Hong Kong Tourism Board Social Media Platforms - Discover ...
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Hong Kong Tourism Board Social
Media Platforms
1
Background
Travellers and their travel behaviours are changing. They have higher expectations and are
looking for unique experiences - authenticity is their primary motive. From tourists to explorers,
experience is everything, from product to experience.
So, we launched a new brand campaign “My Time for Hong Kong”. It communicates the variety of
experiences and emotions travellers can enjoy in Hong Kong. Speaking to travellers from their
perspective and puts them at the centre of the story.
Hong Kong packs a wide variety of rich and diverse experiences into a compact area that is easy
and fast to get around. From fascinating contrasts of East and West, urban and nature, to modern
and ancient, Hong Kong is a unique city offering much sought after the world over. The campaign
aims to portray these unforgettable moments and experiences that can be had in Hong Kong.
2
Marketing Hong Kong
We built our marketing on content that told stories about authentic Hong
Kong experiences, from the perspective of locals, experts and travellers.
In Hong Kong, we have a rich resource of experiences. From it, we can
extract stories that resonate with travellers; stories they will want to share;
content that will inspire them to come to Hong Kong and create their own
stories.
This is perfect for the medium of the internet and with social media, where
it is natural to share experiences, thoughts and feelings, and to join and
build communities to share information.
bring home
Travellers want to a great story.
3
HKTB Social Media Platforms
Social Media has become an indispensable platform for the travel industry to speak to its
target customers so the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has various Social Media profiles
on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LINE, Tencent, WeChat and
Weibo to increase exposure and create a platform for communication and interaction.
Objectives
HKTB’s social media accounts aim to maximize its reach to potential visitors and promote
Hong Kong as a preferred travel destination.
Increase fan base to broaden reach of promotional messages.
Engage potential visitors overseas by developing creative and visually appealing content that
showcases Hong Kong’s brand essences, core strengths and mega events.
Acquire a community of loyal fans to spread the word about Asia’s world city and to build
brand affinity amongst this community.
4
Facebook Fan pages
HKTB has various Facebook pages to
target various markets including a global
page in English to target a mass market
Page name: Discover Hong Kong
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong
5
Taiwan Facebook page
Facebook page in Traditional Chinese
(Taiwanese) targeting the Taiwan market
Page name: 香港逗陣行
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong.tw
6
Japan Facebook page
Facebook page in Japanese targeting the
Japan market
Page name: Discover Hong Kong - 香港政府観
光局
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong.jp
7
Australia Facebook page
Facebook page targeting the Australia
market
Discover Hong Kong (Australia)
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong.au
8
Korea Facebook page
Facebook page in Korean targeting the
Korea market
Page name: Discover Hong Kong - 홍콩
여행의 모든 것
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong.kr
9
Russia Facebook page
Facebook page in Russian targeting the
Russia market
Page name: Discover Hong Kong -
Откройте для себя Гонконг
https://www.facebook.com/discoverhongkong.ru
10Twitter
HKTB has various Twitter accounts to
target various markets including a global
page to target a mass market.
Username: discoverhk
https://twitter.com/discoverhk
11Twitter - US
Twitter account targeting the US market
Username: HongKongTourism
https://twitter.com/hongkongtourism
12Twitter - UK
Twitter account targeting the UK market
Username: HKTourismUK
https://twitter.com/HKTourismUK
13Twitter - Japan
Twitter account in Japanese targeting
the Japan market
Username: HKTP_JP
https://twitter.com/HKTB_JP
14YouTube
HKTB has a global YouTube account in
English to target a mass market
Username: Hong Kong
https://www.youtube.com/user/hongkong
15YouTube - Taiwan
A YouTube account in Traditional Chinese
(Taiwanese) to target the Taiwan market
Username: 香港旅遊頻道
https://www.youtube.com/user/hongkongtc
16Instagram
HKTB has a global Instagram account
to target a mass market
Username: Discover Hong Kong
https://instagram.com/discoverhongkong/
17Pinterest
HKTB has a global Pinterest account to target a mass market
Username: Discover Hong Kong
http://pinterest.com/discoverhk/
18LINE
HKTB has a LINE account
which is bilingual in
Traditional Chinese
(Taiwanese) to target the
Taiwan market and English to
target a global market
Username: Discover Hong
Kong
19Sina Weibo
HKTB has a Sina Weibo
account in Simplified Chinese
to target the China market.
