1. Automation

You have everything linked up and your Facebook posts go directly to Twitter. This means that most times your tweets are incomplete because the original Facebook post is too long. What’s more is that you’ve got the exact same content on every social media platform – so what’s the point of having different social media platforms? Remember- different platforms, different audiences.

2. #Noonecanunderstandyourridiculoushashtags

Enough said.

3. Yr posts lk smthng like this

Just because you’ve got a limited amount of characters to use it doesn’t mean you’re allowed to murder syntax and grammar! Master the art of being concise while still being precise.

4. You’ve forgotten your manners

Be nice to people, show them you care by replying when they retweet something you posted, or even thanking them for following you. A little bit of courtesy can go a long way!

5. You don’t think before you jump

Don’t jump onto the bandwagon, or latest trend, without firstly checking out what it’s all about – you could end up being in a very awkward situation.
We all remember the DiGiorno incident

6. You mix up accounts

If you’re using a platform that allows you to manage multiple accounts, or have access to your company’s twitter page be careful not to mix up accounts. You don’t want to be posting something highly personal on your business’ page!

7. Keep tabs on who can tweet

You’ve given the account details to so many people at work that you can’t keep track of who has access to the account. This could end badly if someone decides to go rouge after a dispute.

8. You spam

Twitter is great because there’s so much going on that people’s feeds are constantly updated. This means you can post at a higher frequency. That, however doesn’t mean you can’t be considered as spammy.
Posting 20 posts within 20seconds will make you look desperate, inconsistent, and annoying. Plan tweets and schedule them so that you’re tweeting throughout the day.

9. You’re needy

You follow hundreds of people in the hopes that they’ll follow you back and constantly ask people to follow you. Stop!
Create a strategy- interact with people and produce good content and soon they’ll be coming to you.

10. You forget the whole world is watching

The chances are that you’ll produce great content which goes relatively unnoticed. But as soon as you make one mistake suddenly all eyes are on you. Remember that people have lost their jobs, had their lives ruined, or lost all business credibility. Check out the story about Justine Sacco for a clear example.The world is watching and people loves drama – so watch out!
There you go – it really is THAT simple to avoid these mistakes. So go back out there and start working on your strategy. Of course, we’re always happy to help so why not subscribe to our newsletter or pop over for a coffee?

The post 10 Twitter mistakes you've got to stop making! appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. The beginner’s guide to monitoring the right metrics on Google Analytics

Google Analytics doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon – it’s far too useful- so you can be sure that knowing the basics will equip you with the tools you need to figure out future updates and changes.

2. Growth hacking: How to use Twitter to drive traffic to your site

If you need to improve your twitter appeal then this is the perfect post for you. Find out just what you need to do in order to go from zero to hero and really get the most out of your Twitter account.

3. 10 simple growth hacks for your business’ Instagram feed

Instagram can be a great way to interact with your audience – especially if your audience is a slightly younger one. Get people hyped up and inspired with smart and creative posts which will boost your brand’s appeal and drive traffic to your site.

4. FAQ Special – Is your site ready for Google’s biggest update in years?

If you haven’t heard about Google’s Mobilegeddon then perhaps you’ve been living under a rock. We’ll forgive you. Here’s your chance to update yourself on what’s going on in the world of Google and how it’s going to affect you.

5. How to be heard above the noise

From our Office Bloggers series this blog post will give you the boost of inspiration you need to make sure you’re heard above the noise. Find out what it is you need to do to make sure that what you’re saying is useful and impressive.

6. Introduction to Online Advertising – Part 1

This one’s pure gold! We’ve given you a break down of what goes into online advertising, showing you the ins and outs and what different terms mean. Definitely one to be bookmarked for future reference! Check it out.

7. Be Trustworthy: why heart-centred marketing could be your game-changer

With digital marketing becoming more personal and person-focussed it’s important to instil a sense of trust within your brand. If your customers trust you then you’ve got it all. Find out how to be trustworthy and up your game.

8. Independence Day: Why a future-proof WordPress site is the way to go

We build sites to last. We use WordPress for a variety of reasons, but the main one is that it’s future-proof. This makes things simpler for us and the clients. Find out why it’s so important to have a future-proof website and how this could benefit your business.

9. 10 GrowthHacking tips for your next email marketing campaign

E-mail marketing can make or break your campaign. This post provides valuable insight into what you should do to ensure that you’re always on top. Check it out!

10. Simplicity: or how you interact with humans and machines for a winning website

Websites are built to be used by humans, that means that machine and man must interact. This post looks into how to have a website that’s functional but aesthetically pleasing and that will give users the best experience possible.

If these don’t provide you with the information you need to navigate through the digital marketing landscape then why not pop in for a chat? 

