As a nation, historically we’ve looked at global trends and decided they can wait a few years before we collectively relent and begrudgingly adopt it. This has happened with most major technologies, pop-culture fads, working techniques, and cultural norms. 

However, over the last few years, we seem to be a little quicker on our feet when it comes to adopting technological innovations. 

Just Google ‘the Blockchain island’ and you’ll get where I’m coming from.

Digital marketing has a similar story. Local marketers held off on adopting digital advertising for as long as possible. We were mostly comfortable with our traditional media and weren’t looking for an industry disrupter. 

The problem with disruptors is that they happen whether or not you want them to. 

That marketing disruptor in Malta? Social media. Maltese residents love social media. That’s forced marketing to evolve and evolve quickly into the digital-first landscape we have today. So here are 8 things you need to know as a business leader or marketer operating in Malta when it comes to digital marketing.

Boosting Posts on Facebook is not enough

Disclaimer: Boosting posts on Facebook isn’t a bad thing. But most people tend to misuse it. Whenever you place ad spend behind a post on Facebook, you’re asked to choose what objective you have, such as engagement, reach, or website traffic. Each of these sound relatively good for any brand to gain, but they provide significantly different results. For example, boosting a post to gain post engagement will place your ad in front of people who tend to comment or like things often, and not necessarily the people you actually want to influence.

Placing ad spend behind social media content should be one of the last things you consider. Start with your brand, your audience, and the goal you want to achieve with the content you’re creating. There’s no one perfect way to spend money on Facebook. Spending money to get likes & comments might make it seem like you’re doing well, but you can likely do better with a more rounded approach.

Google Search is underused

A huge number of consumer journeys start with research. This is especially true for products that are either too expensive or complex for impulse buying to be common. The go-to platform for said research is Google Search. For most websites, in fact, traffic from Google is their most valuable source of traffic for a simple reason. Those who arrive at a website from a search engine have a very specific intent. They know exactly what they’re looking for and will know they’ve found it when they see it. 

Locally, it’s surprising to see just how many valuable search terms are non-competitive. When we say valuable, we mean that those using that search term are likely to be individuals who are looking to purchase something. When we say non-competitive, it means there are not a lot of brands vying for the top results for those search terms. 

If you’re not sure whether to delve into SEO (search engine optimisation), we wrote a quick guide to figure out whether it would be worth it to you or not. And here’s a useful tool you can use to figure out what kind of volume and competitiveness the search terms in your industry have. You might be surprised.

TikTok Ads are coming

If you’re over the age of 30, you’ve likely been trying to ignore TikTok and convince yourself that Instagram is still the trendy platform to be on. 

You might even think the word trendy is still used. 

Well, the reality is that TikTok is here to stay for the time being. Even some unexpected organisations are taking the leap. Whether it’s the right move or not, we’re not entirely sure.

Not too long ago, TikTok launched its ads platform, just like Facebook and Instagram did a few years back. However, it’s yet to reach Malta. For now. That doesn’t mean your brand shouldn’t already be there. If your audience is predominantly below the age of 25, it’s definitely worth taking a strong look at what content production capabilities you have, because one thing’s for sure – standard brand-focused content doesn’t fly on TikTok.

Once ads make their way to Malta, it will become the hottest platform in the local industry.

Don’t think of influencers as just celebrities

At Switch we’ve been working with influencers for years, and if there’s one thing they always are happy about when they work with us it’s this – we don’t use them as celebrities. 

Traditionally, getting a big name associated with your brand is seen as a clever tool to get fans of that celebrity aware of your brand. 

And that’s all well and good. 

But the influencer scene in Malta is a little different, purely because of the very first point I mentioned – there aren’t a lot of us on this island. 

That means that the same handful of big-name influencers have hugely overlapping local audiences and they tend to get overused by brands who want to reach that audience. That’s not the worst of it though – a lot of brands approach influencers with very little in the way of direction. They expect them to come up with the strategy, content, and execution on their own, which is especially egregious when they’re not given that much information to work with.

Before even making a list of influencers you want to work with, you need to:

• Pinpoint your audience.
• Analyse influencer collaborations in your industry.
• Make a list of both big-name influencers and micro-influencers.
• Write a detailed brief.
• Have a two-way conversation with potential influencers to figure out whether your brands are a match.

Only with all that done can you begin to discuss the actual content.

LinkedIn is not just for recruitment

If you’re a business that relies on B2B sales and word-of-mouth for business development, then LinkedIn is essential. For years, LinkedIn has been regarded as the platform to find a new job on. While it still fulfils that purpose, it has evolved into a space where professionals build their personal brands, and by extension, their company’s brand while widening their network.

