Blog and Twitter when your audience is listening

For lawyers, setting time aside during a business day to blog or Twitter is tough to do. I’m the same way. Despite the best of intentions to get with my blogging at least a couple times a week, phone calls, meetings, and the press of other business matters get in the way.

But unlike publishing articles or info on websites, blogs and twitter are part of a conversation. So if everyone’s gone home, there’s no one to engage, no conversation to join, and no one who’s going to share what you’re blogging or twittering about with other members of your target audience.

For legal professionals, and most other Americans we work on business matters from 8 to 5, Monday through Friday. That’s also peak hours for consuming news and info as it relates to our profession.

So though Saturday, Sunday, and evenings may seem like the only time you have for blogging and twittering, the greatest return on investment comes in partaking in blogging and twittering during business hours. You’ll need to carve out the time. And if client development is one of the more important things you do in business, you may be carving out that time during the first hours of the day a few times a week.

For peers and bosses who think you’re wasting time on social media during business hours, you’ll need to explain the premise of social media being a conversation. A conversation in your case engaging your target audience and building meaningful relationships for practice and client development.