Guide for travel businesses to make the most of Xiaohongshu notes!

It has been three years since the outbreak of the epidemic, and the tourism industry has also been in dire straits during these three years. I encountered some tourist customers who recharged the advertising amount, but encountered the epidemic at the beginning of the advertising campaign and had to apply for a refund. The reason for the refund was to pay off the mortgage for their employees, which was really heartbreaking. The reason why I wrote travel articles is that a businessman asked if there is any analysis on the travel industry. I have to arrange it! ! !

Industry Insights: Check out Xiaohongshu before traveling

Bidachun Consulting released the "China Tourism Industry Analysis Report in the First Half of 2020". The report shows that due to the impact of the epidemic, short-distance tours around the area have become a new choice for users. In terms of travel decisions, users choose lifestyle communities represented by Xiaohongshu and Douyin. Xiaohongshu has become the most commonly used travel decision-making platform in the first half of 2020. Even after two years, Xiaohongshu is still the most important platform for travel decisions.

Figure 1: Online travel decision-making platforms frequently used by BiDa users in 2020

The core reason for this is that the decision-making chain for cultural and tourism consumption has changed. In the past, demand came first. After users had travel needs, they would obtain information, compare decisions, and then decide to go, and users would share again.

However, with Xiaohongshu as an emerging lifestyle, it starts with content seeding, which triggers demand. After users go to play, they actively share content, thus forming a word-of-mouth effect. This mechanism greatly reduces the transaction costs of the tourism industry. There are more and more fun and interesting notes on scenic spots, forming a snowball effect, and the unfun scenic spots are gradually eliminated.

According to the official tourism sharing session, travel has become the second largest category of Xiaohongshu after beauty products, with the number of notes and interactions growing at the fastest rate, forming a strong outlet.

Figure 3: Originality document - Xiaohongshu marked the meaning of travel

In order to better support the tourism category, the government has launched topic activities according to different seasons, such as summer parent-child/family travel in July and August, Golden Week in October, and skiing projects in November. I believe everyone felt the popularity of Xiaohongshu's ski season last year.

Figure 4: Xiaohongshu’s marketing node planning for the cultural and travel industry

With the change in consumers' travel needs, Xiaohongshu has become the users' first choice as a recommendation platform. The platform has adapted to tourism needs, launched various marketing activities, and supported the growth of categories, making Xiaohongshu the number one platform for travel decision-making. The earlier the tourism industry plans, the more opportunities it will seize in the travel section of Xiaohongshu.

User needs: Avoid being cheated when copying homework during travel

A search on Xiaohongshu for the word "travel" yielded 4.85 million notes, covering six categories: domestic and overseas travel, OTA, hotels, scenic spots and transportation. The word cloud tourism focuses on travel guides, travel, food attractions, store exploration and other needs, of which travel guides account for 1/4. Users regard Xiaohongshu as a travel guide platform, hoping to get "copy homework"-style pitfall avoidance suggestions on Xiaohongshu.

Figure 5: EN Stars-Xiaohongshu Travel Word Cloud

Figure 6: Xiaohongshu travel guide drop-down words

Tips: Whether you are doing hotel, scenic spot or domestic tourism, you can focus on travel guides, embed your products into the travel guides, and provide users with a travel guide. When it comes to travel strategies, pay attention to travel destinations and travel methods.

Tourist Destinations

Internet celebrity cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, and Xinjiang have always been very popular. When you click on the relevant travel notes of Chongqing, you will find that they are all Internet celebrity check-in spots in Chongqing, such as Chongqing Light Rail, 8D Magic City, Hongyadong Love Road, etc. Tourism cities have planned marketing around Internet celebrity attractions, connecting the attractions into a route and providing route travel guides.

Travel Mode

In terms of travel methods, due to the epidemic, the main types of travel currently include local tours, self-driving tours, parent-child tours, and internet celebrity check-ins. When creating content, you can make specific strategies around travel methods. For example, if you run a campsite in Moganshan, you can integrate it into the self-driving travel routes of Moganshan, embed business premises, and offer various food, drinks, and entertainment activities to attract users.

Figure 8: Originality document - Xiaohongshu marked the meaning of travel

Summary: Tourism customers focus on travel guides and use Xiaohongshu as a platform for copying homework. Users pay more attention to destinations and travel methods. For destination travel, they can focus on popular attractions, and for travel methods, they can focus on specific methods to help customers make travel plans and embed their own products into them.

Popular sections: Camping & Hotels

To further break down the travel section of Xiaohongshu, I selected two major sections: camping and hotels and homestays. Let’s first break down camping. Since January 2021, camping has maintained a growth rate of more than 30%. In less than 8 months, the number of new notes has increased by 3 times.

Camping: The hottest tourism sector last year

Figure 9: Enstar-Camping keyword data

When it comes to camping, users will pay attention to elements such as food, coffee, atmosphere, barbecue, outing, etc. At the campsite, they will add attention to food, various atmospheres, photography, etc. in their notes, which meets the needs of users to pay attention to Xiaohongshu.

