A complete guide to marketing on Xiaohongshu, from platform features to marketing techniques!

There are many clickbait-style articles on the market about how to operate Xiaohongshu. These articles are often too one-sided, making people think that operating Xiaohongshu is very simple, but the actual effect is not ideal. The author introduces the theme of the article by raising questions, and points out that he will first deeply explore the key points of operating Xiaohongshu from five aspects. It is suitable for all friends who are interested in operating Xiaohongshu.

What bosses like most are probably titles like "From 0 to 100,000 followers on Xiaohongshu, I only used these 5 techniques". After reading them, they get excited and then pass the article to the marketing staff to implement. After a month, there is no improvement. Who should take the blame? ?

I wanted to write a marketing strategy for "Little Red Book" a long time ago. Because I found that many people have a very one-sided understanding of Little Red Book, always wanting to take shortcuts, always wanting to learn a trick to make Little Red Book generate passive income every month. This will cause people to only focus on a certain "point" of Little Red Book marketing, but not on the "surface", and eventually fall into a quagmire.

Based on netizens’ and fans’ curiosity about Xiaohongshu, today Su Yan also plans to show off his skills and give an in-depth interpretation of how to run Xiaohongshu. From understanding Xiaohongshu, determining operational goals, identifying target users, meeting target users’ needs, and in-depth operations and stimulating fission, we will talk in detail about the five major aspects of how Xiaohongshu should be run!

1. Understand Xiaohongshu

Whether you are using Xiaohongshu or any other platform, what you must remember is to "understand the platform first"!

It's like if you want to set up a stall in a vegetable market, then you need to first understand what the market is positioned as, what stalls are currently in the market, what vegetables they sell, what investment policies the market currently has, which businesses the market currently welcomes, who will come to this market to buy vegetables, what role they play in the family, what price they can accept, etc.

Sometimes the simplest truths are more likely to be overlooked. When we rent a stall in the vegetable market, we know to research the market, but when we create a Xiaohongshu account, we always think about making a profit right away...

Let’s go back to the first step of the whole strategy, “Understanding Xiaohongshu”. Just like researching the vegetable market, before operating Xiaohongshu, we also need to understand Xiaohongshu thoroughly , to see what Xiaohongshu’s positioning is, what accounts it currently has, what accounts it currently welcomes to join, what accounts it currently supports, what users it currently has, what attributes the users have (age, gender, occupation, hobbies, etc.), what content users like to read on Xiaohongshu, etc.…

From the early 2014 "find good things from abroad" to the mid-term "good things from all over the world" and now "your life guide", Xiaohongshu's positioning is actually constantly evolving. "Good things from all over the world" emphasizes the promotion of good things, while "your life guide" emphasizes social interaction, and may use more Internet celebrities to share life in the future. But the essence of both is buying and selling, so it is not difficult to infer that Xiaohongshu may be closer to the trend of social + buying and selling in the future.

After the evolution of its positioning in recent years, the content categories on Xiaohongshu have also been expanding, with the mainstream categories reaching as many as 23 sections (as shown in the figure).

Looking at the positioning of Xiaohongshu, it is not difficult to see that Xiaohongshu has been expanding the boundaries of "life" content. Food, clothing, housing, transportation, eating, drinking and having fun. In recent years, we have also found that while Xiaohongshu retains core content such as beauty and dressing, it has begun to focus on developing content in other areas, including food, home furnishings, information, health and wellness, and workplace content as shown in the above picture.

Compared with the highly competitive beauty and personal care fields, these slightly new tracks have a better chance of standing out.

In terms of user attributes, the male to female ratio of Xiaohongshu has basically reached 8:2, the population aged 18-34 has reached 83.31%, and the user population is mainly female. 70% of users are born after 1990, and about 50% of users are mainly in first- and second-tier cities.

The focus topics from high to low are: makeup, skin care, dressing, food tutorials, weight loss exercises, hairstyles, photography skills, fitness, personal care, etc.

