Curated Media

I spend a lot of time talking to lawyers about the Internet. Quite often, usually at our first meeting, I will hear the comment: “We don’t get any business at all from the internet”. This is usually said in one of two ways; with pride or as a lament. Those who talk with pride believe their reputation alone brings them work, and thus they have no need of ‘internet work’. Those who speak with despair talk of their website never serving up business opportunities, either through not being prominent online or the site being nothing more than an online brochure, which doesn’t in any way articulate their expertise and service offering.

Our last blog discussed what tools law firms could use to enhance their online reputation and increase the likelihood of being found in search results. Like so many pieces relating to online marketing, there was one search engine that dominated the blog. That was, of course, Google.

In the past, we have analysed whether or not legal content is held to a higher standard by Google and what must be done to excel in Google rankings. We have also mentioned the importance of search engine optimisation, and have shared countless articles on our social media accounts about this search engine giant.

However, today, we take a look at why, when conducting business online and implementing an SEO strategy, it is vital that you take into account other search engines.

Most people associate Instagram with young people, celebrities, and bloggers. However, what is often overlooked is the business case for using the social media platform, and whether it is an appropriate tool for professional industries such as the legal sector. The social network boasts a community of 150 million users. Users that are well informed, and highly attune to brand identity. If you have been wondering whether your firm should delve into the world of Instagram, you are not alone. In fact, some major firms have already begun to harness the photo-sharing platform to shake the image of the law firm as being unapproachable and intimidating. Firms choose to display ‘behind the scenes’ photos of law firm staff and their interests, to show the softer side of their business.   This post looks at why so many large brands including law firms and other professional services are now using Instagram to promote their brand and also how the platform could be utilised to win business for your law firm. 

Artificial intelligence is on the horizon, and it’ll be able to achieve feats far superior to those the humble human brain is capable of. But lawyers and law firms shouldn’t worry too much – it’s an opportunity to put our sluggish biological lumps of grey matter to better use.

Following Episode 2

In the previous episode, Andrew begged his colleagues to create some content for their new website but could not understand why their content was not performing, despite having no strategy in place.

Effective Distribution is Key to Successful Legal Content Marketing Creating and publishing high-quality legal content that speaks to your law firm’s target audience is just the beginning of the content marketing process. At the heart of any successful legal content marketing strategy is effective content distribution. By targeting the distribution of your content, you guarantee its amplification. All too often, law firms and lawyers take the time to create great blogs, in-depth articles and infographics, for example, yet neglect to strategically think ahead about how, where and when to position these in front of the people that actually matter.“Content is King but distribution is Queen, and she runs the household.” - Gary Vaynerchuck Understanding how to properly leverage strategic distribution techniques is essential in ensuring that the time and effort you invest in your content marketing efforts is worthwhile. Furthermore, Google being the clever search powerhouse that it is, rewards high-quality content by recognising...

As a lawyer, I am fully aware that the legal sector is subject to extensive regulation given the nature of the job and the importance of maintaining standards and professional integrity. So it shouldn’t really come as any surprise to lawyers to hear that legal content, when published online, is subjected to the most extensive scrutiny by Google, much more so than is the case for many other industries.Why does Google treat legal content differently?For all industries, Google is generally looking to show search results with websites that it deems to have authority and can be trusted. After all, when we search online we really only want to see sites that are trustworthy, usually from businesses or sites with general information that we can rely upon or do business with.Buying a pair of running shoes, though, is clearly of far less consequence than obtaining legal advice on a potentially life changing...

If your News Year’s Resolution is focusing on your content marketing more than developing your fitness, then this is the blog for you.As we begin 2016, it is the perfect time to think about what lies ahead for the content marketing world and the shifts that some businesses are going to go through in the next twelve months. In this post we take a look at some of the trends that may soon be at the heart of online business.Mobile is the New NormIt’s fair to say that companies have, in the past, focused their content, app and web development strategy primarily on the needs of the desktop user, with other platforms coming as an afterthought - many sites are still not properly designed to operate using a mobile phone. However, 2015 showed that the trend was slowly buckling due to the sheer number of mobile visitors to websites. This increase...

