Looking to demonstrate expertise as lawyer? Blog

Blogging remains the clearest and most definitive medium for demonstrating expertise on the web.

This the gist of an excellent read from marketing professional, Dorie Clark (@dorieclark), in the Harvard Business Review entitled ‘If You’re Serious About Ideas, Get Serious About Blogging.’

Law firms have a keen interest today in developing strategies around short form social media (Facebook, Twitter, sharing on LinkedIn, and even, Pinterest). Why? Such short form social media get all the buzz and. compared to blogging, they’re much easier.

But, per Clark, that doesn’t mean they’re the most useful social media tools for lawyers and law firms.

…[F]or organizations and individuals that want to be known for their ideas, the clearest — yet most underrated — path is through blogging. It hasn’t been buzzed about in years, but it’s more essential than ever, as organizations like the World Bank (which recently invited me to speak to their global staff about blogging) recognize.

Neither Clark nor I believe it’s too late in the game to get into blogging or that you’ll be drowned out by all the noise out there already.

…[A]s long as your content is rich and thoughtful, you can still build up a massive following and reputation regardless of your channel. In an information-hungry world, there will always be a need for expert content. And there will always be more readers and “retweeters” than there will be creators.

Though there are over 3,000 law blogs being indexed by the ABA Journal, I’ll hazard a guess that less than ten or twenty percent engage readers and influencers in an effective fashion.

In addition, there are countless niche subjects not covered. Just this week I talked to a couple groups of lawyers whose blog topics have never been covered before. Our LXBN Network doesn’t even have a blog for each of the state supreme courts.

Your thoughts, insight, and commentary as a practicing lawyer are in demand. You’re not able to share such insight and demonstrate your expertise with short firm social media.

You need to blog.