Bringing Korean pop to global with Digital Marketing

Bringing Korean pop to global with Digital Marketing - By Alex Lee

Every single happening in stars’ social media on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube is filled with the talk of the town for their fervid fans. Indeed, social media has been playing an effective role in promoting celebrities through word of mouth and communicating with their fans around the globe instantly.

This is no exception to Korean pop music scene. For instance, Psy’s “Gangnam Style” went viral through YouTube last year, creating countless parodies around the world. It was also cited by world-famous celebrities including Tom Cruise, Britney Spears, and Anne Hathaway on their SNS, which fueled the worldwide sensation as well.

Likewise, major entertainment agencies in Korea are making great use of digital media such as blogs or YouTube as a marketing strategy.

SM Entertainment, the rank #1 entertainment in Korea, launched its official YouTube account in 2009 to propagate various music and visual content created by its artists to their global fans. As of today, nearly .6 million people have subscribed to the page, the largest number among YouTube channels operated by Korean companies. Its official Twitter page “SMTOWN GLOBAL” has more than 1 million followers.

The second biggest agency in Korea, YG Entertainment, has also jumped on the “digital” bandwagon. The company ardently encourages their artist to use their own SNS”. Tae yang, a member of one of the sensational all-boy band group in Korea called “Big Bang”, had secured his accounts on almost every existing social media platforms as he is an ardent user of SNS who has a wide fan base in various countries. For instance, Twitter messages were reproduced more than 267,000 times by his followers during that period as Tae yang offers various stories and daily events for his international fans through diverse SNS channels.With the help of social media, Tae yang and his other members was recently named as the most influential K-pop star,, according to Treum, an online research company that analyzed SNS accounts of major Korean stars.

Many fans of K pop noted that they feel much closer to their idol stars communicating via facebook and twitter, and makes them feel being part of their stars’ life.

K-pop's online buzz has become a way for artists to make a name for themselves at home. However, it must be noted that use of social media doesn’t always bring a positive impact.The disadvantages relate to celebrities’ SNS has been seriously an emerging issue as not a few celebrities are using it to the max without thinking about its negative results. For example, some artist in Korea was recently accused of posting a lame excuses on Facebook page after telling lies on TV shows, and some are went through tough time after leaving online comments about political or social issues.

-Source: Time, “Korean Pop, with Online Help, Goes Global”

http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2013227,00.html