In simple terms, the overall platform features of Xiaohongshu are as follows:

After understanding the platform characteristics and user attributes, you must do research on competitors on Xiaohongshu . First, select 20 competitor accounts, analyze their content categories, content styles, content forms, and analyze their popular content (characteristics of the characters, note topics, copywriting structure, cover titles, etc.), and then gradually select 3 core competitors for more in-depth research. Finally, combine your own account positioning and your own advantages to design content differentiation. 95% of people have never done this. For more information on how to conduct in-depth research, please refer to Su Yan’s previous article "What does "market research" generally research?"

2. Determine operational goals

People often ask me these questions:

Our company wants to create Xiaohongshu. Su Yan, can you give us some advice?

My friend and I are opening a store together and we want to promote it on Xiaohongshu. What do you think I should do?

Su Yan, can you help me shoot some videos? I want to sell goods on Xiaohongshu...

We are planning to create Xiaohongshu. What kind of content do you think is suitable?

Every time I hear these questions, I always ask a question first: " What is your purpose and goal for Xiaohongshu? " No more than 20% of friends can answer these two questions fluently.

“Working without a purpose and goal is like a headless fly. After flying around for a while, it will eventually die.”

Generally speaking, Xiaohongshu accounts fall into two categories, with four original intentions, and ultimately only one purpose: "profit" . (As shown below)

In most cases, the ultimate goal of our Xiaohongshu is to "make a profit" (of course, there are also many people who just want to share what they like, and we will not discuss this type of account here.) However, in terms of goal setting, it has become a problem for many companies. They don't know what kind of goal to set, and in the end, companies generally choose to "set goals by slapping their heads"... This method of setting goals is very simple, and the boss only needs to "slap his head" and it will be fine.

Slapping your forehead is a good idea, but the crematorium is the only way to get you there…

When setting operational goals, be sure to consider the following:

Content format (Is it a graphic or video? Is it high quality or low quality? Does it require real people to appear? Does it require a team to shoot?)

Frequency of posting (one post a day? one post a week? three posts a week?)

Staffing (Are there copywriters? Directors? Cameramen? Editors? Planners? New media operators? Marketing directors?)

The above factors directly affect the operational goals. Before setting goals, you must make comprehensive considerations based on your actual content format, publishing frequency, and staffing. Don't take on a job that doesn't have the right tools.

3. Determine your target users

It’s 2023 now. Don’t always think about the “big and comprehensive” target user strategy. If you want everything, you will get nothing. You must remember: you only need to serve the customers who like your products, you don’t need to make everyone like you!

When determining target users on Xiaohongshu, you only need to consider two factors.

First , who are the users on the Xiaohongshu platform?

Second , who are my target users?

The user portrait in the above picture is just a general description. When actually determining the target users, more in-depth research is needed. At the same time, you can integrate your brand's user portraits on other platforms with Xiaohongshu users. Only when the target users are determined can you formulate a more effective marketing strategy.

In short, it is important to segment users and avoid being too broad.

4. Meet the needs of target users

When operating Xiaohongshu, many brands make a common mistake: " They are obsessed with the content they like and don't care much whether users like it or not ." You may find it baffling, but this is not an isolated case. This kind of "confidence" is prevalent among most brands.

Please remember that " the content you create is for your target users ". Don't be self-satisfied or narcissistic. Before creating content, you must first sober up and give yourself 1 minute to calm down and think about what your target users like to watch!

Normally, after confirming the target group and analyzing their preferences thoroughly, it is time to enter the stage of meeting their needs. There is a simple formula for this stage:

Collect benchmark accounts + analyze benchmark accounts + formulate differentiated segmented content + continuous output

This formula is easy to understand. The first two items are market research work, and the last one is pure execution work. They are all hard work, and you just need to work hard. We will not discuss them here. We will mainly talk about how to customize differentiated segmented content.

Accounts on Xiaohongshu are basically divided into two categories: brand accounts and personal accounts.

Among them, the content of the brand account is mostly created around the product itself or product-derived content, and then expressed in a creative form.

Such as Zhong Xue Gao's popsicle sticks, McDonald's paper bag pen holders, Haidilao's nail art, China Unicom customer service's costume show, etc...

The content of personal accounts is actually similar to that of brand accounts, which is basically personal hobbies or specialties + creative expression.

