Content Marketing: Leveraging content creation in legal marketing

By Edie Reinhardt

Maintaining an active presence on social media can be challenging for lawyers and law firms. One powerful strategy that can help is using content curation as a regular component of social media marketing. When done well, content curation provides a valuable, time-saving solution enabling attorneys to bolster their online presence, engage with their audience, and establish credibility.

What is content curation?

Content curation is the process of identifying and sharing relevant content from different sources. Typically, the content is shared on social media although it could also be sent via email. The “curator” culls through the vast sea of online information to provide useful articles to readers on topics of interest. Offering these diverse perspectives benefits readers, while also helping lawyers and firms position themselves as knowledgeable authorities in their fields, stay top of mind with their network, and gain the trust of their audience.

In addition, content curation enables lawyers and firms to enhance their online presence with a much lower investment of time and resources since they do not have to create all the content from scratch.

How can lawyers find valuable content?

The techniques attorneys use to keep up with developments relevant to their legal practice and their clients’ lives/businesses include subscribing to newsletters; following blogs, experts, and social media hashtags; setting up Google Alerts; and monitoring online forums.

Content aggregator tools are also available to make it easier to browse and select materials for curation. Some aggregators are geared toward the legal industry such as Lexology and Mondaq; others offer broader coverage like Feedly, Vable, and Upstract.

All these methods are helpful in finding evergreen content to share. Evergreen content is information that remains relevant for a long period, as opposed to information on new developments that has strong short-term value but interest drastically lessens over time. Curating either type of content offers similar marketing benefits.

What are effective content curation strategies?

Content curation only works if it provides high-quality information relevant to the target audience. As a result, lawyers must understand who they want to reach (their target audience) and what that audience cares about. This ensures that the content is seen as helpful to the right people. That may mean sharing content that isn’t always about the law. Curating content from different sources, including nonlegal ones, demonstrates that the attorney has a holistic perspective on the client’s needs and concerns.

It is also critical for lawyers to include their own commentary when they share curated content. Simply posting a link to an article or video is of little benefit. Explaining why the attorney thinks the information is of value and adding personal insights makes it more meaningful to readers, differentiates it from what others may be saying on the subject, and highlights the expertise of the attorney. The commentary should also encourage readers to provide their own opinions and feedback on the post.

It’s also beneficial for attorneys to engage with the original creators of the content. When sharing an article, the attorney can tag or mention the author in the social media post. This not only acknowledges the author’s work but also increases the likelihood the author will reciprocate, which expands the attorney’s reach on social media. Attorneys can also follow the author on social media and comment on the author’s posts periodically.

Finally, content curation must be done regularly to be effective. Consistency is essential to maintaining high viewership and engagement and reinforces the attorney’s commitment to providing valuable content. Accordingly, lawyers should create a schedule for posting that includes setting aside time to find appropriate content and writing commentary that will be added to the post. Marketers can assist with this process.

What’s the right balance of original and curated content?

While content curation provides substantial marketing benefits, it isn’t meant to be a total replacement for creating original content. How much curated vs original content to use depends on the lawyer’s/firm’s goals and the audience’s interests. It is crucial to regularly analyze how curated and original posts are doing and adjust the content strategy accordingly.

Lawyers also have to spend time selecting good content and adding useful insights that reflect well on them. Content curation is not meant to be the lazy way out. Quality is much more important than quantity.

Conclusion 

Every firm and lawyer should incorporate content curation into their marketing strategy but choose the content wisely to get the most impact.

Edie Reinhardt, Esq. is principal of RDT Content Marketing, which specializes in helping attorneys showcase their expertise and target their marketing to attract more clients. She can be reached at [email protected]