Most people who use Facebook to promote their business do not know about or understand EdgeRank.

Did you ever wonder why some stories make it in to your news feed and some don’t? Have you seen a lot form one friend but little from others? This is all controlled by Facebook and the EdgeRank algorithm.

In simple terms if Facebook sees that we interact with a post it ranks that post higher and then the next post from the same person is more likely to get further up our news feed. So if we interact a lot with one persons posts we will see them a lot more as Facebook assumes that is what we want.

This is all well and good as we don’t want our news feeds to be cluttered with nonsense. However it has dire consequences for our business pages.

CR4L run social media campaigns for business but what we love to do is teach companies to do it for themselves. We offer guidance and assistance, training and systems, we hold peoples hands and help them run campaigns.
But the best social media and blog content comes from the employees and stakeholders themselves. Its more authentic and relates to the audience better.
The biggest hurdle for most people is knowing what to write about. It can be had to come up with new content and ideas - especially on a daily basis.
So here we have laid out a simple system to help you add relevant and useful content daily and engage with your audience.

All too often we at CR4L get asked about blogs: when to post, how to post and most importantly - how to get maximum effect from your efforts.

If you go to the trouble of writing a blog post (and one a week is the by the way) you want it to have an effect. So here we have written out an easy to follow 10 step system to maximise one blog post over social media and multiple channels.

Social media is a powerful medium and it can work for you and it can work against you. As the saying goes “a reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to lose”.

Marketers harness the power of sharing using social media marketing to promote their business or product. However most seem not to have a plan of action for when things go wrong. Here we look at turning bad comments and complainants on social media into good stories and advocates...

Is Google+ important for your SEO and rankings

You may have noticed lately a lot of articles, press releases and blog posts about Google+. I have seen several blog posts saying how easy Google+ is to use and how important it is. But these just look like they were written by Google staff or affiliates so perhaps we can dismiss these.

However that is not the whole story. Just as Pinterest is more popular in the USA so Google+ has take off there first. Some say that it is not relevant for the UK and Europe. Some say that they only have as many users (500 Million) because of Gmail and YouTube conscripting their existing users.

All that said Pinterest does drive retail sales in the UK and CR4L have seen some successful campaigns that gave great ROI. So what about Google+...

What is Twitter For in Business?  What should your company be doing, where and how? It sounds simple but many people don’t know...
I recently posted an article regarding the finer points of using Twitter. In the past I have written on how to get leads from Facebook and how to generate B2B sales from LinkedIn. But until now I have only posted on how to use Twitter and Facebook and not why...

At CR4L we have a variety of clients with a range of businesses. Our specialty is building social media marketing plans. And there are a few things that seem to crop up time and again and I wanted to share them with you. Hopefully so that you can get more from your social media efforts.

The main questions I get seem to be:
1.       Which social media sites are for what?
2.       What should I do on social media?
3.       How do I get business from social media?

In a previous article (http://www.cr4l.com/1/post/2013/10/word-of-mouth-marketing-demonstrably-effective.html ) I quoted a study by WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) which showed that 72% of people have been influenced by customer reviews and a whopping 81% are influenced by their friends and social media.

According to a Nielson study carried out in September 2013 84% of people most trust “recommendations from people I know” when purchasing.

If you are not convinced that your business should have a social media presence then what else can I say? Well a lot actually...

Q: What is so great about video? Why should I bother putting a video on my website?

A: Because you are more than twice as likely to be found and get to the front page of searches with video on your website.

Q: I don’t get it; I never had video so why should I have one now?

A: YouTube gets 4 billion hits a day – it’s the second biggest search engine in the UK and one of the biggest in the world. If your business is not there you will miss out on quality traffic and potential clients.

...Ok, enough of the Q&A. There is a very strong case for video but at the same time a lot of people don’t see why they should bother or they think that this does not apply to them. The statistics say something different. In fact having just one video on your website can have a massive impact.

Many businesses do not think that video is relevant to them. But it is relevant to anyone who has a website that they would like their target audience to visit. You may not know what to make a video of or how but it is not that hard.

If you want to succeed and build your business in 2014 you will need a solid and comprehensive marketing plan.
As you will see below most marketers are focusing their attention and budgets on inbound marketing and digital media as a whole.
SMEs have found that they get a much higher ROI from inbound marketing and email marketing than any other medium. Results are also more consistent and increase over time.

If you would like CR4L to build a comprehensive marketing plan for 2014 just follow the link: http://www.cr4l.com/free-marketing-analysis.html
Alternately follow the 6 steps below and achieve success with your marketing plan in 2014...

People like to buy from people. People love it when their friends recommend a product or service to them and they will be much more inclined to buy it. As sellers businesses can say all they like about their product but who is going to believe them? 8 out of ten cats preferred it... studies show... laboratory tested... etc...
 We have heard it all and then some. But when a friend tells you they have just bought an iWidget and it does this and that and the other and was only £9,99 you may well take notice. You may even buy one. That is the power of personal recommendation.



