Planning and creating popular notes on Xiaohongshu!

As one of the social platforms, Xiaohongshu has not only become popular with its grass-planting attributes, but has also attracted the attention of brands and merchants, becoming one of the main battlefields for brand marketing. The creation of popular notes is one of the effective ways to boost traffic conversion. Specifically, how should popular notes on the Xiaohongshu platform be planned and created? The author of this article has summarized this, let’s take a look.

The annual Double 11 has begun again. In addition to traditional e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and JD.com, social platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu have also started their own Double 11 activities.

As a strong platform for promoting products among young people, Xiaohongshu has always been the main battlefield for brand marketing and traffic grabbing. The key to whether Xiaohongshu can be used to expand brand awareness and even convert sales lies in: popular notes.

Here we will teach you step by step how to plan and write popular notes, allowing you to "carve out" a path among the massive amount of content.

1. Hot-selling notes = millions of free traffic

In the past, Xiaohongshu had a small number of users, so bloggers had a natural traffic bonus. Today, the number of users has reached more than 200 million. As the number of notes increases, the competition becomes more intense. It is a general trend for platforms to allocate traffic to high-quality content.

What is premium content? I think there are two criteria:

1. Create value for users;
2. Users are willing to accept such content.

Because Xiaohongshu is a content distribution mechanism that is tailored to each individual, it will be pushed to a few people first, and if the feedback is good, it will be recommended to more people. High-quality content is the prerequisite for becoming a popular note, so popular notes often have a high number of views, likes, and collections, and can occupy a high ranking on the platform.

Consumers initially become interested in the product by reading the notes about popular products on Xiaohongshu. After becoming interested in the product, they further search for product information on Xiaohongshu/Taobao to learn more about it, develop a desire to buy and visit the store to browse, and finally make a consumption decision and pay for the purchase.

In other words, the popularity of Xiaohongshu articles is crucial to the conversion rate of a product. Therefore, no brand will give up this piece of "cake".

2. Quickly create popular notes

How to create a popular note, I have summarized 6 steps here: first choose the topic - write the title - write the text - optimize the cover - publish time - avoid minefields.

1. Step 1: Topic selection

Topic selection is not that complicated for brand owners, because the categories are fixed, and the quickest way is to choose popular keywords to create content.

For example, if you are a brand that makes facial masks, if you search for "facial mask" in the search box, many keywords will appear. You can just focus on these keywords.

For small and medium-sized brands, it is best not to make the keywords too "big" because they cannot compete with big brands. We can try to narrow the scope of topics so that products can be recommended to users more accurately.

Here we will teach you the "segmentation method", which includes 7 aspects:

1. Subdivide by season: for example, "winter skin care" and "summer matching";
2. Subdivided into methods: such as "weight loss methods" and "skin care methods";
3. Subdivide into processes: such as "makeup tutorial" and "beauty review";
4. Segment by group: for example, “office worker outfits” and “student party makeup”;
5. Segmented into products: such as "whitening essence" and "headphones";
6. Break it down into festivals: for example, "Chinese Valentine's Day gifts" and "Double Eleven facial masks";
7. Subdivided into locations: for example, "Hangzhou Hotels" and "Shanghai Specialties".

2. Step 2: Title

Once you have a general idea of ​​the topic, you can start taking notes. A good title is the key to a hit article. Here are some tips for a hit article title.

1) Highlight keywords

The title should allow people to get the features of your product at a glance and highlight the keywords. For example, a facial mask brand’s recommendation:

• Negative example: "Recommend a super useful facial mask." The positioning here is too vague.
• Positive example: "A treasured moisturizing mask, a must-have for students!" The key words here are "moisturizing" and "students".

2) Arouse curiosity

Create some suspense to arouse users' curiosity.

For example:

• "This is the most cost-effective facial mask I have ever seen!"
• “One of the must-buy masks for students”

3) Specific numbers

Adding specific numbers to the title can make it more intuitive, and using Arabic numerals can be more impactful.

For example:

• "You are applying the mask incorrectly. Applying the mask once is equivalent to applying it 10 times."
• “I have repurchased this mask over 800 times”

4) Hitting the user’s pain points

Set titles based on user pain points. It is easier to find user pain points in categories such as beauty and skin care.

For example:

• "10-minute scientific blackhead removal"
• "Completely remove facial mites in 14 days"

5) Take advantage of the hot spots

You can set titles based on popular figures or topics.

For example:

• “The facial mask that Li Jiaqi is crazy about recommending”
• "XX celebrity-style facial mask recommendation"

6) Avoid minefields

Don’t put the brand name in the title, as it may be easily judged as a commercial advertisement by Xiaohongshu. Try to highlight the features of the product.

