Today, we’re bringing you a special guest post, from one of the ILN’s marketing professionals! Alina Crisu is the PR & Communication Associate with LLPO Law Firm in Cyprus and she’s got a thoughtful post on how to respond to trending topics.

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A topic recently came to my attention that was also brewing in my head: should marketers who work for law firms follow social media topic trends? The answer is simple but the reality is far more complex.

So I am taking the opportunity to bring some clarity to myself and hope it will help those of you who are pondering the same questions…alongside the “Why?” and the “How?”.

As the legal system varies from country to country, social media trends seem to spread like wildfire at an unprecedented rate, posing ethical questions while marketers work tirelessly to adapt and create relevant content for their law firms.

The WHY

Questions

  1. Does the trend bring any valuable relevance to my audience? Or does it create more noise?
  2. Is there a valuable spin we could or should add to this trend that aligns with our internal policy and values?
  3. Do we want to?

The HOW

Identifying the right trend can be tricky, however there are a few tools that help:

  • Answer the public

An online platform that generates data from search engines and sorts every useful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword. It’s a goldmine of audience insight you can use to create fresh, ultra-useful content, products, and services.

  • Google Trends

Google Trends is a website by Google that analyses the popularity of top search queries on Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different queries over time.

“Trend + Law Firm’s Profile / Services + Lawyer’s unique expertise = Real world engagement”

Pairing researched data with the services that your law firm provides alongside the unique expertise of your lawyers will solidify your marketing campaign and will set you apart from the noise. The marketing campaigns will have a high success rate because of it and your audience will provide immediate feedback.

Some trends will just come up; you will see them and you will know that you must be a part of them because it makes sense. No tool or algorithm will be necessary…follow your gut.

There are a few key components when creating successful content for social media: Relevance, Relatability and Consistency. Adjusting the marketing strategy and creating content with these three in mind will surely make your law firm become part of the online conversation and implicitly trending.

It is crucial to focus on Relatability.

Let’s face it legal terms aren’t relatable, they can be heavy and sometimes confusing for the untrained eye.

Your audience or potential client might not be trained as a lawyer or CEO and doesn’t have the necessary background to understand the legal terms used in the legislative process, therefore it is imperative to use common terms which are “user friendly” when writing articles and creating posts. Using “keywords” will assist in creating long-term content that your audience will want to engage with and provide an approachable presence.

Consistency. We have all seen a “one-hit wonder” and we think that they came out of nowhere, however, they have been consistently doing the work, over and over until they “made it”. Keep tweaking your marketing campaigns, creating relevant, relatable, and consistent content that undoubtedly will bring the desired results.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Let me know your thoughts on this topic. What are some of the challenges you have faced?

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Photo of Lindsay Griffiths Lindsay Griffiths

Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the…

Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the goals of a global professional services network. She manages all major aspects of the Network, including recruitment, member retention, and providing exceptional client service to an international membership base.

In her role as Executive Director, Griffiths manages a mix of international programs, engages a diverse global community, and develops an international membership base. She leads the development and successful implementation of major organizational initiatives, manages interpersonal relationships, and possesses executive presence with audiences of internal and external stakeholders. Griffiths excels at project management, organization, and planning, writes and speaks with influence and authority, and works independently while demonstrating flexibility in thinking, especially in challenging situations. She also adapts to diverse and dynamic environments with constant assessment and recalibration.

JD Supra Readers Choice Top Author 2019

In 2021, the ILN was honored as Global Law Firm Network of the Year by The Lawyer European Awards, and in 2016, 2017, and 2022, they were shortlisted as Global Law Firm Network of the Year. Since 2011, the Network has been listed as a Chambers & Partners Leading Law Firm Network, recently increasing this ranking to be included in the top two percent of law firm networks globally, as well as adding two regional rankings. She was awarded “Thought Leader of the Year” by the Legal Marketing Association’s New York chapter in 2014 for her substantive contributions to the industry and was included in Clio’s list of “34 People in Legal You Should Follow on Twitter.” She was also chosen for the American Bar Association Journal’s inaugural Web 100‘s Best Law Blogs, where judge Ivy Grey said “This blog is outstanding, thoughtful, and useful.” Ms. Griffiths was chosen as a Top Author by JD Supra in their 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards, for the level of engagement and visibility she attained with readers on the topic of marketing & business development. She has been the author of Zen & the Art of Legal Networking since February 2009.