In June 2019, Facebook IQ released a study about consumers’ engagement with food-related social media posts across 9 countries. The results reveal the tendency of turning to mobile devices and social platforms for exploring eating options.

In July, we pulled off a social media campaign for Fete-Up, a Singapore-inspired healthy takeaway to build brand awareness and promote eating cultures in a fast-paced city.

Fete Up aims to offer healthy and well-balanced meals that are both tasty and reasonably priced, available in-store and via delivery. The eatery targets office workers and individuals who are health-conscious, yet hard to find time to prepare balanced meals at home.

Based on the brand vision and target audience, we’ve adopted “Right food, right away” as the core campaign idea⁠ — to enjoy healthy food delivered right to your doorsteps. Our campaign is tailored to achieve four key objectives:

1.Raise brand awareness

2.Promote healthy eating cultures

3.Boost sales in physical stores

4.Drive online sales and traffic to their website

We believe quality content is all about being informative, relevant, sharable and actionable. With this consideration in mind, we’ve suggested four core pillars revolving around:

1.Fetebox unwrapped: Menu promotion by showcasing nutrition facts

2.Healthy secrets: Informative health tips to raise awareness on balanced diets

3.Eat Well, Live Well: Engaging, sharable food quotes that speaks the brand vision

4.Deliver Right Away: Practical information on how customers can order to drive sales

Successful content marketing fulfils the needs of both business and customers: drive revenue and deliver relevant, engaging messages. This begins with industry-focused research and understanding about the company, products and clearly-defined target audience. Want to know more about content marketing and its myriads of rules and tricks? Speak to our specialists to maximize your business potentials.

Moving beyond social networking, WeChat has transformed itself into an enclosed, all-in-one platform with the new function ⁠— WeChat Mini Program. It takes pride in enhanced features ranging from e-commerce, games and news within the social networking app. In July 2019, we’ve expanded payment gateways for AJ Hackett, a bungee pioneer based in New Zealand with this build-in function.

Traditionally, WeChat official account is a business platform dedicated for content marketing only, while payment requests would be directed to external websites. With this mini-program embedded in our client’s account, users can now purchase admission tickets directly within the app while browsing creative content. In other words, we’ve achieved content marketing and e-commerce in one single platform. This equates to elevated customer experience and extra revenue to the business.

More about WeChat Mini Program

WeChat Mini Programs are considered to be “sub-applications” operating within WeChat, allowing access to web apps without the need to leave the main app.

The mini-programs can serve four main purposes, including e-commerce, utility, mini-games and news. More advanced features are available such as geolocation, task management, coupon redemption, etc.

The Main Benefits of Mini Programs for businesses

-Massive user base

As announced on 15 May 2019, WeChat Monthly Active Users in Q1 2019 has exceeded 1.1 billion

-Less expensive than traditional apps

Mini programs cost less to develop due to its reduced size and complexity. It also runs smoother and faster.

-Easy access to various functionalities

Users gain quick access via multiple entry points without prior installation, such as scanning QR code, direct message or searching nearby programs.

WeChat Mini Programs have almost limitless potential. Connect with us to find out more about how WeChat Mini Program can benefit your business today!

If you advertise on Facebook and Instagram, it’s time to update yourself with some of the latest creative tools.

Video creation

In Facebook’s Video Creation Kit, you will now have even more visually-engaging templates to choose from.

What’s more, seasonal stickers and templates are now available in the Effects tab to help “freshen up” your ads. Your ads will never be “the same old thing all year round” anymore!

Meanwhile, 20 new font options have been introduced, making it easier to add text overlays that tie in with your brand guidelines better.

Ever felt “trapped” working on a video because the moment you start, you can’t step away as you don’t want to lose all your work?  The Video Creation Kit has made it possible to save drafts of videos, so you can work on your video whenever you have a moment and pick up exactly where you left off later on.

Video editing

Ads Manager allows selection of an aspect ratio  (4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 1:1 or 16:9) to crop your video according to requirements of different placements (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network).

Similarly, you can trim the duration of a video for different platforms as well.

