One of the smartest things you can do in tough economic times is maintain your marketing budget. More often than not, cutting spending means cutting marketing, advertising and PR. This is the time to shout the loudest and not in desperation.

Google, provides a few tools and food for thought on how to take advantage of proven and measurable results.  Using their Adwords advertising and Analytics in combination,businesses can see exactly the return on their investment when used properly. The full article is here - Google Adwords: Top Tactics for Tough Times

A few quick takeaways:

1. Focus Ads on specific low cost items or specials -Target your ads
2. Review your advertising groups for performance leaders
3. Negative Keywords - Don’t pay for unnecessary advertising
4. Add more Negative Keywords

Measure your conversions and track them over time. If you have been collecting data for any length of time, measure to a similar time period last year… not last month. Sales are cyclical and tracking trends is more important than small moves.

If you have questions about Adwords, or suggestions on how they have worked for you… leave a comment!

If you missed the Search Engine Strategies Conference - SES in San Jose. Take a look at these live blogs of the event at The SEM Blog. Jason does a great job of covering the panels he attended and the information presented.

Social Media Optimization is something I have been researching lately and this post continues to promote the relevance and tactics for Social Media Optimization and how it converts back to Search Engine recognition.  http://www.thesemblog.com/2008/08/successful-tact.html

Two of my favorite tools together in one. Tumblr and Twitter used as a datamining tool. I am having a tough time figuring out how to play with this, but I am totally intrigued.

http://www.tweetip.com/

http://tweetip.tumblr.com/post/27780274/tweetipfh-a-twitter-tumblr-client-designed-for

http://twitter.com/tweetip

Business Week publishes an article today on Why Twitter Matters.

Some of the best comments from the article run to why we hang on to the mundane comments about what someone is eating, to what they found under the couch. The author points out these are often the same comments we make on the phone and that kind of turned out to be an important tool. But most importantly, this paragraph rocked hard:

Businesses such as H&R Block (HRB) and Zappos are now using Twitter to respond to customer queries. Market researchers look to it to scope out minute-by-minute trends. Media groups are focusing on Twitterers as first-to-the-scene reporters. (They were on top of the May 12 China earthquake within minutes.) Loads of new applications and services are growing around the Twitter platform, leading some to suggest that the microblogging service could become a powerhouse in social media.

We recently had an internal training about emergency communications for our office. Twitter was one of three important processes for handling communications in the event of a local disaster. I find that I use Direct Messaging DM more often that regular tweets (a posted Twitter message) to respond and connect with people I have a relationship with. Some of those relationships are directly from the Twitter community.

Read the article, decide how it fits into your marketing and communications plans.

I spend less and less time actually toting around my laptop these days and more often taking advantage of computers located wherever I am working. One of the tools I am going to integrate into this is Portable Apps. These are tiny open source versions of applications that can run from a small thumb drive, iPod or other portable digital device. Run mail, browsers, backup and encryption programs all from your pocket.

This seems to be a great tool for travel or for emergency planning. I added the Standard Pack, and few choice prizes I discoverd to by thumb drive and I feel much more comfortable leaving my heavy laptop at home for the day.

I found a great post today on Twitter that I immediately retweeted (what you do when you broadcast something to your network) the link. 50 easy things to consider when reducing your carbon footprint. I liked these ideas since they didn’t require radical changes in lifestyle and were based around common sense. Yes, some things like carrying your own shopping bags require a little more planning, but taking steps like this will eventually change ideas and habits of the public at large.

Media and internet networks can have a big impact on changing habits and ideas. There is no sticking your head in the ground anymore with the proliferation of networks, groups and social relationships. You may choose to ignore or make different decisions, but going green is a part of many social network discussions.

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08.15.07/50-ways-to-go-green-0733.html

This Saturday, if you are in Houston, TX you can get punched! Sucker Punched in a brilliant way. Tim Newton will be the headliner at an Art Show and Exhibit at this cooler than cool store. This night there will be a DJ, light refreshments, T-shirts and the best Dali-esque art this side of Spain.

http://www.creativeleak.com/en/cev/?24  is a peak at Tim’s art and website. Tim is the Creative Director for the Web company I work with, so there is a definite collision of Social Media and Art.

Seesmic is a rapidly growing website building on the video/chat network. I have recently seen traffic and mention of Twhirl among other Twitter friends and followers as a great desktop application for Twitter. Now that didn’t take long did it? Today, Seesmic announces the acquisition of Twhirl. Looks like good times ahead.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/03/seesmic-aquires-popular-twitter-air-client-twhirl/

Check out the tool Tweetscan and see how many ways to think of using it. It will scan the recent database of tweets and preview all tweets with your name in it for example.

See who is talking about you or about what.  Did I check out my name? Of course, silly bunny?!

Shel wrote a great analysis of Twitter and it’s community uses at this years SXSW 2008. More importantly, he discussed the idea of using it as a community building both before and after an event. There were some obvious limitations, but the overall popularity is undeniable.

Twitter was used to meet several long-time friends for the first time. I ran in to several people that we actually recognized each other as twitter friends from our nametags. It was great to meet in person and have common stories and even business to discuss. The additional relationships of meeting friends of Twitter friends at SXSWi and expanding those networks were evident when I came back from SXSW and managed the inbox of new Twitter followers for the next several days after the conference.

People used Twitter to arrange lunch dates, impromptu parties, find an interesting panel when the one they were sitting in was not meeting expectations, and catch up with long time followers.

Twitter received a tremendous amount of traffic this year at SXSW. There were some pretty interesting bets and skeptics on whether it would stutter or even Fail. Yep, it passed. Now, I feel even more confident in my previously expressed interest in how Twitter can be used as a really simple tool in a natural disaster. But I think it’s true value may be in the short, 140 character updates we use to follow friends and colleagues to learn from the web, share knowledge, and create trusted relationships. There is no doubt the transparency of Twitter and the followers comments are a self-monitoring group of educated and opinionated leaders and users. Users? Yes, I said users! But, only in the most loving sense of the word! Now… check out my Twitter page if you like and if you haven’t set up your own account, try it!