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Instagram for Lawyers: How to Attract New Clients with IG

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Instagram for Lawyers: How to Attract New Clients with IG

Instagram marketing for law firms is one of the most overlooked social media strategies, yet it holds immense potential when executed correctly. The platform has over 2 billion users globally, with 169 million in the United States alone.

Ignoring such a massive audience could mean missing out on a significant opportunity. As an experienced marketing professional, I advise lawyers to test every platform multiple times before dismissing it. The same applies to Instagram for lawyers, which should be essential to any law firm’s digital marketing strategy.

This article will discuss the benefits of Instagram attorneys marketing, how to start from scratch, and much more.

What is Instagram Marketing for Lawyers?

Instagram marketing for lawyers is leveraging this social media platform to attract followers, build brand authority, and establish credibility in the legal niche.

Since Instagram primarily focuses on images and videos, law firms aiming to grow their brand should create helpful, informative, and visually engaging content, such as images, videos, and infographics.

You can find relevant data on American Instagram users here and craft your Instagram content strategy based on demographic profiles, consumer lifestyles, attitudes, and more.

Should Lawyers Advertise on Instagram?

Definitely!

Why leave behind a considerable portion of the American audience when you can target them effectively using Instagram ads and hashtags? Another advantage is that the platform lets you showcase your law firm’s brand, culture, team, and satisfied clients to a broader audience.

These activities build trust and encourage potential clients to believe in you and your services. Through Instagram marketing, lawyers can create personal connections with clients, leading to unlimited referrals and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.

The use of Instagram among lawyers increased from 13% in 2022 to 18% in 2023, indicating gradual growth and adoption of the platform by law firms. While the increase is modest, it highlights a growing recognition of Instagram’s potential in legal marketing.

Why Should Lawyers Use Instagram for Marketing?

Instagram should be essential to your law firm’s social media marketing strategy because of its billions of active users and highly visual nature. In 2023, 80% of businesses globally used Instagram for advertising, while millions of users actively searched for businesses and visited their offices through the platform.

You might think, “I’m already running LinkedIn and Facebook ads for my personal injury law firm—why open another front in the marketing battle?”

I agree that LinkedIn marketing for lawyers is one of the most effective strategies, followed closely by Facebook ads. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore other popular platforms like Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for attorney marketing.

Each platform offers unique benefits that lawyers can leverage to build a strong brand and increase online visibility.

Benefits of Law Firm Instagram Marketing

Instagram is a versatile platform that allows law firms to share content in multiple formats, making it easier to engage with potential clients. Beyond its simple and user-friendly interface, it offers various content options for marketing needs.

Lawyers can post high-quality photos to showcase their firm, legal insights, or client testimonials. They can also use Instagram Stories for quick updates, behind-the-scenes moments, or interactive Q&A sessions.

Here are a few key advantages of using Instagram for law firm marketing:

1- Attract New Clients

Instagram for lawyers allows them to attract new clients by posting helpful images and videos. Law firms can share informative content related to their legal practice to gain followers and grow their Instagram presence.

Focus on valuable and engaging content to grow your law firm’s Instagram page. For example, you can create a helpful video explaining the divorce process in your state or design an informative image outlining child custody requirements, accompanied by a link to a detailed blog post.

Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags and geotags to reach a local audience. While this won’t directly improve local SEO, it will help build brand visibility and attract potential clients in your area.

2- Branding and Hashtags

Insta #tags

According to a global survey by Statista, 56% of marketers plan to increase their organic use of Instagram for marketing their businesses. Additionally, 79% of businesses already leverage Instagram for branding and online marketing, highlighting its growing importance as a powerful digital marketing tool.

The powerful hashtag (#) feature was made popular by Instagram to help users organically join trending conversations and increase their content visibility. Adding relevant and strategic hashtags ensures your posts reach a broader audience, including potential clients searching for legal services.

When you share valuable content with the right hashtags, your Instagram post’s visibility can increase significantly. This increases engagement and helps establish your law firm as an authority in your legal niche. To maximize results, use a mix of:

  • Industry-specific hashtags (e.g., #FamilyLaw, #PersonalInjuryLawyer)
  • Location-based hashtags (e.g., #NewYorkAttorney, #ChicagoLawFirm)
  • Trending hashtags relevant to your practice area (e.g., #KnowYourRights, #LegalTips)

By leveraging hashtags effectively, you can attract potential clients, improve engagement, and enhance your law firm’s brand on Instagram.

3- Instagram Ads for Lawyers

The Instagram Ads feature is an excellent tool for law firm marketing, allowing you to target a specific audience precisely. Since Instagram is owned and operated by Meta, its ad system works similarly to Facebook Ads, enabling you to select demographics, interests, life events, and geographic locations to reach potential clients effectively.

For lawyers looking to grow their presence on Instagram, a combination of paid ads and organic content is the most effective strategy. While organic posts help build trust and engagement, Instagram Ads ensure your firm reaches a wider and more targeted audience—including potential clients who may not have discovered you otherwise.

By integrating Instagram Ads with organic marketing, law firms can maximize their reach, generate quality leads, and strengthen their online presence.

