Maltese businesses find advertising on social media 'easier' than maintaining website

Three-quarters of Maltese businesses advertised on social media last year, taking top spot in the Europe Union, but many are still thought to be reluctant to shift their focus online. Data published by Eurostat earlier this week shows that 74 per cent of all Maltese enterprises, those employing 10 or more people, made use of social media in 2017. The EU average stood at 47 per cent. Marcel Mizzi, vice president of the GRTU – Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises pointed out, however, that though there was an emerging trend whereby businesses took to social media to advertise, one had to bear in mind that it did not necessarily mean sales increased accordingly. Read: Maltese rank second in EU for use of social media He also noted that a good number of businesses had fewer than 10 employees, and therefore the Eurostat figures might not represent the true situation on the island. Mr Mizzi said more businesses were resorting to social media because they found it to be easier and quicker than maintaining a fully fledged website. “If one has a small business it might be difficult to keep the website updated, and thus more and more people are setting up pages on social media, but...