Web 2.0 & Lawyer Marketing: Why Your Old Strategies Won\’t Work
Lawyers are still holding tightly to the older, more traditional ways of marketing. As we\’ve heard before, old habits die hard. This is especially true when it comes to lawyers advertising their services in the web 2.0 universe. The effects of too much self-promotion are becoming abundantly clear.
Websites, newsletters, blogs and other advertisements are becoming increasingly self-promoting.
The content you put out on the web can work for you in many positive ways. However, there is a downside as well. Just because people find your writing, doesn\’t mean they have a favorable impression of you.
Make sure you aren\’t producing content that is purely self-promoting.
The following are some suggestions to avoid egregious self-promotion.
1. Stop talking about yourself. By writing about the material you know best, by positioning yourself as an expert in your field, and by making your content creative and interesting, you will promote yourself indirectly. Think about the last article you read that you really enjoyed. I bet if you didn\’t know the author before, at the very least you checked out who they were afterward. This is what lawyer marketing on the web is all about.
2. Attention on the web is fleeting. With lawyer marketing in web 2.0, your time is limited. You need to be helpful but concise. I always tell people to create bullet lists, outlines instead of long essays. Provide a lot of information in a small space.
3. Stay current, but don\’t get overwhelmed. In addition to being brief, you need to be current. With web 2.0 lawyer marketing, people don\’t want to wait a month for your next blog post. By the same token, you don\’t need to produce 3 articles a day to stay current. I would advise planning out a couple of blog posts, perhaps 2-3 a week. Do the same with your social media efforts. This will help you increase the effectiveness of your efforts.
5. Be interesting in your own way. Writing about legal issues can be intense and not always interesting. Make sure you use your own voice and add your personality to your writing. A personal touch goes a long way and can help you to stand out as more and more information is put out into cyberspace.
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