Planning a night out? Search online for the venue, research reviews and tell your friends. Ashley Zeckman compares planning a night out with creating a social media campaign that prompts interactions with followers or brand fans. When planning an evening out, she explains, you will likely have a few spots in mind, post messages to friends on Facebook or Google+, to prevent bouncing from one bad club to another similar to the way consumers might bounce from one Web site to another. And, she writes, "don't throw up on your friends." In other words, don't overdo the hype.

No one's perfect. We can all improve. Some might argue that any feedback -- even negative -- becomes positive because it helps you improve. Most marketers, however, dislike negative reviews, comments and recommendations, but with them we learn. Negative feedback also spurs motivation, according to Heidi Halvorson. Understanding the function of positive and negative feedback can help marketers develop better campaigns, especially when it's accompanied with good advice.

Mark Jackson goes one on one with Bing's Duane Forrester to uncover some of the changes occuring in search engine optimization. The two discuss dwell time on-site, dupilcate content, quality rather than quantity, and social signals. What will SEO look by the end of 2013? A whole lot different, according to Forrester.

ABI Research released findings that explore the impact of tablets on U.S. consumers after showing that 22% of users spend $50 or more per month and 9% spend $100 or more. The analyst firm notes that the numbers are much higher than spending levels of smartphone owners. The research examines how this will impact brick-and-mortar stores, and what retailers need to know as consumers make the transition to search and buy products online.

Companies that are interested in quickly moving into a specific segment, technology or region tend to acquire another company. It's faster than starting from scratch. For example, build the service, customer base or open an office and hire employees. It's the same when acquiring a Web site. Acquiring a Web site gives the company instant market share, quality staff, competition, and more. Jock Purtie tells us how buying a site gives a company a quick start.

Aleyda Solis share the steps to completing an SEO audit, from platform characteristics to mobile site architecture recommendations. This provides marketers with insight into organic and recommendations for improvements for visibility, traffic and conversions. Solis guides us through mobile search activity, platform characteristics, browser behavior and user growth, as well as more complex audit requirements like responsive Web design, dynamic serving, and parallel mobile site strategies.

How does a business grow its paid-search campaign at a "safe and steady pace" to drive more traffic to its Web site when it has tight cost-per-acquisition goals? Marketers need to protect return on investments. Justin Hill takes us through the steps needed to leverage data in search query reports, remove underperforming traffic, take advantage of exact-match keywords, and expand and optimize campaigns often by, at the least, focusing on top impression-generating search queries.

Some 58% of marketers said a lack of analytic and optimization skills will become a major challenge in 2013, and 56% said they need to better understand how mobile users research and buy products, according to a survey from Adobe and Econsultancy. The findings, which provide information on personalizing information and content marketing, suggest the top three priorities for marketers in 2013.

Serving up a bit of inspiration, Adam Audette suggests ways to "win at online marketing" -- defined as rising above the masses -- and excel in performance, return on investment, sustainability, and efficiency. Some of the suggestions including leaning on the data to drive actionable decisions; never remain satisfied, ever, and always look for gains; and don't be afraid of things you don't know.

Bing made social Tags a little more visible this week by expanding the feature to a broader audience. The service allows users to tag Facebook friends when sharing results from a search query. If you are going to use the tools, understand the privacy rules. Microsoft claims users have control of what gets publicly shared.