Dynamic ads

Whether you’re selling products, hotels, flights or vehicles, a dynamic ad might just work for you. Available in single-image, carousel and collection format, dynamic ads can be used across Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network and Messenger.

Branded content ads

Advertisers can now promote branded content posts as feed ads, reaching a wider audience. “Paid partnership with” along with the brand name will appear to ensure ads transparency.

ThruPlay

Available for Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network, ThruPlay allows advertisers to pay only when ads are played to completion or for at least 15 seconds. Optimize your video ad campaign for ThruPlay, and Facebook will deliver it to users that are likely to watch 15 seconds or the whole video.

Let your creativity run amok and have fun experimenting with these creative tools!

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.

We are thrilled to announce NDN Group’s latest partnership with GELOS to introduce Douyin (抖音) TikTok marketing to Hong Kong. It is a short video app that has 500 million monthly active users and 250 million daily active users. Brands big or small are scaling fast and producing fun engaging content on their platform.

You are probably wondering what is the difference between Douyin and TikTok? In 2017, the apps’ parent company ByteDance brought TikTok’s competitor Musical.ly, merged the two together and became the app we know today. TikTok is the overseas name Douyin uses. ByteDance also owns Jinri Toutiao (今日頭條).

With the sophistication of the Internet environment in Mainland China, where businesses are fully immersed into the online to offline model, it makes perfect sense that Douyin is more e-commerce-focused and brands use it as a sales funnel. On the contrary, TikTok is more entertainment-focused, at least for now. It has plans to be more.

This short video app is gaining momentum globally because it fulfills people’s need for instant gratification in today’s fast-paced world. KOL or influencers who became popular on their platform are producing captivating content and bringing high conversion rate to brands.

Look at popular beauty KOL Austin Li (李佳琦). He is known for his record of selling out thousands of lipsticks in an instance his personal best was 14,000 pieces in a minute. The novel idea of a man reviewing lipstick color live and his comedic ways of reviewing products is why fans love him and why mega beauty brands like Chanel, MAC, Shiseido and Tom Ford love to work with him. When Li says “Oh my god, buy it!” that particular color will sell out.

Well-known hot pot chain Haidilao was able to increase 1,000% ordering on a single dish because they created a live stream video on how to cook that specific meat for hot pot.

Austin Li and Haidilao are selling two very different category of products, yet they both enjoy a high conversion rate because of a strategic usage of Douyin TikTok. There are many more showcases where brands achieved exponential growth within a short period of time regardless of their product. The market is so optimistic, they believe that any product will perform well on the platform.

With ByteDance behind Douyin TikTok using powerful algorithms with machine learning, to aggregate and distribute content, your brand message will be optimized with precise targeting. So rest assured your marketing budget won’t go to waste.

Are you a local brand in Hong Kong with no payment gateway or setup in Mainland China, but keen to enter the market? We can assist and offer advice. Get in touch with us to discover more and learn about our trial package.

This year’s Earth Hour, where individuals and companies are encouraged to switch off lights for one hour, fell on 30 March 2019. While Earth Hour is a worldwide conservation event launched by WWF to raise awareness of climate change, it has become a marketing opportunity in recent years. Among the companies that took advantage of this thoughtful event this year was Gallo Family Vineyards.

Award-winning Gallo Family Vineyards is one of the ranges offered by the family-owned Gallo brand and is one of the top 10 best-selling wine brands in the USA.

To celebrate and in a show of support for Earth Hour 2019, Gallo Family Vineyards, in partnership with NDN Group, launched a campaign themed around “Happy Together.”

The objectives were to attract more WeChat followers, maintain fans’ loyalty and highlight Gallo’s core value – having good times with families.

A video was made for the campaign. It begins with a zooming-in on the planet Earth — from outer space down to one particular household where two friends are spending time together. Gallo Family Vineyards wines can be seen on the table and also in photos on the wall. The left bottom corner shows a clock, emphasizing the passing of time.  As the time rolls over from 08:29 to 08:30, which is when Earth Hour begins, candles are lit as the two friends clink glasses and continue having a good time, and lights in the city begin to go off. The clip ends with the company logo and the slogan “Happy Together on Earth. Connect to Earth,” echoing with the theme of Earth Hour this year and Gallo’s core value.

