Pop culture references and trendy slang in thought leadership aren’t as helpful as you might think, and can actually turn audiences off and away
I appreciate the lengths some attorneys are wiling to go to inject creativity into their thought leadership to make it more enjoyable for their audiences to consume. Referencing pop culture or using trendy slang words is a popular method for injecting such creativity.
But attorneys are probably making a mistake when they go down that route.
Here are six reasons why they—and you—should think twice before dropping pop culture references and trendy slang in thought leadership content.
Shortening the shelf life
When you reference pop culture or use trendy slang in the title of your thought leadership content or in the body of it, you’re prematurely making the content go stale. By its nature, most pop culture trends and slang are fleeting and have a limited shelf life.
That’s fine if you’re running a social media account focused on today’s funniest memes. But it’s a problem for thought leadership content you’re producing that you want to be relevant, valuable, and compelling for months, if not years, down the road.
Even thought leadership covering “evergreen” topics, such as best practices or misconceptions, that wouldn’t normally go stale quickly could do so based on references to pop culture and slang in them that won’t be trendy or of interest within a month or two after publication, let alone a year.
Going over the head of your audience
When you reference pop culture or use trendy slang in your thought leadership, there’s no guarantee your clients, referral sources, or other members of your target audience will actually know what you’re talking about.
It’s easy for pop culture references and slang to go over the heads of people who aren’t up to speed on all things pop culture. When that happens, they’re likely to lose interest in consuming your content because they see the headline, or they read/watch/listen for a bit, and they’re lost because they didn’t get the reference or joke, and don’t have any interest continuing on because they can’t wrap their heads around what they just read/watched/listened to.
Damaging your credibility and professionalism
If you’re creating thought leadership content, there’s a good chance you want to connect with your clients, referral sources, and other target audience members in ways that make you seem like you’re a real person and not a robot.
Thus, it’s understandable—and advisable—to introduce some informality into your thought leadership to build rapport with your audience, perhaps by making references to longstanding “safe” pop culture pillars like well-known entertainers or beloved movies.
But if you reference divisive pop culture items, or even obscure or frivolous pop culture items that few people would appreciate or understand, you could come across as not credible and unprofessional. Equally bad, you could come across as trying too hard or as inauthentic.
Either way, you’re likely driving people away. That is, obviously, the opposite of what your thought leadership should be doing.
Alienating your audience
Good luck finding pop culture references that appeal to everyone in your target audience. When you make pop culture references or use trendy slang, chances are good that you’ll alienate some or many of your audience members.
Some audience members might know what you’re talking about when you reference something from pop culture, but others will probably not. For example, what appeals to younger members of an audience might not appeal to older members of the audience, and vice versa. Likewise, people who are big sports fans might instantly understand a football reference no matter their age, but people who aren’t sports fans might have no idea what you’re talking about.
This might not drive people away permanently, but it could, once again, make them question your credibility, professionalism, and even your authority because they’re not seeing you as someone who’s authoritative and credible since you’re talking right past them.
Showing a lack of awareness or empathy
Some pop culture references or use of slang can make you look foolish and ignorant regarding how your audience members feel about the people, events, or actions you’re referencing.
If you’re referencing “cancelled” people, like R. Kelly, Sean Combs, or (the many) others, those references could come across as you being unaware of the wrongdoing those people have allegedly committed that caused society to “cancel” them, or the way people feel about that alleged wrongdoing.
And, of course, divisive topics such as politics, religion, foreign affairs, and the like are topics you’re probably smart to stay away from, even if they’re in the newspaper headlines frequently and on the tip of everyone’s tongues. There’s a good chance someone out there, but more likely lots of “someones,” will find the references offensive and think you’re out of touch for making them in the first place.
Distracting your audience from the reason they’re there
Finally, pop culture references and trendy slang in thought leadership content can distract your audience from the tasks at hand.
Your goal with your thought leadership content is to build your authority and credibility by providing your target audiences knowledge, wisdom, and insights that position you favorably in their eyes and help them see you as an authority regarding the work you do for clients.
But the way people react to your references—I’m talking both positively and negatively—such as the feelings you conjure up with your references, could distract them and make them shift their focus away from the knowledge, wisdom, and insights your content is serving up.
Instead, they may focus on how they feel based on the pop culture reference, or the memories they’re having based on the reference, or why you made that reference in the first place in an article about the topic you’re covering.
When you drop pop culture references that distract consumers of your thought leadership content, you’re defeating the purpose of creating that content.
You want them focused on your knowledge, wisdom, and insights. You want to build rapport. You want to establish your credibility. Your pop culture references and use of slang can distract them from those tasks.
Slow your roll with your pop culture references and use of slang in your thought leadership
It’s tempting to inject lightheartedness and fun into thought leadership, especially when discussing topics where the substance isn’t naturally exciting and is perhaps BEGGING for jokes to be made revolving around pop culture references or trendy slang.
But you should tread lightly when you inject pop culture references and slang into your thought leadership content. They could do more harm than good.
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