How to Use Comments to Grow Your Brand on LinkedIn
LinkedIn can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool for attorneys. When used properly, LinkedIn can help you:
- Reach your target audience
- Grow your professional network
- Establish your brand
- Stay top-of-mind with potential clients and referrers
But in order to get the most out of your LinkedIn profile, you have to engage with other LinkedIn users. Commenting on posts is an especially good way to spread awareness for your brand and build relationships with professional peers.
Focus on Your Niche
When looking for posts to engage with, try to find users who are relevant to your niche and goals. For example, if you’re looking for new clients for your personal injury practice, you could connect with medical professionals who may be able to refer injury victims to you.
Follow Thought Leaders
No matter your niche, you should always focus your efforts on influential figures related to your niche. When you comment on a user’s post, you’re engaging with them publicly, and their audience should also be relevant to your niche.
By choosing professionals with plenty of followers, you can raise your brand visibility by increasing the number of users who see your comments and learn your name. That way, even if the person you’re replying to doesn’t have any opportunities for you, one of their followers might.
Look for Recent (and Popular) Posts
Even if you have something great to add to a post, it won’t matter much if the post is six months old and miles away from anyone’s feed. Look for active users, then engage with their most current content.
And if possible, find posts that are attracting plenty of engagement from other users, too. This will maximize the attention your comments get, giving you more bang for your buck.
Read the Post
This one may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many social media users forget to actually read a full post before commenting on it. That can lead to confusing, redundant, or even irrelevant comments, making the user seem unprofessional.
So before you type anything, read the entire post. And if the post includes a link to an article or video, don’t skip that either. Make sure you know what the post is talking about before you jump into any conversations.
Provide Value
It’s okay to drop the occasional “Great post!” or “Thanks for this!” but generally, you want to have something to say when commenting. So when you’re scouting for posts to interact with, keep an eye open for opportunities to bring something to the table.
If you don’t see anything you can add to, then consider asking a question related to the topic of the post. This will demonstrate that you’re genuinely interested, and it might even jumpstart a mini conversation in the comments when the original poster—or one of their followers—responds.
Engage with Other Commenters
You don’t always have to comment directly on the original post. If you see a comment that you could add to or a question you could answer, you may want to jump in there. It’s usually a good idea to scan the existing comments anyway, just to make sure your own comment won’t be redundant.
Hit Post! (Once You’re Ready)
Once you have your comment typed up and ready to go, you’re almost done. However, before you hit “post,” take a moment to ensure that the comment really is ready.
First off, double-check for any grammatical errors. A typo may not seem like that big a deal, but it doesn’t take much to give the wrong impression. Remember, you’re putting your brand voice on public display, and you need your audience to see you as polished and professional.
Then, make sure that everything you’re saying is accurate and appropriate. Are you violating any ethical standards through what you’re saying? Are you saying anything that might accidentally offend someone?
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should waste time agonizing over every comment you send. Just make sure that you are not creating any unnecessary confusions for yourself or anyone else.
How About a Little Help?
Social media has plenty of benefits for lawyers and law firms. But as with all internet marketing, running a successful social media campaign takes time, energy, and patience. Plus, without the right experience, it’s easy to make a costly mistake.
If you’d rather let someone else deal with the headaches while you reap the rewards, we can help.
At Let America Know, we give attorneys across the nation the support they need to streamline their social media marketing strategies. Just contact us, and we’ll be happy to help you strengthen your online presence, attract more leads, and grow your brand.
Click here to learn more about our done-for-you custom social media program for trial attorneys.