Let’s face it. Legal blogs just aren’t sexy. They aren’t interesting. They aren’t even particularly entertaining. No one reads them unless they are in trouble or are trying to get someone else in trouble. So how in the name of Lady Justice do you get a legal blog post to go viral? Is it even possible?
First of all, you can’t “make” anything to go viral. It either goes viral because people find it entertaining or otherwise informing, or it doesn’t. Either way, its virality is due solely on the merits of the information itself….not on the tactics used to promote it.
So, that said, if you want to give your legal blog post the best chance possible of going viral, start with a clever title. A cursory Google search for “legal blogs on divorcing a cheating husband” reveal first page blog title results such as:
- Divorcing a cheating husband
- Cheating spouse? Get more money
- Hot topics in divorce ? Does cheating matter?
- What will a court do when I prove my spouse cheated?
- Does cheating affect alimony?
- A cheating heart and its role in divorce
Hello? Anyone still awake? Snooooooozefest. Why? Consider your audience. Every man knows that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Every divorce attorney should know this as well, and when sitting down to write a blog about divorcing a cheating husband, you’re not speaking to your law school professor. You aren’t speaking to a judge. You aren’t speaking to your Scotch-drinking buddy at the bar. You aren’t speaking to the cheating husband. You are speaking to the woman scorned. She is your audience. You are writing to Hell’s Fury. Take note, Dante, as you address the inferno.
Do any of the above titles do justice to a scorned woman’s emotion? Ummm, no. So, if you want to capture her attention, be creative. Be daring. Be what she cannot be. Be Gus Petch.
Remember the movie “Intolerable Cruelty? Gus Petch was the private investigator played by Cedric the Entertainer. His job was to capture cheaters and their insignificant others in the act and provide the video proof as evidence to the divorce attorney. Gus Petch had a motto. His motto was “I’m Gon Nail Yo Ass.”
That motto resonated with his particular audience. And, in this case, it would resonate with the woman scorned. So, instead of the plain-jane-vanilla-bean title of “Divorcing a Cheating Husband”, try copying the exact same blog entry but giving the second copy a different title: “We Gon Nail His Ass.” See which one gets the most reads. The most shares. The most likes.
See which one goes viral first. It’s a silly example, but the point is clear. The content of the blog really has nothing to do with how well it resonates with the audience. Remember, the law is not sexy. The law is the law. Titles are not the law. Titles are advertising, and advertising can be sexy. So…use your blog title to create some shock value, break through the noise, and get noticed!
For more information about Behavioral Ad Targeting, contact our Legal Blogging Experts at 1-800-877-2776.
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