Hong Kong Digital Marketing 2021: Tips to Grow Your Digital Marketing Revenue
16 Jun , 2021

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There is always this magical attractiveness of Hong Kong. In spite of the global economic uncertainty at the moment, it remains as the prime target market for international business expansion with its location at heart of Asia and proximity to China. Winning in Hong Kong market, in other words, is becoming entranced by Asia Pacific and even the world. To achieve that when you are not based in Hong Kong, digital marketing solution is certainly your way to success. So, what are you still waiting for? In the following time, you will be equipped with every fact you need to know about Hong Kong Digital Marketing in 2021:

  1. Hong Kong’s Overall Digital Marketing Experience

  2. Hong Kong’s Digital Marketing Market

  3. Other Specificities of Hong Kong Digital Marketing

  4. Hong Kong’s Digital Marketing Opportunities


1. Hong Kong’s Overall Digital Marketing Experience

It is no secret that “smartphone zombies” are found to be glued to their phones and wandering everywhere and every day in Hong Kong — a land full of digital marketing potential. As of January 2021, there are 13.8 million mobile connections and almost 7 million internet users penetrating nearly the entire population. Over 6 million of Hong Kong people are also social media users which its number has increased by 1.7% in one year. The unstable COVID-19 situation has not shown to be squashing plans for the uprising digital marketing trend in Hong Kong.

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Overall Hong Kong Digital Marketing Landscape 2021

When people are spending more than 7 hours on the internet and nearly 2 hours on social media per day, it is a good enough reason to start doing digital marketing in Hong Kong. The extensive audience size is going to ensure a high reach even on your first Hong Kong digital marketing campaign ever!

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Hong Kong’s daily time spent with media 2021

Information is everywhere, but which digital marketing channel first comes to your mind when you are unsure about a product and want to look for its details or even review? I would say, “google it!”. Without doubt, Search Engine Google remains every user’s “best friend” in life that stands out from the top websites in Hong Kong. What is interesting to see are the various online news portals in the top 20 ranking such as HK01, on.cc and HKET, implying that you may have to take this website category into consideration for your digital marketing strategy in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong’s most-visited websites 2021

In 2021, Facebook no longer tops the most-used social media platform in Hong Kong but YouTube does! With about 87% of internet users going on YouTube, which is even higher than Facebook’s penetration rate last year, the data reminds us that video marketing is crucial for your 2021 Hong Kong digital marketing plan. The soaring video-focused platforms, TikTok and Twitch, specifying in their short videos and live streaming features respectively, are also worthy of note with their 11th and 16th ranks in the report. Click here to tap into our all-round tactics in video marketing.


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Hong Kong’s most-used social media platforms 2021


2. Hong Kong’s Digital Marketing Market

Back in 2017, AdmanGo’s ad spend report drew the attention from Hong Kong marketers and advertisers that television commercial (TVC) owned the largest slice of pie in advertising spend (33%). On the other side, digital ad was deemed to be the “poor cousin”, where businesses switched to when the market was down-turning, in the hope of getting promising ad performance with much lower cost.

Yet, you and I both know that it is totally not the case today. Mobile, the king of device ownership in Hong Kong, has increased its mobile ads media share by 14% in four years of time. Together with desktop (8%) and social media (14%), which is widely accessed via mobile phones, the various digital marketing channels aggregated 44% in total.

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Hong Kong’s Media Share and Total Ad Spend 2021

The “poor cousin” won over the reverence from Hong Kong advertisers and audience, assured by the HKD$1.23 billion of digital ad spending in the latest report. Amongst the categories, social media advertising is particularly prevalent in Hong Kong this year that the figure has risen by 24.8% to HKD$206.6 million. Though, search digital marketing have retained its number one position with HKD$638.1 million spent. Businesses, who just commence their digital marketing campaigns in Hong Kong, are highly suggested to focus their advertising spend on the search and social media ads first.

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Hong Kong’s Value of the Digital Marketing Market 2021


3. Other Specificities of Hong Kong Digital Marketing

The fact is that Hong Kong is diverse, a multiculturalist hub in Asia, with the continuously growing non-ethnic Chinese annual population including Filipinos, Indonesians, South Asians, Koreans, Japanese and whites.

