In the era of information explosion, social media content has to stand out in order to leave a lasting impression. There ought to be something extra to push forward your ideas and to appeal to the audience. When practically almost every digital marketing agency invites Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to promote new offerings, New Digital Noise believes more can be done to spark awareness for a new product.

When Subway launched their Meatball Sandwich, we initiated a campaign that is set to generate noise among young Hong Kongers — its core target audience. Our team approached JOOX, a popular music App in Hong Kong to co-curate a list of songs that evoke wild emotions for delicious food none other than Subway’s Meatball Sandwich. The playlist is supported by a feature article that celebrates foodie culture. It is estimated to secure 30,000 views on JOOX within three to four days.

Aiming for both mass awareness and conversions, we have also carefully selected an array of high-engagement KOLs such as WHIZOO to create word of mouth and targeted media channels such as Eat and Travel Weekly to boost awareness and build hype. By putting a fun and unexpected twist to social niche marketing, we help to amplify the brand’s tongue-in-cheek personality and reach out to young tastemakers in this particular market.

JOOX has long been streaming music to a loyal group of young audience. It supports a variety of formats of creative awareness campaigns, like watching video advertisements in exchange for VIP access and paid partnerships such as feature article, which was adopted as part of the Meatball Sandwich campaign. If you are not afraid to try something new, please do not hesitate to drop us a line. We are glad to help!

While jewellers with a strong global presence are highly sought after in China, localising the brand’s marketing campaign to suit local tastes takes great understanding and expertise. Starting from 2017, New Digital Noise has been helping India’s premium diamond jewellery house Nirav Modi to explore both Hong Kong and China markets with very different approaches.

The jeweller has launched the EMBRACE Collection, a series of versatile, innovative and playful diamond jewels with a unique patented stretch mechanism. Based on their distinct market mentality, consumption patterns and usage of digital devices, the Hong Kong campaign focuses on driving an emotional experience and showcasing the collection’s innovative design; while the China campaign stresses luxury and femininity.

We make use of Facebook in Hong Kong to create empathy and engagement through the theme of Embracing Every Moment. With the popularity of live stream mobile applications in China, Nirav Modi’s promotion includes video marketing on YI live streams, which could help building a loyal fan base and bringing brand awareness.

Image and text, videos, native and location ads were used in Wechat to target the Mainland Chinese fan base; while in Hong Kong, the Facebook advertisements feature a visually-appealing and intriguing carousel with tips on creating exciting moments in life to stimulate excitement and pleasure.

The Nirav Modi campaign is a rewarding experience for our team to exercise our understanding of the ever-changing consumer landscapes in both Hong Kong and China markets. Feel free to contact us if you want to know more.

Since the launch of WeChat a little less than seven years ago, Weibo has been fighting a tough fight for users and exposure. But towards the end of 2017, the Chinese social media giant regained momentum and won back the hearts of users in the fast-evolving internet ecosystem. Optimistic figures of performance were recorded in the third quarter last year, with monthly active users amounted to 376 million, 27% more than the same quarter in 2016. The success of Weibo as a full-service digital ecosystem is by no means accidental.

Cao Zeng-hui, vice president of Weibo, attributed the achievement to the efforts Weibo put in video content, vertical segments and multi-channel networks (MCNs).

Videos

Riding on the explosive growth of short-form online videos in China, Weibo has strategically steered its content towards this multimedia format, fostering a staggering 175% consumption growth compared to the same quarter in 2016. Working closely with large television channels and content producers, including sports leagues like the NBA and NFL to keep its short videos topical and refined, the micro-blogging site also launched features such as Slideshow (光影秀) and Weibo Story (微博故事) in the first quarter last year to encourage user-generated content.

Weibo is the primary platform of abounding key opinion leaders (KOL), where they post videos and live video streams. Monetisation methods, paid content, advertising, and e-commerce has been rolled out to boost quality content creation.¹ Through these Chinese celebrities, Weibo is able to reach out to millions of fans, making it an ideal platform to build brand influence. According to Wang Gao-fei, CEO of Weibo, advertisers have made their move to shift ad budgets to video ads.¹ Ultimately, the company expects video to replace photos as the preferred visual medium for social sharing.²

Content Verticalisation

Weibo has been actively creating the presence of 55 vertical content segments, covering food, fashion, sports, pets, education and more. It instigates key opinion leaders and multi-channel networks to create in-depth, specialised content for that particular segment, thus allowing each segment to build stronger user loyalty and cultivate better endorsements. Critics described this business model as one that coupled top content creators and e-commerce to generate impressive growth in revenues.

