Twitter Opens Hong Kong Office to Tap China's Outbound Brands

Although the platform is banned in China, Twitter's new Hong Kong office will target Chinese advertisers who are broadening their international horizons.

Twitter has officially opened a Hong Kong office to provide online and mobile advertising services to brands across the Greater China region. With this move, the platform hopes to tap into the growing number of Chinese companies now expanding into international markets – offering them exposure to its 288 million global monthly active users, 80 percent of whom are on mobile.

Though Twitter has been banned in China since 2009, Chinese brands are not new to Twitter – most recently, China’s state-owned news agency Xinhua used the platform in a rebranding exercise to reach Western audiences.

“We are capitalizing on this growing trend of the most ambitious, entrepreneurial, and successful Chinese companies wanting to go global, and we believe that Twitter is an essential way for them to connect and engage with the world,” says Shailesh Rao, Twitter’s vice president of Asia-Pacific, Americas, and emerging markets.

The opening of Twitter’s office in Hong Kong is further affirmation that companies in Asia are using social media in deeper and more complex ways, according to Thomas Crampton, global managing director, Social@Ogilvy.

“The value of having a local representative from platforms goes well beyond making it easier to buy ads. The proximity of platforms enables more creative and deep integration with brand strategies,” says Crampton. “We find the demand for direct contact with platforms grows as companies execute more complex uses of social media.”

The opening of the Hong Kong office, and another in Jakarta last week, form part of Twitter’s growth strategy in Asia. Fourth-quarter earnings for 2014 show international revenue grew 149 percent, accounting for 34 percent of total revenue.

Twitter is also looking to hire for two roles in Hong Kong, an account executive and a media partnership manager. The media partnership manager will manage and expand Twitter’s “creative relationships” with entertainers, celebrities, and media companies across Greater China.

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