Seihaku’s Blogmarketing Bible

As the wave of Web 2.0 entered the domestic market, we had become like the sunflower whose sole gaze is on the foreign piece of information. Although shown to be ineffective, their words are becoming the very trend of Web 2.0, influencing all domestic Web 2.0 concerned parties. The current situation seems no different from a cult scene, full of fanatics and their leader.

Indeed, the word Web 2.0 may be a word that could be a great Internet troll in itself. However, we can all agree that Web 2.0 will be revolutionary. But different aspects of accepting the topic of Web 2.0 are all subtle. Global enterprises, who create the global standard, can view the research results of many netizens on the Internet in real time, even if they are given just the topic, and are able to simulate it against the various equations of business. Maybe, they, including Google, are already in the process of databasing all the creative ideas of the geniuses around the world had researched, through a secret search engine. And it is interesting to see that such system is adequately practical with today’s technology.

Then, what should the Web 2.0 related officials of Korea must approach the topic of Web 2.0 in order to create added value? Let us not mention any technological or literary approaches here. Today’s industry are divided by 1% innovators and 99% followers by the development of networks. And technology are equalized in a sense that anyone can imitate another technology. Eventually, rather than creating localized added value, it would be more of a realistic approach to create a global added value by having a convergence between a few expert areas.

If a FTA is concluded between US, Europe and Asia, an enterprise will collapse if it cannot establish competitiveness in a global market, regardless of the its competitiveness in Korean market. Furthermore, Internet related Korean Web 2.0 firms will have a tougher time due to its low entry barrier. A necessary management strategy in such circumstances are obviously securing world class competitiveness of Asia, Europe, US, not Korea.

In this aspect, there is no meaning to the efforts and passion of many Web 2.0 followers whose intention is to deploy a business exactly according to the foreign global enterprises. I hope that they won’t make the foolish mistake of creating a business model according to the logic following their predictions, even if they accept the same information.

99% of Web 2.0 related logic are developed in a similar way. You will not be able to create added value if you pool in on the idea of mass psychology in developing your business. Why? there will be many more who will run their business in a similar idea and methods. And furthermore, foreign global firms will watch you, looking at the business litmus results, and then start a global business through its size advantage, reentering the Korean Market - a worst case scenario.

With these assumptions, the safest bet would be to find a small stream on the side and create an added value from it instead of following the big stream global Web 2.0 trend. First, obtain all Web 2.0 information entering Korea from overseas; refine its logic; predict any forces that may have a business plan out of it; then find and concentrate on a small area where it can create added value where it doesn’t look too profitable for them to infringe upon.

It may be a very small market from out viewpoints, if you consider how the market expands to the whole world in a Web 2.0 standard, you can create added value beyond all our imagination.

Think. Google or few Web 2.0 related top enterprises throw in a topic of interest. Through a specific keyword, if a business development of certain individuals, enterprise business models can be databased, then applied in a business equation to simulate short and long term to test the business in a virtual world, hundreds of time, will it be an overstatement?

We must have a business mind at its maximum in order to protect the innocent, passionate Web 2.0 related people of Korea. That is also protecting our future from the unseen powers of Web 2.0 and a way to secure our survival in case of transcendent authority.

A thought comes to my mind: “Are we merely doing someone else a favor? Like the saying, “Look at Korea for the future of Internet“, there is no country in the world other than Korea which materializes the information technology with a dynamic and thriving energy. Korea is recognized as a strategic location for global enterprises and a testing site for future trends.

Unlike the small market size in Korea, global enterprises form a large economy. So it is likely that they are analyzing Korean Internet business models in detail to reflect it on their next project. To be frank, something that can’t produce profit on a small Korean Internet market, on the other hand, be a business model that can be a big part in a huge global market. In the end, we need to seriously consider joining efforts with the foreign global corporates because we cannot overcome the profit limit created by the size of the small market.

Solidarity or M&A strategies must be examined with anticipation in the aspect of survival and a direct communication channel with a foreign global businesses must be secured also. Would joining forces between a small domestic UCC firms and a foreign global firms be possible? Maybe not in a common sense. But you must remember that blogs and UCC together can overcome all these limitations.

