hypothetical case outcomes.
It’s also important to add your own personality and flair. Anthoney Barbuto is a lawyer who creates funny videos that make light of traditional law firm norms. His family and staff are often featured in the short skits allowing the audience to get a view into his personality both personal and professional.
Share Content Frequently
The TikTok algorithm favors creators who post frequently, at least once a day, and will automatically reward new accounts early on. It takes consistency for accounts to start to gain a following, however, so it’s important for law firms to post regularly.
Follow Trends
Trends are critical on TikTok and necessary for getting content that engages the audience. Following trends isn’t difficult, though it may seem to be. Law firms should browse the Discover page to see what content is currently trending, which may include dance challenges, memes, or music.
These trends can be used to inspire content and make it fun and native to the platform. While dance trends may seem out of place with a serious law firm account, it’s important to create content that aligns with the personality of the platform. Law firms should also leverage relevant hashtags to attract more viewers.
Engage with the Audience
Once a video is published, it’s important for law firms to engage with the audience by responding to comments, asking questions, liking responses, and thanking viewers for insights. Law firms can also follow other lawyers and law firms and interact with them, creating more engagement for both accounts.
A great example of a lawyer using her talents on TikTok is Erika Kullberg. With many of her videos reaching hundreds of thousands to millions of views, she’s mastered engaging with her audience by providing legal advice they can actually use in their day-to-day.
Repurpose Popular Content
TikTok videos can be popular on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Law firms should save videos that are posted for use on other platforms. Or, if the content is recorded outside of the app and uploaded, it can be shared directly onto other platforms.
Law firms can repurpose content in other formats as well. Blog posts or articles that have been popular with readers can be turned into a video with graphics, or short portions of existing content can be used to create a short-form video with in-depth information.
Experiment
TikTok is one of the newest platforms and keeps adding new features and functionality. It’s important for law firms to stay updated on changes to the platform and ongoing trends or expectations of the users. Paying attention to other accounts can provide insights into what type of content gets attention from TikTok users.
If success doesn’t happen immediately, law firms shouldn’t give up. It’s an experimental platform, and law firms can benefit from pushing their own comfort levels and trying something new, like a video with a little humor or silly animations. If it flops, there’s always another opportunity to create something else in the future.
Track Performance
Like any other marketing strategy, TikTok requires tracking and metrics to see what’s working and what isn’t. The only way law firms can tell if their efforts are worthwhile is by checking the performance of different content.
Lawyers can track and measure their marketing strategy in Practice Panther’s legal practice management software. It features automated client intake forms and custom tags to experiment with new marketing and make informed decisions about what’s providing a positive return on investment.
For example, with the automated client intake forms, lawyers can create a field such as “where did you hear about us?” with a custom tag for social media – TikTok to track where the leads come from.
Is TikTok Right for Law Firms?
TikTok has huge potential for law firms to promote themselves and connect with prospective clients. It’s important for law firms to consider how other businesses promote themselves on the app, however, and how they can create content that will be popular for TikTok users.