4- Effect on SEO Marketing

While there is no direct connection between social media marketing and SEO, I have observed that popular posts with high engagement—likes, shares, and comments—often get ranked by Google for specific keywords.

Although Instagram primarily focuses on visual content like videos and images, it can still complement your law firm’s SEO and overall marketing strategy. A well-optimized Instagram presence helps increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and improve engagement with potential clients.

Additionally, an optimized Instagram profile can rank for your law firm’s branded keywords, reinforcing trust, authority, and online visibility. Potential clients can explore your firm’s culture, team, and past successes, making it easier for them to connect with your brand before reaching out.

5- Repurpose Instagram Content

Instagram content includes images, videos, Reels, and Stories, which can be repurposed across other social media platforms to increase online visibility and reach clients across different age groups and demographics.

For example, if you create a highly informative Reel on how to obtain child support, you can share it on Instagram and then repurpose it on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook to maximize engagement.

I always advise my clients to leverage Instagram content for Facebook Ads for law firms, as it is one of the most effective ways to utilize digital assets strategically.

Beyond this, there are several advantages to running Instagram ads for law firm marketing, with branding being one of the most significant benefits.

Now, let’s dive deeper into how lawyers can effectively use Instagram and explore the key factors of a successful Instagram attorney marketing campaign.

How to Set Up and Optimize Instagram for Lawyers

Setting up Instagram for lawyer marketing requires an Instagram account and a well-structured content creation plan.

To help you get started, we will walk through the step-by-step process of creating and optimizing an Instagram account for lawyers—from downloading the app on your device to making your first post.

1- Creating an Instagram Account for Law Firm Marketing

  1. Open the App Store or Google Play Store on your device and download the Instagram app to your mobile phone.
  2. Sign up using your official email address or phone number to create your account.
  3. Use your law firm’s name as your Instagram handle, or if you are a solo practitioner, consider creating a separate business page for a more professional presence.
  4. A business page provides exclusive features, including audience insights, performance analytics, and in-app ad creation, allowing you to optimize your marketing strategy effectively.

Lawyer Instagram Page Essentials

Your law firm’s Instagram page reflects you and your practice. Make it stand out by creating a strong professional impression for your followers. Here are the essential elements to make your Instagram page impressive and effective:

  1. Profile Description: You have a 150-character limit to describe your legal services and explain why you are the best choice for potential clients. Keep it clear, concise, and impactful.
  2. Add Your Website & Contact Details: Including your website link and a contact button gives your Instagram profile a professional touch. It also makes it easier for potential clients to contact you directly.
  3. Profile image: Use a clean, professional headshot with a friendly smile if you’re a solo practitioner. If you’re optimizing an Instagram page for a law firm, it’s best to use your firm’s official logo for branding consistency.
  4. Link Other Social Media Accounts: Connect your law firm’s other social media profiles, such as Facebook, Threads, and LinkedIn, to create a cohesive online presence across multiple platforms.

Best Practices:

  • Add a headline highlighting your legal practice area (e.g., “Divorce & Mediation Law Firm in New York”).
  • Include your phone number and office address in your profile.
  • Add a link to your website so potential clients can quickly learn more about your services.

Following these best practices will create a strong, professional, and engaging Instagram presence that enhances your law firm’s brand visibility and credibility.

2- Instagram Content Strategy

This is one of the most critical steps in Instagram marketing for lawyers, and it can make or break your strategy. I highly recommend setting clear goals before creating content and thinking about the type of posts that best align with those goals.

Your goals could include:

  1. Raising brand awareness
  2. Generating leads
  3. Increasing website traffic
  4. A combination of all three

To stay organized, write down Instagram post ideas and your business objectives in an Excel sheet or use a social media content calendar to streamline the process.

Key Components of an Effective Instagram Strategy for Lawyers

  • Business Goals: Define what you want to achieve with your Instagram presence. Are you focusing on brand awareness, or is your primary goal to generate leads and acquire clients? Having a clear objective will shape your overall strategy.
  • Resources: Align your time, budget, and team resources before starting your Instagram marketing efforts for your law firm. Organizing everything in a content calendar will help you stay on track and ensure you know your goals and which resources will be working on them.
  • Content: Plan and create content that aligns with your business goals and is achievable with the available resources. I recommend using a mix of Instagram images, videos, and Reels featuring statistical insights, legal tips, and relevant hashtags to increase engagement and visibility.
  • Frequency: Establish a posting schedule that aligns with your resources and content creation capacity. This can range from three posts per week to daily updates. The key to success in law firm Instagram marketing is consistency, not intensity.

A successful Instagram strategy for lawyers incorporates a balanced mix of images, videos, Reels, and Stories to engage with potential clients effectively. Additionally, you can leverage Instagram by sharing news and updates related to your legal practice area. In fact, 33% of Americans use Instagram to stay informed about current events.

Instagram Stories is particularly valuable as it allows you to add direct links to web pages, making it easier for users to take action.

By leveraging this feature strategically, you can drive traffic to your website, showcase legal expertise, and attract new clients.

