A complete guide to marketing on Xiaohongshu!

Before major marketing events, how to quickly and accurately harvest traffic has become a difficult problem that every brand is worried about.

Especially in the past two years, every channel has been flooded with a large number of brands, and the competition for traffic has become increasingly fierce.

I had not originally planned to create content in this area, but seeing that most arguments are still telling you as always how to lay out content, slowly influence the minds of consumers, and then pull out the weeds, which can be summarized as a water storage period, a sprint period, a weeding period, and a return period. The entire battle line has been extended to more than two months, so I feel that today’s content is very necessary.

The reason is simple—it’s too late! ! !

There is only half a month left until Double 12, and everyone is holding their chopsticks and preparing to pick up food. If you tell me that if we start sowing seeds in the ground now, we will not be able to catch up with the heat.

So I summarized how various brands play on Xiaohongshu on the eve of the big sale, from acquiring customers to planting seeds and then to pulling seeds , it includes everything you know and don’t know. It can be said to be the most comprehensive on the market (if not, just ignore what I said).

When it comes to efficient conversion, we have to first have a general understanding of Xiaohongshu's traffic entrance. Only by mastering the source and path can we accurately snipe.

At present, the traffic entrances of Xiaohongshu mainly include the following:

1. Splash screen ads

2. Note push

3. Keyword search

4. Notes on people you follow

5. Live broadcast

With all due respect, this is not a channel suitable for most brands because they really cannot afford it.

Although it has a large exposure and can directly link to the landing page, its disadvantages are also very obvious.

Its traffic is not very accurate , and it is mostly pushed to the majority of users. In terms of its form, the product information that can be revealed is also very limited .

This is the most common traffic entrance and is second only to splash screen ads. It can be said that every user is under the control of Xiaohongshu’s UGC and advertising push from the moment they enter Xiaohongshu. No matter what your next action is, you will see the push content at the first time .

Those who can reach this page are your precise target users . They already have purchasing intentions and have even circled the brand, waiting to be planted, influenced, and persuaded .

This part is divided into three parts of traffic :

Search page drop-down keywords

Keyword search page

Secondary categories below keywords

Although the stickiness between users and followers has become lower and lower due to the changes in the overall ecology of Xiaohongshu in the past two years, we must admit that this part of the traffic cannot be underestimated as long as there is an independent display page.

If the user interacts frequently with the account, the probability and frequency of push notifications on the discovery page will be higher than for users who do not follow the account.

In the past year, Xiaohongshu's live streaming has been in full swing, and a large number of big bloggers have successfully transformed into live streaming hosts, becoming a very important part of Xiaohongshu's ecosystem.

Compared with the note display, the live broadcast process can display the product more completely and comprehensively, and jump to the follow-up page to harvest directly.

Among these five major traffic entrances, except for the splash screen ads, all of them are worth our grasp and layout.

Depending on the operator, they can be divided into bloggers and brands.

Next, I will explain the specific gameplay that can be implemented from the operator's perspective.

Although the campaign is carried out by the brand, the final content production and acceptance are still done by the blogger, so I still attribute this part to the blogger level.

1) Live streaming cooperation with experts

At this stage, the schedules of the top anchors are almost full. Given the control of ROI, there is not much point in increasing the price and adding more seats.

It is better to focus on mid-level bloggers, whose fan portraits are more segmented than those of top bloggers and who have a certain degree of fan stickiness.

More importantly, their quotations are not high. Compared with the high-priced slots of big anchors, which cost half of the marketing costs, they can lay out a large number of positions in multiple directions to minimize the risk.

I randomly captured data from several live broadcast rooms in the same period. We can see that the number of viewers, popularity and number of fans are not strongly correlated. It depends more on the ability of the anchor. Everyone can measure the input-output ratio by themselves.

If your products or discounts are competitive enough relative to the current market situation , you can even talk about pure commission cooperation with mid-level anchors, which is a sure win for the brand.

The best situation is to boost sales and achieve a win-win situation. If it fails, you can also promote the product for free. Why not do it?

Promotion effect:

Visually display product features and reap the rewards in the live broadcast room.

Suitable brands:

In the early stage of the platform, there has been a certain amount of content released, basic product discussions, and a Xiaohongshu store, which can directly convert within the site.

The average order value of products should be within 100, as this range is more likely to drive orders.

Someone will definitely say, didn’t I just say that it’s too late to sow the seeds? Why did you let me post again?

