Blogging As A Conversation -- If You Build It They Will Come

If that’s true, we’ve advanced no further than newsletters, whitepapers, and articles written by lawyers and other professionals fifty years ago. We just have the ease of publishing on a computer and distribution on the Internet versus the mail.

But blogging is a conversation enabled by the tools the Internet gives us. Blogging enables us to engage the audience of our choice in a real and authentic fashion that’s never been possible before.

Engagement, by its very definition makes listening the most important aspect of blogging — you need to listen to an existing conversation before you talk.

Despite what many preach, the most important aspect of blogging is not writing high quality content for wide circulation.

More important than just listening is listening to the right people and the right subjects. This way you engage the people you want to meet.

To understand the value of blogging, look at how the best lawyers have always gotten their work — word of mouth and relationships.

When my partners and I built a successful law firm thirty years ago we did not distribute newsletters, we did not write articles, and we did not circulate whitepapers. Many firms in our neck of the woods did. Many firms also advertised to raise their visibility.

But we got out and met people. Not just anyone, but the people we wanted to represent, the people who could refer work to us and the influencers of these two — newspaper reporters/publishers, business journal owners, radio station owners and television reporters.

We spent time with accountants, financial planners, hospital execs and doctors, bankers, union people (we had them then) and others that drove commerce in our community.

As a result, we grew faster than any other law firm to become the largest law firm in Western Wisconsin. While other firms may have been chasing visibility through content, branding and the like, we built relationships and word of mouth reputations in a targeted way.

Fast forward to blogging. When blogging, you want to engage prospective clients and influencers. You do this by following what they are writing, what is being written about them, what is being written by sources that influence them (newspapers, trade publications, blogs etc) and subjects that are of interest to them.

If I want to meet executives in a company I monitor the organization’s name in Feedly and look for blogs or publications they write, which I can also pick up in Feedly. When an item may be of interest to my blog audience, I share the piece referencing the company and the person being quoted or writing.

Within twenty four hours they always respond. Whether via a ‘like’ or retweet of my tweet of my post, through LinkedIn or an email. We’re dancing virtually immediately. Dancing that leads to email exchanges and meetings.

I do the same thing with reporters, conference coordinators, association leaders and who have you. I pick them up as sources of content where they are writing. I also pick them up by listening to relevant words and phrases, whether they be terms of art or listening for the association’s name or organization’s name via Feedly.

I do this because others don’t. Others are writing great content for wide circulation hoping that the right people will see it, and maybe lead to engagement. I’d rather figuratively reach out and shake their hand than take a one in a thousand chance.

Adrian believes “if you build it they will come” is merely an old rallying cry that’s no longer true. He believes it’s going to take broad reaching circulation to gain visibility. However, “if you build it, they will come” is more the case today than ever.

The key is defining “they.” A smart blogger is strategically defining their audience (which may be very small) and listening to what they say and what they are interested in via Feedly. By talking about someone in their audience, ‘they’ come — right up to your hand and shake it.

Adrian and I engaged on this subject via Twitter following his post — I mentioned his name and he was there in a New York minute. 😉

I totally get what he says that it may not be an either or when it comes to engagement as I describe it versus visibility by circulation, social media, and publishing on third party sites. I also agree that it’s “hard to have relationships (let alone conversations) with people who don’t see you.”

What I differ with is how you get seen. I am old school. I go to where I know I can find the people I want to engage. I knock on doors. I walk right up and shake your hand.

Hopefully we’ll hit it off, nurture a relationship over time and you’ll learn to trust me enough to let me help you.

All via blogging.

Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) is the CEO and founder of LexBlog, which empowers lawyers to increase their visibility and accelerate business relationships online. With LexBlog’s help, legal professionals use their subject matter expertise to drive powerful business development through blogging and social media. Visit LexBlog.com.

LexBlog also hosts LXBN, the world’s largest network of professional blogs. With more than 8,000 authors, LXBN is the only media source featuring the latest lawyer-generated commentary on news and issues from around the globe. Visit lxbn.com now.