Many companies have started to recognize that Twitter can be a valuable (and free) marketing tool, but many of these companies are going about it the wrong way. Twitter is a place for conversation and interaction; if you are only using it to distribute press releases, you are missing out.

There are at least two critical tools that you can use to make better use of your Twitter marketing efforts:

First, use a proper desktop client for Twitter rather than the website itself. With TweetDeck, you can create as many columns as you’d like. This can be useful for managing lists and groups, but you can also have columns set up with search terms. This way, you can monitor mentions of your company name, product, and so on.

Second, consider using a tool like SocialOomph. By registering for a free account, you can monitor keywords in much the same way as TweetDeck, but you receive a “digest email” with these mentions on a regular basis.

Monitoring isn’t enough, of course. When you see a positive mention of your brand, reach out and thank that person. When you see a negative mention of your company, reach out and do damage control before it gets out of hand.

There are several sources of traffic for your website or blog. You can work on expanding your organic traffic or perhaps you’ll invest in some search engine marketing. Another area that can be quite effective is in social media, but that can be a time-consuming process.

Rather than manually submit your blog posts to the various networks, you can install the OnlyWire for WordPress plug-in. It connects to over 30 different social networking and social bookmarking networks.

On the surface, this plug-in looks a lot like the AddThis and ShareThis plug-ins. With those (as well as with OnlyWire), readers of your blog can share directly to various networks from a simple click-out menu. The difference is that OnlyWire adds in some extra functionality for the blog author. That’s you.

It can be configured to automatically submit your blog posts to dozens of social networks. All you have to do is sign up for a free OnlyWire account and then each time you publish a blog post, it will be submitted to your networks of choice. For more information, screenshots, and to download, check out the OnlyWire plug-in in the official WordPress plug-in directory.

After the Super Bowl on Sunday, CBS debuted a new series called Undercover Boss. In case you are not familiar with the show, it takes high-ranking executives and CEOs from major corporations and places them in entry-level jobs within their own organizations. This way, they can see first-hand what their employees experience on a day-to-day basis.

For the premiere episode, we followed the president and COO of Waste Management as he took on several entry-level positions within his company. This was an eye-opening experience for him and, above all else, he learned about the impact that some of the rules and policies have on his workers.

One example was when he followed a female driver, seeing that she could not veer off her route when nature called. Instead, she was forced to use an empty can. That is no way to work and this really hurt her morale. She had a strong dislike for the organization and the COO instantly recognized this. Also, employees were docked two minutes for every one minute they were late coming to work or coming back from breaks.

While these policies were designed to improve efficiency, they made for resentful sentiments toward the company and this ultimately hurt productivity more than it helped it. The COO is now working to fix some of these problems. For your own company, consider how morale can be ultimately much more important than efficiency-minded policies. A happy employee works harder and more effectively.

When you have the exact same schedule each working day, setting the alarm clock is relatively simple process. However, for many entrepreneurs and shift workers, this simply is not the case. You may have to get up at 8am one morning, but at 6am the next.

Since it can be such a pain re-setting your alarm clock each evening for the following morning, wouldn’t it be better if you could set several alarms ahead of time? That’s the exact idea behind the Neverlate 7-Day Alarm Clock. As its name implies, the goal here is to prevent you from ever being late for work (or anything else) again.

Unlike most other alarm clocks that may have just one or maybe two alarm settings, the Neverlate solution gives you seven different alarms. This way, you have one setting for each day of the week. This kind of system is great not only for the employed, but also for students with their erratic schedules.

Other features include the ability to set your snooze length (between 1 and 30 minutes) and the inclusion of a “nap” button, which automatically sets an alarm for between 1 and 120 minutes from the time you press it.

Find the Neverlate 7-Day Alarm Clock on ThinkGeek for $35.

Typically, you’ll find that most WordPress themes take on the typical blog layout. They will organize your posts in reverse chronological order, highlighting the most recent update and going backwards in time from there. This can suit some purposes, but may not be appropriate for others.

If you prefer more of a magazine-style layout that can simultaneously showcase multiple articles, you may want to consider something like the new Black Stone theme from DynamicWP.net. This is a two-column theme with multiple theme options.

Going to the download page, you’ll see that the articles are shown as a series of preview blocks in a grid pattern. This gives you an opportunity to show off a thumbnail image and a brief snippet of text. This gives the familiar appearance of a static site, but it can be dynamically populated with your most recent blog posts.

The theme is release under GPL License, so you can use and alter it to suit your needs as you see fit. It is a free download and you can find it available on DynamicWP.net. Based on the four votes cast so far, the Black Stone theme has a current rating of 9.8/10.

How did your work week go? Do you have any exciting plans for the weekend? In the meantime, let’s have a look at what the blogosphere had to offer us this week.

The Urban Muse makes her living through writing, but she wonders if writers should date other writers? They say that birds of a feather flock together, but it’s also true that opposites attract and variety is the spice of life. Do you date within your own industry?

Neil Patel has managed to find a great deal of success from a young age and this is partly because he knows how to listen. Check out his expansive list of business advice in three words. It’s amazing how much insight you can gain with just three short words.

Ed Lau is no stranger to the variety of food available in the Vancouver area, but he has only recently discovered the authentic Mexican cuisine in the city. He made a recent visit to Dona Cata on Victoria Drive and set his mouth on fire with the seemingly docile-looking green salsa. Smart.

Beyond Robson takes a moment to consider alternative forms of transportation. There is already a dedicated bike line on the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver and now they are proposing one on the Dunsmuir Viaduct too. Will this help with congestion? They say that it won’t take away any driving lanes for cars.

Tyler Ingram is a budding photographer with an ever-expanding portfolio. In one of his more recent collections, we get some terrific shots of urban wildlife, an affectionate aquatic companion, and some snowboarders catching some crazy air. Bring on the Olympics!