You’ve probably heard it said that “content is king.” This marketing industry mantra refers to the connection between good content and a successful website. But have you heard of curated content? This latest content marketing strategy involves the collection of the most valuable content available for a specific practice area, then enhancing it with personal opinions and professional expertise before targeting it to a specific audience.
Legal marketing experts declare curated content as the next big thing in law firm marketing. Not only does it help to establish lawyers as experts in their fields, but it also works to bring law firms and their website visitors closer together.
This post will explore the benefits of curated content and provide some useful tips for curating content for your law firm.
The benefits of curated content
Benefit #1 Establishing expertise
Your visitors develop an impression about you and your law firm based on the content you present to the world. By curating and sharing the right content, you can successfully establish your firm as a source of expertise in particular practice areas.
With curated content, you can keep your firm in front of your ideal clients through the use of various social media platforms. By making deliberate and thoughtful decisions about what to share and how to share it, you can create a brand that presents your firm as a thought-leader among other firms.
Benefit #2 It’s faster to curate than create
It takes a significant amount of time to write blog posts, create YouTube videos, and maintain a customized social media presence. While mega law firms may have the time and money to take on these tasks, most small and solo practices just don’t have the resources it takes to consistently complete these marketing duties.
With curated content, you can share something valuable that’s already been created. You read a story of interest about a new bankruptcy trend… curate it. You see a social media post relevant to personal injury law… curate it. Whatever your firm’s area of practice, there is likely some excellent content out there that is just waiting to be shared.
Benefit #3 Stay Informed
When visitors see your firm sharing information relevant to its practice areas, they assume that your attorneys stay tuned into the latest industry trends and precedents. It makes you appear well informed, instilling trust in your firm’s capabilities.
It also shows that you are not only interested in your own created content, but you also recognize the value of content created by others – and you are confident enough to share and give credit where credit is due. Curating and sharing content involves finding and reading various content across the web, which also helps you stay informed about the legal industry.
Benefit # 4 Grow your firm’s network
The sharing and curating of the content result in greater connections with leaders and influencers within the legal industry. The more sharing you do, the more people who see your content, which can spark conversations with your viewers and expand your firm’s network.
How to market your firm with curated content
We live in a society where consumers are ultra-connected, using various channels to review and analyze large amounts of data in real-time. While content marketing is meant to respond to this new consumer environment, the volumes of content that already exists makes it harder to create content at the quality and frequency of potential clients and audiences expect.
With content curation, law firms can compete more effectively and efficiently. With the right mixture of curated and created content, you can make an excellent impression and build trust in your law firm before any direct communication even occurs.
When curating content for your firm, here are some tips for making the most of your content choices:
- Use both curated and created content. Professional content creators suggest a mixture of 30% curated content and 70% created content.
- Make strategic decisions about what to post. Consider such questions as:
- Who you would share the content with;
- How the content would help your audience;
- Is the content created by a trustworthy source;
- Is the content worth sharing;
- Is the content unique
- Know your audience. To adequately answer these questions, you need to know and understand the expectations of your ideal audience.
- Only share what matters. If it isn’t relevant, timely, interesting, and useful… it is not worth sharing.
- Be consistent. Viewers don’t like old posts and erratic postings. Develop a schedule that works for you and your firm. Then stick with it. Your viewers will come to expect and look forward to your content. You don’t want to disappoint them, do you?
- Add a little self-promotion. With curated and created content, you can demonstrate your extensive knowledge of your firm’s practice areas. Dedicate a sentence or two to introducing yourself and some of your accomplishments.
- Mix up your content subject matter. If your law firm offers services in various practice areas, look for content that is relevant to each of them, so it stays fresh and interesting to viewers.
- Don’t forget to give credit where credit is due. Someone took the time to research and create that content. Give credit with an @mention in a tweet, or a Facebook post tag.
- Use scheduling software to make these tasks more manageable. This way, your curated content is seen over a balanced period of time. Programs like Hootsuite allow you to take a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Where you schedule your content one time, instead of having to think about it multiple times a week.
Curated content is the new wave in law firm marketing strategies. So, the next time you come across an interesting article or post that is relevant to your firm, don’t just read it and forget it. Instead, think about curating it and sharing it. It could be a pipeline to bring your law firm and website visitors closer.
About Erika Winston:
Erika Winston is a freelance writer with a passion for law. Through her business, Personal Touch Edits, she helps legal professionals deliver effective written messages. Erika is a regular contributor to TimeSolv and a variety of other publications.
