“Here’s the wager: A year from now, 10/16/09, will you be leading a tribe of people? Will you be creating stories, connecting people, giving them a platform and making things better for people who care about each other? I’m betting you will.”—Seth Godin

That was a year ago. I didn’t read it then. I just came across it today. But I love this question, the passion and opportunity to marvel and dream about the possibilities of where we’ll be a year from now if we market ourselves is awesome.

Seth Godin, Marketing Guru, should know.

Social Media Sites

Are you active in Social Media? If not, here’s just a few Social Media sites…

• Twitter
• Plurk
• StumbleUpon
• Facebook
• YouTube
• MySpace
• Ning
• LinkedIn
• And the list goes on

There are many others, and the list is growing all the time. With that many sites, you’ll end up with several accounts to update. Log in and out of those each day—or even a few times a week—and it becomes exhausting and eats into your time. And it’s pretty crazy trying to remember all that login information!

Time = Value = Networking

We all know time is valuable—but so is Social Media. Networking the online circuits can mean the difference in you getting new freelance work and building your client base.

Remember what Seth Godin asked? A year from now, will you be leading people? Will your business have grown? Will you be selling more of your products or services? Will your blog have more readers? Will your network expand?

Social Media is far more than goofing off on Twitter or wasting time on Plurk—it’s about showing the WORLD who you are, what your business is about, and that you’re a real, genuine person. It’s about letting your personality shine through and sparking engaging conversation with potential buyers, clients, co-workers.

You may think Social Media is for teens to keep in touch as they make their way through high school and college, but it’s a tool business owners can use to learn and grow and share and build.

And to make your life easier, I’ve saved the best for last! What could possibly be better than Social Media and dreams and booming business? Well, ping.fm, of course!

One Site, One Login

Ping.fm is the Social Media Networker’s ultimate tool. It’s (almost) everything wrapped into one site, one login, one post. Simply create an account and when you’re ready to update your status across the Social Media circuit (Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, MySpace, etc.) you just ping it. Awesome, huh?

I regret not signing up for a ping.fm account sooner – it saves so much time! The one downside to it is that you do have to log in to the other accounts to respond to people. It still saves so much time, though, it’s totally worth that little issue.

What are you waiting for? Ping your way to the top!!!

Oh, and I have to thank my friend, Mysti Guymon-Reutlinger, for giving me an extra, encouraging nudge to try ping.fm. Thank you, Mysti!

Did you enjoy this article? Feel free to visit the other articles Michele has written for The Writer’s Round-About–or contact her to write for you.

Is Social Media a part of your life? Do you use it for personal or business reasons? Do you use ping.fm, yet. If not, why? Spill the beans! What Social Media sites are you on? Drop your links in the comments and let’s network! Oh, and make sure you subscribe. Coming soon: tips for rocking your Social Media world!