Two for Tuesdays

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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_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

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

twofortueRecently, we discussed two ways that you could become the MacGyver of content marketing – using great visuals and writing excellent content. I want to continue breaking down Neil Patel’s article this week, to discuss two more ways to “MacGyver” your content – in case you’re still wondering what I mean by that, I’ll reference the Urban Dictionary’s definition:

Someone who can regularly cobble together solutions to problems using only the tools available at hand.”

Your content may not be a problem, but we know that in legal, we’re always being asked to do more with less. So as legal content MacGyvers, we’re taking what we know and creating valuable, substantive themes for consumption that provide a secondary benefit to our reputations.

All right, so let’s jump into our two tips for this week.
Continue Reading Two More Ways to MacGyver Your Content Marketing

twofortueConsider today’s Two for Tuesdays to be your summer reading list – and it’s a short one. Sometimes, the best way to communicate someone else’s message is simply by sharing it with you, and that’s what I’m doing today!

When I’m looking for new ideas or inspiration in content marketing, I head straight to the…

twofortueIt’s time for another Two for Tuesdays, and I’ve just read an EXCELLENT article from Neil Patel over at the Content Marketing Institute. It’s quite a meaty one, so we’re going to dissect it a little bit over the next couple of weeks so that you, too, can become a MacGyver of content marketing (and really, who doesn’t want that?).

Patel is looking at five obvious content marketing strategies that most companies overlook, and despite the fact that law firms have been doing this content marketing thing much longer than most companies, they’re still very guilty of these things themselves. It’s a real shame, because if you can get these right, there’s huge opportunity to connect with clients, potential clients, influencers and amplifiers and get your message out there.

Today, we’ll look at two of these strategies in depth to discuss why they’re as important for law firms and lawyers as for any other company, and how you can be taking better advantage of them.
Continue Reading Two Ways to Become the MacGyver of Content Marketing

twofortueNobody handles content marketing perfectly.

It’s not an exact science, and for the most part, it’s an ever-adapting process that we are constantly refining based on our current goals and audience needs.

But there are a couple of areas where lawyers and law firms go astray with content marketing, and that’s what we’re going to talk about in today’s Two for Tuesdays post. 
Continue Reading The Two Biggest Content Marketing Blunders Lawyers Make