# The Best Legal Hashtags #

When I was growing up, that # was only an unused button on my cool Mickey Mouse phone (#truestory) Now, it symbolizes a way to connect with others throughout the internet. Hashtags are powerful tools that can be used to promote your law firm on social media. When used correctly, hashtags can get your content noticed and increase viewer connections. However, it is important to dig for the best hashtags, use them strategically and not overuse them. Learn more about law firm hashtags, and how proper use can attract more potential leads.?

What is a Hashtag?

Hashtags were born in 2007, invented by the Twitter marketing team as a way to group related tweets together. Now, hashtags are used on many social media sites. To hashtag something, you employ the pound sign (#) and a key word or phrase with no spaces or special characters. A few popular legal hashtags include: #legal, #justice, and #lawyerlife.

After a hashtag has been created and used repeatedly, you can search for related posts using the hashtag. You can also determine the popularity of a topic, partly by how many people are using its hashtag. Here are a few basic rules about hashtags:

• They must start with # and not include symbols, spaces or punctuation.
• Hashtagged content will not work if your social media account is not public.
• The best hashtags are short and easy to recall.
• Use specific and relevant hashtag words.
• Limit the number of law firm hashtags?used; too many hashtags can look unprofessional.
• Use camel case (capital letters at the beginning of each word) to make your hashtag message easier to read.
• When making a hashtag, try to use words that a typical client would type into the search bar.
• It is not necessary to add a hashtag to every post.

Why Use?Law Firm Hashtags?

Using?law firm hashtags brings you into related topics shared across a social media platform. Hashtags spotlight your posts and bring you into the conversation, so use them to:

• Build Your Brand.?Creating a hashtag with your law firm brand can be a key way to promote your business, gain brand awareness and make your original content stand out.
• Support Trending Issues.?Using a trending hashtag can connect you to those who follow hot issues or events. This way, you can link up with local users, and those who are also following a specific cause. Hashtags typically help people notice your posts and increase your viewership.
• Extend Your Reach.?Using key?law firm hashtags?can help you reach out to your target audience. One of the best ways to do this is to use relevant and trending hashtags to help your ideal clients find you.

How Many Hashtags?

Stay balanced when using?law firm hashtags,?because overloading can appear spammy and less than professional. Anywhere between 10-15 hashtags per post is acceptable and over 30 could cause your account to be banned. 91% of top brands use around seven or fewer hashtags on their posts, but you may want to experiment with what works for you.?

Create Your Own Hashtags

If you create a hashtag, make it simple and easy to remember. A hashtag like #WrongfulDeath is more memorable than #accident.?When creating a law firm hashtag, include your business name or brief slogan. The goal is to engage other users, build brand recognition and increase your follower list. Of course there are tools that can help you find the best?law firm hashtags,?including:

• RiteTag?
• Hashtagify.me
• TagDef
• Top Hashtags
• Keyhole

Best Law Hashtags

To maximize your hashtag use, combine popular hashtags with the ones connected to your practice area, such as: #attorney combined with #elderlaw. Here are some of the most common, general law-related hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. When possible, use a combination of these to draw attention to your posts:

• #Law
• #Legal
• #Lawsuit
• #Lawyer
• #Lawyers
• #Justice
• #Attorney
• #HarvardLaw
• #SupremeCourt
• #Lawyerlife
• #Justice4All
• #LawFirm
• #InstaLawyer
• #Legally
• #Felony
• #Misdemeanor
• #Lawsuit
• #CriminalDefense
• #InnocentUntilProvenGuilty

How and Where to Use?Law Firm Hashtags

You can use?law firm hashtags?on any of these social media platforms. Where you use them depends on who you are trying to reach, so hang out where your target audience does. Keep in mind best practices and the following tips for each of these social media platforms:

Law Firm Hashtags?on Twitter

• Hashtags are extremely common and effective on Twitter.
• Use three or less hashtags on each tweet.
• Use location-specific hashtags to increase your law firm’s engagement.?
• A tweet that contains one hashtag typically gains an average of 90 interactions.?
• Tweets with more than one hashtag see a decrease in engagement.
• Use hashtags within your bio and when replying to tweets by other users.
• Check out?trending Twitter topics?and use relevant hashtags for your own content.?

