"Words Koreans Often Miss" Watching Daily Life Videos of Americans... Even Grocery Shopping Goes Smoothly [Content Commerce]

Native English Instructor from Michigan, USA
Kelly Jo Anderson's 'Kelly Ssam' Channel Gains Popularity
E-Book Product Launched Last Month Receives Positive Feedback
120 Reviews and a 4.99 Rating in the Second Week After Release

"For people learning English, American dramas (mid) are too fast and have the drawback of being useful only in special situations. I thought it would be great to have teaching materials that are both accessible and valuable."

Kelly Jo Anderson, a native English instructor from Michigan, USA, runs the vlog English learning content channel 'Kelly Ssam,' which captures the daily life of a native speaker. She appears on the channel together with her husband, Hong Seokhee, CEO of Influ (the company operating the Kelly Ssam channel), who worked for IT companies in the US and elsewhere for many years. The channel has attracted attention from overseas Koreans and people interested in English conversation, gathering about 149,000 subscribers in just over a year. Kelly Ssam met her husband during her exchange student period in Hong Kong and has lived in Korea for over 10 years. She has experience teaching English to a wide range of people, from students in Daechi-dong academies to startup CEOs and celebrities.

Kelli Jo Anderson (left), who runs the Kelli Teacher channel, and her husband Hong Seokhee, CEO of Influ. (right) (Photo by Cafe24)

Since its launch in March last year, the Kelly Ssam channel offers nearly 400 YouTube videos, shorts, and live content. Especially popular are vlogs covering common situations such as ordering at McDonald's in the US, shopping at Walmart, passing immigration, and daily routines like mornings, weekends, and holidays. Expressions used in American convenience stores or hotels have also recorded hundreds of thousands of views.

The Kelly Ssam channel provides various English conversation educational content. Since the content captures daily life, it receives positive responses by focusing less on rigid grammar and more on "conversation expressions that Koreans tend to miss." Kelly Ssam said, "For example, when responding to 'this morning,' Korean learners often say 'Today morning,' but 'This morning' sounds more natural. Also, when ordering coffee, instead of saying stiffly, 'I would like to have one cup of black coffee,' knowing that you can simply say, 'I'll do (have) a black coffee' makes subscribers feel more familiar with English."

This is a scene of the Calli couple appearing in the 'CSAT English, What if the top student in the US solves it?' content video on the Calli Channel. YouTube screen capture.

The Kelly Ssam couple personally creates and distributes free study materials that match the videos. The study materials summarize key words and expressions that must be learned from each video and include various example sentences. Thanks to these advantages, many videos on the Kelly Ssam channel have over 50% of viewers watching more than half of the video. The subscription conversion rate, generally known to be about 1%, exceeds 7% for many videos. Kelly Ssam said, "When learners find the teacher attractive, their learning momentum increases. I thought YouTube creators could play the role of a teacher well, so I started distributing English educational content on YouTube."

Since last month, they have entered the commerce market by launching e-book products using the 'YouTube Shopping' feature through the Cafe24 platform. This is because the weekly 20-page study sheets have accumulated to cover 6 to 7 months, and the number of viewers wanting advanced learning has increased. The e-books not only allow easy collection of study sheets but also provide MP3 files recorded at native speaker speed and subtitle files for shadowing practice. The e-books received excellent responses, with 120 reviews and a rating of 4.99 within two weeks of release. CEO Hong explained, "All videos on the YouTube channel act as salespeople for our products, and the creator activities multiply marketing effects exponentially, which I think is an advantage."

The goal of the Kelly Ssam channel is to be remembered as "the channel that teaches native speaker vlog English the best." Kelly Ssam is making efforts to build a bond with subscribers. Every morning, she personally checks YouTube comments and product reviews to leave replies and operates an email newsletter and KakaoTalk community for English learners. Kelly Ssam said, "The goal is to become a brand that is sought after first not just by simple subscribers but by people who want to learn English conversation effectively."