Content Marketing

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iStock_000015783236XSmallIt’s tempting to think that content is all about blogging. You hear “content marketing,” and think “we need a blog!”

But content is actually anything that communicates your message to an audience. That can be anything from a Facebook post to an article to an email to a blog post. And yes, it includes video.

Video is an amazing tool, and it’s one that people are paying attention to. Here are some compelling reasons you should be including video in your content marketing mix if you’re not already:

  • By 2017, video will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic, according to Cisco. (The Guardian)
  • YouTube receives more than one billion unique visitors every month – that’s more than any other channel, apart from Facebook. (The Guardian)
  • If a picture paints 1,000 words then one minute of video is worth 1.8 million, so say Forrester’s researchers. (The Guardian)
  • 75% of executives told Forbes that they watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. 50% watch business-related videos on YouTube. 65% visit the marketer’s website after viewing a video. (Video Brewery)
  • 59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than read text according to Forbes Insight. (Video Brewery)

Continue Reading Two Ways to Make the Best of Video Marketing

iStock_000007887592XSmallMany of us in legal marketing wait with bated breath for the results of the Greentarget “State of Digital and Content Marketing Survey” every year.

Building on Greentarget’s inaugural study in 2010, [it gives us] the latest insights on how corporate general counsel – your clients – are engaging in social media and law firm-generated content.”

We also learn how our “legal marketing peers are evolving their own content and digital strategies to build relationships and fuel business development.”

During LMA’s Technology Conference this year, we were treated to a preview of the survey, which is officially released on November 18th, with Greentarget’s own John Corey. You’ll want to check back on their website on the 18th for the full report (and you can register now to make sure you get a copy on the day it’s released), but we learned some interesting things.
Continue Reading Preview: 2015 State of Digital and Content Marketing Survey

12080125_10153722408697792_7221889797601040086_oLast week, I had the great pleasure of presenting with Laura Toledo of Nilan Johnson Lewis and Adrian Lurssen of JD Supra during the Legal Marketing Association’s Technology Conference. Our panel focused on “Crafting your online story: Demystifying the process behind content marketing.”

It was a great interactive session, with questions from the audience and a back and forth dialogue with my two smart co-panelists. Although we covered a LOT of ground in the session, there was one piece of our presentation that we dropped out for time constraints – it’s still an important one, so I’d like to address it here.

The answer to the question “Who are your best sources?” may seem like an obvious one, but some of the ways in which you’ll go about finding the answers, while simple, are not always so black and white. Your best sources of content are going to be your clients, your readers, and the media. Let’s break these down. 
Continue Reading Who Are Your Best Sources of Content?

iStock_000021185501SmallIt’s no secret that I love social media – I was an early adopter, and I still regularly engage on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And it’s even less of a secret that I love content marketing, if 9 months’ worth of Two for Tuesdays’ posts have given you any indication.

The connection between the two is a fairly clear one – social media provides an excellent array of distribution channels for you to deliver your content to your intended audiences. That’s a lot of marketing-speak, I know, but basically, all I’m saying is that if you want to get the words, thoughts, and ideas that showcase what a smart, talented and passionate lawyer or legal professional you are in front of the people that matter to you, an important way to make that happen is by being in the same places they are.

We’re all pretty familiar with the standard ways to do this: You publish a blog post or an article, you grab the title or maybe you’re even more advanced and you say something unique about the piece, and you share it on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. with a trackable link and some hashtagged keywords. Maybe you share it again later in the day or in the week to make sure that it was seen by the right people, and you’ve checked back to engage with anyone who commented or shared it with their own audiences.
Continue Reading Use Social Media to Ignite Your Content Marketing

iStock_000016503756XSmallLast week, we talked about the importance of looking at your own metrics to tell you what content people are consuming, in order to further optimize what you’re producing.

But there’s more to metrics than your own content. While it’s immensely important to measure what you’re doing to ensure that it’s effective against the goals that you’ve set, there are two other areas that you want to look at in order to make your content truly effective.

