Facebook announced on 02 July 2019 that it has changed its ranking algorithm in an attempt to curb “sensational health claims.”

“In our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of information in News Feed, we consider ranking changes based on how they affect people, publishers and our community as a whole. We know that people don’t like posts that are sensational or spammy, and misleading health content is particularly bad for our community.” the announcement said, explaining the reason behind the move.

Facebook said the updates were designed to minimize the number of posts with misleading health claims, as well as posts that seek to promote sales of products or services based on health-related claims, e.g. pills that claim to contribute to weight loss.

Facebook implements this by predicting which posts are likely to contain health misinformation or solicitation based on phrases frequently used in such posts, and placing these posts lower in News Feed.

The announcement came only a week after an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal, which showed that Facebook and YouTube were inundated with false health claims.

One such claim is treating cancer with baking soda by a salesperson named Robert O. Young, who was convicted in 2016 in the US for practicing medicine without a license. Young got back on Facebook weeks after getting out of prison towards the end of 2017.  According to The Wall Street Journal, back in 2012, a cancer patient flew from the UK to the US to seek treatment from Young. After 12 weeks of treatments comprising baking soda injections and low acid foods which came to a total cost of USD 70,000, the patient passed away. Young now has a number of Facebook pages through which he and his affiliate sell products and services both nationally and internationally.

It should be noted that Facebook is not removing these posts or pages that are repeatedly posting health misinformation. In other words, while the ranking updates make it harder for these posts to reach their target readers, such misinformation is certainly still out there.

The overseas property market used to be dominant by parents who have sent or are planning to send their children to study abroad and those who plan to retire overseas. Not anymore.

Hong Kong property investors recognize the stable growth rate and rental value of properties in cities like Vancouver, Toronto and London. The higher profit margin attracts investors to switch their investment to overseas from the local market, where there are ever-increasing investment costs and a slower rate of return.

Let’s not forget the reverse migrants. For instance, there are an estimated 300,000 Canadian passports holders in Hong Kong. After their emigration to Canada in the 90s and return to Hong Kong, thousands are moving back to Canada with their children, Canadian census data shows.

Given the high demand for overseas properties, this is a great opportunity for overseas property investment businesses to build an online presence to capture business growth via effective digital marketing.

Seminars and trade shows are mainly where conversion occurs. And while many agencies still stick to promoting these offline events via traditional media platforms such as printing pamphlets and placing newspaper ads, potential buyers of the digital era are doing their research and obtaining information online. By appealing to your target audience with an engaging O2O campaign, forward-thinking agencies can be ahead of the game in no time.

NDN Group has been helping to build brand awareness for SQM Global Properties, a real estate agent focusing on overseas sales and marketing services in Hong Kong. Our campaign delivers curated content driven by comprehensive digital marketing strategies that encompass social media, media placement, search engine optimization, geo-targeting and data management.

We also utilize instant messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp for Business. It gives SQM an enriched, more personal way of communicating with its customers — photos, videos, documents and more — all within the messaging App. All of these, in turn, help SQM raise the number of attendees in its seminars and trade shows with promising results.

Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you are aspired to expand your overseas property investment business. We are more than happy to offer professional advice to help you achieve your goals. We look forward to working with you in this new digital era.

If you have been in the digital marketing space long enough, you will start to realize that many of your digital marketing strategies are not as effective as 5-6 years ago. Conversion rates have gone down, media spending went up, while customers are drifting further and further away from your business and brand.

One big thing that’s missing for most of the businesses that we see in the market is that many of them are focusing on sales funneling, building segmentations and building automation. It doesn’t mean that these marketing tactics don’t work, but if everyone is doing the same thing, how would your customer feel?

Ask yourself and your team two core questions:  “Do we really understand the pain and desire of our customers?” “How can we make our customers happy and successful?” Instead of thinking about building marketing automation and marketing funnels, it’s time for you to focus on building and owning the entire customer journey as well as capturing the entire relationship with your customers. Marketing shouldn’t stop when sales are made, and a business should continue to scale through understanding the whole journey.

NDN Academy has trained over 2,800 individuals and 50 corporations about understanding empathy towards customers, developing strong customer engagement and offering a strategy for businesses to drive business growth. If you are tired of hundreds of thousands of fast marketing tactics that are not driving results, maybe it’s time to stop and think why you are doing what you are doing.