influencers are storytellers. When you look closely, everything
in our world is made up of content kim is
a garlic farmer and a Youtuber. I first opened
a Youtube channel while looking for ways to help build
trust with customers who purchased my garlic by showing where
it comes from. The reality of rural Korea is
that we can no longer find the answer by just
farming. I think that in the end all farmers
must develop their own brand, increase their brand value
and become an influencer in order to survive and grow
. He's also a student at Diego Cyber University,
which launched the country's 1st Department of Influencer Studies.
I'm taking six courses at the university on influencer marketing
, branding, planning and communication. I'm trying to
apply the skills, I'm learning to my content courses
in digital marketing and communications are taking off globally as
platforms like instagram and Youtube take a central role in
influencer culture. Duke University's full credit course, building
global audiences better known as the Tiktok class, teaches
undergrads how to optimize their presence on social media apps
, Korea's Daegu Cyber University says it aims to cultivate
content based media influencers and industry experts. Our students
include those who want to build their careers in multi
channel networks or multi platform networks based on their understanding
of influencers. Some people are coming from the advertising
industry trying to produce quality content with influencers more efficiently
. 45 students enrolled in the first semester of its
four year curriculum. The university has been working with
the provincial government and conglomerates like C. J.
N. M. For the past five years to
develop global influencers, Joo's company. Al blanc is
a team of fitness influencers, creating a range of
content from home workouts of logs and even expanding into
e commerce. Were a group of people receiving instant
feedback from the public. We need to sometimes create
viral content that satisfies the advertiser and gets likes and
comments from viewers Today. It's got over 1.8 million
subscribers on YouTube. We are on a lot of
different channels from YouTube to Tiktok Instagram and a Chinese
video platform. Yo says each platform under his company
generates over$40,000 of monthly profit. So our channel
is called DK DK Tv and we mostly cover K
content including k pop culture, k food, k
dramas and everything about Korea basically with his partner,
Danny kim. He explains the cultural context behind k
pop music videos and lyrics and offers a korean perspective
for the global audience. His channel Garners 10-
$20,000 per month. Our main mission is to bridge
the cultural disparity or gap between Korea and the world
. In 2020, the size of the global influencer
marketing industry was estimated at$9.3 billion 17%, which
is very high. It's become such a powerful market
. In 2021 hashtag south Korea gained 40 million total
engagements across all social media platforms up from 33 million
in 2020 influencers like kim are now expanding their business
beyond creating content. We're trying to expand our brand
to e commerce nowadays, So we established a company
called Naked Soul where we curate authentic korean products and
ship them to the global audience. Still, experts
say the influencer industry is very new, voicing the
need for caution and regulation. The importance of the
influencer market is growing and the industry itself is growing
rapidly, but it's not yet been systematically established yet
. I think it's necessary to have a balance system
that can protect consumers while activating the markets that the
influencer market can function properly, used to be really
introverted. But I think my personality has changed a
lot as I continue to tell stories and create content
, influencers are storytellers using their stories to attract and
move people in the digital space Okay.