It’s important to focus on the content you write on your website and blog. But, of course, there are other places beside your blog where you can publish what you have to say. One of those venues is LinkedIn Pulse.

There are only so many hours in the day, and there are simply some things that are more effective than others when it comes to marketing your law firm. So, is LinkedIn Pulse a good use of your time and effort? Below, we examine five things you’ll want to consider before you start publishing content on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Pulse: Another opportunity for law firm thought leadership on the web

While your blog and website should be your first priorities when it comes to online thought leadership (we’ll talk about that more in a few paragraphs), LinkedIn Pulse does offer you another opportunity to be heard and to influence others.

It’s a competitive jungle out there, and one way to stay ahead of the competition is choosing to be an online thought leader. As a thought leader, you become a go-to source for your particular expertise. You make it easier for your potential clients and referral sources to seek out accurate, useful information about the questions that they have and also to seek you out. As a thought leader, you become a key part in taking your field to the next level by providing meaningful content to the targeted audiences. Your blog should be your first source for publishing your thoughts, but LinkedIn Pulse can be good choice to connect with others. You can let them know just how much you know, how much you care about what you do, and make it easy for others to reach out to you — no matter where they find you on the web.

LinkedIn is good for attorney exposure, but not necessarily potential client traffic.

Better search engine rankings and more traffic are their own issues — and one of the best ways to improve those areas is to regularly post quality content to your law firm’s website and blog. LinkedIn probably isn’t the greatest venue to improve those two metrics. However, what LinkedIn does give you is exposure and gives other people access to your content in a primarily professional sphere (LinkedIn tends to be a good peer-to-peer tool and for connecting with new referral sources). Being able to reach other lawyers, law firms and referral sources are all potential new ways to build your reputation and improve your bottom line.

LinkedIn gives lawyers a chance to re-purpose an old blog.

Duplicate content is often a big worry for law firms on the web, and we don’t recommend copying and pasting an old blog directly into LinkedIn Pulse and hitting “publish.” But publishing content in this area gives you a new challenge: re-purposing and re-writing an old blog. Write a new headline, or take one paragraph from an old blog and expand upon that topic. Has something changed since you published that old blog post? You could reference it and write an updated piece. There are lots of possibilities here for repurposing an old blog for a new medium.

LinkedIn Pulse may be more useful for certain attorneys than others.

As I said above, LinkedIn isn’t the necessarily greatest medium for cultivating relationships with potential new clients — but what it is good for is cultivating new relationships with referral sources and other law firms. One other benefit that you’ll find in using LinkedIn (both in general and by posting content) is that your original publications become a part of your LinkedIn profile. That profile is shared not only with your followers but also with new, potential connections.

One way this can be particularly beneficial to you is if your firm is about to be eaten up by a larger firm. As I said in an earlier blog post about why attorneys should blog, attorneys who are staring down the barrel of an impending merger need a way to make sure their presence is invaluable. Thought leadership is a great way to do that. If it comes time to cut jobs when a merger happens, a larger firm is unlikely to cut you if you’ve got a large following with your blog or other published content. Writing useful content — whether that’s on your blog, website or elsewhere — gives you a reputation that often precedes you.

There are many attorneys on LinkedIn, many of whom list their education and accomplishments on their profiles. A good way to show that you’re unique — and uniquely influential — is to have content available there, as well. Employers see thousands of résumés and accomplishments day in and day out, and that means you need a way to stand out among a lot of résumés and accomplishments that may look a lot like yours. Writing content is an appreciating asset for your law firm, for your job security, and for the future of your career.

Make sure your legal blog is in good shape before you write content elsewhere.

Ever hear the expression “You can’t pour from an empty cup?”  If you’re thinking about starting some content on LinkedIn, be sure that you’re looking out for the health of your law firm’s blog, first. You’ll want to be able to post links back to your blog in your LinkedIn content. Therefore, you’ll want to have content that dazzles potential clients and referral sources, gives them useful information, and encourages them to engage your firm.

LinkedIn is a good supplementary venue for reaching people, but your blog and website should be your major priority.