How to write a hot note on Xiaohongshu?

Some time ago, in order to deeply experience the Xiaohongshu App and improve my product capabilities, I used the product design ideas and spent a month, after multiple optimization and iterations, I finally wrote several notes with 700+ likes and 7000+ readings.

Seeing this result, do you want to know how I did it?

In fact, these steps must be familiar to students who make products:

Product positioning, structural design, data design, feasibility verification, 1.0 version launch, continuous optimization and iteration , but this time the product is the "Little Red Book account".

This article will tell you about this process in detail.

1. Why do you need to create a Xiaohongshu account?

As we all know, product managers need to pay close attention to mainstream products in the industry . In addition to helping us keep up with the rapidly changing trends of the times, we can also learn new ways of playing, new design techniques, new business models, and so on.

However, most product managers only simply experience the core functions when experiencing the product. Those who go deeper may break down and analyze the product one by one from the strategic level, scope level, structure level, framework level, and interface level, and then combine it with some authoritative analysis reports, which can be considered very comprehensive.

These experience methods are certainly necessary, but I think that if we only experience and analyze in this way, it is still relatively shallow, because without becoming a real user, it is difficult to experience a deeper level of usage experience.

This is why I want to use product design ideas and experience the "content community platform" in depth as a creator.

So why did you choose Xiaohongshu?

The reason for this is that when I was experiencing the functions of Xiaohongshu and Douyin before, I once uploaded the same video work, which received dozens of likes on Xiaohongshu, but only a few likes on Douyin, so I think Xiaohongshu may be more friendly to new accounts.

After all, this time I was starting from a new account, so I chose the Xiaohongshu platform.

2. How is it done?

As mentioned above, I used the idea of ​​product design and regarded the "Little Red Book Account" as a product . After product positioning, structural design, data design, feasibility verification, version 1.0 launch, continuous optimization and iteration, I finally wrote the highly praised notes.

Below is a detailed breakdown of each step. This part is a bit long, so be sure to read it through.

1. Goal setting

Before the experience, I set myself several quantifiable key indicators for subsequent evaluation of this experience:

Time: 1 month (2021.7.25-2021.8.25).

Likes: Write at least one note with more than 500 likes.

Reading volume: Write at least one note with more than 5,000 readings.

2. Product positioning

(1) List of optional topics

Judging from the category display and actual usage experience on the homepage of Xiaohongshu, the notes are mainly of the types of " beauty and skin care, food sharing, knowledge sharing, high-value categories, and daily life ".

(2) Determination of major subject categories

Analyze the three dimensions of "popularity", "own ability" and "difficulty in obtaining materials" :

Although beauty, food, and high-value categories are very popular, their feasibility is not high due to limitations on their own capabilities and the difficulty of obtaining materials.

Although it is not difficult to obtain materials for daily life types, their popularity is moderate, and it is difficult to create hit content, so their feasibility is average.

After a comprehensive assessment of the above information, the main theme was determined to be "knowledge sharing" .

(3) Determination of sub-sectors

Analyze the three dimensions of "user characteristics", "platform data" and "own expertise" :

1. User characteristics: Female users account for more than 80%, and their ages are mainly concentrated between 20 and 35 years old. Most of them are college students, office workers, and mothers.
2. Platform data: With the help of the platform search function, the number of existing notes under each keyword can be collected.
3. Areas of expertise: Possess certain strengths in psychology, business, communication, and management topics.

After a comprehensive assessment of the above information, the sub-area selected is "communication" .

(4) User research

We conducted a survey (mainly interviews) among friends who use Xiaohongshu and identified the two most common communication scenarios: family scenarios and work scenarios.

Among them, the frequency of communication failure in family scenarios will be higher and will have a greater impact on the happiness index, so the topic selected is "Communication skills in family scenarios."

(5) Product value

Based on the above analysis, the product value provided by this account is finally determined to be:

Share communication skills with family members, help users solve communication problems in family scenarios, and have a more harmonious family atmosphere.

3. Structural design

(1) Determine the note format

After deciding on the theme, the next step is to determine the form in which the product will provide services. The existing forms on the Xiaohongshu platform are mainly: video, picture, text, and picture + text.

Taking into account the high information density of the topic, the video format was chosen to reduce users' reading costs and improve user acceptance.

(Note: You can see that the analysis dimensions here are relatively few , only considering "user acceptance" without considering dimensions such as "own advantages" and "production costs", which directly led to the failure of version 1.0 .).

(2) Determine the note structure

Drawing on the structure of article writing, the note structure is determined as follows: use practical examples to introduce the note topic, explain the knowledge, summarize, and remind likes and collections.

4. Data Design

Due to the limitations of the Xiaohongshu platform’s functions, product effectiveness is mainly judged based on the platform’s statistics on page views, likes/comments/collections, and number of fans.

You can also perform A/B testing by comparing the data between different notes.

5. Feasibility verification

After determining the above content, you need to create an MVP and find potential users to verify the idea.

Due to the special nature of the product, we use oral instructions to ask potential users, "If there is an account that updates communication skills videos in family scenarios every day, would you be willing to follow it?"

After simply verifying that the idea is feasible, we began to design, develop, and release the first version.

( Note: This step only relied on "oral product effects" and obtained survey results with large errors, which was also one of the reasons for the failure of version 1.0. ).

6. Version 1.0 is released

(1) Determination of the topic

Based on the above design, we started to make the first note.

Based on the user communication pain points collected from previous user surveys, the theme was determined to be "Non-Violent Communication".

(2) Design & Development Process

Create text content->Use the "One-click Video" function of Jianying App to generate video->Add subtitles->Set cover->Export video.

(3) Release process

Set title, subtitle -> upload video -> select background music -> publish.

