Weiboyi published the “Marketing Trend of Xiaohongshu Platform” in 2022, which analyses the marketing value of Xiaohongshu, its launch trend, direction and recommendations in detail. Here is an overview of the highlights of the report:
1. Xiaohongshu users are heavily involved in content production, mostly young upper-class women, spreading to various young strata, first- to third-tier cities and men’s circles. Xiaohongshu platform has 200 million MAU with high purchasing power, loyalty, high interaction and youthfulness.
2. Compared with other popular content platforms in China, Xiaohongshu has a more intuitive content format, a more universal content product and more efficient content delivery, and a more acceptable consumption threshold
3. Xiaohongshu is very important to the younger generation of internet users, from basic needs such as food, housing, and transportation, to important life moments, more young generations flock to Xiaohongshu with “usefulness and purpose”. The content of Xiaohongshu comes from the real-life experiences and attitudes of users. Today, Xiaohongshu has become an encyclopedia for young people on the internet.
4. The content has been expanded, from pure beauty to all aspects of life, covering a comprehensive range of consumer products. The content of Xiaohongshu continues to expand from beauty, personal care, fashion, food, travel, digital, entertainment, education, and other aspects. Male traffic has entered the market on a large scale and more and more male users are using Xiaohongshu (31% male users in 2021, 17.4% in 2018)
5. Xiaohongshu platform promotes high-quality content and labels, categorizes content, bloggers, and users to provide more accurate content recommendations; introduces the CES (like + favourite + share + comment + follow) scoring mechanism, based on user interaction, increases the chances of seeing notes created by creators.
6. Xiaohongshu’s high-quality decision-making platform meets the various needs of users on the path of consumption decisions through a smooth flow between different fields, from browsing to search, the real choices of users, profoundly influencing the purchase desire and decision-making
7. E-commerce on the Xiaohongshu platform connects users and bloggers, builds brand influence, efficiently transforms users’ thoughts, and forms a unique business ecology.
8. The connection of search and transaction conversion from Xiaohongshu to third-party e-commerce platforms has been established, and the user interaction data obtained on Xiaohongshu and the number of searches on Tmall are stable, with an average of about 5-10 interactions per search
The launch trend of the Xiaohongshu platform and its importance for Chinese marketing
Xiaohongshu’s marketing advantages are prominent
From the advertiser's perspective, the number of orders purchased on the Xiaohongshu platform has increased, the number of commercial accounts on Xiaohongshu has increased significantly, and more and more amateurs have published high-quality notes that have good value for business cooperation. The number of accounts traded on Xiaohongshu has surpassed Weibo, an increase of 39% in 2021.
The industry-wide marketing volume has increased
Beauty cosmetics and daily use cosmetics are still the most intensive industry in Xiaohongshu’s marketing layout, but other sub-sectors have shown significant growth trends, including the IT network industry and home appliances with the fastest growth rate.
Moving away from T1 & T2 influencers
Mainstream advertisers have reduced the budget of macro influencers and increased cooperation with mid-tier (tier 3), KOC (tier 4) and amateurs (tier 5).
Mid-tier influencers are an important asset
The contribution of mid- and micro-influencers to viral articles has greatly improved, and the transaction price of mid-tier (tier 3) and KOC (tier 4) has more advantages over CPE
Xiaohongshu marketing suggestions
The Rise of “KCKU – KOL/Content/Keyword/Up(Boosting)” delivery strategy:
1. Talent strategy and layout (KOx)
Six dimensions to screen Xiaohongshu's quality talents:
Basic data: Account fine-label tags
Audience match: Audience preference assessment
Content quality: Impact assessment
Commercial quality: Conversion assessment
Growth quality: Health assessment
Value for money: Execution assessment
2. Content Delivery strategy (Content)
The viral note strategy is based on honest sharing and highlights the altruistic benefits of the content. There are many types of content, of which reviews, crave lists, and sharing are more likely to go viral
Cover of viral notes: Reinforce the sense of graphic design and highlight the theme; the sense of authenticity is eye-catching; the style should be consistent with the brand
Title of viral notes: Build suspense to arouse users’ curiosity; use an analogy to stimulate users’ interest; emphasize the impact and highlight the attraction points; use a pre-label to attract eyeballs, etc.
Text of viral notes: control the word count and include keywords in the text, mainstream topics around Xiaohongshu, add viral topics
3. Keyword strategy (Keywords)
Choose a high-interest, low-volume topic with potential keywords in the notes
Set brand core keywords to guide the active search for brands
Keyword rank optimization placeholders (for details, please contact us about CSEO services)
4. Booster tool strategy (Up)
Leverage Xiaohongshu’s marketing accelerator (use Xiaohongshu’s friend circle, news feed ads and search ads)
Please contact us to start your Xiaohongshu marketing plan. To get the full report, click here to download it.