Daum Cafe Blogger Promotion Collaboration Pricing in the US
To gear up for the upcoming year of the dragon, here’s how much it would cost US brands to collaborate with bloggers from Daum Cafe.
š” Daum Cafe Bloggers Are The KOLs Of Korea
Unlike most US influencers who promote brands on social media via posts, stories, and reels, Korean influencers do so in a much different way.
They are mostly found on Daum Cafe.
Daum Cafe is Korea’s largest forum platform operating as social media and web portal all rolled into one.
Just like how US influencers have their own niches, Daum Cafe bloggers also cater to specific audiences.
For example, there are over 900,000 Cafe groups in total, with many covering lifestyle topics like travel, relationships, food, Kpop, and more.
The largest forum on Daum Cafe deals with beauty and has a staggering 42 million members.
That is more than 1/8th of Korea’s entire population.
Despite having a smaller population size compared to the US, the K-blogging industry is booming.
Daum Cafe is very similar to Reddit but has a more user-friendly interface reminiscent of Facebook.
US brands targeting the Korean market can easily team up with Daum Cafe bloggers to promote their products or services effectively.
š Daum Cafe Blogger Pricing Table
Korean influencers charge around $2600 USD for a single promotional post on a Daum Cafe blog.
Here is the full pricing table.
| Promotion Type | Price (in USD) |
|---|---|
| Daum Cafe Blog Promotion | $2600 |
| Blog + Cafe Post Promotion | $2400 |
| Cafe Post + Blog + Daum Apology Promotion | $4500 |
| Blog + Cafe Apology Promotion | $3200 |
| Daum Cafe Apology Post Promotion | $3000 |
| Blog + Cafe + Daum Apology Video Promotion | $4800 |
| Cafe Post + Daum Apology Video Promotion | $3900 |
| Daum Cafe Apology Video Promotion | $3600 |
š Blog vs Cafe Promotion
Featured on the table is the difference between a blog post and a Cafe post.
Despite both being on Daum Cafe, they are two distinct forms of promotional content.
A blog post is what US influencers would call a static post.
It remains on the Cafe blog author’s profile, indexed on search engines, and can be commented on.
It has unlimited word count and can feature images and videos.
A Cafe post, on the other hand, is akin to a social media story.
It is meant to be time-sensitive, will disappear after a while, and is not searchable.
Cafe posts usually come with a pin, which makes them more prominent, but cannot be commented on.
The benefit of a Daum Cafe blog post is that it has a permanent online presence.
This makes it easier for potential customers to discover a product in a future search.
For this reason, it attracts a higher pricing than a Cafe post.
š„ Video Promotions
Korean influencers are also known to promote products through video.
They typically cost around $3600 USD.
The most common type of video promotion is the apology video.
That is when something goes wrong with a brand’s product or service.
If that happens, the KOL will apologize to their audience in a video.
The video is genuine and heartfelt, and captures the sadness of the blogger who let their fans down.
Honesty is very important to Koreans when it comes to advertising.
The apology video will usually feature the product or brand front and center.
This creates a great opportunity for US brands to make it big in Korea.
In the table, you’ll also see that it costs an additional $600 if they have to create an apology video.
Scamming and defaulting is common in Korea, and as such is a sensitive topic.
If something goes south with a collaboration, US brands will find that their reputation can be redeemed with a heartfelt apology video.
This is one of the reasons why US brands will seek Korean influencers to promote their products.
They have built a reputation of being more honest than US influencers.
š» Korean App Store Promotion
Daum Cafe bloggers are not the only KOLs that US brands can collaborate with.
Korean app store owners are also a popular choice for promo.
In Korea, the majority of mobile apps are on one app marketplace exclusively.
Unlike the US, where both Apple and Google app stores thrive, Korea has just one.
It is important for brands in the US to understand that app stores dominate the Korean digital landscape.
As such, partnering with a Cafe blogger is great for promoting physical products, while app store owners are the go-to KOL for apps.
Here is a breakdown of the pricing table.
| Promotion Type | Price (in USD) |
|---|---|
| App Store Review/Promotion | $7000 |
| App Store Review + Daum Cafe Blog Promotion | $9500 |
| App Store Promotion + Daum Cafe Apology Video | $10500 |
| App Store Review + Daum Cafe Blog + Apology Video | $15000 |
š Physical vs Digital Products
When it comes to pricing, KOLs are paid more if they promote digital products.
This is likely because they can reach a mass audience through one single post, rather than a physical product like a T-shirt, which may only reach a handful of people.
In the case of app store promotions, one app store review or promotion costs $7000 USD.
If combined with a Daum Cafe blog post, the price increases to $9500 USD.
But if an app is promoted through an app store review, Daum Cafe blog post, and a Daum Cafe apology video, the price skyrockets to $15000 USD.
That’s a whopping $8000 difference just for adding a video promo that doesn’t even require a lot of time or effort.
US brands looking to penetrate the Korean market must keep pricing in mind and budget accordingly.
ā Korean Influencer Marketing Risks
Recently, KOL marketing has gone haywire in Korea.
Many brands have been left disappointed when they find that their products were never delivered to the influencer.
They instead pocketed the commission and scammed the brand.
This has led to a surge in Korean brands filing complaints against influencers.
As a result, there has been a crackdown on KOLs, especially those on Daum Cafe who promote products.
The scandals reached a peak when a Daum Cafe blog that specialized in promoting expensive skincare products was shuttered.
The blog owner was duplicitous and never even had a blog on the platform.
They had been creating counterfeit blog URLs to scam cosmetics companies into sending them samples and luxurious beauty products.
The unscrupulous KOL lead a life of luxury while parading their spoils on Instagram.
Beauty brands turned to the blog to promote their products, which had an impression rate of over 1 million.
They finally got their comeuppance when a group of KOLs exposed the scammer for who they really were.
Korean influencers are still the best way to penetrate the Korean market.
But as this story illustrates, it is important to vet KOLs properly before collaborating with them.
Make sure they have a solid reputation, good reviews, and a healthy following.
Or else you might find yourself in hot water like all these brands did.