The internet could not disguise it’s outrage after artist Ellie Harrison set up the Facebook page describing her latest project “The Glasgow Effect”. This project involves Ellie not leaving the greater Glasgow area for an entire year, in order to “test the limits of a ‘sustainable practice’ and to challenge the demand-to-travel placed upon the ‘successful’ artist / academic.”The controversial part of this project for many, is that Ellie received a grant of £15,000 to undertake the experiment from Creative Scotland through the Open Project Funding Programme. The mob could not contain themselves, highlighting that many people in Glasgow never leave the area, and don't even come close to earning £15,000 per year, accusing Ellie of attempting to create “poverty porn”.The premise of Ellie’s project is that many artists and academics feel the need to move away to become successful. However in the world of content marketing, we like to think...

In the age of rapid digitalisation, people now have access to more information than ever before. This allows us to make more informed decisions about our lifestyles, our health and the way we eat.The online food world is an ever-changing battleground, between the weight-loss community, the food-for-fitness junkies and, of course, those who advocate a meat-free lifestyle - it’s no surprise that the internet is a great influence on the food choices we make day to day.I haven’t yet used the term vegan or vegetarian because people who describe themselves in this way are only a small fraction of the meat-free marketing revolution. We now have: meat avoiders; meat-reducers; juicers; plant-based lifestyle advocates; plant-protein fasters; weekday vegetarians; and, many more in between. We also have ‘pegans’ which, after much research, I discovered are those who collaborate paleo and vegan in quite a vague way that I don’t fully understand. However, what...

A look at why engaging content is durable content, demonstrated by an online search that started with cats and ended in metrics.

So, at Curated House we are all exceptionally excited for Halloween for a host of different reasons. Some of us are doing fancy dress for the first time in 18 years, for others, it is the promise of mass consumption of alcohol or simply spending the night with friends watching rugby. This year, we are blessed with Halloween falling on a Saturday.While this will mean that everywhere will be crammed with people in costumes of various skill and imagination, it also means you can indulgence in all things spooky, including unashamed listening to some of the best Halloween themed music… But that doesn’t mean resorting to The Monster Mash or Time Warp.With a few days to go, we thought we would collate a list of some of our favourite tunes we’ll be playing at Curated House on Friday to get us in the mood for a weekend of pagan hedonism.9 –...

As an admirer and hard-core fan of FXX’s The League, a comedy sitcom in which characters openly declare Fantasy Football as their religion, it is needless to say that I embraced this year’s Barclays Premier Fantasy Football League with the same sort of gusto as a five-year-old embracing Christmas Day.There was the studying and taking notes on player performance throughout the bleak-football-free-Summer season, there was the constant refreshing of the website to see if it was time to create my team and finally there was the constant emailing of friends and workmates to get them to join my league so that they could suffer the can of whoop ass that my team and Captain Aguero intended to open on them…Sadly, in the Curated Media head-to-head league, I currently sit joint bottom, despite immense preparation. But today, as I awoke cursing the International break that meant that Fantasy Football was taking off...

In the week it was revealed that we published on average over 60,000 unique words of great legal content a month for our clients, we also popped along to the COSLA Conference Centre in Edinburgh for the Essential Communications Conference.Hosted by Hollyrood Events, the conference focused on successful marketing campaigns, social media fundamentals and the best way to create engaging content. Unlike previous conferences we have attended, however, this time we had a stage presence in David Kerr, who spoke on behalf of MLT and Curated Media about our services and the importance of measuring your content.  The Essential Communications Conference: A Breakdown of the SpeakersThe format of the conference was different to others that we have attended (see our previous blog posts) in the fact that the morning session focused solely on case studies. Rather than having speakers discussing the importance of content marketing and what you must do to...

