What is Xiaohongshu? How to Market on China’s Instagram

Xiaohongshu’s adaptable features set it apart from other social media platforms, as its content is grounded in reality. Authenticity on Xiaohongshu translates into effective marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences, resulting in higher conversion rates. Additionally, the app differentiates itself further from traditional media in two key ways:

1. Long-term engagement and interest: Xiaohongshu focuses on long-term engagement and cultivation of user interests. The app applies an “anti-funnel” strategy to identify and engage core user groups, leveraging word-of-mouth to expand both reach and influence.

2. Active search behavior: About 45% of Xiaohongshu’s users demonstrate active search behavior, which closely aligns with the decision-making processes of consumers. This active engagement suggests that users are not just passively consuming content but actively exploring products and services, making it a powerful platform for targeted advertising and brand growth.

What Do Users Like About Xiaohongshu?

Xiaohongshu has earned a special place in the hearts of its users thanks to its user-friendly interface, interactive features, and vibrant community that collectively pursues fresh, practical, and intriguing lifestyles.

Iris is a frequent user of Xiaohongshu. She admits to opening the app multiple times a day, and emphasizes that “there is a lot of trendy and niche lifestyle content shared on Xiaohongshu, which allows me to discover more novelty.”

Marketer Kelsie highlights the platform’s robust search function, emphasizing how it has become an indispensable tool for her decisions. “When it comes to choices like where to go, what to eat, or even applying for schools or searching for jobs, I often turn to Xiaohongshu to seek other people’s opinions and use them as references.”

Many Xiaohongshu users have grown so reliant on the platform that it has become their go-to search engine. This is because individuals encounter many everyday challenges, and Xiaohongshu capitalizes on this demand by offering immediate, real-time solutions. Need guidance on editing your first video? No worries, there are tutorial videos already posted. Unsure about selecting a ripe melon? Xiaohongshu has you covered with a handy checklist to ensure you pick the sweetest one. Looking for weekend getaway ideas? Simply type in your desired city and preferred activity, and you’ll be flooded with many inspiring suggestions.

Finally, what is Xiaohongshu if not for its sense of community? This fact is strengthened by active interactions where users exchange opinions in the comment section, whether it’s resolving everyday problems, suggesting products, or discussing the latest TV shows.

What Are the Differences Between Instagram and Xiaohongshu?

Though they are often compared to each other, Instagram and Xiaohongshu exhibit distinct differences in user demographics, functionality, and user experiences that make them very distinct. In summary, Instagram emphasizes showcasing personal life and fashion trends, whereas Xiaohongshu leans towards information sharing and shopping-oriented content. But let’s go over each topic in more detail.

1. Functionality

Instagram centers on photos and video sharing, allowing users to display their lives through pictures, stories, and videos. Xiaohongshu builds on this, with users sharing informative or shopping-oriented content.

But what sets Xiaohongshu apart is its recommendation feature. Since users are inclined to search on this platform with specific objectives, content creators craft their posts around targeted keywords for which users are likely to search. Consequently, the content and topics that show up on users’ homepages often correlate with their previous search history, as well as their likes and bookmarks. Xiaohongshu also incorporates shopping features, enabling users to purchase recommended products directly through links.

2. User interaction

On Instagram, users traditionally engage with their network through liking, commenting, and sharing posts. It also offers many interactive features, such as Stories and Reels, allowing for various content types. While interactions often revolve around one’s social circle — including friends and influencers — it’s not uncommon for users to share and engage in informational content.

In contrast, Xiaohongshu, better bridges social media and e-commerce. It’s a platform where users primarily share shopping tips, product reviews, and lifestyle insights. The community-driven atmosphere encourages users to actively question, share experiences, and exchange advice in comment sections.

However, just like Instagram, Xiaohongshu isn’t devoid of socially oriented interactions. While distinct in their primary objectives, both platforms showcase a blend of social and informational exchanges.

