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We are in uncharted waters right now with the pandemic. Law firms and other businesses are trying to function in a rapidly changing environment, including adapting to its employees working remotely on a large scale for the first time. Most of our contact both professionally and personally will be done online for the foreseeable future. So how do you market your firm and lawyers during this time? The answer is online.

We will be depending on social media more than ever to connect with others, and using online resources to conduct business and network.

Pandemic or not, LinkedIn is the most important social media channel for professionals in any field. While we need to be physically apart at this time, we should not be social media distancing. In fact, we should be leaning into social media and using it to enhance our relationships both personally and professionally. It’s exactly the social glue we need right now.

Content marketing and sharing content via email and social media has never been a more important way to communicate with clients, colleagues, referral sources, recruits and alumni while we are unable to see each other in person. Your goal should be to build stronger relationships and help others through value-added content during this stressful time.

While you should be completely sensitive to current market conditions and create content relevant to what’s happening in the world right now (such as creating coronavirus-related thought leadership and webinars), this is not the time to disappear from your clients — or to suspend your marketing activities. In fact, this is the time to lean in and position yourself as a leader and authority in your respective area of the law.

There are so many things you can do right now to help guide your clients through this time using social media and content. Here are some ideas.

While it is a little more challenging to build relationships that will turn into referrals and new clients today due to social distancing, it is not impossible by any means. It just requires us to pivot what we were doing before the pandemic (taking clients and prospects to lunch or events, going to in-person networking events and conferences) and conducting most of our networking and brand building online or by phone. It involves shifting to doing more thought leadership and relying on social media and webinars.

When done correctly, these tools can help you cast an even wider net on your marketing and business development efforts than before due to the vast reach of the social platforms. Your goal is to stay top of mind and to be helpful. That’s it. Here are some ideas on how to incorporate these tools into your marketing and business development strategy and turn your connections into new business.

This is not the year to take a break from social media during the summer. Instead this is the time to focus on your business development and branding efforts.

I don’t know anyone right now especially (or ever) who would say they have enough clients or work. I think everyone is nervous about the economy, the ability to maintain their current volume of work, bring in future clients and support their people.

That being said, it’s incredibly important to ensure your current clients are happy and that you are consistently generating new sources of leads and referrals.

Here are 25 ideas on how to do that, which now involves shifting your strategy from in-person networking and client entertaining to having a strong online presence and thought leadership platform. If you have never used LinkedIn, written an article or blog post or spoken at a webinar, now is the time to pivot to doing all of these. It is never too early or late to start marketing yourself or your firm.

Your professional biography is your opportunity to showcase your work, capabilities and areas of expertise, and what makes you stand out from your competitors.

Many in-house counsel cite lawyer bios as one of THE most important sources of information regarding researching outside lawyers (yes, everyone is Googling you whether you like it or not and your web bio is usually the number one search result of your name). In addition, lawyer bios are among the most visited pages on law firm web sites, further underscoring their importance.

Your bio can serve as an important business development and branding tool if it is well-crafted. Yet within the legal industry, so many bios are still lackluster, outdated, not client-focused or just poorly written.

Given the power of bios, it has always baffled me that many lawyers do not update theirs at least several times a year or write them with a client focus. The new year is a great reason to take a fresh look at your bio and make enhancements to it.

I recently wrote a much longer version of an article on creating a strong, engaging bio for JD Supra, which you can read here. This is an excerpt of that article, which concentrates on the show vs. tell concept, an essential component that many law firm bios are missing. The article also focuses on the idea that all bios should be client-focused and that you should always write for your audience, not your peers. Remember that often, your clients aren’t actually practicing lawyers, and even if they are, the world today isn’t as formal as it used to be (especially as clients are getting younger), so drop the legalese from your vernacular and speak in a more casual tone to your audience. Now let’s get to work!