The investment here is not to let you wait for the harvest, but to cultivate the soil.

No matter what method we use to harvest, whether it is live streaming, link diversion, hot article diversion, or information flow, these all require the support of brand voice.

Today’s consumers are accustomed to searching on Xiaohongshu after being inspired by a product and reading more user feedback to determine whether they need to make a purchase.

If your brand only turns up notes from a year ago, and no one has shared it recently, or if it can’t be found at all, do you think consumers will still choose you?

Therefore, we must plan a certain amount of investment, which will have a certain promoting effect on all harvesting actions.

As for how to make a good layout for the delivery, you can read this article (insert link) for details, so I won’t go into details here.

What needs attention here is several special note content layouts.

① Single product discount purchase information & strategies

If the discount is very favorable, directly post the price and product. If you need to get a coupon or other operations, you can provide a purchasing guide.

It is suitable for brands that already have a certain brand reputation or brands where different brands have little impact on the actual user experience (do not have strong loyalty).

②Shopping cart list sharing

It is suitable for bloggers who can lead the trend of "copying homework" on a daily basis . They can directly post shopping lists and use the blogger's influence and fans' trust in his choices to reap the rewards.

③Discount information broadcast

The theme is "薅羊毛" ( get something for free), and we share ideas instead of focusing on a specific product .

Promotion effect:

Top influencers can efficiently harvest traffic in the short term, mid-level influencers can stabilize daily traffic and exposure, and amateurs can help brands obtain basic traffic.

Suitable brands:

All brands that hope to harvest traffic from Xiaohongshu.

New brands can deploy their strategy according to the ratio of 50% amateurs + 50% mid-level influencers. The cost of investing in top influencers is relatively high, and the effect is difficult to control, so it is not recommended for new brands to operate.

If there have been notes laid in the early stage or users have a certain understanding of the product , the product can be placed in the ratio of 50% amateurs + 40% mid-level influencers + 10% top influencers.

Note: The proportional allocation mentioned here is only suitable for last-minute preparation at the current stage and is not suitable for daily delivery.

In addition to posting notes, there is a lot that brands can do.

1) Advertising

The main material for information flow delivery is notes , whether it is the notes of experts who have reported cooperation or the notes of brand enterprise accounts.

Brands can increase the exposure of their notes by pushing them to targeted groups of people.

At present, the average ROI of Xiaohongshu’s information flow is maintained at 1:2. If it is a high-quality note, it can reach 1:7 or even higher.

This is a relatively efficient and direct channel for harvesting traffic .

After testing, the conversion rate of enterprise account notes is better than that of reporting experts’ notes . It depends on the strength of the content itself.

It is recommended to resubmit a previously tested note instead of submitting a new note.

At this stage, it is recommended that brands maintain a 5:5 ratio between information flow and search advertising, and pay attention to optimization in real time.

Like this cooperation report note of Always, when the brand has a certain reputation, the first picture directly broadcasts discount information, focusing on attracting users who want to get discounts and ask for strategies. The following pictures introduce the product features in more detail, so that both existing users and those waiting to see can reap the benefits at the same time.

This can be said to be a classic example of the successful combination of big promotion node note delivery and information flow delivery.

Promotion effect:

Harvesting directly within the platform, with a strong dependence on content .

Suitable brands:

For brands that have previously tested information flow delivery on Xiaohongshu , it is best to have at least two months of content accumulation in the early stages.

On the eve of a big sale, based on past experience, the volume of Xiaohongshu’s grass-planting notes is certainly important, but what is more important is still the operation of the official account.

Official accounts can convey product information and brand concepts to consumers more quickly and accurately, completing rapid conversion harvesting.

Operating the brand account well can not only increase brand exposure at a low cost , but also significantly improve the brand's basic voice on the Xiaohongshu platform, thereby obtaining homepage push traffic and keyword search traffic.

In this era when everyone is eager to be planted and pulled out, these two parts of traffic are crucial.

One thing that needs to be noted is that although it is an official account, the content must not be too official . For a platform with high social attributes like Xiaohongshu, except for a few big brands, taking a condescending approach will make people stay away.

①Joint lucky draw activities

It is divided into official platform-initiated lottery and brand-initiated lottery.

In the early stages of a big promotion, the platform will conduct targeted investment promotion for merchants, and the brands will need to provide corresponding resources, such as product discounts.

