The entire process of formulating Xiaohongshu’s advertising strategy, 5,000 words of practical information!

This article deeply reveals the entire process of Xiaohongshu advertising, provides a practical guide for strategy formulation and optimization, and solves the problem of how brands can achieve effective marketing on Xiaohongshu. It is recommended for marketing experts and corporate decision makers to read.

1. Product matching and launch logic

Before launching the product, I must first think about how to match my product with the corresponding customer group so as to obtain advertising with lower cost and better effect.

If I have a product, how can I determine whether it is suitable for placement on Xiaohongshu?

It can be viewed from two aspects:

1. User matching

Xiaohongshu is a lifestyle "community". According to official data, Xiaohongshu has more than 100 million monthly active users, with more than 3 billion notes exposed every day, mostly composed of women, who are relatively young.

The cities are mainly concentrated in 1st and 2nd tier cities, and most of them are coastal cities. From this, we can analyze that the consumption capacity of this user group should also be strong. Young people under the age of 24 have reached 50% and have become the real main users of Xiaohongshu.

2. The nature of grass planting

Xiaohongshu officially defines itself as a lifestyle community. From the perspective of commercial value, Xiaohongshu is a "consumer decision-making" platform. In an era of increasingly rich brands, choosing what to buy has become a difficult problem for consumers. Xiaohongshu, which once used shopping guides as its slogan, has assumed the role of the last mile of consumer decision-making.

2. Improve the effectiveness of advertising through competitive product analysis

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles

No one can ignore the importance of competitor analysis. Only by understanding the categories and competitors on Xiaohongshu can you accurately position your products, choose the communication points and the most efficient dissemination paths, and ensure that your products are competitive on Xiaohongshu.

The topic of competitive product analysis has been discussed before, but not in detail. This time, I will talk about it from a practical perspective. How to do competitive product analysis on Xiaohongshu?

1. The first dimension: delivery content

The delivery content is what we deliver on Xiaohongshu in the conventional sense, including the basic data of competitors' delivery on the site, delivery content preferences, delivery experts, and fan distribution of competitors, etc. Here we generally choose note data within 90 days as a reference.

1) Basic data [You can use charts and compare with the data of this brand]

Notes:

1️⃣Basic data indicators

To analyze the note situation of competing products, we must first look at some basic data indicators:

Here we usually analyze and judge the exposure, clicks, interactions, likes and other indicators of competing products' notes ;

By analyzing the data of competitor-related notes within 90 days, we can get the current attention of the competitor on the site. See if people have a high level of interaction with this brand? Do they pay attention to the brand-related notes?

This will allow us to make a basic analysis of the voice of competing products.

2️⃣ Ratio of business notes to non-business notes

Secondly, the number of business notes is also an important assessment criterion. Here we need to look at the number and proportion of business notes and non-business notes respectively;

Through the proportion of business notes, we can get the brand's delivery situation. If a brand has a high number of business notes, it means that the brand has more content delivered and the tap water volume on the platform is relatively small. On the contrary, it means that the brand has a high tap water volume on the platform.

However, the business notes captured from the data platform are not that accurate and can only be used as an auxiliary reference for decision-making.

3️⃣Content format

The content format here is the simplest to understand. Let's see whether the notes placed by competitors on the site perform better in the form of pictures and texts or in the form of videos. This will provide a format direction for our subsequent note placement.

4️⃣ Negative notes

For negative notes, you can search for the corresponding competitor brands directly on Xiaohongshu, or you can pull them from a third-party data platform to see if there are any negative reviews in the first few articles that appear under the brand keywords.

If there are a lot of negative comments in the first 30, 40, or 50 articles within 90 days, we can extract the relevant negative comment information and provide an avoidance idea when we are designing content for our own brand.

2) Explosive articles:

1️⃣Number of popular articles with hundreds/thousands/tens of thousands of likes

By conducting statistical analysis on competitors’ popular articles with 100, 1,000, and 10,000 likes, we can determine the proportion of popular articles in the overall placement of competitors and make a more specific judgment on the placement of competitors on the site.

2️⃣ Number of exposures, clicks, total interactions, likes, etc.

After the above summary, we have already found out which content of the notes of competing products is better and which notes are of higher quality. Then we can conduct a specific analysis and disassembly of the top one or two popular articles.

By breaking down the click volume, interaction volume and other information of the hot articles, key information such as the experts related to the notes, content focus, and note format can be extracted to provide some reference and inspiration for the subsequent creation of hot articles.

2. The second dimension: advertising experts

The analysis of competitive product placement experts provides three dimensions of investigation:

The first is to examine the level and proportion of talents

1️⃣ Expert level/delivery ratio:

By analyzing the data of competing products, we can get the proportion of influencers who currently use competing products. According to the number of fans, influencers can be divided into top influencers, mid-level influencers, bottom influencers, koc, amateurs, etc.

Here is a formula for a brand to use influencers on Xiaohongshu for simple reference.

