I’m hoping you haven’t noticed that it’s been nearly two weeks since I last posted on this blog, especially if you’re a client of mine.  (Wait, I just gave it away, didn’t I. Blast!)

Here’s what I say to my clients:

Consistency in social media is critically important. You need to show up regularly, engage, and offer valuable content regularly. 

The thing about my clients is that all of them are busy people: leading businesses, traveling, working with clients, speaking, writing, and enjoying their families.

Although I don’t mentally keep track of my clients’ schedules, I know from our volley of emails and difficulty finding time on the calendar for even an hour call, that they often feel overwhelmed or at least stretched very close to their limit.

And then — I’m asking them to blog regularly, to tweet daily, to post on Facebook occasionally, and to check out tools like Pinterest.

Now that I am building my own growing business and leading my delightful team, I am beginning to understand and empathize a bit more.

When I describe my clients’ lives, I am describing my own.

My days begin with work before my girls wake up, then there’s breakfast, lunch packing and running the girls to school. Once I get to my desk, many of my days are packed, hour by hour, with calls, up until the moment of kid pick-up in the afternoon. So it feels difficult to find time for me to blog these days.

But I need to take my own advice, so here it is:

Have a plan. Block out time on your calendar for growing your online presence and treat it like any other important appointment.

Choose a sustainable blogging schedule. If you’ve been around since the beginning of this blog, you’ll know that I started with a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday schedule. For a long time, that schedule worked quite well for me. If I hear a busy client say,”Let’s blog four times a week,” (like I did this week), I put on the brakes. I want clients to feel — and be — successful. Over-commitment can lead to burnout and discouragement. Instead, choose a schedule that feels comfortable and do-able, then stick to it.

Use shreds of time. I love this quote and use it when I present:

Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces,and which most men (and women) throw away.

~Charles Caleb Colton

Find patches of time in your day, and use them purposefully. Dip into Twitter for a few minutes to engage, connect, and encourage others. Or use a few minutes to connect on Facebook. Those bits of time, used consistently, will help you move your online presence forward. Other people might throw that time away — and you can differentiate yourself by redeeming them. If you need ideas about how to use small amounts of time to grow your online presence, visit my website, 12 Minute Media. We add new tips every week that you can implement to grow your online influence.

Learn how to use the right tools. There are so many great (free) tools to help you manage your online presence. But figuring out which ones to use can be a major time drain. So get some direction from an experienced coach or consultant who can train you in using time-saving tools to make your online time more effective.

A favorite tool. Have you tried it?

Get support. Recognize that you can’t do it all alone, and invest in help if you can afford it. My team provides support to a number of clients, and the work we do frees them to do what they do best.

A plan + support implementing the plan = consistency and growing influence. 

So, here’s my plan, in case you’re interested:

I’m committing to blogging twice a week. I haven’t picked the days yet. I’m going to block out two hours per week for writing these posts, and I’ll enlist the help of my capable team to help me promote my posts. I’ve also asked my team to contribute to this blog regularly. So I’m hoping, with their help, that we’ll provide interesting, helpful content here at Weaving Influence three times per week.

Tell me something! How do you maintain a consistent online presence? Who supports you?