10 questions and answers about brand deductions on Xiaohongshu

Recently, brand partners have been discussing the brand deduction mechanism of Xiaohongshu , discussing the reporting ratio, content soft articles, delivery rhythm, paid traffic, and the understanding of brands, bloggers, and institutions on the brand deduction mechanism of Xiaohongshu platform before and after 618. In this article, we will discuss these issues in detail.

01 10 questions and answers about brand deductions on Xiaohongshu

001【Paid Hot Article】

Question: Xiaohongshu launched a brand scoring mechanism before 618. If you don’t choose paid traffic, will it be difficult to produce a hit article on Xiaohongshu?

Answer: We need to understand from the official perspective of Xiaohongshu that the launch of the Xiaohongshu brand deduction mechanism at this time is, on the one hand, to increase the monetization of Xiaohongshu itself, allow brands to increase the reporting ratio of information flow advertising, and then pave the way for the 618 e-commerce shopping festival. The release rhythm of Xiaohongshu is the preparation period in March and April, the water storage period in May, and the detonation period in June. To put it simply, you have to comply with Xiaohongshu's payment rules. There is no need to be shy about this, because Tmall also has its own paid traffic rules.

There are still some popular articles produced by natural traffic, but they are lower than usual. After all, brands that generate paid traffic are still given priority. The second step is to crack down on the low-quality note content on Xiaohongshu. Now that the general premise is clear, the rest will be easy to follow.

002【Deduction scale】

Q: Will 100% of the points be deducted for not reporting the notes, or will it be for very poor quality content?

Answer: There will not be a 100% point deduction. On the one hand, it depends on whether the content community has found it, and on the other hand, it depends on the quality of the content and the sincere sharing experience. In short, it depends on whether the brand abides by the platform rules and reports and performs advertising effectively. Please see question 4 for details.

003【Talk less about selling points】

Question: Is it no longer possible for amateurs to do the sales? If the amount is not too much, will it have any impact?

Answer: Xiaohongshu has been cracking down on "amateur posting", targeting low-quality note content, including content that is highly homogenized. It would be fine if the amateur content is of high quality and does not dwell too much on the selling points of the product, and sincerely shares their experience. However, the brand deduction mechanism will be very strict during the period from April to June to reduce the number of amateurs.

(Screenshot from: Xiaohongshu app)

004【Declaration of Interests】

Question: When a brand places ads on Xiaohongshu, will it violate regulations if the brand asks the blogger to declare their interests, which will affect the brand's subsequent deduction of points? Does declaring an interest not count as brand promotion?

Answer: Declaring interests has never been a protective umbrella for brands. If the blogger's notes talk too much about product selling points and advertisements, it will still be judged as a violation, so you still have to be cautious about this.

005【Reporting ratio】

Question: I heard that the current reporting ratio is 1:1 and 1:10. Which one is true?

Answer: Xiaohongshu has never officially stated what the reporting ratio must be. If a brand was planning to place information flow ads before 618, the ratio can be increased to 30%. Please see what I wrote when the brand was banned: "Xiaohongshu bans brands, what should we merchants do?" 》December 16, 2021, but be cautious during this period. The blogger who reported the news also has relatively low prices. Emmm, I don’t know if you can get it.

006【Paid traffic】

Q: What do you think about Xiaohongshu’s non-reporting delivery rhythm?

Answer: According to the premise of Article 1, the traffic of non-reported grass-planting notes on Xiaohongshu from late May to June is definitely not as good as paid traffic, so brands must be clearly aware of this. Non-reported notes can still be placed during the 618 period, but the traffic will not be as good as in normal time periods.

Especially for brands that want to add brand words in non-registered notes, they should be more cautious. Brand words will appear in large numbers near 618, and the probability of traffic restriction and point deduction is very high.

007【Tap water】

Q: For brands that use more “tap water”, do we need to increase the number of reporting notes to achieve the ratio?

Answer: Not necessarily. For example, Perfect Diary and Huaxizi may have hundreds of tap water notes a day. Should we increase accordingly? Many times, brands do not know exactly how many "tap water" notes to add in a day. It also depends on the stage the brand is in.

