8 methodologies you must know to do Xiaohongshu, super easy

How to create good content on Xiaohongshu? How to create popular notes on Xiaohongshu? How to do marketing and placement well? If you are doing one of these, you can save this content.

I read several reports and collections on Xiaohongshu's marketing operations, and after screening, I collected several Xiaohongshu marketing methodologies. Although it can't make you an expert immediately, it can help you get started quickly and no longer have a blank mind.

As I said, if we use it properly, we can immediately impress our leaders and colleagues.

1. Traffic distribution logic - CES rating traffic distribution model

On Xiaohongshu, when a merchant posts a note, it will first be reviewed to see if there are any violations, then it will be categorized by tags, and matching recommendations will be made to users with the same tags.

The notes will then be placed in a primary traffic pool for exposure. Whether you can enter the next traffic pool depends largely on your note score.

Xiaohongshu platform has a CES rating standard: CES rating = number of likes × 1 point + number of favorites × 1 point + number of comments × 4 points + number of reposts × 4 points + number of followers × 8 points

This traffic distribution model is now generally recognized by everyone, and the system that scores based on user interaction effects is CES.

The process of online recommendation on Xiaohongshu is mainly divided into three steps.

The first step is to select candidate sets from the pool of notes uploaded by Xiaohongshu users every day, and use various strategies to select thousands of candidate sets from tens of millions of notes for preliminary sorting.

In the second step, each note is scored during the model sorting stage. A weighted evaluation system is designed based on the value that Xiaohongshu users’ likes and collections bring to the platform. The score is given by estimating the user’s click-through rate and evaluating the probability of likes, collections, and comments after the click.

In the third step, before showing the notes to the user, we select the notes with high scores and adjust the diversity through various strategies.

2. Content Marketing Strategy - KFS Content Marketing Mix Model

The KFS content marketing combination model was launched by Xiaohongshu Inspiration Marketing, which is a core strategy combination of Kol (creator) high-quality content explosion + Feeds (information flow advertising) precise reach and efficiency improvement + Search (search advertising) to strengthen search interception.

KFS content marketing combination strategy follows the logic of user browsing and decision-making, which enables high-quality content to reach users more accurately, influence decisions, and position conversions. Forming the synergistic effect of "content + marketing":

• K (Kol): With the help of data insights, first select products, then determine the marketing scenarios, and finally find the right people, the product translators, so that the product can be deeply rooted in people's hearts.
• F (Feeds): Reach the target audience accurately, amplify the benefits of scale, improve operational efficiency, and help brands reduce costs and increase efficiency.
• S (Search): Keep search needs in mind, use user behavior as a guide, guide content strategy and delivery strategy, and trigger user purchase intention.

When the note content appears in a timely manner in a way that interests users and the brand information is close to user needs, merchants can root in user consumption decisions.

3. Content testing method - explosive article testing funnel model

The explosive article testing funnel model, also known as the "531" model, was officially launched by Xiaohongshu in 2021.

First, in the early stage of the test, we should pay attention to the richness of the material types (more than 5 types are recommended), screen the excellent notes with click-through rate and interaction rate, as well as the historical popular articles of experts, and comprehensively screen the high-quality notes to start the information flow test;

Then, focus on the top 30% of high-quality notes in the test, refer to click and interaction data, differentiate resources according to the situation of the notes, gradually increase investment in excellent notes, create popular articles, analyze the types and selling points of high-quality notes, and publish similar notes in batches as a supplement to the investment;

Finally, for the 10% of popular notes among the recommended notes, continue to invest in them, set higher interactions as the new goal, and continue to make them popular.

For merchants, how to quickly screen out high-quality notes, distribute them efficiently, how to allocate channels...you can refer to the "531" model. The core is to continuously screen and filter high-quality notes and continue to invest.

4. Systematic Marketing Method——IDEA Methodology

The IDEA methodology is a marketing methodology tool officially proposed by Xiaohongshu in 2021. It helps brand merchants grow on Xiaohongshu through four steps: insight, definition, Expend and Advocate.

