I was having a conversation this week with a few marketing professionals; their positions run the gamut from C-level executive, president to volunteer. The group consisted of professionals from corporate America to small (really small) business owners.

As the conversation turned from our usual status update to strategies for promoting upcoming events, increasing membership, making the community aware of the scholarships and identifying training programs, I was surprised to learn how many of them are not actively using social media; to, well, market these activities.

Now don’t get me wrong it’s not just marketing professionals. I’m sure I can add to the list; event planners, restaurateurs, professional organizers, solopreneurs, small businesses and large ones too.

The conversation starts like this….

“Are you using social media; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube; MySpace for business?”

Even if I don’t ask the question directly there is always someone in the crowd who will shout out one of these:

• How much time does it take to do social media?
• How much time should I spend on social media?
• How much time does social media management take?
• How much time does it take for a ______ to do social media?

Note: you can fill in the blank with any type of business or industry

Before I can give them my answer, they fire back with…

“Social media; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Myspace – who has the time?”

If you haven’t started using social media yet because you think it’s too time-consuming, or if you’re only using one because you wish it didn’t take so long to separately log in to each one of your accounts, you’re in luck.

I have created a custom iGoogle homepage tab labeled “Social Networking Tools”. You will find 10 tools (aka gadgets) for Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and MySpace.

With these tools you can:

• use Twitter without leaving your iGoogle page
• view your Facebook news feed and update your status from iGoogle
• search LinkedIn from your iGoogle page
• access your MySpace activity data from iGoogle
• browse, search and watch YouTube videos right inside iGoogle

Just to be clear YOU NEVER LEAVE GOOGLE.

Click here to add my personal “Social Networking Tools ” tab to your iGoogle homepage. Don’t worry you can keep the tools you like, uncheck the ones you don’t like and/or add new ones.

There is one caveat: to enable this feature you must be signed into your Google account, if you don’t have one click here . Good news for Gmail users you automatically get an account with your email.

With my Social Networking Tools iGoogle homepage tab you can save time by using social networking sites directly from your web browser without ever leaving Google.

Let me know what you think, drop me a note below in  ‘Leave your response!’

Copyright © 2010 Rising Star Ideas, LLC. All Rights Reserved


P.S. Are you still saying ');" href="http://idontgettwitterfaq.com" title="Twitter FAQ | Twitter for beginners" target="_blank">"I don’t get Twitter?" Take charge, download my free report guaranteed to reveal why Twitter is a priceless effective business tool for a women owned business, entrepreneur, sales professional, event planner, professional organizer, solo professional and many other small business owners. You’ll get answers to the top ');" href="http://idontgettwitterfaq.com" title="Twitter FAQ | Twitter for beginners" target="_blank">"I don’t get Twitter" frequently asked questions (FAQ) on how to get greater results using Twitter for business. You get insider secrets to quickly gain an advantage over those businesses who choose to ignore Twitter without spending a ton of money advertising and marketing.

If you liked today's article check out these related articles:

1. 3 tools to turbo charge your social media marketing
2. Social Media ROI
3. Social Media ROI ~ create a strategy, tip #1