LinkedIn: Leaders should be visible
“Broad participation” is more important than “star performers” in improving a law firm’s performance on LinkedIn, a report has found.
Researchers said size was not “an advantage in itself” and large law firms that treated social media “as a centralised marketing function” were often outperformed by smaller firms.
“Broad participation matters more to overall scores than star performers alone. Firms that encourage many people to post regularly and give them the freedom and opportunity to do so tend to outperform those that rely on a small number of high-profile accounts.
“Leadership presence amplifies everything else. Where leaders are visible, firm accounts and individual contributors tend to perform better.”
TBD Marketing said: “Large firms that treat social media as a centralised marketing function frequently underperform smaller firms that embed activity across teams.
“Larger firms rely on their corporate brand, smaller firms rely more on their people. Both could learn from the other group.”
In its first ‘social media barometer’ for law firms, researchers measured social media maturity on LinkedIn across four dimensions.
The ‘firm score’ was based on followers and engagements per employee, an ‘influencers score’ based on the number of lawyers and staff in TBD’s top 1,000 legal LinkedIn influencers, a ‘social army score’ based on the number of lawyers and staff posting on LinkedIn and a ‘leadership score’ based on the posts of senior and managing partners.
City law firms took the top three places in the table. Hogan Lovells led the field, showing “consistent engagement rather than reliance on a small number of standout individuals”, followed by Ashurst, singled out for leadership visibility which reflected “a clear strategic commitment to senior voices being present and active online, particularly during periods of change and transformation”.
Bird & Bird, performing “strongly across the board”, came third, followed by Lewis Silkin, which “stands out as a firm that converts participation into impact”.
After Linklaters and Mishcon de Reya, North-West firm Brabners came seventh, showing “how a smaller firm can outperform much larger peers through high engagement and participation”.
Two other national firms joined Addleshaw Goddard in the top 10. HCR Law achieved “the strongest social army score in the entire top 100”, with more than a third of its people posting regularly each month, while listed law firm Knights “benefits from a solid spread of activity rather than reliance on a handful of high-profile accounts”.
Researchers recommended that firms start with “participation not perfection”, the biggest gains coming from “getting more people posting once a month”, even if the content was simple.
“A short reaction to a case, a client win, a conference takeaway. It all counts. If you prefer to do a polished thought piece, then make sure you do it once a month to remain front of mind with your network.
“Firms that do well tend to treat posting as part of working life, not an extracurricular activity. Light encouragement from partners, permission to post in work time, and no over-policing makes a huge difference.”
Simon Marshall, founder of TBD Marketing, commented: “The data shows that visibility today is shaped less by scale and more by participation, leadership presence and culture.
“Firms that encourage more people to show up regularly, and where senior leaders are visibly engaged, consistently outperform those that rely on brand accounts or a small number of star voices.
“What comes through clearly is that the next phase of social media maturity isn’t about posting more. It’s about balance – firm accounts, individual voices, participation at scale and visible leadership all working together in a way that’s sustainable, realistic and rooted in how firms actually operate day to day.”