Username: 香港旅游发展局
http://www.weibo.com/hktb
20WeChat - China
HKTB has a WeChat account
in Simplified Chinese to
target the China market
User ID: hktbwx
21WeChat - Taiwan
HKTB has a WeChat account
in Traditional Chinese
(Taiwanese) to target the
Taiwan market
User ID: hktbtw
22Tencent
HKTB has a Tencent account in Simplified Chinese to target the
China market.
Username: 香港旅游发展局
http://e.t.qq.com/asias_world_city
23Promoting Hong Kong through Social Media
Visually appealing content was created to meet the business
objectives of HKTB and at the same time to arouse interest by
entertaining, informing and engaging potential visitors, often
promoting the city with beautiful and unique images from all over
Hong Kong and providing interesting news, travel tips and updates or
facts about Hong Kong.
Social Media Strategy:
Dynamic and creative content strategy such as ‘Hong Kong Now’,
‘Hong Kong Insider’s Guide’, Event promotions, ‘Talk The Talk’,
‘Best Vantage Points’, and competitions.
Cross promotion of content across HKTB social media platforms –
building synergy and consistency of the brand and reach.
Collaborating with LINE.
Collaborating with social media influencers.
Showcasing UGC and user experiences.
Integration and cross-promotion of HKTB social media platforms.
24Hong Kong Now
To reinforce Hong Kong as a preferred travel destination and let potential visitors
learn more the city, we introduced Hong Kong’s attractions, creatively done
through the series ‘Hong Kong Now’.
It put a spotlight on a district in Hong Kong to introduce different areas and
provided tips on what could be done visiting the area, as well as being a nostalgic
reminder for those who had already visited - giving them a talking point to express
their fond experiences in the comments or tag their friends. It also provided a real-
time look at Hong Kong to allow people to feel as if they were in the city whilst
educating on the type of weather conditions at that time of year.
These could be shared on our various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
and Pinterest.
25Hong Kong Insider’s Guide
The Hong Kong Insider’s Guide is a series putting the spotlight on particular
districts in Hong Kong, usually non-tourist areas to show a different and more
authentic side of Hong Kong, as well as providing tips and advice from local
insiders.
Promotion for the Insider’s Guide started with a collage introducing the district
and it’s unique elements, followed by ‘Hong Kong Now’ posts and in some
cases a YouTube videos (Cantonese: Talk The Talk with Carlos Douh).
26Best Vantage Points
We also developed a series giving fans tips on where to find the best
vantage points for taking photographs or viewing the city, allowing us
to attract people by showcasing our infamous skyline images, while
still providing handy travel advice to them.
Again, posts were promoted across different social media platforms
like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
27Event promotion
Hong Kong has various highlighted events throughout the year which were
promoted through visually driven stories. For example, Chinese New Year, was
promoted through the teaching of Chinese New Year blessings in Cantonese
using traditional, Chinese calligraphy style characters. The phonetic ‘pinyin’
was added underneath the characters so non-Chinese readers could learn how
to say the blessings.
The specifications of the images fit the Facebook cover photo, allowing people
to replace their covers, or just share online or print them out for good luck.
Each blessing included a QR code to our website with our social media
channels as well as cross-promoting our other social media accounts with the
usernames of our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account.
28Event promotion
To provide live and immediate coverage on what was happening in the city, we
also held live updates from the events to share the atmosphere so people
overseas could experience without being in the city, whilst also providing
information to in-town visitors on things to do.