3. UI/UX

Instagram adopts a clean, user-friendly design. Its visual hierarchy ensures a seamless browsing experience. Stories are positioned at the top of the screen, while a timeline and a “see translation” option enhance the user experience beneath each post. This layout allows users to easily browse the feed, discover content, and interact with others, such as in this example:

Xiaohongshu adopts a different approach, placing a stronger emphasis on content. Unlike Instagram, where images and videos’ aesthetics and visual impact are the essence, Xiaohongshu prioritizes the combination of text and videos. A cover image should be strategically paired with an intriguing title to get attention, enticing users to click and jump into the content. It looks like this:

How Does Xiaohongshu Generate Revenue?

According to the Financial Times, “80% of Xiaohongshu’s revenue came from ads, and 20% came from e-commerce.” Advertising and e-commerce are weaved into the platform in intelligent ways. For the former, there are multiple entry points, including:

• In the Xiaohongshu community, posts are referred to as “notes.” When users tap on “Discover,” they’ll encounter an advertisement for every ten notes they come across.
• Paid-for promotional articles.
• Brand Profiles: These are specialized accounts on Xiaohongshu that cater to branding, product promotion, and transactions.
• KOL Partnership Program: Xiaohongshu features the “Pugongying” platform, designed to connect brands with influential Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) they’re interested in partnering with.

On e-commerce, Xiaoghongshu has its own integrated cross-border e-commerce platform called Fulishe. The system allows Chinese consumers to purchase overseas products directly through the app.

How Can Mobile Marketers Make The Most of Xiaohongshu?

There are multiple ways to reach your audience on Xiaohongshu. Though direct advertising is a common and straightforward way to get your brand out there, you should consider influencer marketing with key opinion leaders (KOLs) and e-commerce in your overall Xiaohongshu marketing strategy. Let’s break each of these down:

Direct Advertising on Xiaohongshu

To succeed in advertising your brand on Xiaohongshu, you need to focus on three main goals:

1. Building brand reputation.

2. Displaying branding effectively.

3. Engaging the audience.

Of course, you can advertise immediately when you sign up for the app’s brand account. But the platform’s algorithm heavily relies on factors such as follows, comments, collects, and likes to rank and recommend content to users’ home pages. Content with higher engagement scores gains better visibility and reaches a wider audience. As such, you must build credibility to effectively advertise your app.

Furthermore, when designing ads themselves, brands need to pay special attention to creating eye-catching titles and cover pictures. Such elements are the first users encounter before deciding whether to delve into the content. Captivating text descriptions with relevant hashtags and keyword phrases enhances search visibility and ensures the content reaches the right audience.

There are two main types of advertising on Xiaohongshu that can help you get the word out: in-feed ads and search ads. Let’s look at each in a little more detail:

In-feed Ads

In-feed ads introduce users to new information and lifestyle inspiration as they navigate the discovery page. Tailored to the user’s gender, age, and location, in-feed ads seamlessly integrate into the feed, appearing in the sixth position and then at every ten spots.

Some benefits of the in-feed ads include targeted reach to specific audiences, multiple touchpoints to nurture interest in potential buyers, and improved conversions.

On Xiaohongshu’s platform, there’s a distinction between the “Sponsored” and “Advertisement” labels. While “Sponsored” is mainly used internally within Xiaohongshu, “Advertisement” typically signifies an outbound link. Such ads play a crucial role in the initial phases of brand promotion and enhancing brand visibility.

Search Ads

In keyword searches, posts that rank higher receive greater exposure and impressions. Advertisers select relevant keywords based on their product or service characteristics, and they are charged when users search for these keywords and click on their posts.

When users enter search terms, the ad system identifies valuable commercial keywords to display relevant content. These ads appear on the search results page, starting from the second or third position.

Live Streaming

Livestreaming is a paid promotion tool on Xiaohongshu to help boost commercial traffic and enhance brand visibility. Streamers can publish announcement posts with click-to-reserve links to raise awareness before the livestream and enhance conversions during the event.

What Content Formats Are the Most Effective?

Effective content takes the form of “notes,” which can be image or video-based, and incorporate various components such as product showcases, private messaging, online storefronts, and dedicated landing pages.

The essence of producing quality content (notes) lies in presenting the product in diverse contexts that align with potential customer experiences, creating settings or environments that reflect the interests of the target audience, and conveying a central message or value proposition that resonates with viewers.

How Can You Start a Campaign on Xiaohongshu?