1. Insight

Gain multi-dimensional insights into product opportunities, analyze target user portraits and user pain points based on brand/product tracks; at the same time, observe the industry track vertically, analyze competitor information, compare the advantages of your own products, and thus refine your own selling points, combine user pain points to produce marketing content, and use nodes or KOL energy to promote product development.

2. Define

By comparing and analyzing with competing products, we can identify the core advantages of our own products, analyze the marketing strategies of competing products, define the products and core selling points based on the target user gathering places, use the help of experts + new product trial tools, conduct MVP testing, and effectively output the core marketing strategy.

3. Expand (penetrate the category track)

After multiple marketing tests, we refined the target population portrait and Xiaohongshu promotion strategy, deeply combined user pain points, and formulated content operation strategies based on creativity and activity nodes. At this stage, we seized the category SOV through Xiaohongshu information flow and search tools.

4. Advocat (accumulating brand assets)

Continuously accumulate target user groups, analyze data, and successfully operate out-of-circle content. Analyze user consumption intentions based on consumption data, refine the core selling points of products, deepen marketing strategies, and manage product reputation.

At the same time, you can use Xiaohongshu brand advertising, such as flame topics, splash screen ads, commercial topics and other tools to gather brand content and thus support the brand.

Xiaohongshu's IDEA model is basically an evolution of the AIDA model, but it places more emphasis on data-driven and refined operations, and strengthens the role of factors such as emotions and social relationships between brands and users.

IDEA is closer to the "emotional purchase" model, that is, consumers hope to seek the so-called "happiness" in their purchasing behavior rather than the actual effect of the product.

Compared with AIDA, the IDEA marketing method is more capable of promoting the transformation of the traditional advertising focus from mainly selling points to mainly sensory and interactive experience to consumers' good feelings.

5. Efficient delivery logic - PKCKS model

The PKCKS model is an advertising delivery methodology officially proposed by Xiaohongshu, including Product: product delivery strategy, Keyword: keyword delivery strategy, Content: content delivery strategy, Kox: KOX delivery strategy, and Schedule: delivery rhythm strategy.

Product: Product strategy is the underlying foundation

Before launching, you need to understand what categories and features of products can be most likely to be popular on Xiaohongshu. Among them, products with strong demand, high appearance, low price, first-level e-commerce stores and high DSR scores are more likely to be popular.

Keyword: Use keyword layout as the entry point

More and more users use Xiaohongshu as a search tool. Therefore, it is particularly important to arrange keywords reasonably, which can effectively increase the probability of content being actively retrieved.

Xiaohongshu suggests starting from the level of brand, product function, competitive products, platform hot spots and e-commerce nodes, conducting radial expansion, deriving keywords, and then through big data and manual analysis, understanding the situation of keywords and users' perception of related words, and finally determining brand keywords, screening layer by layer, to ensure the best keywords.

Content: Focus on content strategy

Based on the results of the campaign, it can be concluded that reviews, lists, and useful content on Xiaohongshu are more likely to become popular articles.

In addition, when creating specific content, you should look for more combination points, pay attention to the first picture, preferably combine video + text, make the copy easy to understand, the title directly hits the user's pain points and needs, set appropriate conflicts to stimulate user interest, etc., so that the right content can be planted to the right users.

Kox: Using the selection of experts as a sharp sword

There are many categories of influencers on Xiaohongshu. Whether they are top-level, mid-level or KOC, there are a large number of influencers who have a good reputation, can promote products, and are highly professional.

When it comes to selecting influencers, screening is done based on the Xiaohongshu influencer selection model: only when brands find the right influencers that suit them can they produce content with high explosiveness, high interactivity, and high reinvestment value, and the grass-planting effect can be more effective.

Schedule: Top-level design based on delivery rhythm

The Makeup model can be adopted as the Xiaohongshu advertising strategy for emerging brands.

Because the breakthrough of new brands mainly depends on speed, concentrated volume, and rapid word-of-mouth effect and product awareness. They enter the circle from Xiaohongshu exquisitely, lay the foundation for social hits, and then radiate social platforms in other scenarios.