Multi-Channel Networks (MCNs)

As of November 2017, Weibo has collaborated with more than 1,200 multi-channel networks, offering them programming, funding, cross-promotion, audience development and other services to support their growth. MCNs are the reasons for Weibo’s expanding video database. A key player in Weibo’s efforts in content verticalisation, MCNs like papitube, Pear Video and Beauty Q partner with top content creators to create premium, content-rich materials for Weibo users that presents avenues to improved engagement.²

As a result of its strategic planning, Weibo is able to strike back and rebuild a presence in China’s competitive social media landscape. And its marketing potential to help your brand gain a foothold in the China market is not to be underestimated. Feel free to chat with us if there is anything we can help!

 

References:

1)http://technode.com/2017/02/23/video-saves-weibo-from-two-year-decline-best-year-2016-sina

²⁾ https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/29/3-quotes-that-tell-weibos-growth-story.aspx

³⁾ 微博用户发展报告

Are you wondering how social media marketing will change this year? Need some fresh ideas? This article might be able to help.

#1: Instagram

If you still haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, you really should. It is a good way to get brand awareness and grow followers. Across the globe, there are over 800 million Instagrammers — more than 500 million of whom use Instagram every single day, sharing more than 250 million pieces of content each day. If you have a good image and use the right hashtag, you will draw much attention and attract the people you want.

If you compare to Facebook, Instagram is still relatively cheaper to grow followers. We think that 2018 might be the last year where the overall cost to grow followers is still low.

#2: Facebook

Facebook is a good way to build community, but if your Facebook strategy is to chase Like, it is the wrong approach. What makes a page successful and keep attracting viewers is the quality of your content and its context. If they like your content, they will come back. Likes are expensive. It costs an average of HK$30 per Like.

Facebook is for mature audience, at least in Hong Kong. The average age of Facebook user is 35. People at this age or older refrain from Liking posts, while still logging in every day to see what is going on with their friends or see what their favourite brands are promoting. You will be wasting your effort chasing Likes when your target audience doesn’t like to leave trails on social media.

#3: Media Personalities

Call them KOLs, influencers or media personalities. If you don’t already know them, you should.

Akina Fong 方健儀 you will recognise her from TVB evening news a few years back. Akina is a very experienced journalist who worked for RTHK and TVB News. After six years with TVB News, she became the Senior Information Officer, News at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Now she does various freelance projects, ranging from event MC, writing column articles and creating online content with different media and brands. She is such a versatile personality that she can switch topics from geopolitics to lifestyle. Brands love to work with her because of her journalism background and professionalism.

Pomato 小薯茄 produces numerous funny short videos. They are a team of four who graduated from film studies and decided to set up their own production company. The four of them are usually the key characters in their videos, think early days James Corden, but younger with high local relevance. They have over 57,000 followers on Facebook.

WHIZOO has over 110,000 followers on Facebook. They are a media brand on Facebook; think the early days of 100毛, but more lifestyle-focused and without print. Every Friday night they do a one-hour Facebook Live show discussing different topics that are very relatable to the audience in their 20’s.

#4: Live Broadcast on Social Media

People love to go to live concerts or theatres. If tickets sold out or you cannot be there physically, would you be willing to pay to watch live broadcast online? We see that monetising live online broadcast or Facebook Live will be something entertainment sector might develop. Instead of watching for free, viewers will have to pay a fee, register or play a quick game so brands can build their database further, another way to connect with the target market.

#5: Payment Application

Small online stores that operate on Facebook or Instagram will find new payment applications like HSBC’s PayMe very useful. PayMe is designed for HSBC customers to pay their friends swiftly and hassle-free. Facebook has always wanted to launch a payment system but till now it is not available. Setting up online payment with credit card companies is not cheap. PayMe is easy to use and it can transfer money to different banks and most credit cards, it has potential to be big. If popularity continues to grow, HSBC can monetise it through placing ads in the application. PayMe is an application worth paying attention to since many bank with HSBC in Hong Kong.

Gone are the ages of push-selling strategies. Social media platforms are a level playing field for enthusiastic marketers to deliver engaging content. We believe social media, with the viral factor and analytics, is a perfect low-threshold tool for non-profit organizations to spread word-of-mouth. We were honored to share industry insights and ideas with Breakthrough, a charity focusing on youth service in Hong Kong.

In his sharing, our Associate Account Director John drew participants’ attention to the importance of an organization’s core values in determining how its campaigns would be run. He talked about ways to carry out Breakthrough’s vision of encouraging youngsters to put love and care in action and to maximize the exposure of their work.

For non-profit organizations like Breakthrough, social media is an important platform to connect with like-minded individuals, form communities and motivate them to act and share ideas. In terms of content, John addressed the necessity of relating to the audience in order to build resonance and connection, encouraging marketers to bring practical value and produce those that can trigger emotions. These qualities will build the foundation for a post or video to go viral.