Area One: Your Competitors

Last week, we looked at two areas that are important in reviewing your own content – social sharing and impact metrics. Using BuzzSumo and either a service like Impactana or a mixture of your content platform analytics and Google analytics, you can track and extract data and subsequent meaning from shares, likes, backlinks, views, downloads and more. 
Continue Reading More Metrics: Beyond Navel Gazing

Photo by Kris Van de Sande
Photo by Kris Van de Sande

Lawyers and law firms often think of content marketing as a solo activity. While you may have a strategy that is firm or practice-wide, in general, you’re thinking of the producers of the content for that strategy as individuals.

But what about co-creating content?

I read a great piece today on 9 Free Tools to Co-Create Content, which not only included some great resources, but also some excellent inspiration on this Two for Tuesdays for ways we can be better content collaborators.

Before we get into the HOW, let’s talk about the WHY.

The article’s author, Ann Smarty, tells us that co-creating content can help you to achieve the following goals:

  • Build relationships with niche influencers (with whom you co-create content)
  • Create more diverse and in-depth content (easier to find more angles and discover more marketing channels)
  • Produce more content (collaboration improves your productivity)
  • Build more exposure (co-writers and co-editors more willing to promote the piece since they participated)”

Continue Reading Stop…Collaborate…And Content Market

A fisheye image of a confused geeky-looking woman.

A few weeks ago, I read an interesting piece over on the Content Marketing Institute by Carla Johnson, and I’ve been mulling it over in my mind ever since. Johnson asks whether we’re missing the most important audience for our content marketing – and with a hook like that for the title, you can bet I was going to click to read more.

I’m sure you’re wracking your brains as I was to identify who it is you’re missing – clients, potential clients, referral sources, journalists, conference organizers, influencers, amplifiers…the list goes on. But there is one important group you may be overlooking.

The internal audience at your firm.

The point being that everyone at your firm is a brand ambassador for the firm and its members – everyone, from the receptionist who greets people as they walk in the door and is the first to answer the phone right up to the managing partner of the firm who makes key decisions about strategy and direction, as well as his or her own practice. Every one of those people is telling the story of the firm every time they interact with someone else, whether it’s on purpose or not – that’s just how marketing works. 
Continue Reading Content Marketing – Are You Forgetting Someone?

photo-1427434948077-29d1f1a67f32Instagram.

You’ve probably heard of it, and you’re wondering, what does that have to do with lawyers and law firms? There’s no WAY that can be used for professional services marketing, right?

Think again!

If you’re not familiar with Instagram, it’s a photo-sharing social network that is available only on your mobile device (you can access it on your desktop, but you can’t actually post to it from your desktop). I’m a photographer as well as a legal industry professional (surprise!), so I have a soft spot for Instagram.

But that’s not the only reason it’s important. The statistics tell us that this social network is NOT to be ignored.

  • 300 million monthly active users
  • 70%  people outside of the US
  • 30 billion photos shared (yes, that’s BILLION)
  • 2.5 billion daily likes (again, BILLION)
  • 70 million photos, on average, posted daily

Continue Reading The Best Instagram Advice You’re Not Taking

iStock_000019798838XSmall“Content marketing” is a huge and meaty topic, and it’s one that there are many, many facets to. We could talk about it for years (and I’ve already spent lots of Two for Tuesdays’ posts dissecting various aspects of it).

Today, I’d like to get a little bit back to basics, and look at three questions you probably have about content marketing, based on things I’ve wondered myself, things I’ve been asked, and conversations I’ve had with other legal marketers. Definitely add to the conversation on this one with additional questions you may have in the comments!

What IS content marketing?

We hear this term bandied about a LOT. It sounds fancy and it sounds very marketer-y, so I’m sure lawyers think “Yep, not for me!” and marketers think “Oh please, not something else I’m responsible for!” But the good news for law firms is that they’ve LONG been producers of content, and now we just need to refine the strategy and process a little bit to make it even more effective. Whew! 
Continue Reading 3 Questions You Probably Have About Content Marketing