55. LinkedIn Strategies for Building a Powerful Personal Brand as a Lawyer

Ever felt overwhelmed by LinkedIn and wondering how to make it work for your legal  career? In this episode, you'll learn how to design an engaging profile, complete with a professional photo, captivating header, and a dynamic 'About' section that highlights your skills, experience and  personality. I'll guide you to harness the basics and move beyond, transforming your LinkedIn profile from an online CV to a platform for meaningful professional connections.

Content is king, especially when it comes to building a personal brand. So, in this episode, we'll tackle the fear of putting yourself out there by  exploring different content formats. I'll share some tips to help you make small but consistent steps towards creating  content that not only resonates with your audience but also opens up new opportunities for your career.

So, are you ready to leverage LinkedIn to its full potential? Let's dive in!

Want support to elevate your LinkedIn Profile? Book a discovery call HERE to find out how we can work together to amplify your career opportunities. 

Connect with the host:

Website: https://marijaduka.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marija-duka/ 

Instagram: @marija.duka

Join The Unbound Lawyer Program HERE.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to the Career Confidence podcast, the podcast for driven lawyers wanting to step out of the traditional path and build fulfilling and purposeful careers. I'm your host, maria Dukar, legal counsel and career coach, helping you navigate your career with intention and confidence. In this podcast, we don't show away from having real conversations about topics that matter to us. Driven AF go-getters From manifesting your dream career, negotiating the salary you deserve, creating your personal brand, knowing when it's time to pivot. We cover these topics and so much more. You ready, let's dive into today's episode. Welcome to another episode of the Career Confidence podcast. I'm excited to be back in your ears this week. I hope you're having an amazing week so far. I hope you're doing well.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Today's episode will be more of a workshop slash practical style episode. If you are listening to this on your walk or on your commute you're driving maybe you want to hit pause and come back to this episode when you are in front of your computer or just have that space to be also on your phone as well. We are going to be talking about LinkedIn tips to help you stand out as a lawyer online. This is going to be pretty much a LinkedIn 101 basic tips type of episode, because my goal is for you to get on there. Get on LinkedIn and start showing up for yourself. Start showing right on there to get you over this sphere of how will I look if I go on LinkedIn and start posting. I want you to overcome all of those fears and start showing up on LinkedIn, because it is a really great way to build your personal brand. It's also a great way to meet other people in the industry and also to find a job as well to find your next job that you probably don't know that you're looking for yet as well. There are amazing opportunities on there. I feel like it's a really incredible tool at UntapSource. It's not anymore a platform where you just update when you have a new job and it's not there to be just as your online resume. It is so much more than that. Today, we'll be going into how you can use it to stand out online and to really maximize this tool for yourself, to create new and exciting opportunities for yourself. Let's dive on straight into it. I have my LinkedIn profile uploaded, it's up and I am going to be going through it and taking you through the things to essentially start updating now so that you can then get onto the more exciting parts of posting, commenting, writing articles, standing out shining bright online Alrighty.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Firstly, if you do not have a LinkedIn account, please create one. It's very easy, it is free to do. Create an account. Upload a professional profile photo, not a selfie, but something that looks nice, clean, crisp and professional. That also shows your personality too. You don't have to be dressed in a black suit and a black blazer. If that's your vibe, then go for it. Yeah, it does not have to be boring. Allow it to show your personality. You can update your header At the just above your profile photo. You've got that circular photo. Then above there is a header. If you don't upload anything on there, it's like this blank, boring looking thing. If you need tips, simply just go onto Canva.

Speaker 1: 4:10

Canva is also a great free resource. If you type in Canva LinkedIn header, there are so many templates there, so many examples that you can use. You can just simply write your name and your title on there, what it is that you do senior associate or lawyer or in-house counsel or whatever it may be. Then later on, when you get more comfortable with LinkedIn, you can juge it up a bit and you can add things on there that you are known for whether it's your an IP lawyer, like award-winning IP lawyer, or if you talk about fashion law or whatever it may be. You can add a nice short little one-liner on what you do or what you talk about in that header. For example, using my one, I have on the side career coach for lawyers, so people know what it is that I do. Then I just have this one-liner in the middle saying your career wing woman helping you design your legal career your way. People know I'm a career coach for lawyers. Then it gives a little bit more context in terms of what I do. Then I have my name connect with me at my email address. You can go on Canva, though, because there are so many incredible examples on there as well.