Of course, a brand’s influencer placement cannot be solved once and for all by relying on a single formula; it also requires subtle adjustments based on factors such as the influencer data distribution and output results of competitors.

2️⃣Account type/proportion: Enterprise account/top influencer/amateur account…

Regarding the account categories of influencers, we need to distinguish them from the influencer levels mentioned above. We need to see whether the data source of the brand with a higher voice on the platform comes from influencers placed by competitors, competitor brand accounts, or celebrity traffic, etc., so as to make a more objective evaluation of the competitor's data.

3️⃣ Expert types/proportions:

The type of experts needs special attention here.

Check whether the influencers used by competitors are all related to the brand category or are there diversified combinations? If there are diversified adjustments, do the notes data from the influencers of different categories they choose show a better trend? If so, what specific categories are they combined with?

Based on the above questions, we can also come up with a diversified combination strategy for talent delivery types and make diversified scenario combinations for our own delivery.

4️⃣Fans section

The analysis of the fan situation of competitors mentioned here mainly examines the audience of the relevant notes placed by competitors on the site.

By simply breaking down the audience portrait of the relevant notes, we can obtain basic information such as their gender ratio, age distribution, and the city they live in.

Secondly, we can also find out what kind of content they pay more attention to in this brand or category on Xiaohongshu, that is, to find out their focus. By capturing consumers' focus, we can feed back to our subsequent delivery. Finally, we need to look at the fans' crowd tags to judge potential consumer needs and combine products with diversified scenarios.

3. Brand communication strategy formulation

Here I will take the 618 node deployment as an example:

1️⃣Roadmap

First, determine the time node for the launch. Before June, you need to start daily promotion two months in advance to maintain the popularity of the platform;

Identify important nodes and phased goals, carry out daily volume expansion in April and May, output high-quality content in conjunction with important shopping festival nodes in May and June, and concentrate resources on promoting content and driving sales.

2️⃣Specific planning

Confirm the content, date, quantity, distribution of delivery types, keywords, and plan the actions to be taken at each stage (for reference only)

Establish a clear plan table and carry out search and information flow in two ways at the same time. In addition to content marketing platforms such as Xiaohongshu, you can also connect with other platforms simultaneously to maximize the effectiveness of the delivery.

It is necessary to ensure intelligent matching of brand words and phrases to broaden exposure, core words are exposed in the first place at a high price, and phrases are optimized in detail to test keyword ROI.

IV. Budget Allocation Suggestions

1️⃣ Overall budget allocation

The budget should be divided into different levels, with one part used for testing and optimization, one part for the stable period of deployment, and one part as an emergency budget to deal with market changes or emergencies.

As for the total budget, you can use the size of the population to work backwards. For example, if you have set the target population, and you want to achieve 1 million clicks for this group of people, the CPC from the initial test is 0.5 yuan, so you can calculate that 500,000 yuan is needed to achieve these 1 million clicks.

If you don't set a target audience and just want to heat up the high-quality materials, then it is recommended to allocate 25% of the influencer's budget as an information flow heating budget. For example, if the influencer spends a total of 1 million yuan, it is recommended to allocate 250,000 yuan for the information volume budget.

2️⃣Note delivery logic

All compliant notes will be screened for trial delivery before they are officially launched, with 100 yuan as the trial delivery unit, and search ads will be launched on a trial basis. Notes with a click-through rate higher than 5% are recommended to be launched as information flow ads.

When the click-through rate of notes placed in the information flow drops to 2% or the click-through rate of notes placed in the search drops to 4%, stop CPC delivery for the note.

A search click rate greater than 5.5% indicates high-quality notes, and a pause is recommended if it is lower than 4%.

3️⃣ CPC delivery suggestions during the stable period

Select 5 to 10 high-quality notes for rotation to reduce repeated exposure. Information flow click-through rate greater than 3.5% is high-quality material, and it is recommended to pause if it is lower than 2%. It is recommended to pause if the search + information flow interaction cost is higher than 13 yuan, and it is high-quality material if it is less than 10 yuan. The suspension of deletion of materials can be adjusted based on the click-through rate and interaction cost.

4️⃣Material distribution

Warm-up period: In the initial stage of heat accumulation, adjust and replace notes according to the account situation, and optimize and test the material content. It is recommended to test a small number of high-quality notes and distribute some small and medium-sized expert notes to lay the foundation for content.

Explosive period: In the early stage, screen and adjust the materials, add new materials to supplement the quantity, and make sure that the content undertakers will have a large exposure across the board during the event.

Stabilization period: Add 3-5 new materials and suspend the repeated exposure of old materials to notes with high exposure.

Collect the early exposure notes and retain the high-quality notes for release.

5. Data Summary and Review

After the launch, how do we know the effect? ​​Generally, we review the campaign from two aspects:

1. The seeding stage - judging the conversion cost

1️⃣ CPM—— Cost per thousand impressions

CPM (Cost Per Mille) - Cost per thousand impressions, refers to the total advertising cost required for every thousand people to hear or see an advertisement once during the advertising process.