The Xiaohongshu advertising strategy of mature brands adopts the Sun model.

Maintain brand awareness by focusing on daily stable investment, using mid-level KOLs and KOCs, and focusing on single-product promotion. When encountering node marketing, mature brands can invest heavily, choose the full matrix of top + mid-level + tail KOLs to focus on node marketing and quickly promote conversion.

6. Talent placement logic - talent selection model

By conducting a comprehensive assessment of the three dimensions of influencers' basic data, business quality, and quality of product recommendations, Xiaohongshu helps brands solve the problem of uneven interaction with influencers' notes and difficulty in ensuring the effectiveness of their campaigns.

1. Basic data: average like-hide ratio of fans, median number of likes, fan activity & percentage of idle fans, update frequency, data authenticity;
2. Commercial quality: tonal fit, fan portrait, promotion brand, CPE;
3. Quality of grass-planting: rate of popular articles, cover & text, KOL public opinion, and long-tail traffic.

7. Xiaohongshu’s logic of breaking the circle - crowd anti-funnel model

The crowd anti-funnel model is a Xiaohongshu breaking circle model proposed by Xiaohongshu’s business department in 2023 based on Xiaohongshu’s marketing field.

The reverse funnel model of the crowd is based on the premise that the brand first finds a "good product", finds the most core group of people to plant grass based on the characteristics of the product, and then gradually breaks through the circle to interest groups, and then to the general population.

On the one hand, the reverse funnel model allows brands to gradually break out of the circle along the path of "core population-interest population-general population". On the other hand, it is also a small-step-and-fast delivery method that can save budget.

The data of original notes, likes, comments, favorites, etc. accumulated in the Xiaohongshu community can help brands find new scenarios, new groups and new product opportunities. After the brand selects the product, it can test it in the "core group" circle. If it is effective, it can quickly invest resources.

The crowd reverse funnel model can be said to be a "Xiaohongshu-featured" model, which is very suitable for Xiaohongshu's current marketing breakthrough.

Brand merchants can save budget by gradually breaking through the circle according to the path of "core group-interest group-general group". If the test results are not as expected, they can replace the product as soon as possible and stop the loss in time.

8. Xiaohongshu Crowd Model——AIPS Model

The AIPS model is the crowd model of Xiaohongshu, namely the cognitive crowd - the grass-planting crowd - the deep grass-planting crowd - the purchasing crowd - the sharing crowd.

Xiaohongshu's product promotion, marketing, and conversion are based on AIPS. Product promotion is to convert the A group into the I group; product sales is to convert the I group into the P group.

• A- Brand awareness group: people who are exposed to brand ads and search for category words
• I- Brand Interest Group: People who click on ads, browse brands, store homepages, participate in brand interactions, browse product detail pages, follow and join clubs, add to cart and favorites, etc.
• P- Brand Buyers: People who have purchased branded products
• S- Brand Loyalty: People who post notes, comments, and shares

Xiaohongshu's grass-planting, marketing, conversion, etc. can all be operated based on this model, which can realize the quantification and chain operation of brand crowd assets, extend the crowd life cycle to the greatest extent, and tap into user value.

In fact, this AIPS model is basically the same as Douyin’s 5A population model, but the name has been changed.

Regardless of whether it is Douyin's 5A crowd model or Xiaohongshu's AIPS model, they are basically derived from Philip Kotler's "Marketing Revolution 4.0", which correspond to: understanding, attracting, inquiring, acting and advocating respectively.

With the rise of interest-based e-commerce and live streaming e-commerce, both the 5A crowd model and Xiaohongshu's AIPS model need to be used flexibly. Because the user conversion link has become more variable, it may be directly from the AP or the IP, and it will not be completely promoted along this link, which requires commercial segmented link operations.

The above are some of the Xiaohongshu operation methodologies that I have collected. You will definitely encounter specific operation scenarios in your work. Then you can analyze the essence of the operation and apply it flexibly.