Such as the following accounts:

Some people may think that "creative expression" is a particularly difficult task. In fact, there is nothing new under the sun. All innovations are the arrangement and combination of existing things.

• Unicom's cross-dressing show: Unicom customer service + men and women cross-dressing
• McDonald's paper bag pen holder: paper bag + handmade
• Learn color matching from Qingning: color matching chart + copywriting layout
• Duan Jun's piano video: piano playing + funny hair shaking

In addition to the examples above, you can find a lot of creative expressions by searching for whatever you want on Xiaohongshu. For beginners, it is recommended to watch more videos of various types on Xiaohongshu. Sometimes, your inspiration may be in these videos that have nothing to do with you, and then you can integrate their creativity with your product.

5. Deeply operate users and stimulate fission

After understanding the needs of the target audience, we need to continue to publish content for a period of time and adjust the direction of the content based on actual feedback. In order to gain more user attention, we also need to do more in-depth operations, which can ultimately stimulate fission and take our account to a new level.

Then Su Yan, who deeply operates Xiaohongshu, also summarized a formula here:

Understand platform algorithms + use marketing tools + welfare activities + private domain operations + KOL/KOC placement

1. Understand the platform algorithm

Xiaohongshu's platform algorithm is not static. Here we will only describe the current platform recommendation mechanism.

Xiaohongshu’s current recommendation rules have two core points: “content tag matching” and “social relationship chain recommendation”.

In simple terms, each person has his or her own unique personality. If you watch a beauty video, Xiaohongshu will continue to push beauty content to you. If you watch a clothing video, Xiaohongshu will also push similar content to you.

After your content is pushed to fans, the platform will give your content an internal score based on the fans' likes, favorites, comments, reposts, and follows to decide whether to continue pushing it to other fans. Only after your content is included in the platform will it be recommended by the system and get more readings.

Currently, Xiaohongshu’s recommendation mechanism consists of the following four parts (as shown in the figure):

Xiaohongshu's recommendation mechanism is similar to that of other platforms. The only difference is that before recommending, it has an inclusion process . If the content is not included, it will not be included in the recommendation pool. The way to detect whether the content is included is to search for the content. If it can be searched, it means that it has been included, otherwise it is the opposite.

After the content is included, it will enter the system recommendation pool. First, the content will be recommended to the first-level traffic pool, with about 200 exposures. If the content's click-through rate, like rate, collection volume, comment volume and other data are good and meet the conditions for entering the next-level traffic pool, the system will automatically recommend the content to the next-level traffic pool, with about 2,000 exposures, and so on. If the content data does not meet the conditions for entering the next level, then it will stop being recommended .

During the recommendation period, if the content is reported, the recommendation volume will decrease. If one of your previously popular content suddenly stops gaining readers, it is very likely that it has been reported by someone.

After talking about the recommendation mechanism, let’s talk about the account weight of Xiaohongshu. Xiaohongshu’s account weight rules currently have the following 7 points (as shown in the figure):

When operating Xiaohongshu, remember to increase the weight of your account. The higher the weight, the greater the chance of being recommended . At the same time, remember not to violate the rules easily. Once you violate the rules, your weight will be reduced at the least, and your account will be scrapped at the worst.

2. Use marketing tools

Regarding marketing tools, here are some Xiaohongshu operation tools that Su Yan usually uses, which can greatly increase work efficiency.

(1) Content material tools

1.1 Today’s Hot List: A collection of hot lists from dozens of platforms including WeChat, Weibo, Baidu, and Zhihu

1.2 Marketing Hotspot Calendar: Lists the marketing hotspots throughout the year

1.3 Note Inspiration: Topic Recommendations in the Xiaohongshu APP (Path: Xiaohongshu APP "Me" - Icon in the upper left corner "Creation Center" - "Note Inspiration")

1.4 Sentences.com: A platform dedicated to collecting sentences, where you can find popular quotes such as novel excerpts, ancient poems, movie lines, and animation lines.