The photographs taken try to capture the event from different perspectives.
Again, all were shared on social media and had a strong visual hook.
29Collaborating with LINE
To increase awareness of the New Years Countdown Celebrations,
HKTB collaborated with social networking app, LINE, providing an
interactive communication channel for the event so visitor’s could
easily engage with one another through the exchange and sharing
of messages, images, video and audio - enhancing their
experience of the occasion using the app and giving us the
potential for mass international reach with their database of over
480 million users worldwide and 170 million active user accounts.
As well as broadcasting on our dedicated LINE account, the event
was promoted across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube,
with custom-made videos of the LINE characters in Hong Kong.
30Cantonese: Talk The Talk
Continuing on the theme and success of teaching Cantonese from the Chinese
New Year blessings, we collaborated with YouTube curator Carlos Douh to
teach useful Cantonese that could be used by tourists when visiting Hong
Kong – either for ordering or understanding where there are no English menus.
Carlos gained some International popularity online for teaching Cantonese
slang, so we collaborated on a few videos under themes which aligned with our
promotions - promoting Hong Kong on multiple levels. For example, teaching
Cantonese slang at a Hong Kong special event - the Hong Kong Dragonboat
Carnival, and featuring districts in our ‘Hong Kong Insider’s Guide’ campaign
whilst introducing iconic or specialty Hong Kong foods during Hong Kong
Wine & Dine month.
31Cantonese: Talk The Talk
The ‘Cantonese:Talk The Talk’ series included videos and food flashcards, and
provided people with useful information - places to visit, foods to eat,
Cantonese slang/words to say in Hong Kong, but with an entertaining and
unique approach.
The flashcards could also be collected as a series and or printed and used for
ordering food in Hong Kong. By selecting different popular and iconic Hong
Kong foods for the flashcards, we also educated on must-eat foods and found
they proved popular in allowing people to reminisce and share their experiences
of having eaten that food when they were in Hong Kong, or tag their friends
because they wanted them to try it in Hong Kong.
These could be shared on our various platforms like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter and YouTube.
32Collaborating with Social Media Influencers
HKTB co-created content for social media with leading social media influencers
including YouTube curators, Instagrammers and popular bloggers. Via their social
networks, we extended our reach and enhanced the credibility of our messages.
Content was produced for HKTB’s own social media platforms with the social
media influencer also promoting HKTB’s channels to their followers, and
producing content on Hong Kong for their followers.
For example, fashionista Gary Pepper Girl created blog entries on her Hong Kong
trip; the 16,000 Panda’s world tour posted updates on social media as they visited
iconic Hong Kong spots and featured in a HKTB brand video; Instagrammer,
Murad Osmann, continued his ‘Follow Me to’ round the world series in Hong Kong
with a fan meet-up and re-created their own ‘Follow Me to’ photo; and
Instagrammer, Tyson Wheatley, featured in a HKTB brand video as well as
provided photos for an Instagram take-over of the Discover Hong Kong account.
33Competitions – Ask the Boss!
Whilst the content strategy helped
with organic growth for the fan base,
online promotions boosted growth by
actively acquiring new fans.
‘Ask The Boss’ was a unique
engagement program whose main
objective was to show Hong Kong
hospitality by offering a competition
to fans to win a trip to Hong Kong
and giving them a VIP experience at a
major-event so they could become
Hong Kong advocates and share their
feelings and experiences to other
potential visitors.
The concept also tied in with the
promotion of our new ‘My Hong Kong
Guide’ app - the app helps prepare
everything for your trip to Hong Kong
so all you simply needed to do was
‘Ask The Boss’ to take your holiday. 34Ask the Boss! - Winners
There is more power and influence with real
experiences and ‘word of mouth’ when it is
coming from a trusted source, such as a friend
or family member, so it was valuable that the
winners could share their unforgettable
experiences before and after their trip on their
social media channels or blogs, and potentially
become Hong Kong advocates. (See left with a
winner posting whilst in Hong Kong then re-
posting a photo months later to reminisce about
his “Memorable”, “Unforgettable” experience.)
