As part of our blog series on building a personal brand online, we spoke with Matt Margolis, former in-house attorney and Head of Community at Lawtrades, about building his personal brand across TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and how he’s used that brand to start conversations and develop an authentic voice online while paying it forward within the legal community.
Read on for tips on how to find your authentic voice and build your network online.
Experiment with different channels to find your niche
When Matt began building his brand online, he “started on LinkedIn because it felt safe.” Over time, he began to branch out to other platforms to reach different audiences.
“There are so many different audiences you can talk to online. For example, appellate attorneys and law professors love Twitter.”
When you start thinking about your brand and begin to create content, you should tailor what you do to match the niche communities that congregate on each platform. What platforms do you use online? You’ll likely find other professionals working within your niche on that platform, so by starting conversations and addressing their specific pain points, you’ll be able to expose yourself to a whole new audience.
Channel your frustrations into your content to find your voice
Don’t try to create what you think people want. Instead, start conversations around topics that actually interest you, based on issues you deal with in your day-to-day.
“I initially started creating content based on case analytics and statutory analysis. After a while, I realized that it wasn’t authentically me. I eventually got to a place where I couldn’t even get myself to post stuff like that anymore”
Matt began to channel his frustrations with work and the legal industry into his content, which made his content much more relatable to other legal professionals.
“I realized that things that irk me probably bother other people in the industry, too. I changed the format of my content and realized over time that skits and funny videos with a bit of insight about the legal industry were much more likely to resonate with other people.”
Feedback can help you understand the industry as a whole better
Once you begin building your brand online, you’ll begin to receive feedback, both constructive and not-so-constructive. Constructive feedback can give you valid insight into how others operate within your industry.
For example, if you post something about friction you’ve encountered with a sales team, pay attention to how sales professionals react to your content – their perspective can help you open up conversations about industry-wide issues and even provide you with insight that can help you better market your product or company.
“I always use productive comments as feedback on my content or our product. If it’s a valid criticism of the industry or an alternate perspective that I hadn’t considered, I really take it to heart.”
Use your voice to help others while building your brand
When you start to consider volunteering for speaking engagements or doing interviews for podcasts, think about what advice or insight would have helped you when you were more junior in your career.
“Find topics in your wheelhouse and fit your personality. For example, if there are conferences focused on marketing for lawyers, I jump on that as a way to pay it forward.
I’m inclined to do anything that helps young lawyers – firms often say that they provide learning opportunities for people early in their careers, but that’s often not the case. My ultimate goal is to help junior lawyers avoid being a back office grunt who will eventually get screwed over.”
Are you a GC who’s interested in building your brand? One great way to get started is by speaking at industry events. If you’re interested in speaking at one of our events, get in touch with a member of the TechGC team. Not a TechGC member but want to join our exclusive community of top GCs? Request a membership invite here.
About Matt
Matt Margolis is an attorney and Head of Community at Lawtrades, a legal tech startup providing on-demand flexible talent to busy in-house legal departments. Prior to pivoting away from the practice of law, Matt was the Director of Legal and Risk Management for a private equity firm and a commercial litigator in private practice.