While we definitely encourage brands to use it, don’t treat it like Facebook. The content that works on Facebook doesn’t have the same effect on LinkedIn. What works are thoughtful business-related posts that have humans in mind. Spend 5 minutes scrolling though – you’ll notice that the posts that do well are those coming from individuals talking about their experiences, not about companies talking about their products. 

YouTube is the new TV

As a kid, I grew up watching cartoons on a foreign TV station. I was subjected to countless ads for toys that were only available in strange, distant places. 

I probably saw thousands of life insurance and debt consolidation ads from UK companies that were meant for whichever adult was around me. 

This is probably a pretty relatable scenario those of us who grew up before the content on the internet had really caught up with TV.

A lot of time has passed since then. 

Kids who weren’t yet born when Ira Losco first stole our collective heart with “7th Wonder” are now driving around and going to university. That means these adults who are already making major purchase decisions were 5 years old when YouTube began, and have grown up finding most of their personal entertainment online and will likely continue to do so.

Setting up YouTube ads is more flexible than ever, with a variety of different goals and distribution techniques available. Make sure you have a strategy for it.

Your website is your most valuable asset

Going back to what I said at the beginning, targeting the right audience in Malta isn’t easy – we’re just too small. The targeting tools available to marketers on the ad platforms can help, but those have been designed for countries with tens of millions of residents, not a measly half million. That means that those who are interested enough in what you have to offer to visit your website after you communicate with them are extremely valuable. 

To do that, you need a website that’s configured and designed to drive as much traffic to it organically as possible, while also making it possible to retarget individuals who visit on digital ad platforms. If your website isn’t up to scratch, and not well-optimised for this, we guarantee you’re missing out on business.

Get inspiration from…Twitter?

That’s right. Twitter. While the relationship between Maltese residents and Twitter is usually limited to a screenshot of a politician’s statement being shared on Facebook, the platform is extremely useful for marketers. Brands that have been around on Twitter globally for a while have figured out that Twitter is the perfect place to have live conversations with their audience. 

Take a look at the interactions between big brands and individuals, and even between the brands themselves. Most of the time they’re informal, off-the-cuff conversations. The success of these interactions has now led to a lot of brands doing the same thing on other social media platforms as they’ve realised that people tend to respond more to content that isn’t corporate.

If you want to see where social media in Malta (and the world) is going over the next few years, take a look at what’s going on on Twitter. The first local brands that try to emulate the informal tone will be taking a risk, but they also stand the most to gain by being first-movers. 

Not sure about something in particular?

Obviously local digital marketing goes beyond the 8 points mentioned above, and each of them have more nuance than anything we could explain in a single article. So if you’re running a business (be it Malta, or anywhere else) and want to have a chat about something you’re unsure of, just drop us a line – no strings attached.

The post Digital Marketing in Malta: 8 Things You Need to Know appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Over the past weeks, we’ve been talking about what marketers and brands have to keep in mind when communicating to their audiences in 2021. One of the key takeaways from everything we’ve learned so far is that younger generations aren’t afraid to call out brands when they screw up. Enter the Burger King Women’s Day tweet. 

The Tweet

Seeing this from a fast food restaurant as you’re scrolling through your Twitter feed is going to trigger two things:

1. You’re gonna think/say what the hell?
2. You’re gonna click on it to see what people are saying in response, and whether there’s any context you’re somehow missing.

At which point, you’ll realise that you were indeed missing some context.

So to recap, Burger King leveraged people’s instant reaction of outrage to their first tweet in order to build awareness of a new scholarship programme that promotes women’s opportunities in the culinary industry.

There are two main camps when it comes to people’s reaction to this series of events. The first camp is made up of those who see the intentional manipulation of people’s attention through a very inflammatory statement as a big no-no. They see it as yet another big corporation trying to build their brand using clickbaity language surrounding emotionally charged topics to their advantage.

This seems to be the vocal majority, as admonishments came swiftly and harshly. Even from other brands.

There’s better ways to draw attention to something that don’t including using the most sexist trope ever

— Chloé: unicorn of snark ?? (@snarkgrapefruit) March 8, 2021

this is such a weird tweet, how did this get through higher ups

— kira (@YungCatgirl) March 8, 2021

You get the picture.

Burger King originally defended their stance, answering those who opposed their unorthodox method of garnering attention. Eventually, they had to concede that it was doing more harm than good. After an apology-tweet, they took down the original and the subsequent thread.