81% Of People Are Influenced By Social Media When Making A Purchase

The trend is clear as more people initiate research on their mobile and then follow up with a purchase...

• Consumers spend more than 15 hours a week on mobile research
• Mobile research starts with search
• Location proximity matters to mobile customers
• More than half of mobile consumers want to purchase within an hour
• 83% Want to purchase within a day
• Mobile research influences purchase decisions
  

Products and companies that aim for the mass market are set to fail. Now it's not enough to be good, or even the best. Pretty soon someone will come along and do better, be cheaper, last longer ...

If you choose to be different you actually have a chance, and you can beat the bigger companies. The trouble with big companies is that they are going for the mass market. This market is full and noisy. In the mass market to get noticed you have to spend big. Expensive newspaper adverts, TV commercials and mass media campaigns may get you noticed but for what...

Even if you get noticed so what? Who cares? TV adverts interrupt us with messages that we have become desensitised to. We ignore most billboards and magazine adverts. Consumers don’t care about you and your business; why should they?

No matter what size your business and who your target audience is the most successful marketing strategy is to stand out and be different. That can mean all sorts of things but in an essence don’t be new and improved, be remarkable....

Small business has embraced online marketing, spending more of their budgets on digital forms than larger companies, according to a survey of digital marketing attitudes.

A “disconnect” between performance of online marketing and the perception of the results has plagued growth in the sector, said researchers.

A recent survey found that companies with turnover of less than $2 million spend 55% of their marketing budgets online, whereas firms with turnover between $2 million and $19 million spend 46%.

Chaos today in Asda stores in the UK as they adopt Black Friday offers such as their parent company Wal-Mart does in the US. Fights broke out over hugely discounted TVs and Tablets and general chaos reigned for a short while.

Next week starts with Cyber Monday which is supposed to be the start of Christmas shopping online. But do either of these events affect your sales and business?

60% of shoppers do not know what Black Friday is according to an Asda pole of customers. In fact a lot of people in the UK still think of Black Friday as the day the stock market crashed.

So what does this mean to normal businesses and can we benefit in any way from these days?

Here at CR4L we think you can. No matter what sort of business you operate it is a good idea to promote for the holiday season and special days. The number of online searches goes up and if you target your marketing and social media efforts you can take advantage.

Just having relevant content on your blog will help boost your rankings. Tie in an offer and you can benefit from extra traffic. Push this out across your social media channels for maximum effect and see the boost in your web traffic.

Its also an opportunity to catch some good data and reach out to a wider audience. Social media is a great way to spread the word about your business and having a relevant talking point helps spread the message faster and further.

To find out how CR4L can help you reach a wider audience visit the Inbound Marketing page of the website. And be sure and get our free marketing analysis  of your business by clicking the banner below.

You may be too late to take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2013 but there are plenty of other opportunities throughout the year. 

Your business idea is solid, your product is top-notch, and you're on all the major social networks. So why aren't you seeing the sales growth you expected? According to serial entrepreneur Drew Williams, it all boils down to one major issue: poor marketing.

"Most entrepreneurs have great ideas for products and services, but don't know how to market them," said Williams, co-author of "Feed the Startup Beast" (McGraw-Hill, 2013). "By creating a proven, repeatable system of marketing, entrepreneurs will be able to achieve a high level of consistency, scalability, measurement and, finally, success."

Here are five marketing mistakes that will keep your startup from reaching its full potential, and how to fix them before it's too late:

Thanks to the European Union Development Fund you could get a new or improved website, and online marketing services, and not have to foot a hefty bill.  

The European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013 is coming to an end in just weeks. If you are quick you can get funding for a new or improved website and online marketing services.

CR4L Results Marketing is offering all small and micro businesses the chance to get guaranteed funding for their website and online marketing. This includes services such as SEO and website design, data catchment, lead generation, email marketing and social media marketing.

CR4L specialise in optimising and redesigning websites to improve conversions and profitability. They use multiple streams of marketing to bring increased and targeted traffic to a site. Then they combine this with optimised landing pages and data catchment techniques that grow prospect lists.

This is followed up with email marketing and social media strategies that convert high numbers of leads. Together these techniques increase the profitability of websites and help to grow businesses quickly.

This is the aim of the EU Funding initiative: to help businesses grow quickly and spearhead the economic recovery. So if you would like to see your business grow quickly in 2014 you need to act quickly. This initiative ends at the end of 2013 so companies need to get in touch with CR4L immediately to qualify.

You can apply through the website at: http://www.cr4l.com/funded-business-development.html

Funded Business Development

Get your website development and marketing paid for by a grant... Hurry as this opportunity ends on December 31st 2013

CR4L are please to offer any micro business or small business the opportunity to get funding for their website development and marketing.

