Regularity and consistency are key when it comes to demonstrating expertise through thought leadership and building a digital presence, but it can be hard to know what 'regular' looks like in practice. With your experts often extremely time-poor, and content creation not at the top of their priority list, getting frequent content can sometimes seem like an uphill struggle.
As a result, clients often ask us what the 'optimum' frequency is for creating thought leadership. And, while there is no perfect answer or formula, there are a number of factors to consider and bear in mind when trying to find the right balance for your experts.
What constitutes 'regular' content?
Research from our 2021 UK Thought Leadership Index revealed that the average lawyer creates 1.1 posts per year. Most firms aren't empowering their experts to create regular content that can be distributed to their key clients and prospects, meaning the benchmark is set incredibly low. This means that if your experts can create thought leadership on a consistent basis, whether once a week, month, or quarter, they are going to be differentiating themselves from their competitors and standing out to existing and potential clients as industry experts in their fields.
Quality over quantity
This year's Thought Leadership Impact Study conducted by LinkedIn & Edelman reinforced the idea that higher quality, more digestible content is critical to engaging your audience, with over 55% of buyers saying that 'if a piece of thought leadership does not pique their interest within the first minute, they will move on'. With more organisations than ever realising the value of thought leadership, it can be difficult to cut through the noise amongst the rising amount of online content. As a result, buyers have become more discerning with the content they engage with.
Talk to your clients
The most important thing that you can do to gauge how frequently your experts should be creating thought leadership is talk to your clients and key contacts. Ask them exactly how and when they would like to hear from your experts. These are the people that you want to demonstrate your firm's expertise to, and as such, should be at the centre of any decisions when it comes to frequency of content.