Speaker 1: 5:32

If you do work for a company that is active on LinkedIn, maybe they have their headers that they would like you to use. You could also use your company's header as well. But, yeah, a very, super easy thing to do, and I know that these are very, very basic tips, but there are so many people out there that have not done these little things, and they're in that lurking mode. They don't have a profile photo, they don't have any header. It looks like they're basically offline but they're sitting there lurking and looking at other people's content. Don't be that person. Be the person that updates their profile and is active and is engaging with others on the platform and using it to its full potential. Alrighty, so you've got a profile photo, you've got a header and then you will be updating your about section. So there is an about section which is like a little snipper of what you do.

Speaker 1: 6:29

I personally do not like to use the third person Like. I hate when people like, for example, maria is an award-winning commercial lawyer that works boring, right, very boring. I like to use first person because it's my profile and I'm writing and it is more engaging. It sounds very wanky when you write in third person. Some tips on there in terms of what you can include. So do a little bit of an instruction. Hey, I'm Maria, I'm just going to use mine as an example. So it's not like the example to look up to or whatever it may be, but I'm just going to use mine to paint the picture on what yours could look like, to just get the brain adduces flowing to get you writing yours. It does not have to be anything fancy. So mine says, hey, I'm Maria and I've got a waving emoji. I like to use emojis in my intro because it gives me more personality.

Speaker 1: 7:33

And I start straight off the bat saying I've built a unique and diverse legal career that has been anything but linear but also rewarding. I really focus on building a legal, a diverse legal career, because then I'm going to go into what it is that I do Now. I have a dual role. I'm a career coach for lawyers. That is my business that I run, and I also still work as a practicing lawyer. So I have this in mind when I'm writing my intro. So I start off with my legal experience. So let's start off with what I like to call dot, dot, dot legal crept. And then I go into. I'm a senior associate at a water winning commercial firm specializing in blah blah, blah blah. My expertise spans from blah blah, blah blah I've worked with clients across industries such as moving on and then I go into my business, but I'm not hashtag lawyering. I'm coaching ambitious lawyers uniquely design their careers by leveraging their legal skills to make intentional and bold career moves.

Speaker 1: 8:37

I'm also regularly on the mic on the career confidence podcast into the incredible people blah blah, blah blah, and then I tie it in nicely together my coaching business and my role as a lawyer seamlessly merged together. So I talk about how these merged together and then I talk about my mission. And then I give a call to action where to, from here, hire me as your coach. And then I have a link to my website, how we can start a conversation. Slide into my dance. Email me.

Speaker 1: 9:05

It does not have to be anything super fancy, it does not have to be long, but it is a great way to summarize your skills and credibility as a lawyer within this section. So if you do not yet feel comfortable using emojis and things like that, you don't have to. If that's not you, you don't have to do it. Use your own tone of voice, but as long as you have in there what you do, where you work. But then talk about your experience and expertise as a whole. So don't just focus on the role that you're currently at, because you want to be looking at this from the lens of a potential client. It's one, so clients could be reading this.

Speaker 1: 9:49

If you're working part of practice with our clients and on the other side of it, future employers that might be reading this, saying, well, what does Maria do and where does her experience extend to, and all of that, and then at the end always have a call to action. So if you work in a private practice firm, you obviously want to attract your clients so you can have in there where to, from here, book in a discovery call. And if your firm has a discovery call like link, you can link it there how we can start a conversation. Send me an email on blah blah blah and you can use your work email for people to contact you there. So, in summary, introduce yourself who you are, what you do, your extent of experience and expertise, what you're passionate about too Like you might really love to talk about branding. You might like to talk about fashion. You might like to talk about like what's the unique in terms of like how you merge your experience as a lawyer and what you're really passionate about Talking about, whether if it's tech, law or career development, whatever it may be put in a little bit about that as well, and then always end with a call to action so people know how to contact you.

Speaker 1: 11:00

That about section is really really handy to just have there because, yeah, future clients or future employers can have a look at and get to know you a little bit more. Obviously, update your experience section. So have all the experience and jobs that you have in there. Do a little summary on what each role entailed. Doesn't have to be as extensive as a resume, but just the simple blurb what you did in each role. To highlight your experience and expertise is a good one. Any licences or certificates that you hold, any volunteering that you've done, your skills you can add skills as well in there and you can have a play around with it.

