Facebook Ads is one of the most cost-effective and analytical marketing tools in the industry. However, it is neglected by many small and medium businesses in Hong Kong. Here’s why Facebook Ads has the potential to become an essential part of your marketing strategy.
Regularly overlooked, Facebook Ads have become an integral component of many successful marketing campaigns. According to
Statista, Facebook possesses an astounding 82% penetration rate of the Hong Kong community (6.75 million users out of a population of 7.4 million residents). Despite this, traditional channels of marketing are still the leading choice for most marketers in Hong Kong. However, the benefits of Facebook Ad campaigns demonstrates a clear cut advantage over more traditional methods of marketing.
Analytical, Targeting & SEO Benefits
Major brands in Hong Kong still rely on general market research and A/B testing to generate marketing content which in turn, generate performance reports that only offer a broad overview of what works and what doesn’t.
In comparison, Facebook Ads offer a macro and micro-scale approach in targeting features and analytics. The targeting options in Facebook Ads possess an unrivalled level of granularity that ensures only the most relevant and prospective users are targeted, therefore shifting the focus to quality, not quantity, in terms of audience reach. This is evidenced by the average conversion rate of Facebook Ads falling around
9.2%, a significant jump in comparison to Google Ads’
3.17% conversion rate.
In addition, the analytics offered by Facebook Ads allows for immediate and in-depth data that aids marketers in identifying valuable business and marketing opportunities to drive campaign decisions and improve marketing return on investment on a real-time basis. In comparison, many traditional marketing channels fall under a static data model loop that does not facilitate immediate and dynamic analytical data reporting, which can result in delays in refiguring marketing campaigns or promotional materials. This can be extremely costly in today’s market where the majority of consumers cite
“fast response times to issues, needs, requests, and suggestions” as the most important attribute of a brand.
For instance, a skincare brand could be promoting a new line of products via 3 different Facebook advertisements; advertisements A, B & C. If dynamic data from Facebook suggested that a specific demographic (i.e. women, 35-40, married, working) strongly responded to advertisement C, the campaign could be immediately reconfigured to emphasise targeting that demographic with advertisement C solely, optimizing conversion rates and improving MROI.
Unbeknownst to many, Facebook Ads can also have a positive impact on improving a business’s SEO performance.
When Facebook Ads draws relevant users acquired from a specifically targeted campaign to a website, it is likely that such users will spend a lot of time browsing the business’s website due to the contents within the site being relevant to the target users’ interests. Subsequently, the effects of longer-periods spent browsing the website and lack of bounce rate will translate into a stronger SEO. Conversely, a generic marketing strategy drawing in a large volume of general audiences instead of relevant audiences will produce more bounce rates and have a negative impact on SEO.
Ultimately, if a business is not capitalizing on Facebook Ads, the business is not only losing out on a highly effective way to engage and connect with potential leads, but also access to dynamic data that could present new opportunities. These opportunities could take the form of predictive models, demographic insights, faster turnaround times in marketing strategy changes, and more.
Despite overall presenting as a lucrative marketing opportunity, an unprepared Facebook ad strategy implemented in Hong Kong could have disastrous consequences without proper strategizing and development. The myriad of backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic classes in the city accentuates the need for proper localization in order to correctly engage with the target audience. In addition, marketers inexperienced with Facebook analytics may not properly capitalize on the vast amount of data on offer, instead focusing on general clicks and leads, rather than demographic/geographic insights and understanding how those variables can contribute to a stronger and dynamic data-driven marketing strategy. With over 6.75 million Facebook profiles on offer in Hong Kong, the wealth of data and analytics on offer by Facebook Ads arguably makes the service one of the most advantageous tools for marketers, and one that cannot be ignored any longer.
