by Stefanie Marrone
LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for publishing content if you have something interesting to say and you’re smart about how you say it. LinkedIn offers every user the option to post blog-length content right on its platform, which can enable you to build a strong following.
With more than 430 million professional users around the globe, leveraging LinkedIn's powerful network for publishing business-related content is something that professional-service firms should strongly consider as part of their content marketing strategy, in addition to publishing content through email, web and other channels. Having a multi-pronged distribution channel will only enable you to reach a wider target audience and there’s no downside to that. Your firm’s content can be adapted and repurposed on LinkedIn for a much greater ROI.
I recently read a Content Marketing Institute article noting that the articles with the most shares on LinkedIn had these actionable words in their headlines:
- “how to”
- “ways to”
- “the best”
- “at work”
- “you should”
- “your career”
- “the most”
- “the world”
Posts with the words “how to” dominated the LinkedIn headlines by a very strong margin, actually about 6 to 1, with the phrase “what I learned” appearing in many of the top headlines of 2016. While law firm content will shy away from using personal pronouns for obvious reasons, there are ways for lawyers and law firms to incorporate personal elements into their content that can resonate with clients and potential clients, and help them stand out from the pack.
One way lawyers can do this is by linking to an article or client alert from their firm's web site on LinkedIn and offering their commentary, or viewpoints on an op-ed or article written by a news source they value. This is called "newsjacking."
Simply put, newsjacking is when you inject your ideas and input into a news story and generate media coverage and interest for yourself. It can be highly effective in building your personal brand. (Of course, lawyers should always make sure they have the blessing of their firm and alert their PR team when considering this tactic.) Also, I encourage marketing professionals who are reading this post to think about using LinkedIn as a personal branding tool for themselves to write articles on topics that resonate with them.
Armed with the data from the Content Marketing Institute, consider how you as a marketing professional can punch up the way your firms report on the many sponsorships and events that your firm is spending thousands of dollars on each year with more personality.
So, rather than just reporting on the event and giving a synopsis of the who, what, when, where and why on your web site and social media platforms, go a step further and think about delving deeper and telling a more compelling story about that event or sponsorship.
For example, lists – especially short lists with five or 10 items – tend to do very well on LinkedIn, as the Content Marketing Institute reports. Why not get creative and create items with punchy headlines such as “Five Takeaways From the ABA Antitrust Conference,” or “10 Things I Learned From the Anchin Construction Forum” or “Five Ways to Increase Your Executive Presence.”
One of the highest-read client alerts at one of my prior firms was a piece that a lawyer wrote about her views on the top takeaways from a conference she attended. It was a terrific way for her to leverage the firm's sponsorship commitment and her time away from the office and billable work. Instead of just being one of the 500 attendees at the conference, she made herself a relevant, key contributor during and after the conference with this piece and its resulting social media coverage. The piece was published as a client alert and leveraged on social media and the firm’s web site. She also sent the alert to a few clients and prospects who she knew could not attend the conference. That was smart, proactive marketing that kept her top of mind with those individuals. The best part is that she was offered a speaking slot the following year at no cost due to her dedicated efforts. Could your lawyers do the same? Absolutely. And you have the power to help them to be successful at it.
Of course, these are just general ideas meant to help you start thinking about how you could leverage the marketing activities of your firm – in this case, events and sponsorships – and repurpose them in a way that will resonate with your clients by using catchy headlines and new ways of reporting on the tried and true by injecting some personality.
I always keep the show versus tell rule in mind with everything I do – show your clients why you are the very best firm and the very best lawyer versus telling them why you are – and the same goes for how you craft your event and sponsorship write-ups. Be authentic, be unique and demonstrate what makes you stand out from the pack whenever you can. That's the true key for how to create compelling content of any kind.
Stefanie Marrone helps companies effectively tell their stories and find their unique voices. She has worked at some of the most prominent law firms in the world, developing and executing global revenue generating, business development, internal and external communications strategies, including media relations, branding, content marketing and corporate journalism, and multi-channel content marketing and thought leadership campaigns.