The post The recap – Our top ten blog posts you should have read appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. Set up

It’s extremely easy to set everything up and get started. Simply sign into your Google account and head over to Analytics. What you’ll need to do is go to the Admin panel and click “Add account”. From there on in you just fill in some very basic information about your website to receive your Tracking ID. After that you’re ready to install your HTML tracking code into the source code of your website. This code is essentially how Google Analytics taps into and captures your website’s usage statistics.
Now that you’re all set up, here are the most important metrics simplified and explained.

2. Users & Sessions

Find these metrics through Audience > Overview.

The explanation

The visitor count is something you will keep a close eye on because it helps you see if you’re increasing traffic to your website. As Google defines it, ‘The Users metric shows how many unique users viewed or interacted with your content within a specific date range.’ On the other hand, one single session can contain multiple pageviews, events, social interactions, and ecommerce transactions.

The interpretation

The fewer uniques you see as compared with your total visitation (sessions), the more loyal your audience is. So, if the number of visitations is a lot higher than the number of uniques it means that your users are visiting more pages, interacting more, and there’s more chance that they will decide to choose your services or make a purchase from your website.
While you want to build a loyal following, getting new people to your website is the way to grow your presence. Make sure you get maximum exposure to attract more uniques, by focusing on the right keywords, getting active on social media, and promoting your content.

3. Bounce Rate and Average Visit Duration

Find these metrics through Audience > Overview.

The explanation

These are actually two metrics, but they’re related. Bounce rate is the percentage of users who leave immediately after seeing one page. Average visit duration is the the amount of time spent on the site. A low bounce rate and high visit duration tells you that people find your website useful and valuable.

The interpretation

The reality is not everyone is going to like your content. The bounce rate is essentially the percentage of people who leave your website from the same page they entered without any interaction with the page. For a visitor to be measured in the Bounce Rate they must have come to your website, only looked at the one page, and then left your website immediately.
Ideally you want to keep this percentage low. If you think the bounce rate is high, take a look at the average time spent, exit pages, and where visitors are clicking (see In-Page Analytics below).
According to Neil Patel, these are the benchmark averages for bounce rates:
If you would like to lower your bounce rate and increase the time users spend on you website, you have to make sure that you enhance the quality of your content, have strong opening paragraphs and make sure that users don’t have to wait too long for your website to load.

4. Browser & OS

Find these metrics through Audience > Technology > Browser & OS (for cross browser usability).
Every website should look good on every type of browser, operating system and different screen sizes. If you monitor these metrics well, you can make various changes on how your website appears online. The ‘Browser & OS’ is a very useful metric that will give you an indication of what is the most popular browser that users are using to access your site. This is great for cross-browser usability, because by knowing the most popular browser with your users, you can make sure that your website looks great on that particular browser.

5. Mobile

Find these metrics through Audience > Mobile > Overview (for responsive websites – decisions).
It is also crucial to know how many visitors are accessing your site through mobile devices. As time goes by, you are going to experience a rise in visitors that access your website through mobile devices, so you’d better prepare to optimise your site to a responsive one if it still isn’t.

6. Traffic Sources

Find these metrics through Acquisition > Overview.
Find these metrics through Acquisition > All Traffic.
The ‘All Traffic’ report details how many people visited your site and where that they came from. Traffic sources can be divided into 5 channels as explained below:

Direct –  Typed your URL in the browser.

Social – Visits that came through social media platforms.

Paid Search – Visits that are tracked through pre-defined campaigns.

Referral – Clicked on a link from another website that linked back to you.

Organic Search – Found your website using a search engine (i.e.Google).

Another handy feature here is that it helps track where your content is online. You’ll also notice social networks on your list of referrers which is great for analysing which social network brings in the most visitors. Your business needs an effective keyword strategy and its goal should be to show up on the first search page for specific keywords associated with your business. This goal is important because usually users never scroll beyond the first page of search results.

7. Keywords

Find these metrics through Acquisition > Keywords (Paid & Organic).
The Keywords (Paid & Organic) report shows what keywords visitors used to find your website. This report will help you measure the success of your search engine optimisation campaign. You want to make sure that the keywords that appear in this report are the ones you want to be associated with you and your content.

8. Popular pages

Find these metrics through Behaviour > Site Content > All pages.
Here is where you evaluate which content is the most popular on your website. Take a look and see which pages get the most views and how long people are staying on the page. After a while of publishing content you’ll notice patterns and see which posts perform better.
Remember it’s about publishing content your audience wants to read, so if a particular style of writing appears to getting more views, stick to that style.

