(코리아 중앙데일리 – Feb 01, 2012) Connecting with customers, one follower at a time

Grill5taco, a popular fusion taco restaurant in the Garosu-gil area in southeastern Seoul, went from a small taco truck mimicking the success of Korean-style taco trucks in Los Angeles to a full-grown restaurant, thanks in large part to the owner’s decision to use Twitter as its main marketing tool.

(중략)

Like Grill5taco, other small- to medium-sized businesses in Korea are making social media work for them. Experts say that in key industries around the world, smaller businesses have more to gain from marketing via SNS than major companies.

"There is more to gain through SNS for these smaller companies because social media is readily accessible, free and simple to use," said Jace Junghwan Lee, senior consultant at Social Link, which provides social media consulting to companies.

Revenue doubled in less than a year for online meat shopping mall Dotoree Sok Chamnamu in 2010, when the owner, Kim Tae-jin, started a Twitter account. The meat company started taking orders via customer tweets, making it easy for smartphone users to order produce.

In addition to traditional retail businesses, Korea’s entertainment companies, including SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, have all embraced social media to connect to fans and market their K-pop stars on a global level. SM Entertainment launched its official YouTube channel in 2009, posting music videos of Girls’ Generation and SHINee. Girls’ Generation’s music video for the song “GEE” became the most internationally viewed K-pop music video on YouTube.

(후략)