For Xiaohongshu, the 5A model is much more useful than the AIPS model

In the marketing ecosystem of Xiaohongshu, how can brands achieve the conversion from traffic to business? This article deeply explores the differences in the application of the 5A model and the AIPS model in Xiaohongshu marketing, and reveals from the perspective of crowd flow that the key to a brand's success on Xiaohongshu lies in precise crowd management rather than simply chasing traffic.

Xiaohongshu is a crowd business, not a traffic business

Crowd management will bring business results, traffic management will only bring data results. Public domain data will always belong to the platform, and business results can be pocketed.

If you still only regard Xiaohongshu as a traffic platform, then your understanding is too far off. There is a gap between crowd business and traffic business called crowd flow. It can be said that crowd flow determines whether a brand can get business results on Xiaohongshu.

1. What is the 5A population?

The 5A model is a concept proposed by marketing guru Philip Kotler in Marketing Revolution 4.0. It corresponds to Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocate, which reveals the closeness of the relationship between users and brands.

Douyin was the first to integrate into the platform methodology, forming a 5A crowd asset model of A1 understanding, A2 attraction, A3 inquiry, A4 purchase, and A5 repurchase.

Xiaohongshu has also formed a crowd model based on this methodology: A cognition, I planting, P purchase, S sharing.

But we think that Douyin's 5A model is clearer and more objective than Xiaohongshu's AIPS model. Therefore, we also use the 5A crowd model to attribute more in project execution.

2. What is crowd flow?

Crowd circulation is the process of building a model for 5A crowds. The emergence of A5 must be due to the presence of enough A4 crowds, and the emergence of A4 must be due to the presence of enough A3 crowds. By analogy, there are many ways to improve the efficiency of crowd circulation, but the number of the previous crowd stage must have a certain base. Therefore, if you want to help brands do well on Xiaohongshu, you must first determine the size of the brand's 5A crowd on Xiaohongshu, and do what is lacking.

3. How to define the 5A population in the Xiaohongshu community?

A0 (Exposure)

Merchant perspective: the number of times or total exposure of the brand on Xiaohongshu User perspective: the brand notes that have been seen on the discovery page

A1 (Reach)

Merchant perspective: The total number of people reached by a brand on Xiaohongshu can also be directly understood as the total number of readers.

User perspective: Clicked on the discovery page and read the brand note

A2 (Interactive)

Merchant perspective: total number of people interacting with the brand on Xiaohongshu

User perspective: Clicked on the discovery page to read and interact with the brand note

A3 (planting grass)

Merchant perspective: Average monthly search index for brand or product terms

User perspective: Search for the brand notes by keyword on the search page

A4 (purchase)

Merchant perspective: total number of people who purchased a brand on Xiaohongshu

User perspective: Buy products of this brand on Xiaohongshu

A5 (Repurchase/Sharing)

Merchant perspective: total number of repeat purchases/spontaneous sharing of the brand on Xiaohongshu

User perspective: Buy the brand’s products multiple times or share the brand’s products spontaneously on Xiaohongshu

4. Final Thoughts

Most brands that have not achieved results on Xiaohongshu are because they believe too much in “planting and harvesting in one” and ignore the process of crowd flow. We almost never use the concept of “planting and harvesting in one” to communicate with partner brands.

Today’s brand business is different from the period when Internet dividends were everywhere. The dividends have peaked, and in the stock era, consumers receive too much information every day. Consumers are more rigorous and rational in their consumption decisions. Impulsive consumption is becoming less and less common. More and more people make purchases after comparing multiple products and gaining in-depth understanding, especially in communities like Xiaohongshu, which has a large amount of real-life experience content.

Brands need to pay attention to the process of crowd flow. When brands lack basic exposure, they should not pursue sales growth, but focus on optimizing exposure costs. When brands lack return search growth, they should focus on guiding from notes to keywords. When exposure and return search tend to be stable, brands need to do a good job of sales notes, buyer distribution, and store broadcast business to harvest conversions. This process is the process of crowd flow.

Of course, there are always exceptions. There are two situations where you can "plant and harvest at the same time"

1) Substitution strategy: Directly convert the A3-A4 group of consumers at a lower price

2) Brand-driven product strategy: The brand has enough accumulated users, and the new product directly targets the brand’s A3-A4 users.

In addition, if you do a good job in crowd accumulation, crowd management, and crowd circulation, business results will naturally appear.

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