A guide to riding on the popularity of Xiaohongshu

In the world of digital marketing, riding on hot topics has become an important means for brands to increase their visibility and user engagement. As a vibrant social platform, Xiaohongshu provides brands with a wealth of hot topic resources and creative space. This article will explore in depth how brands can ride on hot topics on Xiaohongshu and how to effectively increase brand exposure and user interaction through this strategy.

1. Why do brands want to take advantage of hot topics now? What benefits can taking advantage of hot topics bring to brands?

There is a classic saying that "PR makes a brand famous". If a brand wants to increase the exposure of its notes on Xiaohongshu, a very important way to seize the search page and occupy the minds of users is to grab hot spots and ride on the popularity.

Riding on the trend can quickly establish an emotional connection with consumers at the right time and in the right way, and penetrate into the target group with consistent core values ​​and needs.

2. Xiaohongshu Hotspot Classification

Hot spots generally have the following three characteristics: strong explosive effect, fast spread, and short effective time.

Therefore, if we want to follow hot topics, we must do three things: follow timeliness, follow depth, and follow innovation!

A hot spot must be hot and new enough to attract traffic.

We usually divide the hot spots in the site into four categories:

1) Predictability hot spots

Some hot information that can be predicted and is about to happen, such as festivals and holidays (Chinese Valentine's Day, National Day, Dragon Boat Festival), the e-commerce promotion festival 618 Double Eleven, the annual school and graduation season, and major events (Olympic Games, World Cup, College Entrance Examination, etc.).

These predictable hot audiences have a wide range, but are also short-lived. If a brand wants to take advantage of this type of traffic, it usually has to prepare in advance. For example, during the 618 promotion, brands will start promotional campaigns a month in advance.

2) Sudden hot spots

It refers to hot information that suddenly becomes popular and cannot be predicted in advance. These hot information usually occur suddenly and have a short validity period.

For example, there was a line in a TV series some time ago, "Who on earth is in Beijing?", a girl from Ali Technical Secondary School made it into the top 12 of the Global Mathematics Competition, and the violent attacks on doctors in recent days, and other sudden hot topics.

3) Persistent hot spots

It refers to people or events that have high popularity over a period of time or over a long period of time, such as the 144-hour visa-free transit tour for foreigners in China, the enduring hot IPs such as One Piece and Conan, or some hot topics that focus on certain psychological phenomena: middle-aged employees fleeing large companies due to layoffs, feminism, etc.

As well as some ongoing hot topics of hit dramas: the TV series "The Story of Rose" became a hit some time ago, and Xiaohongshu has launched a series of hot topics about its film and television works, such as "The same latte as rose" and "The same way to dress as rose".

This type of hotspot generally covers a wide range of people and lasts for a long time.

4) Platform Hotspots

It refers to some hot topics promoted by the official, such as some popular activities carried out by the official in the creator service center of Xiaohongshu, such as outdoor festivals, slow people's festivals, etc. These platform hot spots themselves will have official support to boost traffic.

3. How can we find different hotspots?

1) Use the search box to enter our category words or scene words to find Xiaohongshu's recommended related words. These related words are popular words related to our category and are frequently searched by users. It is very suitable for brands to make soft-text hot notes, that is, combine hot topics, use exaggerated hot titles and covers to attract users to click, and soft-implant brand content in the content.

2) In the note inspiration library officially recommended by Xiaohongshu, or in the community hot search terms in the product note center, brands can find hot words that match their note content based on their own category tracks to create more attractive content notes.

3) Hot topics shared by the official Xiaohongshu accounts in various segments (such as Beauty Potato, Outdoor Potato, and Business Potato), popular topics from competitor accounts in the same field and category, and popular topics on major traffic platforms that are in line with their own brand positioning.

4) Use the popular lists, popular notes and other widgets in data tools such as Juguang, Huitun Sweet Potato, and Qiangua to view weekly and monthly hot data. These can directly help us find hot topics and hot keywords.

4. How to get accurate traffic?

When taking advantage of hot topics, it is important to integrate the brand's own promotional direction or product characteristics, extract the core of the hot topic, and select the common points with the brand for placement.

So what can brands do if they want to achieve conversion effects in addition to creating hot spots?

If we want to avoid the situation where hot topics only attract spectators, we need to return to the "points" that the target group is concerned about, because "points" also represent demand. While riding on hot topics, we need to launch products to meet the needs of users.

When users have requirements in such topic scenarios, we provide solutions through our products, and the user conversion rate will naturally increase.

For example, the latest hot topic on the site is "A good figure is what I deserve". The topic mainly encourages users to show off their good figures and to exercise to maintain a healthy figure. The diverse usage scenarios in the hot topics are very suitable for some sports meal replacement brands such as weight loss drinks, prune slimming drinks, and fitness fat-burning black coffee to take advantage of the hot topics and deliver content.

In addition to the above-mentioned method of taking advantage of official hot topics, we can also use the Xiaohongshu search box or third-party tools to find popular terms, and then embed hot topics and keywords in the notes.

After collecting enough hot keywords, we can use Spotlight to test using these keywords that users frequently search for, especially long-tail words, to improve the search ranking and exposure of the notes.

Secondly, accurate hot topic content must have the following:

• Attractiveness: There are so many notes chasing hot topics. If the content entry point is not novel or contrasting enough, the impression on users will be average. Therefore, brands can use some reverse thinking or reverse thinking to attract users' attention, but be careful not to control the degree so as not to lose more than the gain.
• Logic: It is not enough for a note to just be a clickbait title. Nowadays, everyone relies on content to stand out. Only logical and coherent content can perfectly combine hot topics with product selling points to promote them to users.
• Marketing sense: Master the marketing degree of content, and don’t promote your products in lengthy articles. Since you are riding on a hot topic, the main purpose is to naturally integrate the product into the hot topic. If it is difficult for a brand to grasp this degree, leave it to influencers.

5. Things to note when using hot spots

Brands can take advantage of our regular hot topics, such as statutory holidays, hot topics about celebrities and influencers, hot topics related to film and television dramas, some local hot searches, popular challenges within the site, and some entertainment topics.

But don't try to get involved in hot topics related to natural disasters, disease and health, laws and regulations, or other topics that are likely to cause user disgust.

Secondly, if a brand wants to take advantage of a topic, it is best to find hot topics that are on the rise. Secondly, make sure the hot content is consistent with the tone of the account. Don’t look for topics that are about to become outdated, because hot topics are time-sensitive.

If the hot topic has outlived its timeliness, it will be difficult for a brand to enter even if it has traffic, unless there is a more unique entry point.

Finally, when we implant our brand into products, we must pay attention to the content. In addition to incorporating hot topics, we must also not forget to deepen the impression of our products.

We take advantage of hot topics to increase product or brand exposure, so the hot topics should amplify the product value. Don’t just focus on the topic and forget about product placement.