HONG KONG
H
ong Kong’s love affair with social media is a little more muted than in some other markets, perhaps because it is a small place and people meet in person frequently.
Nonetheless, companies are increasingly keen to use social media, especially for consumer marketing campaigns. And the Hong Kong gover nment is also placing much greater emphasis on Facebook and other channels for its own public communications, perhaps spurred by a well publicised campaign against a proposed high-speed railway. While consumer brands are actively using social media, Hong Kongbased companies are lagging in their use of social media for corporate communications and marketing, with few exceptions, notably Cathay Pacific Airways, which uses a variety of social platforms to communicate with a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Facebook is much the most popular s o c i a l c h a n n e l , re a c h i n g a ro u n d 77% of the population 14, and is used
Terence Yam Digital Strategist
terence.yam@bm.com @terenceyam
principally for short-term product and brand marketing campaigns, with some companies also using it for general stakeholder communications and to highlight their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. However, active and sustained use of Facebook and other social media for corporate purposes remains thin on the ground. Why this conservatism? It is partly due to a lack of skilled resources, partly due to the perceived loss of control that social media represents. There is also the added difficulty of needing to manage social channels using traditional Chinese as well as English and perhaps also simplified Chinese. Equally, while Sina Weibo has gotten some real traction in Hong Kong over the past few months thanks to its userfriendly interface and abundance of
Hong Kong & China Gas – Corporate Social Responsibility
fun and engaging content, the ‘weibo fever’ that has been sweeping mainland China does not apply to the same extent in Hong Kong. This is perhaps surprising, as Hong Kong-ers prefer content that is short and contains a lot of graphics (in contrast to the reading habits of mainland Chinese). They are also used to a style of media reportage that favours fewer words and more pictures. In addition to a general conservatism, this relative lack of substantive media output and online content might also explain why so few firms are using dialogue – either on Facebook, microblogs or on dedicated corporate-blogs to communicate with stakeholders. All of which points to video as perhaps the best opportunity for companies looking to bring alive their corporate marketing messages. YouTube is highly popular in Hong Kong, as are some of the Chinese online video channels such as Youku and Ku6, and the mainstream media are busy launching video news channels. Yet companies seldom use video to promote their brands – a big missed opportunity.
Corporate Use of Social Media Channels n Active Accounts
73%
Source: http://www.facebook.com/lowcarbonaction
Hong Kong & China Gas uses a variety of social media tools to raise awareness and encourage its customers of its ‘Towngas Low Carbon Action!’ campaign to save energy and adopt a generally more environmentallyfriendly lifestyle.
14 Asia-Pacific Social Media Infographics – Burson-Marsteller, August 2011
18 | BURSON-MARSTELLER ASIA-PACIFIC
n Inactive Accounts
43%
100%
57%
12%
100%
27%
Micro-blogs
Social Corporate Networks Blogs
Video Sharing