Kakao has launched "Promote Our Channel", a new product within its "Easy Ads" platform. Easy Ads, launched in June last year, is Kakao's self-serve advertising platform for small and mid-sized businesses — designed so anyone can run campaigns without an agency.
For anyone marketing in Korea, KakaoTalk channels function roughly as the messaging-app equivalent of an owned subscriber list, making follower acquisition a core SME objective.
The defining feature is the pricing model. The product runs on CPA — cost per KakaoTalk channel follow.
You pay for an actual follow, not an impression or a click. For a small business, that makes budget outcomes far more predictable.
Advertisers set their own bid, and Kakao supplies recommended pricing by industry category — pairing autonomy with a starting reference point for businesses with limited campaign experience.
Ads appear on the KakaoTalk Biz Board, with two creative types supported: standard and coupon.
The coupon format is the notable one. Attaching an immediate reward to the follow action gives it a far stronger conversion incentive than plain exposure.
Kakao provides reporting across:
The company says it plans to expand reporting capabilities further.
Offline coupon redemption appearing in the same report is the interesting inclusion. Seeing whether online ad spend produced a physical visit, in one view, is meaningful measurement for a local business.
Decide whether a follow is actually an asset. CPA pricing only works when you can value a single follow. Without a plan for what messaging will do after acquisition, a cheap follow is still waste. The follow is a starting point, not a goal.
Do not simply accept the recommended bid. Category benchmarks are averages. Calculate your own expected revenue per follower and set your own ceiling — absent that number, the recommended bid effectively makes the decision for you.
Add the coupon cost to the CPA. Acquiring followers via coupons layers coupon cost on top of media cost. True acquisition cost is the sum.
Watch retention alongside it. Followers acquired with a coupon can churn once the offer ends. Without checking 4-week and 8-week retention, optimising CPA alone degrades channel quality.
Kakao strengthening self-serve tools for SMEs mirrors Naver's direction. As covered in Naver Adds an AI Chatbot to Its Advertiser Centre, both platforms are competing for businesses that run campaigns directly rather than through agencies.
For what remains unresolved in Kakao's commerce strategy, see Kakao's AI Commerce Push: Recommendations Are Done, Checkout Is the Test. Follower acquisition sits at the front of that same funnel.
On a CPA basis — cost per KakaoTalk channel follow. Advertisers set their own bid, and Kakao provides recommended pricing by industry category.
On the KakaoTalk Biz Board, supporting two creative types: standard and coupon.
Reporting covers channel follows, TalkStore purchases and offline coupon redemptions. Kakao says it plans to expand reporting capabilities in future.
Kakao's self-serve advertising platform for small and mid-sized businesses, launched in June last year so advertisers can run campaigns without an agency.
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