There's a lot of data out there, in places where you don't expect it to be. One of these places is on the social media pages of airlines. We decided to look at the social media comments of 12 of Hong Kong's top airlines.

You've probably heard some variation of a brand's marketing lead proclaiming that "Brands need to listen" on social media. Well, there's some truth to that.

What customers say on your social media channels are the unfiltered truth. The good, the bad - you'll get it all.

We did some digging, and here's what we found.

Hong Kong's beauty industry is a huge opportunity for marketers, especially in the social media space. With so many beauty brands in Hong Kong, how do we cut through the clutter? It's becoming increasingly difficult to make a mark on social, with so many competitors flooding the market.

That's why we've created a Facebook beauty report, based on the top 10 beauty brands in Hong Kong by fanbase. Packed with actionable insights, this report will help inform your social strategy for future social campaigns. Download your copy today!

We trust you've read our article on the 5 life-changing websites for marketers. This time, we're coming to you with another 5, except this time for social media related topics.

Facebook IQ

Where else to get better research and insights than from the source itself? You can finally put an end to the office-wide wars of whether video should be vertical or landscape, which demographic groups are most active on Facebook and Instagram, and whether avocado toast was really the most talked about topic this summer (don't quote us on that one). https://www.facebook.com/iq

Let’s talk about the many misconceptions about Social Media in Hong Kong that we’ve observed. Some are unique to Hong Kong, and some are not.

1. The copy is too long.

This best practice has been talked about for years, but there are still so many brands writing for social like it’s a newspaper. And as a universal rule, no one wants to read long copy (there are special exceptions of course). So don’t write long copy.

In Hong Kong, we’re seeing more companies running User Generated Content (UGC) campaigns on social media.

So, what is UGC? It's content created by users that have the potential to create engagement or drive conversations.

At Catalyst, we often run UGC campaigns for our clients, and in the process, we’ve learned a thing or two we'd like to share.

Here are our top tips for running a successful UGC campaigns:

Coca-Cola wanted to make an impact during the 2016 holiday season, as they do every year, and came up with the concept that Coke could help create peace during the craziness of the holidays.

In their winter campaign titled “Here's to peace on earth. Or at least in the mall.”, they posted a short video on Instagram which featured people fighting over a jacket but finding peace and compromise with the help of a Coke. Their hashtag #Tastethefeeling was present in their caption.