3- Hashtags & Caption

Hashtags example

Hashtags and captions are powerful tools for attracting visitors to your Instagram page and increasing the chances of your posts going viral. Selecting the right hashtags is similar to keyword research for law firms, which improves the online visibility of your law firm site on search engines.

To find relevant hashtags, start by researching what your audience posts and how your competitors optimize their Instagram posts. You can easily find specific hashtags by typing your legal practice area into the Instagram search bar.

For example, searching for “divorce lawyer” will show you the law firms using this term and their hashtags. You can browse recent posts that include it by clicking on one of the hashtags, further expanding your hashtag options.

Captions are an excellent way to provide context and description for your posts. I recommend including keywords in your captions to improve the reach of your Instagram posts. Just like you did with hashtags, check how your competitors are using captions and create something more engaging or informative to stand out.

4- Consistency

Consistency is key—from following a healthy diet plan to marketing your business on social media. As I mentioned earlier, the intensity of your Instagram posts doesn’t matter if you’re not posting consistently.

To maximize engagement, find a time when your audience is active, has interacted with your previous posts, and is likely using social media. Post content during that time frame for the best results.

My Theory: By maintaining consistency in posting valuable content on Instagram, the algorithm will favor your account, giving you exceptional reach. However, this won’t be achievable if you publish five posts on Friday and only one on Thursday without a clear and consistent schedule.

5- Instagram Stories

Introduced by Snapchat and later adopted by Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and YouTube (Shorts), the Stories feature has revolutionized social media and significantly increased engagement across platforms.

Instagram Stories have become a powerful tool for brands to advertise their products and services. A survey revealed that 69% of respondents see Stories as an effective advertising method, while 62% said they became more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.

The primary advantage of Instagram Stories is their prominent placement at the top of the news feed, along with their temporary 24-hour lifespan, which makes them feel exclusive and encourages people to click on them.

In fact, 56% of Americans clicked the link at the bottom of a story and visited the brand’s website. This shows how valuable Instagram Stories can be and how law firms can use this feature to drive traffic and engagement.

The optimal size for Instagram Stories is 1080×1920 pixels. You can share Stories organically on your page or create sponsored posts that appear between users’ Stories, expanding your reach even further.

How Lawyers Can Post Instagram Stories?

  1. To post a story on Instagram for your law firm, open the app and tap the plus icon either at the bottom of the screen or the top left corner.
  2. Select Story from the options that appear.
  3. To capture a photo, tap the white circle at the bottom of the screen.
  4. If you prefer to record a video, press and hold the circle. You can also switch to the selfie camera by tapping the camera icon in the bottom right corner.
  5. If you want to use a photo or video you’ve already taken, swipe up or tap the gallery icon on the left.
  6. On the left side of the screen, you’ll find various options to enhance your content, such as Create, Boomerang, Layout, Hands-free, or Dual.
  7. These tools can help share client testimonials, behind-the-scenes content, or legal tips to engage your audience and build trust.

Instagram Stories Ideas for Law Firms

The best approach for Instagram Stories is to remain relevant and showcase your expertise. Take the time to study your competition and aim to do it better than they are. That said, here’s my advice for creating an effective Instagram Story for your law firm:

  • Live Video: Broadcasting live during corporate events or community activities can attract hundreds of followers and help build your brand. This is a great way to engage with your audience in real-time.
  • Discussions: Consider inviting a legal expert to discuss topics relevant to your practice area. For divorce lawyers, for example, you could cover topics like how divorce impacts men or the right way to navigate child support.
  • Team Showcase: Introduce your law firm and team of attorneys to your Instagram followers. Creating an interactive environment fosters engagement and helps humanize your brand.
  • Images: Add relevant statical information and clean design.

To reach a broader audience, you can repurpose these videos and images across other social media platforms, like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Over time, you can organize your Stories into segments, such as legal practice discussions, events, and more, creating a structured and engaging content calendar for your followers.

6- Analyze and Improve

Finally, it’s time to measure the results of your law firm’s Instagram marketing efforts. Instagram provides a dashboard where you can track the performance of your posts. This will show you how many accounts your posts have reached and how many engaged with them.

In general, videos perform better than images, but Stories and Reels are the most compelling features for Instagram attorney marketing. They are the best tools to drive engagement and attract followers to your law firm’s page.

Be sure to analyze your performance—identify which posts performed the worst and make the necessary improvements for future content.

Final Verdict on Law Firm Instagram Marketing

Instagram marketing for lawyers is one of the most underutilized social media platforms, with only 13% of lawyers (ABA Tech Report) using it to establish an online presence. However, it’s also one of the best platforms to share visual content, and 13% of law firms already take advantage of it.

I highly recommend not leaving Instagram out of your digital marketing strategy because:

  • It’s free and visually appealing.
  • There’s plenty of space for growth since few law firms are currently using it.

That said, feel free to contact us for an audit of your law firm’s Instagram strategy and receive free recommendations on content creation and goal setting.

By following the right Instagram strategy, you can boost your firm’s online visibility, build brand awareness, and strengthen your law firm’s reputation, which will also improve your lawyer’s E-E-A-T score.

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