We hear you. We got our initial tweet wrong and we’re sorry. Our aim was to draw attention to the fact that only 20% of professional chefs in UK kitchens are women and to help change that by awarding culinary scholarships. We will do better next time.

— Burger King (@BurgerKingUK) March 8, 2021

What can brands learn from this?

As the new generations of consumers are coming into their own, brands are understanding that what they do to better their communities is going to help win long-term loyalty. The problem comes when they don’t understand the fine line between just doing good things and talking about doing good things a little too loudly.

In this case, Burger King (who are well known for their great marketing antics) took things a step further than usual with their clickbait tactics. Even though it was ultimately well-meaning, it ended up blowing up in their face. 

One might argue that it achieved Burger King’s objective of grabbing attention for their cause, but at what cost? Are people even going to remember what their efforts were? In this particular case, a number of news networks picked up the story, but most of the coverage doesn’t paint a particularly pretty picture for Burger King. There is no doubt that references to this fiasco are going to be a mainstay on their Twitter account for a while.

Although we are bombarded with new information and entertainment, consumers in 2021 don’t forget when brands screw things up very easily, and they’re lightning fast at pointing out discrepancies between what a brand says they’re about, and what they actually do. That said, today’s young generations are also more willing to forgive brands if they own up to their mistakes and try to make amends.

Conclusion

Whatever you may feel about the validity of people’s reactions to the Burger King Women’s Day fiasco (I personally feel like it wasn’t such a big deal), as marketers we have to understand that today’s online climate is one that holds brands and individuals accountable for how they communicate.

Gen Z and all future generations are, or are going to be, internet natives. And on the internet, brands win long-term admiration through focusing on a human-centric purpose, and by subtly doing good things in their communities. Rather than shouting about something you’re doing right, let others do the talking for you through press release-style content and online word-of-mouth.

The post The Burger King Women’s Day Tweet: What can we learn? appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

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. Setting it up

The set up is actually really simple. Just go into Twitter and sign up. The step by step feature will walk you through the process, even suggesting people you should follow. Be sure to use a great profile picture and header image so that everything looks sharp, attracting people’s attention. Oh, and don’t forget filling in your bio with something catchy and a link to your website!

2. Tweet Tweet

Now that everything is set up it’s time to get tweeting. Why not try something friendly as your first one? Perhaps a shout out or announcement about having joined the world of Twitter!

3. Hash Tags

# <—- This little thing is going to become your friend, but first you have to learn how to use it! Hash tagging is a way of categorising a post. So if you write #AwesomeBlogPost then anyone who searches using that hashtag will find your post. Great right? So when writing your post consider including a ‘#’ before particular words. Twitter helps you out by suggesting other tags people are using. For example #SocialMediaMarketing could also be #SMM (which saves you characters).
We can’t help but remind you that while hash tagging is great, it should be used sparingly. You’re representing a company, not an overactive teenager, so #writing #a #post #like #this will get you #nowhere. Think it through, picking out 2-3 keywords related to your brand and leaving it at that!

4. @… ?

What’s the deal with the ‘@’ sign is what you might think. That’s a very simple way of tagging, or mentioning, someone. However, there are variations to it.
If you want to speak to someone directly (though still publicly) you can simply start off with @switchmalta……….[your tweet]…..
This means that @switchmalta (which is us by the way!) will get a notification with your message. This isn’t a private message – everyone can see it, the only difference is that it won’t turn up in your follower’s feed like normal tweets.
If you want it to turn up in your feed for all your followers to see then there must be text preceding the ‘@’ sign.
You could try “We love your blog @weareSWD keep up the great work!” or, for something subtle simply put a fullstop. “.@weareSWD keep up the great work!”
This allows those following you to see what’s going on, and perhaps follow the discussion.

5. Retweets

A Retweet is, quite simply, when a follower ‘forwards’ your message to his own followers. This gets your message out there, so retweets are great for your company. Create content which people will want to share in order to boost your engagement.
Don’t forget to reply someone who retweeted you with a simple “hey, thanks for the retweet!” to let them know you appreciate it.

6. Keeping it simple

Brevity is an important part of twitter. Take time to compose your posts, including a call to action at the start, 2-3 hashtagged keywords, and allow for a few unused characters at the end incase anyone retweets you and wants to add something on. Remember to shorten your links with Bitly to save on space!

7. Use Images

We’ve said it enough times for you to have learnt by heart that images will always attract attention. However, they do take up some of your character count, so plan your posts properly.

8. Schedule them in

Using something like TweetDeck allows you to schedule in twitter posts. This means that you won’t ever be caught off guard and will always have your next tweet ready to go up.