Figure 10: Enstar-Camping keyword data

More and more campsites are emerging on Xiaohongshu. For example, Dare Wilderness has become the TOP1 merchant in the travel category of Xiaohongshu in a short period of time. Let’s break down the TOP merchants: Dare Wilderness.

Hot Wilderness

Introduction: A top camping merchant on Xiaohongshu, with 59 posts, 69,000 likes and favorites, and 40,000 followers. Here is a breakdown of a recent sales note with the highest number of likes and comments.

Figure 11: Analysis of the hot desert article

Title: "The largest camping event in the first half of the year in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai kicks off? The wild never stops"

Location + theme locks in the target users, and "largest" also attracts most camping enthusiasts.

Pictures: The first picture uses a camping cartoon picture + theme + time + location, which can get important information at a glance. The business card is attached to facilitate users to place orders on their own. The various brands participating in the second picture make users more willing to participate. The 3rd to 7th pictures use camping scene pictures respectively (it is recommended to adjust the picture ratio to increase the aesthetics)

Main text: Start with data to increase trust, then introduce the time and place, how to play, event introduction, and reservation method. At the same time, use corresponding emoj expressions to make the reading less boring and the information introduction is relatively comprehensive.

Summary: Camping businesses can refer to the sales notes. The content of their official accounts is mainly composed of reprinted expert notes + sales notes + strategy avoidance + lottery notes. A group of camping businesses that cooperated with the official earlier also received certain traffic support. It is recommended that such businesses can follow the official account and participate in activities in a timely manner.

Accommodation: The Evergreen of the Tourism Industry

The second popular section on Xiaohongshu is hotels and homestays. Although the epidemic has caused serious losses to hotels and homestays, during this period there are still many hotel and homestay brands that have achieved growth in sales on the Xiaohongshu platform by publishing high-quality notes, cooperating with influencers to promote products, and live streaming.

In order to better understand the hotel and homestay industry, the first 30 interaction notes were exported through En Star. More than 60% of the sub-sectors are concentrated in the travel guide category, which is in line with industry insights that users are more concerned about travel guides. We will use the top-ranked personal account Miss Yang's Travels Around the World and the professional account Zui Shiguang Travel for analysis.

Figure 12: EN Stars - Homestay Industry Research

Personal account: Miss Yang travels around the world

Introduction: A travel blogger who mainly writes about hotels and homestays with pictures and text notes. He has published 86 articles and received 76,000 likes and collections. Some of his other similar notes have received thousands of likes, and some have received more than 22,000 likes and collections. This is a good number during the epidemic. Let's focus on analyzing this note.

Title: People who come to Dali for the tenth time are busy sorting out sea view rooms within 200 yuan

Using the number 10 to express one's rich experience in traveling to Dali has a stronger endorsement of trust. Being able to stay in a sea view room for less than 200 yuan is also a point that makes users very excited. Even if they don't go, the collection value is high.

Picture: Enjoy a comfortable meal in a sea view room with a strong sense of scene

The cover is not high-definition, and the proportions of pictures 3 and 4 are not harmonious, but the advantage is that they are all sea views.

Main text: Collection of sea view room introductions

Three sea view hotels are introduced in turn, with relatively detailed descriptions of the hotel's location, scenery, food, and price, which can give users an intuitive feeling and the information acquisition is relatively comprehensive.

Summary: Seaview accommodation guide

Collection-type guides are yyds in travel notes. Most of the popular articles are collections. Secondly, use data-based descriptions to increase user trust. The most important thing is to write the content carefully, think more about what users need, and provide users with guides.

Professional account: Drunk time travel

Introduction: Focusing on travel strategies to attract private messages, 205 articles have been published, and 290,000 likes and collections have been received. The travel strategies written on the blackboard are more likely to gain the trust of users. The comments below also want to know how to join the tour and achieve customer acquisition and traffic.

Title: "Beijing's most complete travel guide✅Must-see during Qingming Festival and May Day✅Avoid stepping on thunder"

The title uses the location + time + keyword strategy. The notes that put Qingming and May Day together will take a long time to radiate.

Image: Text plus emoticons to mention the time and place and summarize the experience.

It is also highlighted with red underlines and colors, but I personally think it is not beautiful enough and looks a little messy. However, 2-8 is full of practical information, listing the pitfalls to avoid, attractions, pre-trip preparations, accommodation suggestions, transportation, tour routes, and food one by one in words, which is very detailed and logical.

Main article: Super Strategy Collection

The aspects that most travel users are most concerned about, such as things to pay attention to when going to Beijing, 5-day route planning and tips, transportation guide, accommodation suggestions and food recommendations.

Summary: The notes are a nanny-level tutorial, which can be printed out and taken with you on a trip. The collection value is also very high.

Final Words

Users' travel habits have changed from demand-oriented to grass-planting-oriented. As a travel decision-making platform, Xiaohongshu has attracted more and more users to discover, search, purchase and share various travel information. In terms of user attention, they pay special attention to travel guide content. When merchants create notes, they first think about why users come here, whether there are internet celebrities visiting the store, and whether it is a parent-child tour or a couple's tour. Then they write targeted travel notes. Only after the brand is implanted in them, will users be willing to click on the notes and send private messages on how to purchase and settle in.