As a young lawyer, I didn’t see the value of developing a personal brand. I always thought it was enough to just do good work. But I eventually realized that by ignoring my personal brand, I was letting others define me—often inaccurately—and it held me back in ways I didn’t fully appreciate.
Eventually, my perspective changed. By then I’d left the practice of law to join a legal technology company. Also around then, I started posting content on social media—not to grow my personal brand, but to increase awareness of my company and our offerings.
What I didn’t realize was that the mere act of being active online gave me an unprecedented amount of control over my personal brand that changed my entire career trajectory.
I stopped having to look for jobs; valuable opportunities would find their way to me unexpectedly. It’s helped me gain visibility among potential clients and gotten me into rooms and conversations that I’d otherwise never have access to. And perhaps most important, it’s helped me overcome stereotypes that limited me earlier in my career.
Today, I’ll share three key lessons I took away from my experience posting on social media, which I hope you can use to build your personal brand.
Deliberately play against type. Like it or not, you might already have a personal brand that includes inaccurate stereotypes. For example, if you’re a partner at a large law firm, law students and associates may perceive you as stodgy and unfriendly. If you’re an in-house lawyer, your internal stakeholders may view you as lacking business acumen.
In both situations, you can use social media to reposition your personal brand. You can do it by posting funny and lighthearted content, or by sharing thoughtful commentary on industry developments. But it’s also possible for you to overcome inaccurate perceptions just by being yourself—which is what happened to me.
Early in my career, I recognized that I was being viewed as a workhorse who couldn’t handle client-facing meetings. It wasn’t an entirely unfair perception; I tended to complete my assignments efficiently and remain quiet during internal meetings if I didn’t have anything valuable to add.
However, others presumed I wasn’t good at public speaking. As a result, opportunities to interact with important clients went to my peers instead of me.
Social media changed everything. It turns out that I was more comfortable speaking up online because there, I felt like I had something valuable to add to the conversation. Over time, I became more comfortable in my own skin and started making jokes and exchanging banter with potential clients in the comments.
People at my company noticed. Those online interactions helped me establish my reputation as someone who not only could be put in front of important clients—but who also might be skilled at winning them over.
Focus on your organization. Most people only start thinking about engaging on social media sites like LinkedIn when they’re looking for their next career opportunity, but this can make you come across as selfish. It may even negatively affect perceptions of your performance at your current job. That’s why I always recommend focusing your online activity to help your organization instead.
With LinkedIn, my initial goal wasn’t to find career opportunities; I aimed to have more client conversations. As a “business development representative,” a big part of my job was to cold-call lawyers to pitch them our software. That turned out to be challenging; apparently, lawyers tend not to buy things based on unsolicited phone calls from strangers.
That’s around the time when I decided to try out posting my own marketing content on LinkedIn. Potential clients found my content interesting and started reaching out to me directly for sales inquiries.
By publicly engaging with our target audience on that platform, I had elevated our corporate brand and was unintentionally helping our company achieve its marketing goals. As a result, I received a huge amount of internal support from executives to continue posting.
That internal support ultimately made all the difference. Because I could continue to engage on social media without worrying how it might negatively affect my day job, I was able to eventually solidify my unique personal brand in the minds of potential clients and industry peers.
This was useful when it came time to look for that next career opportunity—and far more powerful than if I had only put myself out there when I needed a job.
Act naturally. It’s tempting to copy the approach of “influencers” who have a lot of followers. Instead, you should use social media in a way that comes naturally for you.
Maybe that’s sharing your subject matter expertise. However, it might be something completely different, such as sharing photos with clients at conferences or industry events. You don’t even have to post your own content; leaving thoughtful comments on others’ posts and sending direct messages can also be powerful.
Hint: If you cringe after posting something, you’re doing it wrong. A big part of building an effective personal brand is making sure it feels comfortable. If it feels like you’re pretending to be someone you’re not, your audience likely can sense it, too. I learned this lesson the hard way.
When I first started posting, I tried to copy the writing style of lawyers I admired. Sometimes, I’d be combative and post intentionally controversial posts. Other times, I’d be overly earnest and idealistic. There was no rhyme or reason behind my post topics either.
This inconsistency created an incoherent personal brand that felt fake, and it didn’t help me achieve my goals. I eventually I found my own voice, which made everything else easier. I can seamlessly go from posting serious industry commentary to silly videos and memes. It all comes naturally to me because that’s kind of who I am in real life.
Whether we realize it or not, each of us has a personal brand that influences our careers. The good news is that there’s so much you can do, especially with social media, to control your own narrative.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law and Bloomberg Tax, or its owners.
Author Information
Alex Su is chief revenue officer of Latitude Legal, a global flexible legal staffing company that serves law firms and legal departments.
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