Congressional Republicans are trying to get their counterparts on the Hill to at least wait for the funeral before using the passing of Justice Scalia for their own ends.
In the world of blogging, though, there is no such thing as being too soon on a story.
The death of a Supreme Court Justice – let alone the death of one so divisive, polarizing, and influential as Justice Scalia – is something that you should absolutely take advantage of for your blog. It provides a unique opportunity to take a hot, trending topic that people are interested in, and use it to both show off your expertise and talk about your law firm’s field of practice.
However, there are several do’s and don’ts that you should keep in mind, as you craft a piece for your blog about Justice Scalia’s death.
DO get it up quickly. Justice Scalia died on Friday, and his death was announced publicly on Saturday. The optimal timeline for a blog article on his passing depends on your usual posting schedule. If your schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, then you probably should have gotten a piece up on Monday, but Wednesday would also be acceptable. If you only publish once a week, and didn’t want to write a special article for the news, then covering Scalia’s death should bounce any other post topic you had in mind.
DON’T get off topic. Remember, you’re still blogging about your firm and how it can help clients. A good way to stay on topic is to focus on Scalia’s legacy, and blog about the opinions that have most influenced your field of law. If you’re a criminal defense attorney, for example, you’d want to at least touch on Kyllo v. United States and United States v. Jones.
DO make the article fit with your firm’s brand. Whether you loved or hated him – there was no in-between – don’t let it get in the way of how you normally write.
DON’T get too political. Unless you’re aiming for a specific set of clients, or if it fits with your firm’s brand or voice, getting overtly political tends to turn more people off than it turns on. When you’re in the client hustle, anything that shrinks your potential client pool is something to avoid. Additionally, focusing your blog article on political aspects of Scalia’s death, such as how the Republicans in the Senate have vowed to block new presidential nominations, will only have tangential relevance to your firm’s practice. Getting off topic will leave opportunities to vaunt your firm on the table.
These are only a few of the concerns that crop up when something as newsworthy as a Supreme Court shakeup occurs. As experienced legal blog writers, Myers Freelance knows how to get the most out these events for your law firm’s marketing efforts. Contact us online to get one of our signature legal blogs started for your firm.