Naver Cafe is an online property under Naver Corporation. Naver Cafe focuses on community building, with each Cafe being privately owned by a user of the platform.
Our previous article on this topic goes over the basics of the platform and how users can interact with it. In this article, we will focus on how businesses can use Naver Cafe as a platform to advertise their products or services.
This is a first-of-a-kind marketing service offered by an agency on the Korean market, so continue reading to find out more about the process behind it.
Different forms of advertisements on Naver Cafe
Naver Cafe offers 2 types of advertisements – display ads and native ads (sponsored posts).
- Display Ads – those ads appear as either horizontal banners or videos at the top of the Cafe, and are the first elements users see when they enter the Cafe. It is important to note that Naver Cafe does not support vertical banner formats.
Even though the banner format is horizontally fixed, there is a lot of room for creativity. The ads can either be static, interactive, or in a video format.
As illustrated above, the ads are stacked on top of each other, which means that there is a lot more competition for viewers’ attention, so you should make sure that your ad sticks out the most in comparison.
- Native ads – they function similarly to posts on Naver Blog – you can create a post and have it pinned at the top of a Cafe of your choice. While this type of advertisement is often significantly cheaper the the display ads, it also tends to be less attention-grabbing.
How to advertise on Naver Cafe
Advertising on Naver Cafe does not have a fixed formula. Each community is privately owned, and thus, each community has different rules regarding everything – from the ability to post content to advertising. Thus, the research process may be a bit time-consuming. Below, we have shared the usual step-by-step routine:
- Research the communities that interest your niche.
- Read the rules in case advertisements are prohibited.
- Check out the advertising deck if available.
- Contact the owner in Korean with your inquiry.
First, research and find the communities that focus on your niche – whether it is education, fashion, hospitality, etc. As the platform is entirely in Korean, non-Korean speakers will encounter difficulties navigating and understanding the rules and content.
Second, before reaching out, observe whether the Cafe is currently displaying any forms of advertisements. If there are none, the chances are that the Cafe does not allow ads, which would probably be stated somewhere in the Cafe rules. Contacting the owner despite the “red flags” could result in being permanently banned from the community.
Third, contact the owner of the Naver Cafe. Their personal information is not publicly available, so you will have to email them via their Naver ID and await a response. Most Cafe owners do not speak English, so communication will be in Korean. Avoid tools like Google Translate, as poor translation can hurt your credibility. If you do not have a Korean-speaking employee, hire a translator. Use AI tools only as a last resort, and opt for Naver ClovaX over ChatGPT for Korean.
Fourth, the owner of the Cafe will respond with their pricing – each Cafe is privately owned, so the prices will always be different. Be prepared to provide your business license, invoice details, any additional contact information, and the advertisement assets in Korean. The Cafes usually have decks with the different advertising options, so when sending an inquiry, you can be specific and shorten the process substantially.
Keep in mind that the advertising period usually has a minimum of 1 month run time. Due to this monthly schedule, most Cafe owners would request that you are ready in advance with your assets. Remember, most of them are average 9-5 workers, so you should not expect them to have a lot of flexibility and overall knowledge.
Our role in the process
At InterAd, we act as the intermediary between you and the Naver Cafe. We will handle all the communication, research, and negotiations on your behalf alongside the management of the advertisement. Our team has over 22 years of experience in the digital marketing field in South Korea – specializing in Naver Ads, Naver Blogs, Korean SEO, and Google Ads – so we guarantee that you are in good hands.
Benefits of advertising on Naver Cafe
Reaching targeted audience
Naver Cafe is organized into 25 main categories, each containing multiple subcategories. In total, there are over 100 different Cafe types, allowing your business to target even the most niche audiences.
The image below illustrates all 25 of the diverse main categories of Naver Cafe.
One of the most popular categories is travel, which is particularly beneficial for companies in the hospitality industry, as it allows them to promote their hotels within the relevant Cafes.
Many of these Cafes overlap in content and audience. For example, “Naildong Japanese Cafe” – a community with over 2 million members – features tips about Osaka. At the same time, a Cafe called “Osakaholic Travel Cafe” focuses exclusively on Osaka, and has around 1 million members. This overlap means your brand can advertise across multiple channels while still reaching the targeted audience.
Trust and loyalty
Building trust is one of the most crucial steps when entering the South Korean market. The country holds one of the highest uncertainty avoidance rates in the world – 85% according to Hofstede – which means that Koreans are very wary of foreign businesses. This is why we have dedicated so many articles on the South Korean nuances from topics as simple as payment methods or social media to more complex ones such as Korean SEO.
As aforementioned, advertising on Naver Cafe requires direct communication with the Cafe owner. These people typically work the mundane 9 to 5 hours – they are neither influencers nor business owners. Because they represent the everyday consumer, their opinions are highly trusted by their communities.
When a Cafe owner agrees to feature your business, it shows that you are trustworthy. This makes your business reliable and incentivizes people to check it out.
Conclusion
After reading this article, you have now familiarized yourself with a whole new way of advertising – Naver Cafe. This novel service can only be offered by companies such as InterAd that have several decades of experience in the industry. Contact us, and one of our experts will reply within 24 office hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does having a Naver Cafe increase my Naver SERP rank?
Yes, it does. Naver values backlinking more than Google in terms of SEO. Having multiple external websites linking to your main page would increase your credibility, which would incentivize Naver to rank you higher on the SERP.
Is Naver Cafe a coffee shop?
No, Naver Cafe is not a physical store. Naver Cafe is a digital property owned by Naver that operates similarly to an online forum. Familiar international platforms include Facebook groups and Reddit pages.
