Note: This article originally appeared on the Legal Marketing Association’s 12 Days of Social & Digital Media Series. On the eleventh day Gina Rubel discussed the importance of podcasts in a law firm’s social and digital media mix.

What is on the list of your top priorities in social and digital media for 2020?

Podcasts, podcasts, and more podcasts.

Top on our list of priorities for 2020 is a more focused approach to capitalizing on podcasts. Why? Because podcasts are popular: more popular in fact, than video, television, and blogging.

11 Facts About Podcasts

1. Podcasts can be visually recorded for video content as well as transcribed for blogs – thus serving more than one purpose.
2. The average podcast consumer listens to seven podcast episodes per week.
3. 93% of podcast fans listen to most of an episode.
4. 61% percent of podcast consumers listen to podcasts more than watching television. And according to Podcast Insights:
5. There are more than 800,000 podcasts and 30 million episodes of podcasts available to the public.
6. Podcasts are most often consumed at home (49%) or in a car (22%).
7. 51% of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast, and it is expected that by 2022, 132 million people in the U.S. will listen to podcasts.
8. Listeners are loyal, affluent and educated (Is this your law firm’s audience?).
9. 40% of Americans 54 or younger listen to podcasts monthly, and 41% of monthly podcast listeners are more likely to earn $75,000-plus annually.
10. Smartphones drive podcast usage with an increase of more than 150% since 2014.
11. Podcast listeners are much more active on every social media channel (94% are active on at least one versus 81% for the entire population).

The BIG question is: should your law firm develop and produce its own podcast, or is it enough to place your firm’s thought leaders on other established podcasts?

11 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Law Firm Podcast

1. Why does the firm want to enter the podcast space?
2. What is the purpose of the podcast?
3. Whom does the firm wish to influence?
4. Will the podcast be focused on B2B, B2C or both?
5. What does the firm have to offer to its audience via a podcast?
6. How will a podcast fill a marketing or business development void?
7. What is the budget for a podcast?
8. Will the podcast be weekly, bi-weekly, monthly (other)?
9. Who will be the voice or voices of the podcast?
10. Who is on your list of ideal people to interview (clients, prospects, referral sources, other attorneys, industry thought leaders, etc.)?
11. What does the success of a podcast look like for the firm, and how will success be measured?

11 Benefits of Podcasts

1. “When used as a strategic business development tool, a podcast can have a significant ROI.” John Corcoran, co-founder of Rise25, LLC, and host of the Smart Business Revolution.
2. Podcasts position the interviewee as an expert and the interviewer as a thought leader and active listener in their industry.
3. “Podcasting for lawyers and law firms accelerates the ‘know, like and trust’ factors clients need when choosing their lawyer.” Nancy Myrland, founder of Myrland Marketing and Social Media and host of Legal Marketing Minutes.
4. Podcasts expose the participants to a much larger, and often unknown and engaged audience, especially when shared on social media.
5. “Podcasts build brand awareness and recognition, reaching the listening audience.” Kristin Dohan, marketing manager for Klasko Immigration Law Partners, who helped launch and has produced all episodes of the firm’s podcast Statutes of Liberty: An Immigration Podcast.
6. Provide valuable content for sharing with the audience via email, social media, the firm’s website, and other digital means.
7. “Podcasts are low-cost, high-value and agile business development tools.” Rich Bracken, director of business development of Fredrikson & Byron, and host and producer of Enrich Your Soul.
8. Podcasts provide the opportunity to build stronger relationships (or even new relationships) with the host and its listeners.
9. “Attorneys can convey their knowledge while showcasing their personality and legal prowess at a fraction of the cost of producing videos and with a much longer shelf life than e-alerts.” -Bracken
10. Podcasts provide a treasure-trove of SEO value, including relevant keywords and phrases, backlinks, re-sharable content, and social media mentions.
11. “Podcasts establish credibility quickly and easily.” Adrian Lurssen, vice president and co-founder of JD Supra.

If your firm is considering launching a podcast, read Heather McMichael's tips for pioneering a podcast. She is the media relations manager for Shook, Hardy & Bacon and received an LMA award for a weekly podcast program she created while at her former Am Law 100 firm where she led PR initiatives for a decade.

What digital or social media campaign/effort are you most proud of and why?

One of Furia Rubel’s efforts in 2019 was to publish and promote Volume 2 of the book, Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. We used an integrated mix of digital marketing and public relations tactics, which included serving as a guest on relevant podcasts and sharing tips via the agency’s social media channels.

Here are just a few of the podcasts that resulted in our efforts:

The agency consistently shared tips from the book on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, further driving engagement and book sales. In keeping with the spirit of this holiday post, here are images of 11 tips shared on Instagram:

Originally published in Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers 2^nd Ed., republished with permission.