How to become a fan-favorite in China (1)
The Story of Nanya姐姐
adoba first started in 2018 from the potential of Chinese platforms. China posesses a market worthy of 1.5 billion people. The same goes for the size of the platforms on which creators can be active. Platforms with hundreds of millions of Monthly Active Users(MAU) are competing with each other.
Today’s interviewee is one of our creators who is considered to be among the top Korean creators on Chinese platforms. Her combined number of subscribers on all platforms exceeds 500,000. Her content generates countless views as well, with a single video often getting hundreds of thousands of views.
This is Nama Jung, also known as ‘Nanya姐姐’. She is a very popular content creator in China, even winning an award at the year-end creator awards ceremony. She also won an award at a short video contest held by the Chinese Foreign Language Bureau with the theme of ‘China from a foreigner’s perspective’ in 2020, and was invited to the awards ceremony held in the mainland.
However, she will be unfamiliar to you, as she is not active in other regions. Nanya姐姐 is focusing on targeting Chinese viewers. The common scenario would be to start on YouTube first and then enter China, so her case is indeed a rare one.
We introduce the story of Nanya姐姐 and how she branded herself as a content creator in China.
[Full interview]
adoba: Hello Mrs. Jung, thank you so much for your time.
Nanya姐姐: The pleasure is all mine. I’m nervous because this is my first time doing an interview.
[Who is Nanya姐姐?]
adoba: We would like to begin by asking the meaning behind your channel name, ‘Nanya姐姐’.
Nanya姐姐: Nanya is how my Korean name ‘Nama’ is pronounciated in Chinese, and 姐姐(jiejie) means sister in Chinese. You can interpret it as ‘big sister Nama’.
adoba: It is very interesting that your debut stage as a content creator was in China. How long have you been active?
Nanya姐姐: I started in 2018. My debut was certainly a belated one. I started on a platform called ‘Youkou’ and gradually expanded to other platforms like ‘bilibili’, ‘Douyin’, ‘Haokan Video’, etc.
adoba: How did you come to think of Chinese platforms in the first place?
Nanya姐姐: When I was in middle/high school, Chinese dramas and singers were quite popular in Korea. I actually had a huge crush on a handsome Chinese singer named Jimmy Lin(Lín Zhìyǐng) back in middle school, so I went on to major in Chinese until high school. I have always wanted to understand the lyrics while listening to his music. I guess this seemed odd to other people. Most people said that they came to the Chinese language department because they wanted to become a diplomat or join a global company. But I was very sincere about my motives.
Nanya姐姐: I spent my school days immersed in Chinese culture. Later, when I was working, I faced moments when I felt skeptical about my job after 10 years. While thinking about how to change my life in a positive way, creating video content was one of the ideas that I had at the time. I gave a lot of thinking to the subject of the videos, and the Chinese culture kept coming to my mind. Probably because it was reminiscence of a time that was undoubtedly my purest and happiest.
adoba: Once you had the desire to become a content creator, did you immediately take action?
Nanya姐姐: Yes, I consider myself quite the driving force. I was quite familiar with creating content because I have been active on SNS and blogs. I thought of it as a simple transition of format from texts and photos to videos. Of course, my early videos were extremely sloppy. I still feel cringy thinking back to the time when I was making my very first video. I was shooting a short video with my mobile phone at a local comic book store, saying things such as “This is a place to read comics in Korea.” and “In Korea, you can eat ramen noodles while reading comics!”.
I uploaded the video on Youkou with my not-fluent Chinese at the time, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the reactions it was generating. People leaving likes and comments amazed me, which triggered me to keep going.
adoba: When did you start feeling that you were being loved by the Chinese viewers?
Nanya姐姐: I drew a lot of attention by making reaction videos. I originally posted daily vlogs about visiting restaurants in Korea or travelling in China. The overall direction of my videos had to change drastically with the outbreak of COVID-19. Vlogs were completely out of the picture due to all the restrictions. I started filming reaction videos on Chinese culture while looking for content that I could create at home, which led to my number of followers skyrocketing. I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence, but I think it also may have had something to do with people having more time to watch videos at home due to the pandemic.
adoba: How did you manage to be loved by the viewers for such a long time?
Nanya姐姐: I consider sincerity and diligence as my biggest weapons. Chinese viewers leave countless comments. I always try to leave a reply back as much as I can.
adoba: How many replies are you leaving exactly?
Nanya姐姐: There would be more than 1,000 comments on videos with over 150,000~200,000 views. There were times I would stay up until 3~4 in the morning to leave replies. It takes me quite a while to figure out the exact meanings of the comments as they are in Chinese.
[The reason behind Nanya姐姐’s overnight fan communication]
adoba: I cannot imagine how exhausting it is to leave comments when you should be long asleep. Is there any particular reason for this?
Nanya姐姐: I will have to admit that it is exhausting, but I do it because I appreciate all of them. They are always there for me throughout all the good and bad moments. Even when my little brother got diagnosed with COVID-19, we received a lot of support through comments. They are all precious people to me. I think I have become more sincere as a content creator by communicating with these people.
adoba: What do you usually talk about?
Nanya姐姐: People who come to watch my videos all have an interest in Korean culture. When I upload a video about Chinese culture, people comment about Korean culture that Chinese people can relate to regardingly. For example, if I upload a video about Wang Yibo, people would comment about Kim Soo-hyeon. (to familiarize the example, they are both rising stars in their respective countries)
The comment section becomes more active if I talk about dramas in particular. We share opinions on casting decisions and acting performances, and talk about similar Korean dramas. I think people are attracted to my channels because of the ongoing discussions and sympathies alongside my videos as well.
adoba: It’s very interesting that a reaction video can serve as a forum for a certain topic.
Nanya姐姐: Couldn’t agree more! There are numerous chances to talk to fans when creating content. I’ve seen quite a few occasions where fans share opinions between themselves without my presence. So when I make a video, I always invest a lot of time thinking about the topic and format that many people can relate to and share their opinions on. I had even chosen reaction videos as the topic for my master’s thesis, because I was highly engaged to it.
adoba: Could you tell me more about the content of your master’s thesis?
Nanya姐姐: I summarized what kind of videos I have uploaded on Douyin, my intentions behind each video, and the effects achieved as my master’s thesis at the Graudate School of Design. I came to the conclusion that the two pivotal factors for reaction videos to remain popular are ‘communication’ and ‘friendliness’.
The most memorable comments I have received from my fans were actually about how I was the reason for them overcoming their negative impressions of Koreans. I was very pleased to realize the positive impact I was making through my content.
Although I am settled on Chinese platforms, many people still leave negative comments when there is a national conflict between Korea and China. On those occasions, my fans have my back by saying ‘This sister is not who you think she is.’ without me having to step up for myself.
