A comprehensive review of Xiaohongshu’s 11 strategies. How should new merchants choose?

It turns out that there are so many ways to play on Xiaohongshu. This article will show you 11 ways to play that are suitable for novice merchants. Of course, this article is suitable for providing operational ideas for novice merchants who want to operate on the Xiaohongshu platform.

You may have heard a lot about Xiaohongshu’s strategies, such as amateur placement, advertising placement, matrix account operation, buyer live broadcast, etc., but how to use them specifically? How to choose the one that suits you?

I have sorted out 11 operating methods for Xiaohongshu and classified them according to branding and conversion efficiency. I hope it will be helpful for you to operate Xiaohongshu.

1. An inventory of 11 ways to use Xiaohongshu

What are the ways to play Xiaohongshu? I think there are mainly the following 11 methods:

1. Matrix professional account: Matrix Blue V account, the core is advertising conversion, and different professional accounts will be set up for regional and business categories;
2. KOS placement: Accounts of managers, shopping guides, nannies, etc. Certified accounts can not only post daily notes, but can also be used for advertising later;
3. KOl placement: specifically refers to bloggers with more than 50,000 followers, calling on bloggers to actively promote and promote brands;
4. KOC placement: This refers to 1K-50K bloggers who conduct store visits or product promotion through reporting or non-reporting;
5. Amateur marketing: specifically refers to amateur store visits and direct sales. The core of amateur direct sales is to create a hot-selling status, making users feel that many people use it;
6. Advertising: specifically refers to Xiaohongshu performance advertising, which is delivered through information flow and advertising. For more information about Xiaohongshu advertising, please read this article;
7. Buyer live broadcast: Invite buyers to link products in their notes and live broadcasts, which is currently the official focus of the project;
8. Store live broadcast: The brand sets up a live broadcast room to sell products and group-buy products in the live broadcast room. It is suitable for teams with live broadcast experience.
9. Celebrity live broadcast: Invite celebrities to live broadcast, such as Dong Jie, Zhang Xiaohui, Wu Xin and other celebrities on Xiaohongshu, and then edit the celebrity live broadcast into videos for distribution;
10. Brand advertising: in the form of Xiaohongshu opening screen, flame topics, brand zones, etc. For more information about brand advertising, please read this article;
11. IP advertising: Marketing activities organized by Xiaohongshu, such as the Dali Slow People's Festival some time ago, where the official took the lead in inviting brands to participate;

Figure: Xiaohongshu’s 2024 laundry care line IP activity

2. Two types of customers on Xiaohongshu

How to use these 11 strategies? I think they can be classified according to type. Xiaohongshu merchants are mainly divided into two types: private domain customer acquisition and e-commerce sales:

1. Private Domain Customer Acquisition

Matrix professional account + KOS account + amateur account (company + outsourcing) + advertising + KOC placement + IP cooperation +…

The goal of acquiring customers in the private domain on Xiaohongshu is to search for leads, which requires a matrix of professional accounts to carry out advertising and obtain more customer resources. At the same time, it also requires the participation of KOS managers and shopping guides, and then incubation and outsourcing of amateurs by the company.

If you have a budget, you can also use influencers and IP activities. For example, Yunwei not only has a large number of matrix accounts, but also conducts IP activities with the official website, operating sales and brand power at the same time;

Figure: Marketing layout of Xiaohongshu for cloud weight loss

2. E-commerce sales

Matrix professional account + KOS account + KOC placement + KOL placement + amateur placement + buyer live broadcast + celebrity live broadcast + store live broadcast + advertising placement + brand placement + IP activities

E-commerce sales need to be converted to within and outside the site, and also require matrix numbers, KOS accounts, KOL placement, buyer live broadcasts, store live broadcasts and other means.

In particular, buyer live broadcasts and store live broadcasts have been promoted by the platform recently. They can quickly convert and are used in depth by brands that operate on Xiaohongshu. For example, Afu Essential Oil, which is very popular on Xiaohongshu, has basically used all of these methods.

Figure: Afu essential oil delivery type

3. Four types of merchants on Xiaohongshu

How do merchants choose from so many tools?

I think the key is to control brand awareness and conversion efficiency. Brand awareness refers to the brand selling points, tone, cognition and other aspects conveyed to users, while conversion efficiency refers to the direct conversion to sales.

You can choose a strategy based on whether you need to build a brand or achieve conversions. Based on your budget, if you fully implement one strategy, you will be successful.

Figure: Data inventory of Xiaohongshu brand and conversion

1. High brand awareness & high conversion efficiency

Matrix professional accounts, buyer live broadcasts, celebrity live broadcasts, store live broadcasts and KOS accounts all belong to this category. Note that the core of the matrix professional account is a brand name output, not multiple brand names.

Live broadcasts by buyers, celebrities, and stores can directly convert customers and make users aware of the brand. For private domain customers, building a matrix of professional accounts can also make users aware of brand differentiation.

2. High brand awareness & low conversion efficiency

It is helpful to enhance brand potential, but in terms of actual sales conversion, such as IP placement, KOL placement, and brand advertising, it can improve the brand tone.

The reality is that the cost of advertising is getting higher and higher, and the conversion efficiency is low. The advantage is that such materials can be used as endorsements. This is why many brands advertise on Nasdaq. How many people can actually see it? The core is to tell everyone that I can invest.

3. High conversion efficiency & low brand awareness

The core here is to increase conversions. The core of lead and e-commerce ROI delivery is to increase conversion efficiency. However, because the same material is always used, the brand awareness is low, so it is more suitable for the early stage of sales.

4. Low brand awareness & low conversion efficiency

The last type is that brand awareness and conversion efficiency are very low. Any of the above 11 methods that are not executed well will be in this column.

The method you choose depends on the current stage of your brand.

Author: Jiang He

Source: Jianghe Chat Marketing