What K-Pop Gets Right About Community (That Most Companies Still Don’t)

Actionable Takeaways from Joshua Zerkel

“From Optional to Essential: Integrating Community into Go-To-Market”

✳️ Design Community Into the Workflow — Not Around It

Josh's core message: community shouldn't sit on the sidelines as a "nice-to-have." In K-pop, if you remove the fandom, the entire launch system breaks; there's no distribution, no amplification, no momentum. The real shift happens when community is embedded directly into how the business operates, from onboarding to product to growth. Not only helpful, but required.

‍Action: Identify one core workflow (e.g. onboarding) and insert community into it e.g. peer examples in-product, community-linked onboarding emails, or real user conversations as part of the journey.

‍Measure: Changes in core business outcomes like activation, onboarding completion, or time-to-value, not just community engagement.

🔁 Start Where the Business Already Feels Pain

New K-pop fans don't get handed a static guide. They learn by connecting with other fans, watching, asking, and participating. That's the onboarding system. Instead of building new community programs and trying to prove their value later, Josh emphasizes starting with existing business challenges where there's already urgency and attention, and designing community into the motion that addresses them.

‍Action: Pinpoint a pressure point (low adoption, high support tickets, weak expansion) and ask: "How can community change this outcome?" Then integrate it directly into that workflow.

‍Measure: Improvement in the specific KPI tied to that problem (e.g. reduced support volume, increased feature adoption, faster onboarding).

🎯 Replace Community Metrics with Business Impact

In K-pop, you don't need a separate report to prove the fandom matters. The impact shows up immediately in chart positions, stream counts, and sold-out venues. Community often gets stuck reporting on engagement metrics that don't translate to the business. When community is truly integrated, you don't need a separate narrative; the impact shows up in business results.

‍Action: Align community efforts to metrics the business already tracks (retention, adoption, expansion) instead of relying on likes, posts, or member counts.

‍Measure: Direct correlation between community participation and business outcomes (e.g. higher adoption from community-engaged users vs. non-engaged).

Josh's session reframes community from something that supports the business to something the business can't function without. In K-pop, the system doesn't slow down without community, it just breaks. The goal isn't to make community bigger; it's to make it essential.

You can rewatch the session and revisit the highlights below!