The general calculation formula is as follows:

CPM (cost per thousand impressions) = (advertising cost/number of people reached) × 1000

Specific to the Xiaohongshu platform:

CPM (cost per thousand impressions) = (KOL quotation/number of impressions) × 1000

CPM is the main consideration for the exposure and reach of Xiaohongshu promotion. At the same time, it is also recommended that brands pay attention to the interaction volume of the content on the Xiaohongshu platform itself, and make corresponding optimizations based on the performance of the target marketing words. In the e-commerce sales conversion and repurchase links, the search weight of the seeding content, the feasibility and diversity of the conversion link are the core indicators.

2️⃣CPC — Cost Per Click

CPC (Cost Per Click) - Click cost, which is charged per click (or per thousand clicks)

Calculation formula: CPC (cost per click) = KOL quotation / number of readings

I would like to say a few more words here. The information flow of Xiaohongshu’s commercial traffic also has CPC indicators. If this part of the traffic is involved, you should also look at the CPC indicator of this part. You can directly get the CPC value through the information flow background. Of course, the CPC value can also be constantly changed through optimization.

3️⃣CPE — Cost of Engagement

CPE (Click per Engagement) - interaction cost is calculated based on the user's effective interaction behavior. On the Xiaohongshu platform, the number of interactions mainly refers to the sum of note likes + collections + comments.

Calculation formula: CPE (interaction cost) = KOL quotation / number of interactions

The cost per interaction refers to the total cost minus the total number of interactions. Referring to the cost per interaction of performance advertising, a cost per interaction of 10-20 yuan is normal, a cost per interaction of less than 10 yuan is considered good, and a cost per interaction of less than 5 yuan is excellent.

2. Weeding stage - judging the conversion effect

1️⃣CTR — Click-through rate

CTR (Click-Through-Rate) - Click-through rate, refers to the click-through rate of the note

Calculation formula: CTR (click-through rate) = small eyes / exposure

The current market click-through rate is around 10%, you can compare it yourself.

2️⃣Vol——Interaction rate

Vol (interaction rate) can reflect the interaction of the note, which is mainly calculated by the amount of interaction (likes + favorites + comments) / number of views

Calculation formula: Vol (interaction rate) = (Likes + Favorites + Comments) / Small Eyes

The current market click-through rate is between 3% and 5%, you can compare it yourself.

3️⃣ Popularity rate

The explosive article rate refers to the proportion of explosive articles to the total number of single launches. The current average level of Xiaohongshu in various industries is 5%-8%. Of course, there are also many excellent institutions that can achieve more than 10%. For example, the average explosive article rate of our project is 17% (sorry, Wang Po is selling melons)

Calculation formula: Hot article rate = number of hot articles / total number of published notes

Many brands don’t value this indicator at present, but it is important to explain it here. Hot articles are the biggest content lever. A hot article can bring very good search term placement and discovery page placement, can bring very long-tail natural traffic, and can even overflow search to Baidu.

At the same time, the popular article also verifies that the logic of the note content is OK and can be accepted by more potential consumers. The content selection can also be copied to other platforms for more fermentation.

Therefore, the explosive article rate can not only drive good natural traffic, but also verify the content logic. It is a key indicator linking the entire delivery behavior.

4️⃣ The growth rate of “tap water” after investment

The growth rate of "tap water" is the best indicator to verify the post-investment mentality

The reasons that can generally drive "tap water":

• Amateur users: They are attracted to buy because the product is cost-effective, and they think it is really easy to use/cheap/good-looking, etc.
• Bloggers spontaneously: I think this product or topic can bring traffic and become a hot article

5️⃣Inclusion rate

The inclusion rate is actually a term used by the market. The official has never mentioned information about inclusion, so many brands have different definitions of inclusion. Some define it as content that can be searched by searching for the name of the expert, while others define it as successful inclusion only when the brand words or category words to be included can be searched. Therefore, when the definition of the indicator cannot be highly unified, everyone's average standard is different.

Here is a collection standard for everyone (for reference only)

• Search title method: Search directly with the blogger's title. If you search directly with the title and the note does not appear, there is a high probability that it is not included in Xiaohongshu.
• Search blogger ID method: Each blogger's ID is unique, so search the blogger's ID. If the note does not appear in [Comprehensive] and [Hottest], it proves that the note has not been included in the system (generally, search after the blogger has posted the note. Do not search immediately, as there will be delays in review and inclusion)

6️⃣ Overall content reporting rate

After the deduction mechanism is launched, we must pay attention to the overall reporting rate of the placement. If the reporting rate is too low, points may be deducted. According to past experience, the ratio threshold of soft-advertising notes to reporting notes is about 1:10, that is, for every 10 soft-advertising notes, it is best to have 1 reporting note.

Author: Vic's Marketing Thinking; Source Public Account: Vic's Marketing Thinking (ID: 980420)