9. Frequency

Unlike Facebook, on Twitter you can post quite often, even 4-5 times a day. So while we recommend posting to Facebook once a day, we also recommend that you go ahead and tweet to your heart’s content. Just don’t over do it and always make sure your tweets are interesting and relevant to your brand.

10. Be friendly!

We cannot stress this enough. If you want people to follow you you’ve got to be friendly. Retweet, reply, and favorite posts by followers and fans. Show your human side and show you care, people will respond to it with great enthusiasm and become more loyal to you.
We hope this helped you out in your quest to improve your social media presence. Don’t forget to drop us a line if you’re ready to find out more about what we can do for you!

The post Improving your Business with Twitter appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.

Setting up a Twitter Account

To open a new Twitter account for your company simply follow this step by step signup process. When that is done go to your profile settings and upload your logo as your profile picture and set up your Twitter background to match your corporate identity. Alternatively you can find a designer on sites like Behance or Dribble to design a custom background for you for a small fee.

 
In your bio section make sure that you write a short description about your company. Be as descriptive as possible and include keywords related to your product/service as this will make it easier for someone to follow you when searching for similar companies.
You can also include a link to your Facebook or Linkedin pages so that visitors will follow you on these sites as well. As an example, below is the profile description of Thenextweb.com
“International news on technology, business and culture. Follow specific channels in our Twitter lists. Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thenextweb”
Note how they are using the keywords “news on technology” “business” and “culture” in their profile description.

Increasing the number of Followers on Twitter

After setting up your Twitter account now is the time to start following some people.
The easiest way to do this is to search for your competitors and filter their followers by choosing only those that you think would be interested in your products. Let’s say you sell digital cameras, you will follow only those people that in their profile included something related to photography.
Avoid following a lot of people at once since Twitter might suspend your account if you follow too many people at once. Do it gradually.
When you start following people, some will follow you back. This is the main aim of following people i.e. to increase the number of followers.
I’ve found out that roughly 15% – 25% of the people you follow will follow you back. I usually spend a couple of hours every week following people and then again once a week I un-follow those people that did not follow me back.
The tool below will make it easier for you to spot those that are either inactive for a very long time or did not follow you back:

This process is quite time consuming, however it is much better than using any automated tools like TweetAdder that will automatically follow users that mention specific keywords and un-follow those that didn’t follow you back.
You should scan each and every profile before following and making sure that it fits in your target audience rather than following everyone that simply mentions a specific keyword related to yours. This way there’s a better chance that those that follow you back are actually interested in your tweets.
Do this religiously – never stop this process. It is key to keep on building followers.

Sharing Updates on Twitter

Now that you know how to increase your followers, let’s move on to explore the idea of generating traffic to your site using your Twitter profile.
The way you craft your post is essential. Write out potential tweets a few different times and try to think about which one would actually make you want to click on it. Not all tweets are created equal, so ask yourself the following questions before posting:

– Can you add a picture to make your post stand out more?
– Are you really highlighting the most exciting aspect of your blog post/page?
– Are there any fellow Twitter users out there who might benefit from being tagged in the post? Will they give you more exposure if they retweeted?

Also keep in mind that people are on Twitter at different times throughout the day. This means that the time that you post updates is an important factor to reach a bigger audience.
According to this infographic, the best time to tweet updates is between 1-3pm EST during week days. However you should test and post updates at different times throughout the day and find the best time where people are clicking on the links that you’re sharing.

You can use a tool like Bitly to share your updates, as it will show you the number of clicks that you get from every update that you post.
In order to increase the traffic to your site you need to post updates such as your news articles or blog posts for your followers. The best way to do this is to schedule your updates using tools such as Hootsuite or Buffer.
You can also tweet the same updates in different times throughout the day as your followers won’t be on Twitter all the time. However, make sure that you space your updates by a couple of hours.
This is a technique that Guy Kawasaki uses to share tweets with his followers. He repeats the same tweets at different times throughout the day. This way he tweets more frequently which in turn gets him a gazillion followers.

Finally – Keep posting, keep testing

Twitter can get you a lot of good quality traffic that you will really need as a start-up trying to growth-hack your way to the top. But remember: in order to reach this goal you will need to keep at it and increase your followers every week. You should also use Twitter to test the different content that you write on your site or blog.
When you share content on Twitter, make sure that you analyse and find out which articles your followers are sharing. Then, write more of those.
The recipe is simple and you can do it without any huge investments. All you need is time and tenacity.

The post Growth hacking: How to use Twitter to drive Traffic to your site appeared first on Switch - Digital & Brand.