Daum Kakao Search Engine – How to Use It and How It Can Help Your Business ?

With the increasing use of smartphones, Daum Kakao Search Engine (Daum.net) has become one of the most popular search engines in Korea. It is also useful for businesses who want to tap into this potential market. With more smartphone owners every year, there are now almost 80 million people in Korea that use their cellphones as the primary device to go online.  This means that most internet users in Korea are now mobile-only, and this is why Daum Kakao Search Engine has become more popular.

Daum Kakao Search Engine was created when Daum merged with Korean search engine company Kakao in 2014 to form a new company, Daum Kakao. Daum Kakao Search Engine is a mobile-friendly search engine that provides services to both its users as well as businesses who want to tap into this growing online market. Businesses can get more exposure for their business by using the optimized feature of Daum Kakao Search Engine, which will be discussed in this article.

What Is Daum Kakao?

Daum Kakao is the company behind the Kakao messaging service and Daum is a Korean web portal with many great services. They also have their search engine called Daum Kakao Search Engine, which has been around for a few years now. Since it was founded, its user numbers have steadily grown its market share.  With such a high user base, it could be very helpful for your business’ SEO efforts.

Search engine marketing is critical to the success of any online business today. It has transformed from a nice-to-have into an absolute necessity, especially for businesses in competitive industries like beauty and fashion or eCommerce. For many companies, Daum Kakao is more useful than other platforms because it has a local focus.

Daum

Daum is a web portal that was founded in 1995 and launched on December 20th, 1995 by the company “Daum Communications”.  It also offers a variety of services, including cloud storage (Daum Cloud), Daum Dictionary (for mobile devices), Daum Comics, and map service (Daum Maps).

Kakao 

Kakao Corp is the parent firm of KakaoTalk, one of the most popular messaging apps in South Korea. Kakao provides various services from instant messaging to finance and investments.  It is also known for KakaoTaxi, a transportation service that uses the same app as its messaging system.

Merger of Daum and Kakao

On January 26th, 2018, Daum and Kakao officially merged to create a new company called “Daum Kakao”.  As of right now, the two companies are still operating separately under their CEOs. They offer their services and products under different names and brands. They both continue to maintain their offerings while also working together on shared projects such as KakaoTaxi and Daum Cloud.

Kakao for Business

To use Kakao for business, you’ll need a Kakao Business account. The two previous types of business accounts on the Kakao platform were Plus Friend and Yellow ID. In 2017, the system was simplified to just one corporate account – the KakaoTalk Channel. Kakao has its own set of guidelines that businesses must follow when interacting with their contacts, which differs from email and SMS. As a result, we’ve provided the most effective strategies for using Kakao for business.

Finding Customers on Kakao

KakaoTalk does not like spamming. Because of this, a business must first set up a Kakao Business Account before creating messages that can be sent to potential customers. To get the ‘business account’ you need to log onto the official website of Daum Kakao and use their system. The company representative will have an ID number, password, email address that they can use for communications.

It’s possible to search for users by name or other content, but because KakaoTalk isn’t as popular outside of South Korea, the majority of users will only have a user ID. It’s always best to find out whether they use KakaoTalk and what their user name is before messaging them.

Businesses can buy promotional animals and images for users to receive as gifts. Kakao Talk is the most popular messaging app in South Korea – it contains a wealth of information about people and companies, and even allows official accounts to distribute coupons and other marketing material.

Direct Links, QR Codes, and Website Buttons

You may utilize direct links, QR codes, and website buttons to transmit a message on the KakaoTalk Business Account when your clients are already online. The Channel Manager in KakaoTalk has these capabilities. Direct Links, QR Codes, and Website Buttons are some of the most profitable ways to get new users on your KakaoTalk Business Account. QR Codes can be used to attract new and current clients to your chat. The simple scan and join feature of QR codes has made it popular among users.

Using a Website Button can help you, direct visitors, to your chat if you already have a large number of users visiting your website. When directing traffic to your chat utilize an image, link, or text as the call-to-action so users can easily find their way to your chat. Directing traffic to a chat with a link makes it easier for the user to click on it and then find their way through your search. The safer option is an image or text that links directly to your chat account. Direct Links may be used in newsletters to convert people on your customer list into KakaoTalk Contacts.

In-App Search

Users can directly search for your business on the KakaoTalk app without being directed to your KakaoTalk business account only through the click of a shared link. To make this feature available, you need to ensure you turn on the ‘allow search’ option or your business account through your settings as it is off by default.

Advertising on Kakao Moment

Prospective consumers are brought in through links and searches on the KakaoTalk app. How can they turn from prospects to clients? Advertising. 

Kakao Moment is the application’s advertising medium, where you are offered three types of advertising accounts business, personal and overseas advertising. Once you have chosen your relevant advertising account, you can get started on turning your traffic into leads. 

Messaging Customers

The KakaoTalk Channel Manager or any other business messenger app connected through API will allow you to respond to your KakaoTalk Contacts. Here are some key messaging features of this Korean app that you need to keep in mind.

One-To-One Messaging

All your consumers do not have to follow your KakaoTalk Channel to message you. KakaoTalk allows you to easily manage and filter your messages by different criteria, and you can respond to frequently asked questions through templates created in advance and respond through the app’s channel, but not the channel manager app.

Another thing to note is that read receipts are not given to either user, but ensuring timely replies guarantees a higher response rate, so don’t leave your consumers hanging for too long.

Broadcasting

Broadcasting features are available at ₩15 (USD$ 0.012) per general message, whereas every targeted message will cost ₩20 (USD$ 0.016). Targeted messages to a filtered audience can be done manually at this extra charge while businesses with over 30,000 contacts can also use the Smart Messaging functions which allow the organization to access highly specific targeted audiences through machine learning. The app is also very specific in that the content adheres to strict guidelines, and all practices on the app follow suit.

Kakao Business

Kakao Business is the all-in-one solution for all users to access their commercial needs. For example, the app allows a highly optimized mobile interface, along with advertising and marketing functions, supported by other supporting tools ranging from Kakao Wallet to Kakao Shopping.

KakaoTalk Channels

This helps businesses create an established presence on the app, which will increase the visibly of the company in the predominantly South Korean market. More and more South Korean consumers and other Asian markets can be tapped into simply by creating a strong foundation on the app and connecting with potential clients.

Promote Your Business

The app provides a platform to market and advertise your company. The features of this advertising tool extend from showcasing your brand as you like to with your content to allowing you to select and target users interested in your brand.

Variety of Services and Biz Tools

Kakao brings together all your customer data in one place, so you can engage with them more effectively. Kakao corp’s services for KakaoBusiness range from managing deliveries efficiently, and product subscriptions to being more than just a messenger app. 

Conclusion

Daum Communications and Kakao merged to introduce the Daum Kakao search engine. Together, they gather the data of their services, along with their shared service, and combine it to produce localized search results that are highly specific to users and their search intents. This makes the usage of these platforms great to penetrate South Korea’s consumer base as they navigate between the various services of the application, which will generate traffic to websites of businesses optimizing the usage of these platforms while ranking high on local search results.