Naver started off as Samsung’s inhouse venture project in 1999 and has since grown to become South Korea’s version of Google with approximately 40 million active users. Naver was initially intended to be one of the quickest search engines available in order to maintain the top stop as the most used search portal in South Korea. Although this became true, Naver’s subsidiary platforms is what has made the search engine soar in popularity and has made it more accessible to its many users. Through this blog post we will explore some of these secondary platforms as well as how having knowledge of them is key for businesses to excel in South Korea.
In recent years, Naver has focused on creating a personalized community experience to increase users time spent using Naver’s products and services. The platforms under Naver are designed for the best user experience and focus on emphasizing how people naturally live and then providing content for it. The SEO system on Naver is designed to promote the subsidiary Naver platforms above others so spreading your business content across Naver’s other platforms is ideal to effectively promote a brand.
Naver Shopping | 네이버 쇼핑
Naver Shopping is an online shopping aggregator where both small business and big brands can sell their products to a larger market. In other words, Naver Shopping acts as both a store front and is also a platform that spotlights independent businesses. Naver Shopping includes search results from similar companies like Coupang and Gmarket. Merchants can use Naver Shopping ads to rank above their competitors.
Though the website is technically advanced in SEO, the platform prides itself on feeling personal while promoting a clear shopping experience for both customer and online shop owners. Naver Shopping provides a range of items for its users and is the best example of what a digital department store can be. Its SEO system being vastly different from other shopping platforms has been paying off in recent years and Naver Shopping now makes an estimate of 5 billion annual sales through shopping transactions alone. Naver has specifically invested into developing services like Naver Shopping to become increasingly popular and a global ICT corporation.
Naver Blog | 네이버 브로그
Using the platform Naver Blog enables you to either write or read about tailored content surrounding specific subjects. As anyone can make an account, Naver Blog has quickly become one of Naver’s most used subsidiaries and similarly to western blogs, users can have likes, comments and subscribers on their posts to motivate the production of popular content. In addition to this, on Naver Blog there is also a creator rank, which is designed to promote popular blog posts based on positive interaction statistics.
The SEO for Naver Blog’s design is optimized to be used on a smartphone, meaning that the content is focused on being primarily visual, short and easy to understand. There are currently 16 million active blogs on the platform with millions of posts being published every day. As the content produced by users is not solely promotional, blog posts published through Naver Blog are seen as more valuable and sincere when compared to general social media promotion. Specifically, businesses focused around reviewable services such as food, beauty and housing have had their digital promotions heightened as a result of Naver Blog. When considering the online promotions of a physical brand in Korea, encouraging people to review via Naver Blog can be crucial to the increase of a business’ overall interactions.
Naver Café | 네이버 카페
Naver Café is an online community platform like Reddit where people can exchange information about a subject focus. The platform is mainly used as a way to connect users with common interests- such as those who support K-pop artists, gaming, diet & exercise and much more. Naver Café is unusual as most platforms would try and cater content to a wide of a audience, Naver Café focuses on bespoke club-like forms of media to keep café members subscribed to exclusive content. Through using this concept, Naver Café has had higher rates of use from its café members than trying to appeal to the mass market. The community experience is emphasized on Naver Café with brands having virtual café owners to manage both content and user interactions. In addition to this, being a member of a Naver Café also has tiered benefits to connect users closer to the content they are following.
Out of all of Naver’s subsidiary platforms, Naver Café is very unique to Naver and cannot be directly compared to any Western social media platforms. This platform is also useful in promoting brands through Naver’s overall advertisement layout for each platform page. The use of this can lead to an increase in a brand’s overall digital interactions and allows for communication between a brand and its users in a regulated yet personal way.
Naver Shopping Live | 네이버 쇼핑라이브
Naver Shopping Live is a relatively new service under Naver’s subsidiary platforms. Since its inception during the Covid-19 pandemic, the platform has become increasingly popular with both brands and its influencers. Naver Shopping Live is a platform where influencers can tag products that they use and gain incentives from the brands they promote. In addition to this, selected influencers can also do live streams through this platform, making it an ideal option for product marketing. Image based industries such as fashion, food and beauty brands are able to noticeably boost their product sales through the consistent use of Naver Shopping Live. If your business is also based in product sales and could be improved by live demonstrations, Naver Shopping Live can be a very beneficial tool in promoting your brand’s digital presence.
Naver Knowledge iN | Naver Q&A | 네이버 자식iN
Similar to Yahoo Answers or Quora, Naver Knowledge iN is primarily a question asking platform. This platform was specifically created to help develop discussions around various topics but this platform can also be used by brands to cater to their customers’ needs and wants in an effortless manner; helping them to problem solve in everyday life. Although performed in a genuine manner, the data and answers provided on Naver Knowledge iN can also be linked to other Naver platforms in order to promote products to users. Naver Knowledge iN is very popular domestically and among all of Naver’s subsidiaries, the influence of this platform should not be underestimated if you are choosing to aim your brand towards a Korean based market.
By creating content across Naver’s smaller platforms your brand will perform better in terms of Naver’s own SEO algorithm, so knowing how all of these platforms work is key to better audience engagement. We hope that through this blog post you will have the confidence to use Naver to promote your business in South Korea.
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