Juguang (Aurora) is Xiaohongshu’s ad delivery platform, catering to advertisers’ varied marketing objectives. To start marketing on Xiaohongshu, a brand has to make a Xiaohongshu account, complete the official account verification, obtain certification on Juguang, and then they can launch ad campaigns on Juguang.

The strategic phase of ad delivery begins by defining marketing needs, formulating ad delivery plans, setting up ad units, aligning with quality creative content, and continuous optimization to guarantee the campaign’s success.

How to Create Viral Content on Xiaohongshu

The secret to creating popular content on Xiaohongshu requires captivating titles and covers, appropriate emoji expressions, and relevant hashtags.

• Titles and covers: Attractive titles and covers entice users to click and explore. Covers should be clear, highlight key points, and be aesthetically pleasing. Xiaohongshu users value aesthetics and visual experience, so avoid using low-quality images.
• Emoji expressions: Properly divide the text into paragraphs and add emojis within the content to make the article more readable.
• Hashtags: Adding hashtags that match the content’s theme can increase visibility and exposure opportunities. Utilizing relevant hashtags ensures that your content reaches the right audience.

Collaborating with KOLs on Xiaohongshu

Influencers and KOLs on Xiaohongshu are known for their distinct “labels” or public perception. Influencers generally have stronger fan loyalty, while KOLs possess more persuasive influence. Popular KOLs exhibit high levels of engagement, influence, and the ability to drive sales within their niche communities. Brands can utilize influencers and top KOLs to promote their content, increasing product exposure and generating discussions. They can be reached directly through Pugongying, the app’s influencer marketing platform.

Additionally, mid-tier KOLs can aid in further dissemination, creating a collaborative environment where users actively contribute to content creation. This leads to swift user adoption and endorsement, creating a network of like-minded individuals that extends outward, propelling explosive product popularity.

In 2023, Xiaohongshu saw its KOL & KOC growth rate exceed 100%, supported by a rich content supply. The platform’s unique “community content” mechanism ensures that quality content remains timeless and gains visibility through multiple channels within the platform, such as the recommendation and topic pages.

Xiaohongshu offers KOL collaborations in four different methods, allowing marketers to tailor their approach based on brand positioning.

Customized Cooperation

This is designed for brands with specific marketing needs seeking a one-on-one collaboration. Brands can choose and partner with KOLs who align with their marketing demands, and the KOL needs to create content based on the brand’s unique requirements.

This approach is built on a fixed price model, giving brands control over the marketing spend.

Recruitment Cooperation

This is a “mutual selection model” characterized by the app’s “brand posts, KOLs apply” approach. It is a one-to-many content collaboration and is settled on a fixed price model where brands can publish their marketing needs, and interested KOLs can submit their proposals. This type of collaboration allows brands to quickly secure talent for upcoming promotions and gives brands better control over the content they want to produce.

Co-creation Cooperation

Co-creation Cooperation is a one-to-many content collaboration method where brands set their budget and publish their needs, and the platform matches KOLs to these requirements. KOLs are paid based on performance, ensuring that brands can control traffic costs while gathering genuine feedback on new products.

Sprout

Specifically designed to support new brands, Sprout Cooperation assists those with limited budgets in generating ad creatives to acquire high-quality content and explore suitable note formats. This model currently only supports image and text notes.

How to Select KOLs on Pugongying

The most common approaches to selecting KOLs on Xiaohongshu include:

• Smart KOL Recommendation: This feature recommends KOLs based on content trends and industry collaborations on Xiaohongshu. It selects KOLs who align with the brand’s industry, ensuring content compatibility and high audience engagement.

• Multi-Attribute Tag System: This tag-filtering feature allows brands to search KOLs across multiple dimensions, including content verticals, persona, and attributes, facilitating the discovery of ideal KOLs for specific niches or broader appeal. The content tag includes 30+ content vertical tags, 90+ persona tags, and 30+ content feature tags. Data tag, on the other hand, supports custom filters to find bloggers who meet expected performances like impressions, interaction, and costs.

• Keyword Search: This is ideal for brands with a clear content strategy looking for KOLs who can articulate selling points and create content in relevant scenarios. The platform matches KOLs based on keyword relevance, enhanced by tag filters for precision.