This type of activity attracts a considerable amount of traffic within the platform, but there is an entry threshold. You can try to participate if you have the opportunity. Here we are mainly talking about the brand-initiated joint raffle .

A brand joint lottery event can add at least 3,000 followers to a brand account. Of course, there are lottery numbers, but the vast majority are still active ordinary users. As long as a series of subsequent fan-solidification operations are carried out, they can be quickly converted.

Jinshimeng Jewelry joined forces with hundreds of brands for Double Eleven this year, in a way somewhat similar to Alipay's Chinese Koi event in 2018. However, due to the limitations of the platform's user base and influence, the grand occasion of the Chinese Koi lottery that year is difficult to replicate.

But the heat has been brewing, and compared with other linkages, the heat lasts longer.

It is recommended to have 2-8 brands, which are cost-effective and easy to organize.

The joint lottery event between BRUNO and Xinxiang selected a multifunctional small square pot and an instant hot water dispenser as prizes in the same usage scenario, which was very consistent with the needs of the vast majority of users on the Xiaohongshu platform, quickly attracted the attention and participation of a large number of users, and achieved a win-win situation for both brands.

Promotion effect:

The effects will vary depending on the intensity of the activity and publicity. On the eve of a big sale, the main conversion targets are still users who have been interested in the product in the early stages, and the conversion rate is higher than that of daily interactive promotions.

Suitable brands:

The target users are relatively consistent, they are in different categories, and there is not much difference in brand voice.

② Lucky draw notes (interactive lucky draw/order-sharing lucky draw)

This part can be carried out in conjunction with the joint lottery activities, turning the active users attracted by the linkage into real fans of your own brand.

Combined with the function of sending private messages to groups, if there are a large number of participants, they can be pushed to a larger traffic pool by the system, capturing more users, and conducting brand exposure and publicity conversion.

Promotion effect:

Strengthen the flow of fans and combine it with other notes of the brand account, such as information about planting grass or discounts, to directly harvest users.

Suitable brands:

The brand has at least 2 months of content accumulation on the platform , and the products have a certain sense of value and appeal.

③Check-in benefits

During the check-in period, participating users will spontaneously promote and recommend your brand. Compared to searching for amateurs or exchanging cooperation, this type of users is more worthwhile to operate.

Promotion effect:

Gaining brand awareness on the platform at a short-term and low-cost cost depends on the brand’s early fan base on Xiaohongshu.

Suitable brands:

Small and medium-sized brands that have newly joined Xiaohongshu.

High-frequency daily necessities that can innovate content at low cost, such as electric stew pots, air fryers, juice cups, etc.

④Show your order

Posting reviews can help you get first-hand user experience, similar to Taobao’s buyer shows. As long as you make good use of the keyword layout in your notes, you can increase your brand’s voice on the platform.

It is also easier for new potential users to obtain real feedback, which promotes order conversion.

Promotion effect:

Low cost in exchange for real buyer shows, boosting the brand's basic voice on the platform

Suitable brands:

The product does not require passers-by to have high content output capabilities, but only a certain fan and sales base.

⑤Live lottery

As mentioned above, Xiaohongshu has provided a lot of support for live streaming in the past year. Although the effect of brand self-broadcasting on Xiaohongshu is weaker than on other platforms due to the limitations of the platform's own traffic and the difficulty of acquiring fans, it can still attract some users by making good use of benefits such as lucky draws.

Depending on the activities in the live broadcast room, the platform will give different tags to attract exposure.

Promotion effect:

Attract a large number of vague consumers and complete the process of planting grass and pulling grass in the live broadcast room. The ability of the anchor and the consumers' early awareness of the brand have a certain impact on the results.

Suitable brands:

Brands have already set up their own broadcasting platforms on Taobao, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc., and stores can also conduct self-broadcasting simultaneously.

⑥Private message

Brand accounts can send private messages to fans four times a month, and the content can be pictures, texts, coupons, notes, etc.

It is recommended to push discount information directly to quickly attract potential users.

Promotion effect:

Direct harvest.

Suitable brands:

Brands that have accumulated a certain amount of content on the platform.

Xiaohongshu, like any other platform, is just a channel, not a place where you can pick up gold easily. Only careful operation and research can bring corresponding returns.

Before major marketing nodes, brands need to have clear ideas and rhythm control for marketing and delivery actions, so that they can quickly and accurately reach the minds of users and achieve brand conversion.