The campaign was a success, with the video garnering 3,000 views since its launch on WeChat and numerous positive comments.

Since 2017, NDN Group has been managing the WeChat accounts of Gallo Family Vineyards and Carlo Rossi for Gallo, and has boosted their number of followers by 8 and 17 times respectively.

Looking for creative ideas on your next campaign? Drop us a line and we’d be in touch soon.

WeChat Pay is already a part of everyday life in China, a popular payment gateway supported almost everywhere – taxis, supermarkets, hospitals and even as a way to facilitate communication between judges and litigants in court cases. Following the launch of the Chinese official website with UX/UI design for our client AJ Hackett in 2018, the international bungee jump business, we introduced WeChat Pay for their online ticket reservations in early May this year to streamline sales transactions for Chinese tourists.

Showcase

With abundant local knowledge about the app and the Chinese market, our team in Shanghai was invited to work closely with our Hong Kong team in this project, with the former responsible for setting up payment process and the latter for website interface and program design. Customers can now proceed to WeChat Pay from the booking page directly by simply scanning a QR code, achieving a seamless customer experience for Chinese tourists.

Why WeChat Pay?  

– Able to handle multiple payment methods including Quick Pay, QR code, In-App Web-Based or Native In-App payments

– Supports cross-border settlements in all major foreign currencies and is available in over 20 countries

– Allows foreign businesses to engage with customers in- and outside of China via their all-in-one services, reaching out to larger audiences

On-going development for AJ Jackett is underway to cater for the footprints from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. The website will be further revamped to include JETCO pay (credit card payment) and improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Outlook on WeChat Pay

Today, there are reportedly more than 900 million active WeChat Pay users on a monthly basis; by 2021, it is estimated that the number of Chinese users will increase up to 675 million while WeChat’s penetration rate of smartphone users and messaging app users will rise up to 82% and 89% respectively, according to eMarketer. It’s impossible to neglect the growing business opportunities on WeChat.

Speak to our specialists today to learn more about WeChat marketing and e-Commerce landscape.

F8, Facebook’s developer conference, took place on April 30 – May 1, 2019.  During the keynote speech, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a number of updates to Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, three of the world’s biggest social media platforms.

Facebook

• New design

Facebook will have a new, simpler design, highlighting groups and events.  The Groups tab will introduce a more prominent design and a personalized feed from groups, as opposed to just a general update feed from friends, making it easier to connect with people who share the same interests.  With this new emphasis on groups, even business Pages can now join groups and take part in group discussions where they can engage with target customers and share content and events.

• Facebook dating

Facebook Dating is currently only available in Colombia, Thailand, Canada, Argentina, and Mexico. Although Facebook is expanding it to 14 new countries, Hong Kong has yet to make the list. At this stage, businesses won’t be able to take part or place ads in Facebook Dating, but Facebook is not ruling out introducing monetization opportunities for businesses in the future.

Messenger

• New business solutions

Messenger will be launching a number of business solutions designed to help businesses generate leads, drive in-store traffic and provide customer care. Among these solutions is lead generation template in Ads Manager.  Businesses can create an ad that triggers an automated question-and-answer flow in Messenger to generate leads. In addition to the lead generation templates, Messenger will also launch an appointment booking interface which businesses can opt to integrate with their existing calendaring system. This functionality is still in beta and will be more widely available later this year.

Instagram

• Shopping tags

Businesses in the US currently with in-app checkout on Instagram (still in beta) will be able to approve individuals, e.g. influencers, artists and celebrities, to tag checkout-enabled products from their shops and let followers purchase the items within the app. This new functionality will extend businesses’ reach to potential customers and facilitate the shopping experience for customers.

• Improved camera

Instagram will be updating its camera interface and offer “Create Mode” which allows users to share a post without having to upload an existing photo or video. This feature, as Facebook stated, will benefit all accounts, business or personal.

Businesses can expect to be that much closer to their customers as Facebook rolls out all these exciting new features gradually in more countries.