• Negative example: “My favorite facial mask is XX mask”.
• Positive example: "Super gentle hydrating mask, affordable and reliable!"

3. Step 3: Write the text

The difficulty of the main content lies in the implantation of the product. If the product can be implanted well without making users feel that it is marketing and causing disgust, then this note is half successful.

Therefore, it is important to understand the product, which can help us determine the category of the article, while the product's functions and applicable groups can help us determine the content of the article. Based on this logic, we can break it down into 3 steps:

1. Break down the functions or ingredients of the product, target the target audience, and then determine the title and keywords.
2. Confirm the characters and scenes to make the content more realistic.
3. Build the structural foundation of "personal experience + experience sharing + product placement" , and then add some professional content to make the content valuable.

For example: promoting a facial mask.

For example, the mask has functions of whitening and removing acne, and is positioned in the mid-to-low end, suitable for office workers and students. The following information can be listed:

• Title: "Only a few dollars a piece! Students must stock up on this treasure mask"
• Keywords: whitening mask, acne mask
• Character: College student

Then you can start by writing:

• Recently, during the exam week, I stayed up late every day to practice questions~
• The skin tone is really dull and yellow! The whole person looks so haggard!

Middle part:

• My roommate saw how haggard I was and recommended me a facial mask.
• To be honest, she is my roommate and knows my skin very well.
• After I bought it, it became my regular facial mask!

Product section:

• Whitening and brightening are very effective, brightening the skin tone without dead corners on the whole face
• The ingredients are pure natural and can soothe the skin. I feel that acne marks have become much lighter.

In this way, the overall structure of the note is created. For example, the two popular articles in the picture below both adopt this model. However, this is just a common and easy-to-imitate way of writing, and it does not have to be written in this pattern.

In addition, there are two points to note in the main content.

The first is keyword optimization. The frequency and layout of keyword appearance directly affect the search ranking of the notes, but they cannot appear too often, as they may be easily judged as deliberate marketing.

For example, the note in the picture above is a note that ranks relatively high for the keyword "lotion". From it, we can see that the layout of keywords is relatively even and natural, and users will not feel that it is deliberately piled up when reading it.

Second, the article should have clear paragraphs, a reasonable layout, and include more emoticons. For example, in the two notes below, the one on the left is obviously much cleaner, making it easier for users to grasp the key points of the product.

After writing the overall content, go to the website to screen for sensitive words and make timely adjustments. Just search “Little Red Book sensitive word search” on Baidu.

4. Step 4: Cover optimization

The cover of a note determines 30% of whether it is attractive or not. Usually, the cover images of popular articles have several characteristics: high definition and exquisite, prominent theme, and eye-catching.

By observing the popular articles on the platform, I found that there are several types of covers that are easier to learn from.

1) Outstanding features

Put the key information on it to attract users to click in.

2) Comparison chart

Through comparison, the effect of the product can be intuitively displayed.

3) Four-grid

Use puzzles to display product information in all aspects, not limited to four-square grids, but also six-square grids or nine-square grids.

If you really don't know how to do it, the easiest way is to imitate it. Search for products in the same category as yours, and generally the ones ranked high are not bad. Imitate how they format their cover.

Size options:

• Currently, the iOS system supports three sizes: 3:4, 1:1, and 4:3;
• Android only supports 3:4 size.

It is recommended to choose a 3:4 size here to keep the width of all note headers consistent to gain more exposure area.

Recommended photo editing software:

• Meiyi (easy puzzle making);
• Butter Camera (many fonts, often used for cover);
• MeituXiuXiu (useful for photo editing).

5. Step 5: Release time

According to the data, Xiaohongshu users are active between 4pm to 6pm and 8pm to 11pm. Therefore, sending recommendations during peak user activity periods will usually have a better effect.

However, because the audience of each Xiaohongshu blogger is different, the user portrait and active time should be determined based on the content. Bloggers in different fields have fans who are active on Xiaohongshu at different times.

For example: Notes about skin care products are suitable to be published around 8 pm.

Because this time period is the typical time for women to take care of their skin, and it is also the time period when women like to shop on Taobao, if the notes are posted during this time period, they are more likely to obtain data conversion.

After reaching a relative decision, you can infer 2-3 suitable time periods, conduct data tests on each period, and finally draw a relatively correct conclusion.

Here are some recommended release times for several major categories:

1. Beauty and makeup : around 8pm;
2. Study : around 8 a.m. and 1 p.m.
3. Mother and baby : around 10 pm and 10 am;
4. Dressing : 7pm to 10pm;
5. Food : 5pm to 8pm.

