Era of Digital Content Creators

Local businesses to meet global social media influencers at IISF

By Kang Aa-young

Digital content creators from 30 countries and industry experts in beauty, food and beverages will gather in the Songdo Convensia exhibition hall near the port city of Incheon this weekend.

From Saturday, the two-day Incheon International Single Media Festival (IISF) is expected to attract some 20,000 people amid the boom in so-called 'one-person media,' according to organizers.

The Incheon Metropolitan City government, with the Incheon Business Information Technopark, came up with the idea of hosting the event to help local businesses find online marketing experts who can help them with business opportunities in online markets overseas.

'We've got many phone calls from local businesses who asked us if we could help them meet social media influencers such as China's online star Wang Hong who exerts considerable influence on Chinese consumers,' an official from the Incheon Metropolitan City government said.

'We also met many businesses in the food and beverage industry and they were wondering if we could help them set up meetings with influential digital content creators in their fields.'

During the two-day event, business matching between the two sides will take place and digital content creators will advertise their programs.

Several high-profile social media influencers, including Big Marvel and Wang Hong, will join the event.

Big Marvel is an up-and-coming YouTube creator, specializing in creating music content.

He has over 55 million subscribers on YouTube.

Calary Girl, better known as 'Officer Worker A' among Korean bloggers, is a YouTube creator in beauty and makeup and she offers makeup tips and skincare solutions with reviews of skincare products.

Her reviews have encouraged many women to buy the products. Over 11 million subscribers have tuned in to her program

Comedian-turned-makeup artist Kim Ki-soo will also join the IISF.

Kim began creating beauty videos on YouTube in 2012 and has some 111,764 subscribers.

Founders of ACAU, a YouTube channel specializing in broadcasting gaming content that has 13 million subscribers, and China's internet celebrities, known as 'Wang Hong,' including BiBi, ZhuZhu, will also join the event.

Food truck owners were also invited to the event and will collaborate with cooking show creators to showcase their dishes.

The organizers said the IISF aims to create business opportunities for young people to revive the local...