(4) Online observation

After the 1.0 version of the note was released, it only received dozens of views and almost no likes or collections. The data showed that users were not impressed.

(5) Cause analysis

The data of version 1.0 was very bleak. I could only find the problem through user research . I sent the video notes of version 1.0 to the target users and carefully asked about their viewing experience. The feedback I collected was:

The video is too long and I want to turn it off halfway through; there is too much preaching and it is a bit boring; the quality of the pictures in the video is not high, etc.

In this case, the product needs to be optimized and iterated.

7. Optimize iteration

(1) Version 1.1

Optimize content:

Based on user feedback, we optimized the video text, duration, pictures, etc., and re-released version 1.1 of the video notes.

Online observation:

There was no significant improvement in the number of views, and the number of likes improved slightly, but it was only in the single digits, and the data performance was still poor.

(The above picture is a screenshot of the video notes of version 1.1)

Cause Analysis:

Conduct user research again:

The feedback received was "It's an improvement over the previous version, but I still don't have the motivation to finish it."

Competitive product analysis:

Judging from the data, the direction of local optimization is wrong and the problem may appear in other places. So I searched for some big V accounts with the theme of communication, such as "Duo Buhua" and "Fan Deng Reading", and tried my best to analyze the commonalities between them and the gaps between them and the videos I made.

Discover:

The video notes posted by these accounts all feature infectious and influential real-life appearances, and are more likely to be liked by users in the form of lectures.

If the note is in the form of a video made of pure text + pictures, it requires a certain level of video production ability. The video generated by one click cannot attract users to watch, so other forms need to be tried.

in conclusion:

When researching competitors, we noticed a type of knowledge-sharing note with "text + exquisite cover". As long as the content is truly valuable, it can attract a large number of likes. So we decided to revise the format of the notes and change it to a text format that is more advantageous and has a lower production cost.

(2) Version 2.0

Optimize content:

Modify the notes to the "text + exquisite cover" format.

Online observation:

The effect after this adjustment was good, receiving dozens of likes and hundreds of views. Although there is still a long way to go to achieve the goal, it at least proves that the optimization direction is correct.

(The above picture is a screenshot of the text note of version 2.0)

Cause Analysis:

After analyzing the data of several notes in version 2.0, conducting an in-depth analysis of competing products in this format, and learning some note-taking skills taught by experts, we came to the following conclusions:

• The data of notes on the topic of couple communication is better than that of notes on other topics. Analysis may be related to the fact that Xiaohongshu users are relatively young.
• In competitor accounts, it is easy to get high likes by writing summary notes.
• Titles and tags also need to be optimized.
• The Chinese Valentine's Day is approaching, and you can take advantage of the festive atmosphere to increase user click-through rates.

(3) Version 2.1

Optimize content:

Based on the four optimization points summarized in version 2.0, I wrote a text note titled "A Communication Guide for Couples".

Online observation:

The data was significantly better than the previous few posts, and ultimately received 700+ likes and 7,000+ views.

At this point, after multiple version iterations, the quantitative goals set initially were finally achieved and the experience ended.

(The above picture is a screenshot of the text notes in version 2.1)

3. Project Review

After many hardships, the goal was finally achieved, but there was no rush to celebrate. There was still the most important review phase. I reviewed it from two dimensions: "account author" and "product design":

1. The community atmosphere of Xiaohongshu from the perspective of creators

(1) More friendly to novice creators

The decentralized traffic distribution logic and personalized recommendation algorithm avoid the Matthew effect where the strong always get stronger , allowing novice creators to have the possibility of creating hits.

(The decentralized traffic distribution logic means that after a note is published, the platform will first recommend it to a small number of users, and then make a comprehensive judgment on whether to give more traffic based on the data of likes and comments. Only when the content is good enough can a larger traffic pool be continuously obtained).

The homepage displays a double-row information flow , and the cover can be customized to give readers expectations. Compared with the immersive experience of TikTok, it is more friendly to novice creators.

The push traffic for each note is calculated separately. Big Vs only have an advantage in the number of fans over novice creators, but this does not increase the traffic support. Therefore, it is common to see that many big Vs have notes with less than 100 likes. This mechanism can encourage creators to continuously produce high-quality content .

It provides many strategies to support creators , such as reminders for reaching certain levels of followers/likes, weekly note reports, official free courses, etc. Only when creators continuously create high-quality content can the vitality of the community be maintained.

With the opening up of community e-commerce , creators can directly sell goods and realize cash after accumulating a certain number of fans, which increases their motivation to create.

(2) Distinctive community characteristics

User group composition:

Female users make up the vast majority, which results in community content being more feminine, creating certain obstacles to expanding the male market.

(3) Lack of social atmosphere

Most discussions revolve around works, and users lack the motivation to chat privately, making it difficult to expand social relationships.

There is a lack of friend recommendations, and the social atmosphere among acquaintances is average, making it impossible to consolidate social relationships among acquaintances, resulting in a lack of sharing enthusiasm among creators who have fewer fans and only share their daily lives.

2. From the perspective of product design, these areas can be improved

When selecting the video type, the advantages and feasibility of the note were not considered, resulting in the selection of an inappropriate note type.

No detailed competitive analysis was conducted before version 1.0, resulting in poor data for version 1.0.

When verifying feasibility, it is easy to obtain research results with large errors by simply verbally describing the product effects, so it should be as specific as possible.

IV. Conclusion

Because I am currently working on products in the social field and I pay more attention to mainstream community products, I chose "Xiaohongshu" as the object of in-depth experience. You can also try to use this method to deeply experience other products in your industry ~

The above is my sharing of the whole process of using product thinking to create a Xiaohongshu account from 0 to 1. I hope it will be inspiring to you.

Author: Wowhaha

Source: Wowhaha