"Information flow" is not a panacea, click-through rate is the key to success or failure

In the field of digital marketing, information flow advertising is a common way to acquire paid traffic, but it is not a panacea. This article will explore the role and limitations of information flow advertising in marketing, especially the actual application and effect of Xiaohongshu's spotlight information flow, and how to improve click-through rate and marketing effect by optimizing note quality.

When merchants first start to advertise, don’t be silly and invest in information flow first

The reason why new brands fail to achieve results is not because they don’t invest in information flow, but because they don’t find the right method. No matter which stage, everyone should remember that information flow is just a heating tool, which can add icing on the cake, but cannot provide timely help.

1. What is Xiaohongshu’s focused information flow?

Simply put, information flow is to pay to purchase more commercial traffic. Compared with natural traffic, this traffic has labels and is more accurate, but it is clearly priced and charged according to the number of exposures.

The focus is on the application platform of Xiaohongshu information flow in various forms, similar to the huge amount of Qianchuan on Douyin

Several marketing tools can be provided

In general, there are 5 marketing scenarios

• Product promotion, mainly through notes
• Seize the track, focus on search promotion, and use high-quality notes to search for high positions in target keywords
• Product sales, mainly based on product promotion, directly running product links or product component notes on the site
• Customer information collection, mainly through private messages or on-site promotion, using information flow to collect more potential customers' information and contact information
• Live broadcast promotion, mainly based on live broadcast room promotion, directly run the live broadcast room or live broadcast room notes on the site

Basically achieve coverage of all marketing scenarios

2. Notes are the main form of information flow, and the quality of notes directly affects the effect of information flow

After many merchants register for Xiaohongshu corporate accounts, they will be called by direct customers to invite them to open a focused information flow. This is especially likely to give new merchants who don’t know Xiaohongshu a false impression that their marketing goals can be achieved through information flow and that they can’t do it without information flow.

But in essence, information flow is a heating tool, the target of heating is notes, and the billing method is exposure. It is useless to just run information flow, only high-quality notes are useful

For example, if Note A and Note B run the information flow at the same time, the page displayed is the same page, and the number of exposures is assumed to be 1,000. With the same number of exposures, Note A gets more clicks and interactions due to its relatively high click-through rate and interaction rate; Note B, because the note is not of high quality, has a relatively poor click-through rate and interaction rate, and almost no clicks and interactions.

Therefore, the quality of the material determines the effect of the information flow. Now let’s go back and understand what I mentioned at the beginning of the article: “Information flow is just a heating tool, which can add icing on the cake, but cannot provide timely help.”

If the material is of high quality, more data results can be obtained under the premise of the same number of exposures. We run the information flow to obtain better data. Therefore, if there is no good material, do not run the information flow. Polish the content first until there is material with good click-through rate and interaction rate, and then do a small test on the information flow. If the test result is good, it is reasonable to expand the information flow and consume the budget.

3. Optimize first, consume later

Everyone should remember that decentralized traffic distribution platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin always put content first. Without high-click notes, everything is just a passing cloud.

Just remember, the higher the click-through rate of the material, the lower the marketing cost! Whether it is information flow or search, the first priority is to optimize the notes. The click-through rate of notes is much higher than that of product cards and previous link pictures! The closer to the original content of the Xiaohongshu community (recommended notes from the user's perspective), the easier it is to achieve unimaginable promotion effects on Xiaohongshu.

It must be noted that different display channels have different click-through rate assessments. Don’t blindly refer to the constant coordinate system.

Finally, remember one thing: don’t go directly to the information flow before you have polished out high-quality note materials!