9. Landing & Exit Pages

Find this metric through Content > Site Content > Landing Pages.
Find this metric through Content > Site Content > Exit Pages.
We’ve looked at how people are finding your site, but this report tells us the exact pages visitors are landing on. Knowing how visitors are entering your site is key for creating a successful sales funnel. Are your top landing pages optimised to convert leads? Do they have calls to action? They should because having an engaging CTA on a popular landing page will improve your website’s lead generation metrics.
It’s very useful to get to know what is sending your visitors away. The Exit Page report will show us what pages visitors are leaving the site from. Take a close look at your top ten pages and make sure they’re the pages you want people to be leaving your site from. For example you want users to exit from thank you pages, so that you will know that they subscribed. On the other hand, you don’t want users to exit from your homepage, because that simply means that users weren’t interested to continue viewing other pages.

10. In-Page Analytics

Find these metrics through Behaviour > In-Page Analytics.
You can also use In-Page Analytics to see how users really interact with web pages. To make analysis easier, Google Analytics includes a variety of charts to display information just as you want to see it. Here you’ll be presented with a map that lets you view where your visitors are clicking. This feature helps find out how your visitors are interacting with your website.
For instance, if you’ve got a button nobody is clicking on, you might want to change the design or consider a different value proposition and call to action. Another benefit is to find out how many people scroll below the fold and read the content at the bottom.
There you have it!
Keep in mind that the online marketing for your business is a moving target. You will never reach a point where your website is finished. To keep your focus on an ever-improving bottom line, you must change what isn’t working and enhance what is. Knowledge is power, after all, so stay informed by checking in regularly on some of the most important numbers concerning your business.

The post The beginner's guide to monitoring the right metrics on Google Analytics appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

1. Your Company Profile

Of course, the first thing you need is a Company Profile. Create it by going onto your own LinkedIn account, then going to the “Interests” tab > Companies > Create Company Page. From there you can begin setting up your page. Include any relevant information, a company logo, and a banner.
Be sure to update the page with any relevant information. Your page is a reflection of your company and its work ethic so make it the best it can be!

2. Connect

The next step is to start setting up connections. Connect with employees, clients, and other companies with the same interests. This keeps you informed about what’s going on around you and also allows people to see what your company is up to. Connections on LinkedIn are highly useful and could lead to potential clients.

 3. Keep the ball rolling

Don’t take the business card approach when managing your LinkedIn account. Update the page frequently so as to have it constantly turning up in your connections’ feeds. This could benefit your relationships with followers because they become familiar with your brand, as well as the content you upload and produce.

4. The funnel effect

If you produce amazing content you could easily generate leads back to your website. Much like a funnel, use LinkedIn (along with other social media) to direct people to your website. A clear call to action would be perfect for this.

5. Job postings

One of the great features of LinkedIn is that it allows you to post vacancies. You have two levels of vacancy advertisement to choose from: first off, you can start with a listing in the ‘Jobs’ section on the network, which is similar to the ‘Classified’ section of a newspaper. Potential applicants can browse the page and choose to apply once they come across your posting. You can then take this to the next level and spend a little bit of budget to promote your listing. In this case, your post will pop up in the right hand column of LinkedIn’s homepage, and you can even select the job type to only target advertising towards relevant candidates. This is yet another reason to maintain an attractive and frequently updated page – the better your page, the better the candidates that will choose to work with you.

6. Different audience – different style

Clearly, LinkedIn isn’t like Facebook or Twitter. It’s more serious, catering for people who know exactly what they want out of their connections. Adapt your style for a LinkedIn audience so as to maximise the power of your content. However, just because it’s slightly more serious, it doesn’t mean it’s not a social platform. So while keeping it professional, don’t forget to have a bit of fun and keep a human element.
L’Oréal do this by asking their followers questions so as to engage and interact with them.

7. Group up

LinkedIn allows you to create groups, bringing together people with similar interest and opinions. Used well, this could easily boost your connections and relationships with others, acting as a goldmine of information. Plus, posting relevant and informative articles in groups will help you establish your position as a thought leader in the industry.

8. It’s about who you know

Sometimes, it’s the small relationships formed online that could make all the difference. By following people, looking at their connections and following those connections in turn, you could easily build up your network and get in touch with the right people.

9. Visuals stand out

It’s very obvious that LinkedIn is quite plain. That’s why having great visuals in your content is important. Visuals will attract a person’s attention and draw them in. Even something as simple as a recurring colour could make a difference.
Evernote do this with their sneaky addition of green in their images.

10. Trust

Above all, LinkedIn gives off a sense of trust and reliability. Recommendations, followers, and endorsements all serve to build a brand’s reputation, making it look more human. Add this to brilliant content and management and you’ve got yourself a winning recipe.
And that’s a wrap, you can now go ahead and create your company profile and start working on getting your brand noticed!

The post LinkedIn for Beginners appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.