In the business world, we all understand how critical it is to remain consistently active on social media. However, it’s not just about posting consistently. What you post makes all the difference in how existing and prospective clients interact with you, whether they keep coming back to your social media channels, and ultimately, what they take away about your law firm.

Having an image library—even a limited one—of professional-quality photography at your disposal for social media and other uses allows you to present your firm accurately and gives your audience a better sense of who you are. 

Too often, law firms rely on stock photography to fill in their visual gaps. Here’s why you should reconsider utilizing easily-sourced stock:

• To save on cost, most law firms utilize royalty-free stock photography, which means that anyone else can (and will) use the same image. Imagine viewing another law firm’s social media account and seeing the same image that you’re using!

• Your law firm’s offices, culture and people aren’t generic. Stock imagery is one-size-fits-all and doesn’t allow your unique story to come through and doesn’t give your audience the sense of what you do and how you do it.

• Eye-tracking studies from respected sources like Nielsen show that using detailed images is far more attractive to your audience than using a more generic stock image. People tend to “gloss over” images that they sense are stock.

Building an image library for your law firm doesn’t have to be a daunting, or exorbitantly expensive, task. Working with a professional photography group, you can define a list of must-capture images and plan for various orientations of them, as some will be better for web use and others will be better for print use. Here are some things to consider when creating an image library for your firm:

• Select a photography group that is experienced and established, and that can provide you with a process for handling multiple law offices in multiple locations. This is to ensure consistency in style and quality across the board. An experienced photographer’s eye can also mean greater longevity for your images.

• Work with your photographer, or ideally an assigned Project Manager, to define your shot list—or a list of what you would like to capture—from attorney portraiture to compelling imagery of teams hard at work to beautiful shots of your office or offices that showcase your firm and its culture.

• Request your images in resolution high enough for any future print use and also request web-friendly image sizes and cropped imagery for quick upload to your social media channels (you’ll thank me later for this). 

Social media shouldn’t be an afterthought and it doesn’t have to be! Position yourself for success with professional photography that engages your audience and stands out from other law firms. After all, we’re all social media consumers—think about what captures your attention and causes you to interact with a company or brand. The same principles apply to your firm!