There are various schemes and grants available in different areas of the country. If your business qualifies CR4L will do all the work and secure the grant on your behalf.

That means that you could have a new or improved website and 6 months of inbound marketing for your business and get half* of your money back through a grant. Click here to apply now.

Make Sure Your Website Is Performing Properly

Its all to easy to "set it and forget it" when it comes to a company website. But there are many things that must be kept up to date. Here we offer the top 7 checks that you can do once or twice a year to make sure your website is up to date and performing well.

Broken links, out dated information and old images can ruin the impression of your website on visitors. Often we can be so busy with our business that we just leave our website alone. Now with the holiday season upon us and most website's traffic about to hit the max it is best to check everything is working properly.

If you want the facts without the hassle then fill in the form below or here to get a Free website evaluation from CR4L.

Most business owners recognize that social networking is key to a successful online marketing strategy; some consider a well-designed Facebook page the workhorse of their social media campaign. According to CNBC, however, Facebook is destined to go the way of the dinosaurs, and in fact, its relevance is rapidly fading compared to Twitter. In an age where smart phone sales are experiencing unprecedented growth and more people are using their mobile phones for news, email, search and information, Twitter is the fastest-growing way to engage with your customers. If you aren't already harnessing the power of a tweet, here are six reasons you should start today.

Get leads literally sent to your inbox every day of the week...

Have you tried blogging and article marketing but struggled to make it work?

One of the most difficult things is to find where to engage with potential purchasers. Where do you post the comments, articles and blogs? How do you stay relevant and up to the moment?

Well CR4L has developed a great way to make the process easier and get great results. At CR4L Results Marketing we are always looking for ways to get better results for our clients.

But we also realise that not everyone wants to pay someone to do the marketing for them. A lot of small businesses do self marketing. And inbound marketing is one of the best ways to market, and self market, because of the high return on investment.

But getting actual results eludes most self marketers So now we want to pass this excellent method of lead generation on to you; for free. And if you are not a self marketer but still want to get the full effect of the system, just ask CR4L to do it for you – we guaranteed results!

• Step 1. Simple Keyword Research for Targeted Traffic
• Step 2. Formatting keywords Into Traffic Pumping Questions
• Step 3. Setting Up Your Funnel with Gmail
• Step 4. Setting Up Your Google Alerts Traffic System
• Step 5. Getting Your Traffic Pump Flowing
  

Visit the download page of the website to get your full copy of this report completely free – we don’t even ask for your email.

Outbound Marketing VS Inbound Marketing – Which is right for your business?

Are you exceeding your sales targets?

Or do you get to the end of the month and have to have a call blitz; 100 cold calls and no one wants to talk to you. There has to be a better way to get sales...

Outbound Marketing

Most marketing up until the advent of the internet has been outbound or interruption marketing. This is everything from TV spots, newspaper adverts, cold calling, direct mail, and anything else that interrupts people with a message.

Now you can add to that list email marketing, banner adverts and pay per click (PPC) and similar online interruptions. Studies show that people viewing websites now automatically block out banner adverts. Anything that looks like an advert is less likely to be seen.

Most businesses still rely on outbound marketing but they are getting less and less return from it. Newspaper adverts no longer have the pull that they once did. There are more magazines than ever and it is becoming more difficult to reach your prospects.

So what so the answer?

Word of Mouth Marketing – demonstrably effective

There is a growing amount of data that indicates why word-of-mouth marketing is so appealing. 

US trade body Womma (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has conducted research showing that 72 per cent of consumer credit reviews from family or friends have either a great deal or a ‘fair amount’ of influence when deciding whether to use a product or service, while 81 per cent of consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts.

According to Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages report, published in September 2013, ‘recommendations from people I know’ are the most trusted form of brand advertising, with a score of 84 per cent. 

And as digital communications have penetrated our world, this figure has grown, having been just 78 per cent in 2007. 

It is also far more popular than the alternatives. The same report scores branded websites at 69 per cent, TV adverts at 62 per cent and emails – even those that consumers have consented to receive – at 56 per cent.

How Can Your Business Use This To It’s Advantage?

Word of mouth advertising has been around for a long time. We all love to be recommended to companies and products. When we are, as we have seen above, it makes a big difference to our purchases.

But how can we use this in our businesses to full effect? Personally I think that social media has given every business, no matter how big or small, a great opportunity to engage with their customers and prospects. Now we can use positive feedback and reviews as well as other social evidence to full effect online.

Not only that but as we have seen with the example of Plusnet we can use incentives to get our existing customers to bring in their friends. And customers that are recommended by a friend to Plusnet have a 50% lower churn rate.

Is It Time You Leveraged This Powerful Technique?

At CR4L Results Marketing we are implementing schemes like the Plusnet one for our clients. The numbers speak for themselves and we suggest you try a similar plan; especially if you sell to the public.