Hong Kong Trader - The Facebook Buzz

PPR has a busy Social Media Department working with a broad cross section of clients – ranging from large corporate to local businesses.
 
Social Media Manager, KC Wong, and Technology & New Media Head, Mark Leeper recently talked to the HKTDC’s Hong Kong Trader about the pros and cons of social media marketing and how to build a cost-effective programme combining both online and offline activities. 

The Facebook Buzz 

Dressed CEO Chris Rork has built a following for his salad restaurant chain using Facebook   When American Chris Rork launched Dressed, his chain of salad restaurants, in Hong Kong, he turned to online social media to promote it. “We created a Facebook group called ‘I love Dressed Salads’ and got almost 400 members in the first three weeks,” recounts Mr Rork. “As a small company with a limited marketing budget, it was an effective way for us to communicate to a large group for free.” 3cm Media Ltd also uses Facebook to generate buzz. Publisher of Prestige Hong Kong and other luxury lifestyle magazines, 3cm Media maintains a community of nearly 1,000 fans on Facebook, sending them updates on new stories, photos and personalities featured in the monthly publication, and responding to their feedback. The two companies are among the growing ranks of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) turning to online social-networking media for cost-effective marketing. SMEs have countless choices of Internet tools, including social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, product blogs, online forums, customer reviews, user-generated content promotions, video sharing via YouTube or Tudou or, ideally, a combination of channels. According to a recent survey of marketing professionals by the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing, 55 per cent of respondents regarded social media as the most trustworthy and influential media option, second only to television (57 per cent) and well ahead of print (41 per cent). And social media far outpaced all other channels in the survey for creating a relationship with target consumers. From Obama to Long Hair     Compelling content and soft selling works for social-media marketing, says KC Wong, Social Media Manager of Professional Public Relations Greater China    The use of social media is exploding worldwide. Companies often test TV commercials on YouTube. US President Barack Obama used Twitter during his election campaign, and American astronauts have tweeted reports back to earth. While Twitter has not yet taken off in Hong Kong, local political activist Leung Kwok Hung (aka Long Hair), among others, uses Facebook to promote himself. Internet users are increasingly using Facebook, MySpace or Xanga (a Chinese-language blogging community) as their homepage, making it a marketer’s dream space. And because social networkers post so much information about themselves and what they like to do, eat, wear, watch and listen to, the medium is a trove of marketing data. The e-marketer’s goal is to build a community of customers who become emotionally invested in a brand. That requires having a story to tell and a personality to flaunt. “It’s about interacting with their communities instead of just broadcasting their advertising,” says KC Wong, Social Media Manager of Professional Public Relations Greater China Ltd.

Prestige PR and Marketing Manager Natasha Li  says social networking sites provide huge  consumer insights

Dressed Salads, based in Atlanta, Georgia, employs about 40 people at its two Hong Kong outlets in Central’s ifc mall and in Wan Chai, with a third on the way, as well as a production kitchen for catering. When Mr Rork, co-owner and CEO, opened the ifc mall restaurant last December, he used his personal contacts as the foundation for the Facebook group. “I asked people to help spread the word and boom, people started joining and adding to it. It’s been a godsend for us.”

Having built a Facebook community, Dressed now plans to toss the immediacy of Twitter into the mix “to generate some excitement by tweeting specials and discounts on the fly – things that only our fans and members can access,” he says.

Prestige Hong Kong PR and Marketing Manager Natasha Li started the magazine’s fan page on Facebook last March and finds the community’s comments invaluable. For one thing, praise for good photography or well-written articles contributes to staff morale. “You don’t get that feedback from print,” she notes.

The interaction with fans also helps her gauge how often to update the Prestige “wall,” as the Facebook page is known. “You need to find a balance between not enough updates and too many.” A button on the wall links to the Prestige website, where people can subscribe to the magazine or inquire about buying ads.

Facebook provides graphs that break down the demographic data of the magazine’s fans, including gender, age and location. “It gives me huge insight that I don’t know how else I’d get without paying for somebody to research it,” says Ms Li.  “I’m the Facebook generation,” the 23-year-old adds. “It started when I was in university.”

New Tools

A light-hearted quiz on Facebook was one way Hong Kong watch brand Solvil et Titus promoted its products online

That generation is expanding, as people in their 40s, 50s and up get into online networking. Among them are many Hong Kong SMEs. And if they want a PR agency to help them make the leap, Professional Public Relations Greater China is an option.

“It used to be really hard for small businesses to market themselves effectively, but it’s getting much, much easier now,” says Mark Leeper, the agency’s Account Director, New Media. “And a lot of that is down to these new tools that people are still learning how to use.”

“We use compelling content to attract the target audience and keep them,” says Mr Wong, the agency’s Social Media Manager. “We conduct interactive social networking activities to engage the target communities. “We use a neutral tone [as opposed to hard sell] to associate the discussions, content and activities with the product or the brand, and drive people to the website.”

For Hong Kong watch brand Solvil et Titus, the agency set up a light-hearted quiz on Facebook about romantic relationships pegged to the brand’s ad theme, Time Is Love. The quiz attracted the attention of more than 35,000 people, of which 22 per cent participated. After taking the test, they could “publish” the results, so their friends could see the outcome and do the quiz themselves.

In addition, Mr Wong joined popular Hong Kong online discussion forums such as Discuss.com.hk and Uwants.com, raising topics related to the campaign theme and generating more than 12,000 views. Solvil et Titus now has a database of interested contacts from Facebook and forums.

When Size Doesn’t Matter

“The next step for them, having built up this database, is to consider a permission-based e-mail campaign,” says Mr Leeper. “We don’t recommend that you start spamming somebody just because you have their contact details. It’s far better to get them to agree to receive your information. To make this happen, you really need to package your proposition.”

While Solvil et Titus is not a small company, he says, “the thing about using online tools is, it doesn’t matter what size you are, they magnify the scope of your size, your brand and your reach. So it’s an idea that small companies can aspire to.”

For another Hong Kong client, Jervisbay Barbecue World, the agency developed a blog, in Chinese and English, that presents healthy recipes and videos of chef demonstrations (via links to YouTube) along with the company’s products. The agency uses online forums to attract people to the blog.

“Everybody wants information and they’re looking for new sources,” says Mr Leeper.

Related Links
Dressed
Prestige Hong Kong
Professional Public Relations Greater China Ltd

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