With ‘Ask The Boss!’, the winners’ had their
wishes fulfilled by providing them not only with
a trip to Hong Kong but the special Hong Kong
experience they selected in the competition,
which they shared with their networks on social
media, to then be re-shared on HKTBs Facebook
page to tap into our fan’s feelings and emotions,
showing real and authentic Hong Kong
experiences from people who had visited Hong
Kong as a more compelling reasons to visit
35
Hong Kong.UGC
To harness the power of user-generated content (UGC) and as part of our
experiential marketing direction, as well as our winners’ stories, we
encouraged travellers to become storytellers.
We promoted the adding of our hashtag #DiscoverHongKong on traveller’s
photos so we could then aggregate and share on our social media channels to
show appreciation and acknowledge them, as well as increase word-of-mouth.
36Integration & cross-promotion of HKTB social
media platforms
Discover Hong Kong’s social media platforms are also
cross-promoted on other channels, such as on our
DiscoverHongKong.com website, HKTB’s monthly and
standalone eNewsletters, and HKTBs YouTube, Twitter and
Instagram accounts and also offline materials such as
event posters and leaflets, to get more exposure to target
audiences.
37
Discover Hong Kong website (www.DiscoverHongKong.com) and eNewsletterIntegration & cross-promotion of HKTB social
media platforms
Discover Hong Kong YouTube
Channel cross-promoting the
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
and Pinterest accounts.
38Integration & cross-promotion of HKTB social
media platforms
Discover Hong Kong
Instagram account cross-
promoting the Facebook
account.
39Integration & cross-promotion of HKTB social
media platforms
Discover Hong Kong Facebook
account cross-promoting the
Instagram account with a Facebook
app
Displaying photos from the HKTB
Instagram account as well as
photos from users who have tagged
their photos with our hashtag
#DiscoverHongKong.
40Integration & cross-promotion of HKTB social
media platforms
Offline Promotion of HKTB’s social media channels: Promoting Facebook on Overhead
Beams at the Hong Kong International Airport and in advertorials/ leaflet/posters.
41HKTB Social Media fans
Number of fans/followers on HKTB Social Media Platforms (as of 31 Dec 2014):
Facebook (Global): 870,693
Pinterest: 1,360
Facebook (Taiwan): 395,968
Facebook (Japan): 37,950
Facebook (Australia): 50,820
Facebook (Korea): 677
Facebook (Russia): 2337 LINE: 29,833
Twitter (Global): 39,134
Twitter (USA): 43,344 Sina Weibo (China): 1,658,336
Twitter (Japan): 9,501
WeChat (China): 153,609
YouTube (Global): 8,936
WeChat (Taiwan): 41,336
YouTube (Taiwan): 4,125
Instagram: 7,866
Tencent (China): 82,612
42Conclusion
By the end of 2014, HKTB had over 3.1 million fans across our social
media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest,
YouTube and Weibo. This meant 921,201 more fans compared to the
previous year, an increase of 42%.
On just the global and Taiwan Facebook pages, the average number of
people talking about the pages increased from 7,285 per day in 2013 to
22,770 per day in 2014, a huge growth of 213% in total interactions.
On Instagram, our hashtag #DiscoverHongKong was used 27,001 times
by the end of 2013, and grew to 88,326 by the end of 2014, another huge
increase of 227%.
Engagement also increased on Twitter with 8,375 interactions
(favourites+comments+retweets) in 2013 to 40,467 interactions in 2014, a
huge increase of 383%.
We added emerging social media platform, LINE, to our portfolio last
year, which generated more than 700 thousand video views over just a
few days.
43Thank You
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