Speaker 1: 11:42

But the main thing is just to start you off profile photo, header, photo about me section and your experience. Like, let's keep it simple, just do that and you're good to go. So once you do that, then we get into the fun part where you start to actually stand out on line and shine your bright self all over the interwebs. So the beautiful thing about LinkedIn and what I have really loved about it and have benefited from is the interaction you have with other legal professionals on there, the friendships that I have developed and the current job that I have has been honestly through a conversation on LinkedIn DMs. So there is so much power in LinkedIn and how you use. It is really important. So if you're not yet at a stage where you want to start hosting and creating your own content, then simply start by One, following other industry leaders that you admire, that you look up to an industry that you're passionate about, that you like to talk to. If you're in private practice, follow potential clients that you might want to work with. That's a really good place to start as well. Then start commenting Commenting from a place of authenticity.

Speaker 1: 13:04

You might see a post from an industry leader that you're really excited by. There might be some new developments in a certain area. Therefore, it is a great time for you to comment. You can say something like thanks for your insights in this. I really like how you frame this in this way. Don't just like it and leave it. It's really great to add your two senses as well. Or you might have a different perspective or a fresh perspective that you want to provide. Thanks for sharing this. However, have you considered this angle to it? Whatever it is that you're thinking, naturally that you want to communicate. Communicate that in the comment. It doesn't have to be an essay You're not writing a legal essay for an assignment or anything like that but just a nice short comment that is insightful and it's authentic can really go a long way.

Speaker 1: 13:57

By doing that, you're engaging with another human being that is also passionate about this subject matter, topic, this industry, whatever it may be, and you are creating that connection. That is such a great way and an underrated way to create engagement online and for you to start building authority in a specific area that you're interested in. Another way, if you're not wanting to yet create your own content, if you're not wanting to dive into that just yet, an awesome way is to repost an article or someone else's post that you really loved or that you have a different view, to Repost it with your opinion. Don't just repost and reshare on your page and that's it, and not add your two senses, but repost it with your thought leadership and your opinion on that. I really liked Maria's take on this specific topic about building a career portfolio. My view on this, or my experience on this, has been X, y and Z. You know, fill in the blank whatever feels right for you. Again, this is not have to be an essay, no one's marking you on this, but it has to be true for you and authentic and something that you're excited by and you feel engaged by. Those are a couple of ways that you can start engaging online and building up that confidence muscle to then start posting content without yet creating your own fresh content.

Speaker 1: 15:31

Another actually third, way that just came to me now by talking about these two is DMing people, and not DMing people from like a salesy or inauthentic and boring kind of way Like we all get those inboxes that are just so salesy and annoying but more just like to say hello to someone that you've been following for a while and you're engaging with the content. You might want to reach out and say hey, so and so, really loved how you spoke about this in your post the other day. Really find that interesting. My take is this I'm really excited to be connecting with you on here, just wanted to introduce myself and so forth. Just simply saying hello to the person may or may not respond, that's okay, doesn't matter. Generally people do respond. If they are also wanting to engage with other professionals, then they would most likely want to respond because they can see the genuineness in your message to them and they would want to connect with you. That's another way. Dms are a great way to connect with people that you want to then hopefully take that offline and catch up with the coffee. The first message doesn't necessarily have to be like let's go grab a coffee because a lot of people are busy and don't have time for that. If you show your interests in what they do and start that conversation online, then it may lead to something offline and you can grab a coffee and get to know them more. You don't know where that conversation can take you, where it will lead you.

Speaker 1: 17:05

Another amazing way, and something that I love doing, is creating my own content. I love creating content. I find it exciting, I love the creativity that comes with it, and I want to encourage you to do the same. It does not have to be something that's overly complicated Canva, by the way, this podcast episode is not sponsored by Canva at all, but I love it. I use Canva a lot in my business. I use it a lot in my content. There's so many templates on there that even if you don't feel like you have any creativity, where you don't know what to post, there are so many templates on there that will help you come up with something. And even if you type in LinkedIn posts in the search tab in Canva, it will come up with some templates as well and have a play around with that. The best thing is, honestly, is just to have a play first, like, if you don't want to post just yet, have a play with Canva, get some ideas flowing, write down your ideas.

Speaker 1: 19:21

You do have ideas, by the way. I know that you probably think, yeah, but I don't have any ideas for content. I don't know what to say. I don't have anything to say. Yes, you do. You are passionate about certain topics. Have a list of topics that you're really interested in, really passionate about, and then you can start creating content around those and adding your two sets in. Draw from your experience as a lawyer, draw from your experience with working with certain clients from a certain industry. Are there any changes happening in a certain legislation or area or anything Like? There's always something to talk about and, if anything, you can always use your personal experience and share your own journey as a lawyer as well. That's another thing that you can do and post about as well.

