Content marketing and sharing content via email and social media has never been a more important way to communicate with clients and prospects, and to build your brand and business.
You should of course be sensitive to current market conditions, and make your content relevant to what’s happening in the world right now (such as
Here are a few quick tips for how to ensure you are maximizing all of the great content you create and use it to enhance your brand and build your business, which is crucial even in a down and unpredictable market.
Many of you have great ideas for articles but maybe you’re not sure where to publish them, or you kind of want a blog but you don’t want the time commitment of having to regularly publish content to it. Or maybe you work for a company that wants its existing content to reach a wider
Hashtags are great tools to help your content become discovered and to build your brand and business (especially on LinkedIn), but only if you know how to use hashtags and you use the right ones.
If you’re writing about the coronavirus on LinkedIn, you should be using hashtags so your content can be amplified and have a stronger impact.
But first off – what is a hashtag? Just like on Twitter or Instagram, a LinkedIn hashtag is any combination of letters, number or emoji that follow the # symbol such as #coronavirus. Any spaces or symbols used within the tag will break the link, so that means you can’t include apostrophes, commas, exclamation points or hyphens in your hashtag.
Hashtags help users find content on a specific topic. If you add hashtags to your posts, they’ll help you get discovered by other users, including those not connected to you (2nd and 3rd degree connections). This is because individuals now search for content under hashtags and click on the hashtags in posts. In addition, you can follow hashtags on LinkedIn, meaning that posts containing the ones you have selected will appear in your news feed.
I’m often asked how do you know if your social media efforts are working, and other than resulting in new business, which may take time to materialize, there are other ways to know if what you’re doing on LinkedIn and other channels is effective.
You’ve become a social media master when you are:
While many firms are content producing powerhouses, disseminating client alerts, thought leadership pieces, social media posts and other information daily via the many distribution channels with which they engage their target audiences, they often fail to really think about the how, what, when, where and why of the content they are creating and how it will actually benefit their clients and other influential readers.
These firms are on content autopilot, just going through the motions to churn out thought leadership pieces as efficiently as possible, often because that’s just the way their firm does things or because they don’t want to question a partner or someone more senior to them or because there is pressure to get things out the door to be competitive with another firm.
If you find yourself in this position, take a moment to give yourself a “content time-out” in order to really think about why you are doing what you are doing. If it doesn’t make sense with your brand and business development goals, immediately change course.
Taking the time to ensure that your content marketing and your business development strategies are completely aligned will enable you to create more focused, client-centric content that will better engage with your target audiences and lead to new business and the retention of clients.
Remember that the goal of content marketing is not just about populating your social media feeds with a steady stream of content. Rather, the goal is to use content as a differentiator to help position your lawyers and your firm as thought leaders, which will help to keep you top of mind with key individuals for when they have a matter that fits your background. It’s always about quality versus quantity.
Here are some ideas to take your content strategy to the next level.
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I’m often asked how to make a real impact on your branding and business development efforts with social media and it’s really quite simple to do so – and often requires little to no investment.
Here are some tips on how you can easily enhance your social media presence and build your brand and business – note that none of these have to cost you anything to do!
Using social media to support your firm’s and lawyers’ business development efforts should be at forefront of everything you do on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. If the post doesn’t support your firm’s strategic goals, take a time out to think about why you are even doing this and rethink your strategy.
Don’t use your social channels to only focus on your firm’s work and its substantive news, events and publications – that can make your firm seem dry, a little boastful and devoid of personality and heart.
Firms should also showcase their “softer” side, which can support their business development efforts, because clients want to peek behind the curtains on the firms on which they rely.
Showcasing the softer side of your law firm humanizes your firm and makes your lawyers more relatable. Include posts about firm life, pro bono and community service, upcoming holidays, as well as profiles on lawyers and alumni, and photos from firm events.
Here’s how to do it at any size firm.
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It should go without saying that it’s not how often you post content to social media that makes a true impact, but rather what you say and how you say it. The quality not the quantity of your posts should always be your primary focus.
But it’s not always easy to generate a steady stream