6. Step 6: Avoid minefields

If you want to tap into traffic on the platform, you must also abide by the platform's rules. There are several minefields that you must pay attention to:

1. It is prohibited to publish and disseminate illegal content in notes, private messages, comments, etc., such as content that endangers national security, promotes superstition, terrorism and violence, etc.
2. Avoid keywords such as "can be purchased on behalf of others", "exclusive sale", "group buying", "QR code", "private chat", "WeChat business", "Tik Tok", and "Taobao" in the content.
3. You are not allowed to leave contact information, such as mobile phone number, QQ number, Xianyu number, WeChat number, purchase link, etc.
4. The image cannot contain QR codes or watermarks with contact information.
5. Do not falsify interactive data, including increasing followers and likes, registering Xiaohongshu accounts in batches, etc.

3. How to distribute popular notes?

Everyone knows that if a brand wants to use Xiaohongshu, advertising is a necessary step. But when it comes to the actual launch stage, how to choose the influencer becomes a problem. Should we choose an amateur or a KOL?

First of all, you need to understand the characteristics of these types of experts:

• Amateurs and low-end KOLs generally have between 500 and 10,000 fans. The price of a single placement is relatively cheap and the content is more authentic. It is usually suitable for brands to launch in the initial stage to achieve the purpose of expanding the brand.
• Mid-level KOLs generally have between 10,000 and 100,000 fans. It can bring a certain amount of voice and conversion to the brand, is very cost-effective, and is easy to produce explosive articles, making it suitable for long-term brand expansion.
• Top KOLs generally have more than 100,000 fans, and the top ones can have tens of millions of fans. The content is highly vertical and product promotion is more directional, but the cost-effectiveness is not high, which is suitable for brand communication.

After understanding the advantages and disadvantages of these types of influencers, make your choice based on your brand attributes and goals.

For example, when promoting the launch of a new beauty product, it is recommended to follow the rhythm of first increasing volume, then converting the brand, and finally exposing the brand , and select amateurs and tail KOLs, mid-level KOLs, and top KOLs in turn for promotion.

Next, how to find experts?

1) Amateur cooperation method

Many people who are not familiar with Xiaohongshu may not know where to start. We can search for "notice" in the mini program. There will be some platforms for posting tasks. After posting the task, ordinary people will take the initiative to add you. It is easy to add hundreds of people a day.

2) Cooperation methods between mid-level KOL and top KOL

These two types of experts cannot be found in the same way as amateurs. Their verticality and cost-effectiveness must be considered. We can first use platforms like Qiangua to screen KOLs, find target KOLs, and then send private messages to communicate our intention for cooperation.

Another way is to look for talents directly on platforms like Qiangua or MCN agencies. The disadvantage is that it requires agency fees or membership service fees, but of course it is also more efficient.

When choosing an expert, you should also pay attention to some pitfalls. For example, the notes data of some influencers are very good, but they may be fake and contain some water. If brands cooperate with them, it will be difficult to achieve results in terms of sales conversion or brand promotion.

We can judge the quality of talents from three dimensions:

1. Look at the interaction data. For example, if the comment section is filled with positive reviews, there are no highly praised comments in the notes with many comments, and the time intervals between comments are very short, then such an account is very suspicious.
2. Look at the quality and verticality of the notes, whether effort has been put into the pictures and text of the notes, and whether the notes are concentrated in one field. If the field is not very vertical, the quality will usually not be very high.
3. Use the platform to check the expert's data to see if it is at a normal level. For example, the exposure and reading ratio of non-commercial notes is 10:1. If it is lower than this data, it means that the quality of the expert's notes is not high.

Good wine also needs good bottles. A high-quality note can only become a hit note if it is spread by high-quality experts. Therefore, delivery is also an important link.

4. Final Thoughts

Finally, let’s summarize the key points of creating explosive notes:

1. The topic selection should be narrowed down as much as possible, and the "segmentation method" can be used to make the content more precise;
2. There are several common methods for titles, including highlighting keywords, specific numbers, and hot topics.
3. The content of the article can be constructed into a structure of "personal experience + experience sharing + product placement", and the copy should be authentic and lively;
4. Common methods for image optimization include: highlighting features, contrast method, and four-grid method;
5. Understand the most suitable time for product release, and then find the best time through repeated testing;
6. Keep abreast of the latest policies and rules to avoid minefields;
7. For influencer advertising, you can choose amateurs or KOLs and contact them for cooperation through mini-programs, private messages, platforms, etc.

Author: Yan Tao Sanshou

Source: Yan Tao Sanshou