Participants were given a program logic model exercise, in which they were able to experiment with social media project planning — from identifying the root problem to reaching the ideal outcome. Our team also suggested digitalizing Breakthrough’s counseling services in preparation for the emergence of a new social media platform in the coming decade. It was truly a rewarding experience sharing our knowledge and skills with an organization that is making a difference.

As the times have changed and the constant virtualization of everything has made life heaven on earth, adaptation is the key to survival. Thanks to this new digital world, loads of task are done in the blink of an eye, the revolutionizing ideas shared through digital platforms have aided in making this era the most technologically advanced one. A comparatively new concept known as “Digital Assets” has surfaced is yet seen as absurd by some, alongside with digitalization of everything the mainstream old world had to offer, some still believe that making transactions online is asking to be conned.

Digital assets are the next step in revolutionizing this world even further. In order to grasp the concept of blockchains, one must have a clear understanding of what digital assets are. They are a decentralized digital currency that can be earned and exchanged via the internet, they exclude the need for verification from a third party and the need for a bank to oversee the transaction, relieving one of the additional fees associated with physical currency. Worldwide use makes them highly preferable and all without the fear of having one’s account frozen. A blockchain is a software that provides a platform for the digital assets. The most widely used digital asset is a bitcoin and has all the properties of a digital asset. Blockchains are a collection of time-lapse that connect each block to the previous one, in the form of a chain.

Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology was originally designed to aid in acquiring and exchanging digital assets. It alone established a brand new type of internet. Blockchains can be made to record any transaction of value. Information on a blockchain is seen as a shared, continually reconciled database, making it easy for an individual to check the authenticity of the data available. Since digital assets are decentralized, they are free from cyber-attacks and hackers. Blockchain technology is also transparent and free from corruption.

Ethereum

We have talked about digital assets, decentralization and blockchain technology, applying the previous knowledge will make understanding of Ethereum comparatively easy. Ethereum is basically a platform, a software that is based on the blockchain technology that aids in the development of decentralized applications.

Ethereums should not, however, be confused with bitcoins as the purpose they serve is different from one another. Ethereum is a platform that runs a programming code to create decentralized applications, while Bitcoin is itself a decentralized digital currency.

Ethereum for the digital world

Looking at the surface, it is easy to find a connection between the digital world and blockchains, Ethereum and digital assets, but in depth these concepts hold greater significance than they might lead you to believe, causing a greater impact on the internet of things.

Unlike most of the mainstream software, Ethereum does not limit its user. It allows the user to engage in an unlimited set of operations, allowing them to use the platform for developing applications. This further sheds light on how immense the digital world really is. With just the use of a simple platform, millions of decentralized applications can be created and all for different uses. As revolutionizing as it might be, bitcoin is very limited as compared to Ethereums as it is made for a two-way transaction. Being very limited and specific in its nature, another blockchain application has to be constructed to widen the usage of blockchain technology.

The Ethereum network; instead of building a new application, consists of a new type of program. Ethereum networks enable the user to run any program of their choice regardless of the programming language being used. This eliminates the need of creating separate blockchains for the creation of each new application, making Ethereum networking the motherboard of thousands of different applications.

Decentralizing centralized services via Ethereum; Ethereum broadens the spectrum of the digital world as it can easily decentralize any program or service that was previously centralized, making it more secure and more resistant to corruptions and hackers.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO); is completely decentralized, meaning it has no one specific leader, making it autonomous. They are run by different programming codes that have been written on Ethereum blockchains. However, the design of the code differs from the average code as it eliminates the need for people, making it decentralized.

The impact of blockchains on the digital world

Digging further, the fact that blockchains are a step forward towards a better understanding of the IoT is undeniable, blockchains are the state of the art technology that has benefited in the development of the digital world in many ways, some of them will be discussed below:

• Eliminating Risk: Two parties are able to partake in a transaction without the fear of fraud, as third parties are not involved in the process whatsoever. This greatly removes any financial risks regarding a basic transaction and promotes welfare.
• Empowerment of the users: Users are in control of their individual profile and hold credit over the services they have provided by mining to gain access to blocks and in return earn significant bitcoins. This sense of control promotes further transactions as the user profile is made private for each user.
• Superior data: Blockchains provide complete data, with no room left for further interpretation, eliminating the chances of error. The data provided by blockchains is complete, accurate and timely, making the digital world absolute.
• Faster Transactions: In the traditional terms, processing of transactions can be time-consuming, at least in comparison with online transactions. Blockchain transactions are not bound to office hours and no physical presence at the bank is required in order for the transaction to take place.
• Immutability: Blockchains can be freely viewed by the public. They are transparent, any change can be viewed. However, the transactions being made are immutable, which means they cannot be altered or deleted once they have taken place.

Reliability and Longevity: As stated multiple times above, blockchains are decentralized. The less the concentration, the less are the chances of an attack from any malicious programs, making blockchains highly reliable and longevity. Adding further into the perks of using digital platforms.