AUSTIN YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
Professional Use of Social Media: Part I Tips for Success from an AYLA Panel INTRODUCING THE PANEL Hannah (Hembree) Bell is a solo practitioner offering family law, estate planning, and general counsel legal services for families in the greater Austin and San Antonio areas. Her firm is the Hembree Bell Law Firm, located in northwest Austin. Lisa Marie Bustos is a solo practitioner based in Austin practicing family law within the Central Texas region. Her firm, Bustos Family Law, handles family law litigation in all stages of the case, but her practice primarily focuses on divorce and child custody cases. Tycha Kimbrough is a solo practitioner at Kimbrough Legal, a compassionate and dedicated family, criminal, and expunction law firm that cares deeply about the Austin community. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 1. Which social media platforms do you use to communicate with the public in your professional capacity, and is there a particular platform that you favor? Bell: I use Facebook and LinkedIn professionally. LinkedIn is my favorite platform for business, hands-down. People have no problem connecting with strangers on LinkedIn, whereas they are more selective with accepting “friends” on Facebook. This allows a much greater reach on LinkedIn. Further, LinkedIn is the “professional” social media platform, so no one is annoyed with you for posting about your work/business all the time. Bustos: I use Buffer to pre-schedule all of my social media posts across my firm’s Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. However, once your audience starts to reach out to you across those plat24
AUSTINLAWYER | OCTOBER 2019
Hannah (Hembree) Bell
forms, you really start noticing each platform’s interface. I have found that Facebook is the easiest to post and interact on. It’s also easy to see how many people are viewing my posts and analyze which are the most impactful. Kimbrough: I use Facebook and Instagram to connect with the public. I favor Facebook because the demographics of its users vary widely compared to Instagram users. I also love that Facebook allows visitors to share posts and write reviews. In addition to maintaining a website, Facebook is a powerful tool for a lawyer and firm to use to build one’s brand. Despite me being a millennial and heavily using social media, I have not jumped on the Twitter bandwagon for my practice. 2. What type of content do you post in your professional capacity? For example, do you post exclusively about your (or your firm’s) work or do you also provide general information about the law? Do you ever post non-legal content (whether it be personal, political, cultural, or just fun “memes”)? Bell: My general strategy in posting is to provide content I believe my target audience would be interested in while keeping it mostly relevant to the legal space. I typically post short video clips of
Lisa Marie Bustos
Tycha Kimbrough
“My general strategy in posting is to provide content I believe my target audience would be interested in while keeping it mostly relevant to the legal space.” — Hannah (Hembree) Bell a few types: “Pro-Tip” videos offer practical advice to people getting divorced; “ALERT” videos point to a specific legal development that could have a real-life impact on my clients, referral sources, or PNCs; and “Family Law Musings” share insight into the more emotional/personal development lessons one learns in the divorce process. In addition to the videos, I share selfie (or selfie-adjacent) photos of me out there, doing this legal thing (think posting from a pro-bono clinic, outside a courthouse, etc.). Occasionally I’ll share a funny meme or video related to being divorced/being a parent/the legal field. Bustos: Audiences tend to appreciate mixing up the type of content that’s posted. Family law brings in a very diverse clientele. Some members of my audience appreciate parenting articles with the latest food for thought. Other audience members are more focused on how a marriage might impact their finances. Posting news articles that are related to your
area of law—while not giving legal advice—helps people understand that you are aware of the problems that they face on a daily basis. We also regularly post funny memes or lawyer-related jokes at least once a week. Life is hard, but laughter is still a common language that can bring everyone together. Kimbrough: I post a variety of content on Kimbrough Legal’s social media pages. I primarily post about events I attend, laws that directly affect my family and criminal law clients, Kimbrough Legal’s services, and motivational quotes. I also use the story features on Instagram and Facebook, which allows me to post informational videos and occasionally silly memes. I aim to be my authentic self on social media, and I create content that will interest and educate my audience. 3. How do you decide when to upload content? Do you set aside time every week or do you update it sporadically? What
