Social media for lawyers
What should a law firm post on social media?
Answer the questions clients already ask you, mostly on video, a few times a week. What to post, where, how often, and how to tell if it's working.
By Charlotte Thompson, Co-Founder, Ad Hoc Digital
Last updated
The short answer
If you read one part of this page, read this.
Post plain answers to the questions your clients already ask you, mostly as short videos of you talking, with a few image posts in between. The questions people type into Google and ChatGPT about your practice area, in your city, are your content plan.
Skip the stock quotes, the generic holiday graphics with nothing to say, and the posts about how proud the firm is. People about to hire a lawyer are checking two things: does this person know their stuff, and would I feel OK talking to them. Answering their question on camera shows both.
This is how we run social media for client firms: we research the questions, the lawyer films once a month, and we measure inquiries rather than views. We work with law firms across the US and Canada, and also in Australia and the UK.
What to post
Post the questions you answer in consultations every week.
You already have the content. It's the 20 or 30 questions every new client asks, the myths you correct, and the things people wish they'd known before they called.
| Post type | Example | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| The question clients ask | "Do I have to go to court for a divorce in this state?" | Answers someone searching that exact question right now |
| The myth you're tired of | "No, a verbal will doesn't count here, and here's why" | Shows judgment, and people share corrections |
| What happens next | "What the first week after a DUI arrest looks like" | Lowers the fear that stops people calling |
| The law that changed | A new rule, deadline or fee, explained in 60 seconds | Shows you're current; timely posts get found |
| How you work | What the first consult covers, how fees are explained | Answers the questions people are too shy to ask |
| Short image post | A checklist or the three documents to bring | Gives people something to save and come back to |
When we start with a new firm, we pull the questions people in that market search about that practice area, and that becomes the first list of ideas. The lawyer goes through it with us and marks what they'd say and what they'd never say. That one conversation saves months of guessing.
Practice area changes the list more than anything else. A family law firm's questions are about custody, money and timing. An estate planning firm's are about what happens if nobody plans. An immigration firm's are about deadlines, documents and risk. Those three firms should never post the same thing.
Where to post
Film once, post everywhere, and let each platform's numbers tell you where your people are.
The same vertical video works on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Facebook. LinkedIn suits a different audience, so business-facing practices lean on it harder.
| Platform | What goes there | Who it reaches |
|---|---|---|
| Short vertical videos, image posts, carousels | Local people checking you out; strong for family, estate and immigration | |
| TikTok | The same short videos | Younger audiences and people researching a problem before they act |
| YouTube | Shorts, plus one or two longer explainers a month | People who search for answers; long videos keep working for years |
| The same videos and image posts | Older audiences; often where referral sources see you | |
| Videos and posts aimed at business owners and other lawyers | Business, employment and referral-driven practices |
YouTube now counts vertical or square videos up to three minutes as Shorts. Most of the videos that work for our clients are well under that: one question, one answer, done.
Our guide to short video for lawyers covers filming, length and captions in detail.
How often
Two to five short videos a week, and one or two longer pieces a month.
Nobody knows in advance which topics will land in your market. Volume is how you find out, and short videos get you there sooner than anything else.
Build the question list
Start with the questions people search about your practice in your city, plus the ones you hear on every consult. Twenty to forty ideas is a good first list.
Mark what you'd never say
Go through the list and strike anything you wouldn't say publicly, anything too close to a real client, and anything your bar's rules make awkward. Our guide to social media rules for lawyers lists the usual traps.
Film everything in one sitting
Block an hour or two once a month and film the agreed ideas back to back. Our clients who keep a filming day stay consistent. The ones who film when they find time usually stop.
Edit cleanly, caption everything
Clean cuts and captions, nothing flashy. We tested heavy editing: it did nothing for retention, and people about to hire a lawyer found it off-putting.
Review before anything goes live
On our accounts, every post is checked by our team first, then the lawyer approves it before it's scheduled. Nothing goes out in a lawyer's name that the lawyer hasn't seen.
Reply to comments and messages
Fifteen to thirty minutes a week, by the lawyer or someone close to them. Check the hidden message requests folder too, because real inquiries get buried there.
Let the numbers pick the next list
After a few filming days there's enough to see which topics held attention and which ones made the phone ring. Make more of those and fewer of the rest.
What to skip
Skip anything a person about to hire a lawyer wouldn't stop scrolling for.
Most law firm feeds are full of posts nobody asked for. They don't hurt much on their own, but they crowd out the answers that would.
- Quote graphics and motivational posts with no connection to your practice.
- Holiday posts with nothing to say. A short, warm holiday post is fine; a feed made mostly of them reads as inactive.
- "We're proud to announce" posts about awards, unless your bar's rules allow the award claim and it means something to clients.
- Client stories, wins and courtroom details. Even with names removed, they can identify a client, and ABA Formal Opinion 480 says a public record doesn't make client information fair to post.
- Hot takes on cases in the news that drift into legal advice for a specific person.
- Trends and dances unless they genuinely suit you. Reach from the wrong audience doesn't sign cases.
How to measure it
Measure inquiries that mention your content, not views.
We've seen reach climb while client inquiries fell. Views tell you the algorithm liked a video; they don't tell you whether it brought a client.