• Profile Matching: For brands experienced with KOL selection, Profile Matching helps you identify similar profiles to preferred collaborators. Marketers can filter results by follower count and price quote, narrowing down potential candidates to match the desired profile and budget fit.

Industry-Specific KOLs to Pick From

If you want to find KOLs based on a certain industry, follow these guidelines:

• Industry-Aligned: These are KOLs whose vertical closely matches the brand’s industry category, ensuring precise reach to the target audience. For example, cosmetic products can be paired with beauty KOLs.

• Contextual Integration: These KOLs can creatively integrate the product into their content, expanding usage scenarios and targeting niche markets. For example, personal care brands can be paired with outdoor KOLs to promote sunscreen products and highlight UV protection.

• Contextual Expansion: These KOLs can naturally showcase products in their content, broadening the brand’s potential audience base. For example, cosmetic products can be paired with arts & crafts KOLs to promote limited edition designs of product packaging.

Post-selection Evaluation and Contact

After identifying potential KOLs, marketers can evaluate them using Pugongying’s data and tagging system and learn more about their content attributes, follower demographics, performance, and recent collaboration outcomes.

When ready, you can send invitations via Yaoyue, a tool by Pugongying to facilitate communication between brands and KOLs. If you need help to discover and connect with the right KOLs, Nativex can help you navigate partnership opportunities, ensuring a perfect match for your brand.

Xiaohongshu’s E-commerce Opportunities

Xiaohongshu boasts an integrated e-commerce system called Xiaohongshu Mall (RED Mall). This marketplace encompasses both self-run stores and third-party brand owners, providing a platform for consumers to discover and purchase products while sharing their reviews with the community.

What is Xiaohongshu? It’s Your Next Marketing Success With Nativex

With Xiaohongshu’s emphasis on life-sharing, the platform opens vast opportunities for advertisers. Its community-centric approach ensures precise audience targeting. For advertisers aiming to leverage Xiaohongshu’s potential, Nativex is the ideal partner to guide the way.

We are an official Xiaohongshu Cross-Border Marketing Agency. Our expertise covers media strategy, influencer marketing, creative production, ad campaign management, and social media optimization. We can provide you with solutions that resonate with Xiaohongshu’s unique user base, ensuring meaningful impact.

How can Nativex Help You Stay Ahead of Market Trends?

We can help your marketing on Xiaohongshu through the optimization of in-feed ads and search ad support.

In-feed Ad Optimization

1. Targeting Optimization: We differentiate our approach based on the campaign objective. For companies aiming to attract newcomers, we can manage broad targeting campaigns focusing on demographics like age and gender. In contrast, for campaigns aimed at driving conversions, we apply precise targeting, focusing on specific audiences and interests.

2. Note (Content) Optimization: We help brands optimize their note formats and tend to prioritize video content over graphics, as videos usually generate higher CTR. We also recommend publishing multiple notes to allow the system to select the ones with the highest CTR, ensuring optimal performance.

3. Bid Optimization: We increase bids to secure more traffic at the right time. We also use smart bidding to compare performance against manual bidding, aiming to reduce costs and improve campaign effectiveness.

Search Ads Optimization

1. Account Structure: To mitigate performance uncertainty, we upload multiple notes within the same campaign, allowing the system to select the most impactful ones.

2. Keyword Selection: We expand keyword selection according to the brand’s category.

3. Bidding: We offer both manual and smart bidding support.

4. Notes: Notes should cover various scenarios and communicate effectively, providing multiple touchpoints to cater to a wider user interest. We can support you in this effort.

Budget Allocation

Our Ad Optimization Specialist will assess your product stage, desired outcomes, and industry specifics to help you determine the budget for campaigns and allocate funds between KOLs and performance ads to optimize campaign effectiveness and ROI.

Nativex is here to help you skyrocket your brand to success. Ready to get started? Contact Nativex to begin your next campaign.

If you want to learn more about different social media app marketing in China, take a pick from our “what is” series on Zhihu, Dianping, Bilibili, Douyin, and Weibo. Also, keep an eye on the blog for new articles as they are released.