Last month, Team Curated and cronies went to the Turing Festival in Edinburgh to learn about the ins and outs of content marketing and digital technology. While all of us remembered our lunch money and permission slips, we also didn’t forget to take a few notes so that we could fill you in on the highlights and what really stood out from Turing 2015.Full Stack Marketing: Turing Festival 15One of the most interesting speakers kicked off proceedings. Mark Johnstone, VP Creative at Distilled discussed how sometimes the most exciting ideas didn’t always pay off. He spoke of the importance of thinking about your audience and whether or not they would be interested in what you were creating.He provided us with two examples of when content had and hadn’t worked. One was a rugby infographic that very few people had time for. The other was an infographic on the singing ranges of...

This is the beginning of what will be an occasional segment in which we discuss one of the key matters of business and content strategy. We aim to keep it light, brief and to the point as well as giving some insightful information about our own content and how we manage our own channels.So, without further-a-do… OutreachOutreach is one of the most important aspects of any business model, and, it’s exactly what you think it is. Outreach is how you tell customers about your content and how you get them to view said content. You are effectively reaching out to them to inform them about what is going on and why they may be interested. Outreach can take many forms from the simple old word of mouth to a hazarding upon a hidden gem.It is important that you use as much as possible and as many opportunities to publish and push...

FAQs about Curated Media Outsourcing your content can be an exceptionally useful decision in the world of business, especially in the legal sector. By allowing experts to create high quality public facing content on your behalf, you’re still engaging with new and existing clients while freeing up members of the firm to focus on their fee-earning work.Today, we take you through some of the most frequently asked questions regarding our legal writing services, which will hopefully provide you with some insight into how content marketing can benefit your firm.Is Content Marketing that important?Good content can improve your visibility online, grow your brand and establish a relationship between your business and clients – so, yes, content marketing is important. By publishing fantastic content, you can acquire and retain clients and drastically expand your pool of potential fee-earning work.Why choose a specialist?As more firms chose to outsource their content to marketing experts, other...

Many law firms are experts at what they do, whether it be criminal defence, personal injury or employment law. With legal cases, clients and fresh claims coming in, it can be difficult to keep your content up-to-date and not get stuck in bad habits when it comes to content creation.Content is vitally important for your online personality, it assures customers that you are a professional firm, provides vital information for existing and potential clients and aids your firm’s visibility on search engines. Yet despite content being crucial to the online success of a company, many law firms still struggle to create and follow a successful content marketing strategy.At Curated Media, we specialise in writing legal content for law firms. Here we look at five ways to update, or freshen-up, your content marketing endeavours.Native AdvertisingNative advertising is advertising that matches the form and the platform on which it appears. Social media sites...

The New York Times has always been a leader, continuously publishing since 1851, winning 114 Pulitzer Prizes along the way; so it’s a safe bet to say that they are pretty good at what they do. But the digital age hasn’t exactly been the most glorious time in the illustrious history of one of the most popular newspapers in America - and it is this troubled past that makes the New York Times latest move even more risky, and more surprising.The New York Times announced recently that they would start moving away from publishing directly to their website (which has a paywall), and instead place their articles directly on Facebook through a new Facebook publishing app. Why has such a move been brought about? Will it pay off? Furthermore, could it work for law firms?Content Publication on Social MediaThe rise of social media has changed almost every aspect of business. Whether...

Online marketing is all about content. Every content blog, research paper or expert on Twitter will try and slip in that “content is king” and that good quality content is the key to any online success. It’s been well known and documented by experts, yet, firms continually get content marketing wrong. How, in this Golden Age, are legal firms still failing to engage with clients online?Why Should Legal Firms Outsource Their Content?There is a serious issue when it comes to legal firms creating content - for many, simply getting content out there, no matter its quality or relevance, is assumed to be enough. Some firms update their sites with short, relatively meaningless and impersonal content, believing it to satisfy potential customers and show their site is up to date.This goes against all that we stand for at Curated Media. We believe in creating high quality, in-depth and optimised content.According to a...