- "I saw your video"
It's the clearest signal there is. Ask intake to note it, and add "how did you hear about us?" to the intake questions. Our guide to marketing attribution explains why that answer is useful but incomplete.
- Topics that line up with calls
Over a few months you can see which subjects come before inquiries. Those become the next filming list.
- How other channels convert
People check you out before they call. An active account makes ad and referral leads easier to sign, which shows up as a better close rate in your intake numbers, not on the social account.
Social is slow to start. It suits firms building for the long term and lawyers willing to talk to a camera for an hour or two a month. If you need cases inside 30 days, Local Services Ads or search ads are the better first move, and the Growth Guide will tell you which order fits your firm.
A worked example
A hypothetical month for a two-lawyer estate planning firm.
This is an illustration of the process, not a result. The point is how little of the lawyer's time it takes once the system runs.
Week 1: the list
Say the firm's question list has 30 ideas: what probate costs in the state, whether a will avoids probate, what happens to a house with no will, how a trust differs from a will, what to bring to a first meeting. The lawyer strikes four that are too close to current matters.
Week 2: filming day
One lawyer films 14 answers in 90 minutes, each under a minute, plus one eight-minute walk-through of the firm's planning process for YouTube.
Weeks 2 to 4: posting
Three or four short videos a week go out on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube Shorts and TikTok, with two image checklists the lawyer approved. Comments get a reply within the week.
End of the month: the read
Two inquiries mention the probate cost video. The "will vs trust" video got plenty of saves on Instagram but no calls yet. Next month's list leans toward probate questions.
One quiet month proves nothing either way. This channel is judged over several filming days, which is why we tell firms up front that it rewards patience more than anything else we run.
Common mistakes
Where firms go wrong.
These are the patterns we see when a law firm's social account isn't doing anything for it.
Chasing views
The audience that matters is small by definition: people near you with your kind of problem, right now. Optimizing for reach brings the wrong people and hides whether the right ones showed up.
Quitting before it compounds
Plenty of firms have killed their content thinking it did nothing, when it was quietly helping every other channel convert. Judge it over months, on inquiries and close rate.
Handing it all to someone who isn't you
People are trying to get a feel for the lawyer. Brand graphics and a junior staffer's voice don't do that. The lawyer's face and words are the content.
Posting client stories
Even a vague win can identify a client in a small community. Keep it to general information and your own process.
Ignoring the inbox
Real inquiries sit in message requests for weeks. Treat social messages like any other lead, with the same [speed to lead](/resources/speed-to-lead-for-law-firms) as a phone call.
Real results
What this looked like for real firms.
One family law firm where social became the main source of clients, and one business firm where six months of presence-building changed who reaches out first.
Identifying details are anonymized to protect our clients. Individual result, not a promise or prediction of any specific outcome for your firm.
FAQ
Questions lawyers ask us.
Straight answers to the questions that come up most.
What should a law firm post on Instagram?
Short vertical videos of a lawyer answering the questions clients ask, plus image posts with checklists or key dates. Keep it educational and specific to your practice and state. The same videos go to TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Facebook, so one filming session covers every platform.
How often should a lawyer post on social media?
We aim for two to five short videos a week and one or two longer pieces a month. That's enough volume to learn which topics land in your market without the lawyer filming more than an hour or two a month, because it all gets filmed in one sitting.
Do lawyers really get clients from social media?
Some do. One of our family law clients now gets almost all of their intake from Instagram and TikTok. For most firms social does a quieter job: it's what people check after they hear your name, and it adds to what AI tools know about you.
Which practice areas suit social media?
Practices where people research for a while before they hire: family law, estate planning, immigration and similar. Emergency practices like DUI and criminal defense lean on Local Services Ads and search ads first, though an active account still helps those leads sign.
Can someone else post for me?
Someone else can plan, edit, caption and schedule. The part that has to be you is being on camera and approving what goes out under your name. You're responsible for your own marketing under your bar's rules, so review every post before it's live.
Should a law firm post holiday greetings?
A short, warm holiday post is fine and some clients like them. A feed made mostly of holiday graphics and quotes reads as inactive, so keep them as the exception between real answers.
What about LinkedIn?
LinkedIn reaches business owners, in-house counsel and other lawyers, so it matters most for business law, employment and referral-driven practices. The same filmed answers work there with a business-facing angle.
How do we know if social is working?
Count inquiries that mention your content, watch which topics line up with calls, and check whether your other leads sign more often. Views alone can mislead. If you want help setting that up, schedule a consultation.
Where we do this
The services this guide touches.
What this looks like when we run it for a firm, with a demo for your practice on each page.
Sources
Where these facts come from.
Official pages we read when writing this page. Platforms and rules change, so check the current version before you act on any of it. This is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
- The Florida Bar, Handbook on Lawyer Advertising (13th ed., December 2025)
- American Bar Association, Formal Opinion 480: confidentiality obligations for lawyer blogging and other public commentary
- Law Society of British Columbia, Ethics Advisory: Marketing activities
- Barreau du Québec, notice to members on social media conduct
- YouTube Help, Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts
Written by
Co-founder of Ad Hoc Digital. Leads social media and content, runs onboarding for new client firms, and is on the regular check-in calls with clients.
More about CharlotteWant a second pair of eyes on this?
Book a free 30-minute call. Tell us how cases come in today, and we'll tell you straight what we'd change, and whether we can help.