(2) Content creation tools

2.1 Huangyou Camera APP/Meitu Xiuxiu APP: Photo editing software used by Xiaohongshu bloggers

2.2 Jianying: Video editing software suitable for beginners

2.3 ChatGPT: Artificial intelligence AI can efficiently generate copywriting script content

(3) Content detection tools

3.1 Lingke Word Check: A free tool to help detect illegal words in Xiaohongshu notes, effectively avoiding some banned words

3.2 Juyi.com: Online search and detection tool for banned words and sensitive words in the latest advertising law

3.3 Hongshu Editor: provides different types of Xiaohongshu templates, and also has the functions of violation detection and note preview

(4) Data analysis tools

4.1 Qiangua Data: Analyze Xiaohongshu account data to provide guidance for brand placement

4.2 Huitun Data: Quickly search and find rankings and different types of notes

4.3 Fire Cloud Data: Professionally analyze note data and quickly view popular notes

(5) Collaborative monetization tools

5.1 Xiaohongshu Dandelion: Xiaohongshu’s official brand business cooperation platform

5.2 Good Product Experience: Product Experience Channels in Xiaohongshu APP

5.3 Xiaohongshu Spotlight Platform: Xiaohongshu’s One-Stop Advertising (Performance Advertising) Platform

3. Welfare activities

Whether it is Xiaohongshu or other platforms, activities that are beneficial and interesting to users are essential means to significantly increase followers and generate fission.

If your account wants to acquire new users, then welfare activities can greatly lower the threshold for users to follow you. Although some users will be lost after the event, if your account itself is valuable, it will retain users who like your content.

Welfare activities are also a common way to activate old users. You only need to remember two points when doing activities:

(1) The activity must be interesting, eye-catching, and make people want to participate.

(2) The activity must be beneficial. No one will do anything without benefits.

If both of the above points can be achieved, then the activity will definitely be successful. If only one of them is achieved, then the activity will not be too bad. If none of them are achieved, then it is recommended not to do this activity.

4. Private Domain Operation

The end of new media operation is private domain. Then the end of private domain operation is a small formula: tools + benefits + content.

Tools refer to community operation tools within and outside the platform. We can operate users in the community within the platform, or we can operate users in other social software outside the platform. You can choose which one to use based on your product and operation purpose.

Welfare means that you should periodically provide users with some small beneficial activities to allow users to interact with you, bring them closer to each other, build trust, and encourage user fission.

Needless to say, what content should be posted in the community every day? What content can keep users paying attention? This requires in-depth research in actual operations and continuous improvement of content to retain users.

Here, Su Yan also left behind a private domain operation strategy that Su Yan often uses, which is the " Sheep Pen Operation Strategy ."

Simply put, this strategy is: enclosure + enclosure + shearing

We provide benefits to users and also set relevant rules. Sheep can get free grass in the community, but if they want to eat better grass, they need to exchange it for wool.

5. KOL/KOC placement

For a brand that has just joined Xiaohongshu, it is definitely not enough to rely solely on its own voice. In order to quickly create popular products and high voice on Xiaohongshu, the placement of KOL/KOC is essential.

The formula for Xiaohongshu influencers to place ads:

Good product + good operation + good strategy

A good product is the first step in launching a product. If the product is not good, it is not recommended to spend money on it. What is a good product? The answer to this question lies with your target customers.

Good operation means being able to identify the quality of influencers, which influencers are more suitable for your brand, and which influencers can bring conversions. This requires the operator to know Xiaohongshu well.

A good strategy refers to a delivery strategy. Here, I will briefly share three commonly used delivery strategies:

Final Thoughts

Maybe the operation of Xiaohongshu seems complicated, but if you use marketing thinking to operate Xiaohongshu, the thinking will be clearer. In fact, whether it is operating Xiaohongshu or other platforms, the real difficulty is not the method, but the operation thinking.

Since the pit of new media operation has been opened, Su Yan will add new content in the future, such as some subdivided field content of Xiaohongshu and operation articles of other platforms such as Douyin and Bilibili. Again, this article is written from Su Yan's personal perspective, and may not be correct. Discussion and correction are welcome.

Author: Su Yan Ben Yan

Source: WeChat public account "Suyan Benyan (ID: newrankcn)"