It’s Not Just for Generation Z: The Top 5 Ways to Leverage TikTok for Your Law Firm
6 minutes to read
Leveraging Tiktok for your law firm is a fantastic way to add to your robust marketing strategy. If you’re not sure what TikTok is at this point, you’ve probably been living under a rock for the past two years. The sensational app catapulted to global popularity after launching in 2018, leading to a brand new opportunity for content creators to make their voices heard and gain droves of followers through one-minute (or less) videos.
Just to give some perspective of TikTok’s impact in its short lifetime:
- It amassed over 20 billion downloads by April 2020
- It’s the sixth-largest social media network (already surpassing Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest)
- AND it currently has over 800 million active users worldwide
TikTok offers everything, from comedy to cooking to crafty DIY videos — but what many lawyers don’t realize is the potential they have to use TikTok to make their mark in the digital sphere.
To give you some inspiration on how you can leverage TikTok for your law firm, we’ve compiled a list of the best videos from attorneys across the country who have cracked the code on producing engaging, educational, and humorous content that’s helping to take their brand to new heights.
Here are the top 5 ways to leverage TikTok for your law firm:
- Follow the trends
- Educate the masses
- Answer questions from followers
- Help explain current events from a legal perspective
- “Duet” a popular video
1. Follow the Trends
At least once a week, a new viral trend emerges on TikTok, whether it be a song, sound, dance, filter, or video format. This is amazing for you, the content creator, to take advantage of if you’re really trying to skyrocket your account to superstardom.
Take this video from Attorney Nicole M. Whitaker (@immigration.lawyer) for example.
@immigration.lawyerLike & follow for information on ##workpermits, ##greencards, & ##citizenship! ##tiktoklawyer ##lawyer ##immigration♬ Love Story Discolines – ethanishung
This attorney decided to do her own take on the #LoveStoryChallenge (Don’t forget to use hashtags for maximum reach!) to introduce herself to the platform and entice viewers to follow her for more content focused on immigration law.
Just from this one video — which was also her first one published on TikTok — she received over 500k views, 148.5k likes, and over 1,000 comments.
The key move for this strategy is to make it your own so it’s set apart from the most likely thousands of other renditions floating around. We’ve included another (non-legal) take on the #LoveStoryChallenge trend below for reference.
@the.mcfarlandswe had to do it ##fyp ##macshack ##dan♬ Love Story Discolines – ethanishung
2. Educate the Masses
Content marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk famously advises to “give, give, give, and THEN ask,” meaning you must nurture your audience and gain their trust before looking to them to give you something in return.
Leveraging TikTok with this strategy can easily be done by providing educational (and entertaining!) content on a topic you find relevant for your audience. Sure, the app is heavily centered around comedic content — but it’s proven that there is plenty of space for videos that provide important information as well.
Since TikTok is widely used by Millennials and Generation Z, it’s important to appeal to what they’d be most interested in. For instance, if you are a criminal defense attorney, it could be valuable to share what you know about what to do if stopped by police or if you are charged with a non-violent drug offense.
Another way to implement this strategy is by keeping current events and popular subjects in mind as you brainstorm your content.
A great illustration of this is from attorney “Seanie, esq.” (@everdaylawyer), who has gained 490.8k followers by dancing and enlightening his followers on everything from the current protests, to this year’s election, and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).
@everydaylawRemember to always give credit! It’s the law! 👏🏼 Let’s think about where most of our trending sounds come from 🤔 ##blackvoicesheard ##fyp♬ Kontrol – Maleek Berry
Other examples of this “educate” strategy can be seen in these videos below — one from Crisp Coach client Ali Awad (@ceolawyer) on what to do if you slip and fall in a hotel, and another from attorney Brad Shear (@bradshear), who boasts 1.1M followers on TikTok.
@ceolawyer##sponsored What to do if you slip and fall at a business or insured property ##ceolawyer ##learnontiktok ##legaltips ##tiktokpartner ##lawyerup♬ original sound – ceolawyer
@bradshearHow to protect yourself! ##police ##help ##tips ##whatthissays ##minitutorials ##moreyouknow ##phone ##iphone ##howto ##school ##fyp ##facts ##share ##lifehack♬ original sound – bradshear
3. Answer Questions from Followers
This TikTok strategy will admittedly be a more useful tactic once you’ve gained some traction and followers; however, answering direct questions submitted by followers is a super-easy way to continue providing value to potential clients through your subject matter expertise.
For this strategy, we’ve included a video example from Adam Juratovak (@adamjthelawyer), an employee rights lawyer based in San Jose, California.
As you can see, this attorney uses his niche expertise on employment law to give his followers the inside scoop on rights they may not know they are entitled to.
@adamjthelawyerReply to @kayameinberg ##employmentlaw ##adamjthelawyer ##employmentlawyer ##california♬ original sound – adamjthelawyer
4. Help Explain Current Events from a Legal Perspective
The best way to reach an audience is to meet them where they are.
A surefire way to leverage this on TikTok is to provide a layman’s terms explanation of something that’s going on in the world right now, from political events to pop culture happenings.
By doing this, you’re once again able to provide value to those looking to you for a better understanding of something that may directly or indirectly impact them — and you’re doing it on a platform where they are already spending time and consuming content.
Here are some great examples of this tactic from some of TikTok’s most popular attorney accounts.
Lawyer Kelly Chang Rickert (@lawyerkelly) practices family law and uses the “current events” strategy a lot. Below, we’ve provided a video example where she provides her take on a trending article relating to divorce.
@lawyerkellyCOVID and divorce ##covid19 ##divorce ##divorceattorney ##divorcelawyer ##familylaw ##divorcedparents ##SuperlativeSmiles♬ How You Like That – BLACKPINK
Criminal defense attorney Joe Simons (@Not.guilty), yet another Crisp Coach client who has had great success on TikTok with over 42k followers, also makes use of the current events commentary approach by shedding light on a recent ruling of a Louisiana court.
@not.guiltyA cruel example of injustice, not that we need more proof of its existence. ##themoreyouknow ##injustice ##knowyourrights ##lawyersoftiktok♬ original sound – not.guilty
5. “Duet” a Popular Video
This TikTok strategy is quite a bit of fun. It also allows you to show some personality and get a few laughs, all while continuing to build your brand and garner some popularity.
The platform’s interface allows you to “duet” other TikToks, meaning you can create a side-by-side response to someone else’s video. We’ll show you what that looks like in the video below.
Here’s a hilarious one from a TikTok user who goes by the name of Attorney Tom (@AttorneyTom), who is verified with over 12.1M likes on his videos.
@attorneytom##duet with @beccaohel2 Hurt at work? Make sure you hire a lawyer to help! ##sonic ##rollerblades ##react ##law ##work♬ original sound – beccaohel2
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are all kinds of different routes attorneys can take when leveraging TikTok for their law firm. While it may seem intimidating, the payoff can be huge for building your law firm’s brand and breaking into a new avenue for growth.
Now the ball is in your court. Practice those dance moves, get camera-ready, and make some magic — Happy TikTok-ing!