Law Firm Hashtags?on?Instagram

• An Instagram post with a minimum of one hashtag gets an average of 12.6% more reach than a post without one.
• TrackMaven?reports that Instagram posts with nine hashtags gain the most engagement.
• You can include hashtags in a post, comment or in stories.
• Add a list of hashtags as the first comment on your own post.?
• Business Instagram profiles can track the success of a hashtag by using the Instagram Business Tools.
• Using more hashtags on this platform can lead to an increase in followers and engagement.
• You can follow hashtags on Instagram to keep track of trending topics.?

Law Firm Hashtags?on Facebook

• Hashtags are not widely used on Facebook, so use one or two if any.
• You can add hashtags to a post or a comment.
• Hashtags are used within private Facebook groups or in advertising campaigns.
• Hashtags which are location-specific are successful.?

Law Firm Hashtags?on LinkedIn

• Hashtags are not as popular here as on other sites, but they are used to promote connections here.
• You can find trending hashtags on the LinkedIn home page under “news and views.”
• If relevant, use the suggested hashtags.
• Post five or fewer hashtags, or LinkedIn will designate it as spam. Using one to three hashtags is best here.
• As on other platforms, using location-specific hashtags can be effective.

Law Firm Hashtags?on YouTube

• Use hashtags in descriptions and titles to help viewers find your material
• Use less than fifteen hashtags, or they will be ignored by YouTube.
• Irrelevant or misleading hashtags violates YouTube’s policy and may cause removal of your video.

The Best Lawyer & Attorney Hashtags

According to?hashtags.org, when used effectively, hashtags help businesses increase their brand awareness and gain more followers. Due to this, many of the world’s leading businesses, including law firms, use hashtags on various social media platforms to promote their products and services. To understand how to choose the best hashtags for lawyers, consider the following tips.

Outline Your Identity

When thinking of the best hashtags for lawyers, it is important to remember prospective clients looking for legal representation first look at a lawyer’s digital brand. With this in mind, select hashtags that reflect your identity as a lawyer. This involves using hashtags related to your legal niche. Doing this helps you to target a more focused audience in your social media marketing efforts. For instance, if your firm specializes in intellectual property, you can try including tags like #patent or #copyright in your posts to help your posts become more visible to your potential clients.

Another good way of using hashtags to outline your identity as a lawyer involves thinking about recent developments in your legal niche and using hashtags related to these current issues. Whichever hashtags you choose to use to showcase your brand, ensure you use them consistently to improve your brand exposure and develop your authoritativeness in your niche.

Improve Your Firm’s Visibility

Another key tip to consider for using the best law firm hashtags involves selecting hashtags that can improve your firm’s visibility. This is one of the main reasons why people adopt hashtags in the first place. With this in mind, try using popular hashtags alongside legal-specific ones to reach more prospective clients. For instance, you might try using location hashtags alongside legal hashtags and a trending hashtag, such as #mondaymotivation.

Develop Your Credibility

Hashtags reflect strongly on your firm’s brand, so ensure you think carefully about the ones you choose. You want to pick hashtags that develop your firm’s credibility, which you can achieve by thinking about the goals you wish to attain with your hashtags. Following this, make sure you thoroughly research each hashtag you select, so you are aware of its meaning. This helps you to avoid embarrassing situations in the future that can damage your firm’s credibility. Moreover, you can further develop your firm’s credibility and demonstrate professionalism with hashtags by using popular ones that help you join discussions surrounding your firm’s niche, and connect with other lawyers and prospective clients.

Avoid Hashtag-Jacking

When looking to use the best law firm hashtags, avoid hashtag-jacking. This is when someone attaches popular hashtags to their posts that are loosely related but have no actual bearing on the topic discussed. For instance, if you included a hashtag of a popular legal TV series, such as #suits, to promote your firm’s brand that is hashtag-jacking. Doing this comes across as desperate and irritating, and this is not something to associate with your law firm. If you do decide to use these hashtags, make sure you provide something meaningful to the topic discussed without shamelessly advertising your firm’s services.

How Law Quill Can Help You

No matter which social network you are using, law firm hashtags?can help you boost your online visibility and reputation. These little hyperlinks can connect your business with prospective clients, boost your brand and enhance your standing among the competition. Your success with hashtags depends on proper and balanced use, unique to each social media platform.

If you would like a free marketing strategy session to learn more about how we can help you with your social media,?schedule an appointment today! You can also listen to the?Legal Marketing Lounge podcast, or check out the bestselling book?Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms from Amazon today!

Annette Choti, Esq. has over twenty years of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.??