Law firms outperform rivals on LinkedIn by encouraging wider engagement

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Broad participation is more important than “star performers” when it comes to improving a firm’s LinkedIn performance, according to a report by TBD Marketing. The research highlighted the growing role that lawyers and staff at all levels play in shaping law firms’ online visibility, with firms such as Hogan Lovells and Ashurst LLP among top performers.

Researchers assessed LinkedIn social media maturity across four dimensions in their first ‘social media barometer’ for law firms, including:

• a ‘firm score’, based on followers and engagements per employee;
• an ‘influencers score’, reflecting the number of lawyers and staff in TBD’s top 1,000 legal LinkedIn influencers;
• a ‘social army score’, measuring the number of lawyers and staff posting on LinkedIn; and
• a ‘leadership score’, informed by the posts of senior and managing partners.

Using this framework, City law firms claimed the top three spots in the rankings, with Hogan Lovells topping the leaderboard, showing “consistent engagement rather than reliance on a small number of standout individuals”.

Ashurst, which came second, was recognised for its leadership visibility, and Bird & Bird, which came third, performed “strongly across the board”. Other highly-ranked firms included Addleshaw Goddard, Brabners LLP, Lewis Silkin, Linklaters LLP and Mishcon de Reya LLP, while HCR Law achieved the strongest social army score, with more than one-third of its people posting regularly each month.

The findings concluded that size isn’t “an advantage in itself” and large firms that treat social media as “as a centralised marketing function” were often outperformed by smaller firms that encourage many people to post regularly. TBD Marketing commented: “Larger firms rely on their corporate brand, smaller firms rely more on their people. Both could learn from the other group.” The research also found that “leadership presence amplifies” performance.

Researchers recommended that law firms encourage wider participation, with more people posting regularly about their work, such as a short reaction to a case, a client win or a conference takeaway.

Founder of TBD Marketing, Simon Marshall, commented: “The data shows that visibility today is shaped less by scale and more by participation, leadership presence and culture.

“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.”