It has been a law-abiding and good citizen brand that has been deeply involved in Xiaohongshu for many years, and has never missed any information flow, French fries, or reporting. There is no need to worry about the low-quality low-powder notes being laid out in large quantities.

(Screenshot from: Xiaohongshu APP)

008【No brand word】

Question: If the service provider asks us to post notes without brand words, will it affect the brand?

Answer: If you can share sincerely and your Xiaohongshu blogger account is healthy, you can do part of it. But don't commit crimes against the wind at this time. Xiaohongshu still has an ecological violation rate, and it will not only monitor the brand side, but also the account side. Well, there is another part of the reporting notes.

009【Brief changes direction】

Q: Is it true that non-reported notes cannot be included as selling points? Will I be deducted points for adding a brand?

Answer: I have seen the brief note requirements of many brands on Xiaohongshu. Being stiff is one thing, but the main problem is that they discuss selling points such as product ingredients too much. It is best to report this type of notes. Notes that are not reported must avoid implanting selling points and use more scenario results to speak.

010【Unable to ship】

Question: Due to the epidemic, it is too late to send the non-reported notes to bloggers. Can we only deliver them to the information flow?

Answer: Investing in more information flows is the only way out for brands. However, for collection of evaluation notes, although you do not have the products in your hands and can share them in the form of videos and pictures, you still need to objectively evaluate the brand products. This is considered sincere sharing. For reporting and information flow, please refer to the above content.

02 Response measures of Xiaohongshu brands, bloggers and institutions

1. Brand response measures: Xiaohongshu reporting ratio has three dimensions

1) The filing ratio is 10%, 20-30%, or 50%, depending on the category. The filing ratio for beauty and skincare brands is greater than 30%.

2) Amateur users: High-quality content, less talking about selling points and brand words, but not giving up on amateur users

3) Brands that have been deeply involved in Red Book for many years and have a large number of “tap water” do not need to deliberately reach the reporting ratio.

Things to note when choosing a blogger account

1) Do not vote for accounts that like or hide each other’s posts and accounts that mainly accept advertising orders.

2) Be cautious with accounts that have violated regulations recently, otherwise your brand will be affected

Other operating precautions of Xiaohongshu

1) Understand the reasons behind the blocked accounts and brands. Don’t save money by posting spam accounts. They are not very useful and will harm the brand.

2) Brands that publish a large number of notes should still invest in information flow

3) If the brand is deducted points, contact the official to supplement the reporting ratio and other matters

2. How to deal with it as a Xiaohongshu blogger:

1) Xiaohongshu bloggers must declare their interests when accepting promotion orders from brands

2) The content is vertical and has solid content. Don’t talk about selling points, just share sincerely

3) Do not take shortcuts, and make adjustments to the direction of non-reported graphic notes

4) Understand the definition of soft articles, share more, reduce the use of professional terms, make the entire note have less advertising content, explain the selling points of the product from the perspective of feelings, and give people a strong sense of immersion.

5) If a Xiaohongshu blogger is selected into the official blacklist three times, he/she will be banned from being searched for 30 days and banned from posting for 30 days

6) Hard advertising must be reported and there is no room for negotiation. Don’t rely on fluke mentality

3. How should Xiaohongshu agencies/MCNs respond?

1. Don’t take performance as the premise, but take the long-term security of the brand as the premise.

2. Communicate with bloggers under your own MCN agency about the brand deductions during this period

3. We recommend that brands choose Xiaohongshu information flow for high efficiency and low risk

4. At least in the near future, abandon low-quality, homogeneous content produced by amateurs

5. Increase the reporting ratio during the 618 period and the deduction period

Final summary

Based on the above 10 questions and answers about Xiaohongshu’s brand deduction mechanism, we can suspend Xiaohongshu’s dangerous operations in advance, so that brands, bloggers, and institutions can better understand the ins and outs behind Xiaohongshu’s deduction mechanism.

Xiaohongshu's various actions to rectify violations over the past year all focus on two issues: one is to crack down on low-quality content and accounts, and the other is to encourage brands to develop a sense of payment when investing in Xiaohongshu.

Let’s talk about this here for today. We will communicate again regarding the brand point deductions later.