Numerous global firms are looking for new business models and items, and many more venture firms are hoping to find a global firm that will fund or support them. In this very issue of survival, it won’t be an overstatement to say that the most important thing isn’t the level of perfection, but in communication. Technology, are bound to be edited and reinforced according to the market and that allows the technology of global firms to have greater power. That’s why our competitiveness lies in communication and we must focus on it.

You may disagree but we all know well that the low assessment does not come from the level of Korean technology being too low. What we lack is brand power, and this brand is a battle of recognition, and this battle of recognition is eventually a high level communication. This is rather a general process in the industrial sector.

Taking an extreme logical leap, in the aspect of quality, a survival of the firm depends on the difference between brands and non-brands, among similar products. The future is the age of communication and you must deeply understand that it creates added value.

You must realize that the lifespan of Web related technologies are getting shorter and shorter. In this aspect, Korean Web 2.0 related firms need excellent communicators just as good as the engineers. If we compare the added value of an excellent engineer versus as excellent communicator, the results will be obvious to all.

It is such a meaningful phrase: “Let technology face towards men, yet unseen” Let us look to the past. The UI of Macintosh and Windows are quite similar in terms of technicality. But anyone who used Macintosh UI at least once feels often discomforted by the Window XP’s UI. Also note those who are maniac about using Macintosh.

Although only a small detail, flawlessly gliding feel of mouse; icon designs that are easy to understand without look at the manual; comforting display as if you’re looking at a real desktop; efficient yet simple to use are what draws users into it again and again. Looking at how a world wide competitive products can be made with data that touch human emotions, you can conclude that technology is completed by the perfecting communication.

Now, if a global venture enterprise is to be born, engineers and communicators need to research and think together to develop a human-centered technology. Communicators who possess deep understanding of culture and human, especially human senses; who can make the bloggers of Korea and of world the value of tangible and intangible; and who possess balanced sense of technology, culture, human, business, Korean and Global will be the leading star in the ages of Web 2.0 and furthermore Web 3.0.

Generally, in most cases website is already set up and at the same time, shopping mall is opened to develop Internet marketing, occasionally adding advertising banners in search engines and portal sites during events or promotions. Corporates are in necessity of introducing blogs into marketing today. Why? Aren’t the two tools, website and shopping mall, enough?

Management, who believed that they just had to open websites in order to get many netizen visitors to click are experiencing utter failure of their expectations. What is the reason? In Web 1.0, contents of websites provided adequate value, but in Web 2.0, unilateral contents of homepages fail to establish a value, even worse, unreliable.

Customers who wanted to find objective information on the product fast learned that the information on websites weren’t any different form that of the catalogs, and have experienced activity restrictions by the site managers so these customers have grown to express their strong opinions on other outside public bulletin boards such as dcinside

Eventually, a corporate focused contents on websites have been maintained without any readers and corporates have somewhat given up on fundamentally drawing more people to collect customer interests by spending enormous budget to bring about a change. Events and promotions can stir temporary interests but it alone cannot realistically resolve the fundamental problem the lies beneath.

In the end, management strongly feels a need for an alternative to a homepage which is limited. Would like to see the same contents everyday? Why do you think the news contents of portal sites are placed in the most important location?

Going right to the conclusion, websites cannot overcome its current extent due to the limitation of being used as a official medium of the corporate. Consequently, it must used as an official channel like existence, symbol and just cause the reason marketing is omitted here is that in the process of advertising website contents through events and promotions, it must utilize banner ads or overture ads in portals to be exposed to netizens.

In order words, search engine results can be optimized as the marketing expense is reduced by continuously creating and posting contents with various ads and marketing materials on individual blogs. Of course, it would be best if banner ads of portal sites and blog contents advertising go hand in hand.

In conclusion, the corporate on-line system must form a triangle system of website, blog and shopping mall as the final destination, and in this process draw continuous customer interest equipped with independent utilities if a competing firm’s product is exposed in a Internet search result, now is the time to move. Customers are bound to be interested in a carefully created contents, in a sense that they can’t experience the product they are comparing. Remember that the importance of contents is incomparable to anything.