Not only does the ethnic diversity explain the Hong Kong’s three official languages — Cantonese, English and Mandarin — as well as other languages at 1.9% use among the population, it also explains the citizens’ high acceptance of the fusion of very different cultures in this small society. This characteristic is indeed a double-edged sword for your Hong Kong digital marketing as you will have a large creative space in terms of content and strategy allowing you to target different audience groups. On the other hand, it may take more works than usual to tailor creatives to feed the diversified needs.

Meanwhile, people often have higher standard towards advertisement, expecting more meanings and uniqueness from your creatives. But don’t worry at all, as AsiaPac’s local digital marketing experts will take care of the dynamic content creation for you so just go on reading the attractive opportunities of Hong Kong digital marketing in 2021!


4. Hong Kong’s Digital Marketing Opportunities

As an extension of the above, search engine and social networks are the top primary digital channels for brand research, which are used by 48.1% and 44.2% of Hong Kong internet users respectively. Just a keyword and a few scrolls through social media, users can easily get a glimpse of the trendy brands and updates.

But it is not enough. Hong Kong consumers are more active in purchases and open to new brands, doing research beforehand and owning several products for the same purpose at the same time. For those who would like to take reference from others’ actual experience, they also discover brands via consumer reviews (36.4%) which are perceived to be a reliable and authentic source of information. Brands should carefully consider KOLs collaboration and content marketing, alongside the SEM and social ads, for your Hong Kong digital marketing strategy to reach the potential customers.

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Hong Kong’s Primary Channels for Brand Research

E-commerce industry is not only performing stably, but also providing more accessibility to Hong Kong people from all walks of life under the influence of the pandemic. Similar to last year’s, there are 85.4% of internet users aged 16-64 that have searched online for a product or service. It is more astonishing to see the 74% of users who have actually purchased a product online at the end — almost a three-fourth increase in online consumers is showed when it is compared with last year’s number (43%).


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Top 10 Online Shopping Platforms in Hong Kong 2021

With global revenue reaching USD7,598 million in 2021, e-commerce plays an important role in Hong Kong’s economy. Internet users are accessible to the popular online shopping platforms in Hong Kong as below. Do you realize most of them are FMCG and electronic companies? It is believed that Hong Kong people are in greater demand of basic necessities, smart devices and home appliances, and prefer to shop online reasonably on account of the “new normal” in 2021. FMCG and electronic sectors should take this opportunity timely with digital marketing campaigns in Hong Kong.

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Top 10 Online Shopping Platforms in Hong Kong 2021

Accelerating the international hub’s development, the local government has been setting the scene for building a Smart Hong Kong by various digital marketing strategies including promotion of digital payment, 5G service and other smart city infrastructures. Besides, the official blueprint reveals the government’s emphasis on IT, Fintech and tourism industry, putting forth strong promotions of Distributed Ledger Technology, monitoring virtual banks, Wi-Fi connections at multiple hot spots and smart tourism platforms. Taking a positive stance, the environment is favourable to technology and tourism industry which can be further enhanced by the powerful digital marketing in Hong Kong.


Summary of Digital Marketing in Hong Kong 2021

With the trends and insight we have given in the article, it is still important to review your business model before implementing any digital marketing strategy in Hong Kong. Whether it is KOL marketing or industry digital marketing, it is good to know and get well-prepared for the demographic and other local factors that may challenge your path towards the market. Nevertheless, doing digital marketing in Hong Kong will expand your business towards China, the giant pool of business opportunities. Consult from the best and start the digital plan today!


About AsiaPac Net Media

With an extensive digital marketing experience of serving more than 2,500 clients across Asia in sectors such as ecommerce, finance, gaming, travel, retail, beauty, FMCG, education, health products etc., AsiaPac’s expert team is highly recognized for the excellence in providing performance-driven services to businesses across Asia, and global corporates targeting Asia markets. If you’d like to learn more about AsiaPac and the work we’ve done, visit our Cases page. For more information on AsiaPac/ AdTech and our services, please contact us at info@asiapac.com.hk/ info@adtechinno.com.