Speaker 1: 20:04

Now, the first time that you post will feel like you've just taken your clothes off in front of everyone. It feels vulnerable. If you haven't done something like that before, you feel, oh my gosh, like my employer's gonna read this and everyone's gonna read this and blah, blah, blah. That will start to become a more natural process as you start to post and build that confidence muscle of posting and blocking out that self-limiting thought of what will people think, if anything. Trust me, there'll be so many people that are supporting you. The fact that you're putting yourself out there and you're writing something that is of interest to them, like that's really cool, and if people don't like it, they can unfollow you or mute you or whatever. You're not here to. Please everyone. Have a play around with some content, ideas and topics that you'd like to talk about. Go on Canva, have a play around with it. It'll give you ideas and then commit to small steps, small goals. Okay, I'm gonna post once a week and, trust me, like, once you post once a week, you'll then wanna post more because you'll have a lot more to say and there'll be engagement on your posts that might have follow up questions that you can then create content around as well Another way that you can write content if you don't wanna create, like Canva, images or anything like that.

Speaker 1: 21:23

You are someone that likes to write articles, something that's a bit longer, or opinion pieces, then LinkedIn also has that function as well. It has the function of writing articles like you would a blog post. I think that's really cool and you can schedule those in as well. And if you do like long form content, that this is a really great way to build your thought leadership on a specific topic as well. So, whatever it may be like, you might be a visual and you wanna create visuals on Canva, or you might like writing long form content and writing articles do that.

Speaker 1: 21:56

Commit to one thing at least, at least one thing to start off with. You don't have to do all the things straight away, because then that will most likely feel overwhelming and all too hard, especially if you're just starting out in posting. But commit to writing an article or reposting other articles with your opinion, or creating Canva images and posting that with your thoughts and your view on something. The idea is to just start. Just start posting, because that will just lead to so many other opportunities. You were creating thought leadership.

Speaker 1: 22:31

You're creating your personal brand, and as time goes on, I feel like building a personal brand becomes even more and more important. It is an asset that can't be taken away from you. It is personal to you and it is something that transfers to job to job to job, like it is not tied to your employer. It is yours to hold and it is something that you get to develop on your own and that you have control over and that you can then attract exciting opportunities from creating that personal brand. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to quit your job. You might love your job, but you might you know you'll create more business if you work for private practice. You might gain new clients that you have been dreaming to work with. You might be in house and you might want to like step up into a different role or go from legal counsel to general counsel, and it might help you build that authority. Whatever it may be like, it just attracts opportunities that you probably did not even think were possible.

Speaker 1: 23:40

Might get you on a podcast, it might get you on stage and speaking about something Like the opportunities are endless in your career. It's such a really exciting time, particularly in the legal industry. I feel like the legal industry, if it is at a very pivotal moment where, finally, like a lot of change is starting to take place, there are a lot more voices online that are shaping, I believe, like the next phase and generation on what it is to be a lawyer in today's day and age, and you can create a legal career that transcends the black and white of what it used to be to be a lawyer. It is an exciting time. I really get passionate about this topic, obviously because I'm a career coach and I want you to live out your dreams and to take on new and exciting opportunities. So start today, create your profile and start engaging online in the ways that I just spoke about in this episode.

Speaker 1: 24:38

Reach out to me if you have any questions or if you have any takeaways from this episode. Please DM me on LinkedIn. Let me know what has been a key takeaway for you. I would love to also see you posting online. So reach out to me if you are posting and I would love to see it and cheer you on so that you can continue on with your goals of wanting to get new opportunities and rise in your career and elevate yourself as well. Also, on the other end of the spectrum as well, it is great for just personal development. Like you, posting and engaging, like the skills and the confidence that you build are so invaluable Like forget about the opportunities for a second, which will come, but you personally like how you are building yourself just by that process of showing up online like. It is so invaluable and it will teach you so much about yourself.

Speaker 1: 25:32

If you do want support around LinkedIn and how you can really utilize that to step into the next phase of your career, reach out to me. Book in a discovery, call the linkers in the show notes and we can have a chat more about what your long-term career goals are and how you can use LinkedIn to support you In that, how we can work together to really help elevate your profile so you can get the career that you want. I would love to support you and love to really cheer you on in that journey. Have a wonderful week ahead and I will chat to you very soon. Bye. Thanks for tuning into the Career Confidence podcast. Like what you learned today. Why not share this episode with your work, bestie, and leave us a five-star review on? Wherever you listen to your podcast on, we'd absolutely love to get into more years and help more women, just like you, build fulfilling and thriving careers. Until next time.