Xiaohongshu marketing strategy for car companies!

Starting from objective data and real cases, this article extracts six successful methodologies for car companies to operate Xiaohongshu, taking into account both practical operations and strategies, and providing inspiration and reference for automobile brand marketing in the new era.

1. Lay a solid foundation: these elements are indispensable

From the previous case, CTR observed that car brands have made many meaningful attempts and efforts in Xiaohongshu marketing , and extracted valuable methodologies, such as: choosing suitable car models for user-friendly packaging based on platform preferences; for some "out-of-scope" models, the brand takes a different approach and conducts diversified operations through psychological guidance and arousing yearning, etc. As for the specific operation methodology, the following points are worthy of reference for car companies:

1. Choose a car model that meets the platform users’ preferences

It is advisable to choose compact/new energy. Currently, the popular car models on Xiaohongshu are mainly compact, small and medium-sized and new energy vehicles. For example, Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, Lynk & Co New Energy, Tank 300 small and medium-sized SUVs are all on the list of Xiaohongshu's popular car models. According to statistics from the automobile information platform Dongchedi, the proportion of female car buyers who give priority to new energy vehicles is nearly 10 percentage points higher than that of male buyers, approaching 25%, and the new energy vehicle market has strong potential among female buyers. In addition, new energy vehicle replacement offers many discounts, is encouraged by new policies, small cars are cost-effective, and have a short decision-making chain, which are also some of the factors suitable for online promotion.

Focus on a single car model and avoid generalized advertising. The selection of car models should be specialized, and try to focus on a single model. If multiple models must be promoted, the "one main and multiple times" strategy can be adopted to firmly grasp the interest-based distribution attributes of Xiaohongshu; the style focuses on "small and beautiful" , which is different from the formal product promotion style of Weibo and the cool and eye-catching style of Douyin. By digging deep into the diversified selling points of specific models and multi-angle targeted packaging, the user's mind can be cultivated to avoid superficial advertising behavior.

2. Content, copywriting, and illustrations fully demonstrate a refined lifestyle

The content focuses on details. Sharing more DIY, personalized painting, exquisite interior, unique parts (such as @Wuling Automobile's "milk tea tray") and other content will help enhance the fashion sense and uniqueness of the car model packaging.

The copywriting is both internal and external. In terms of content, you can focus on constructing an ideal life schema , and subconsciously guide readers to recognize and yearn for the "life after owning a car"; in terms of form, you can use more emojis to embellish and attract readers.

Focus on visual appreciation . When it comes to pictures, you should focus on retouching and decorating the screen to create a sense of refinement. When choosing models, you should be innovative, conduct in-depth research on the preferences of Xiaohongshu users, and be cautious in selecting traditional "successful men" or old-fashioned luxury car models to avoid inefficient delivery.

3. Cleverly use Xiaohongshu's recommendation logic

The operation mode shall be adapted to local conditions. Xiaohongshu has a complex first-round recommendation logic. When a note is published, its system will automatically use technical analysis methods to match similar notes, score them, and then recommend them to suitable Xiaohongshu users. Therefore, the better the interaction effect of similar notes in the content pool, the higher the score, and the more advantageous the new note will be.

The Hyundai imported cars in the previous case took advantage of this point, packaging car advertisements as lifestyle content, entering the lifestyle recommendation circle, and gaining wider exposure for their content.

2. Advanced Optimization: Do this if you want to outperform your competitors

In addition, we believe that the following operational methodologies have already sprouted in the marketing ideas of some car companies on Xiaohongshu, but they are not mature enough and are worth further research and attempts:

1. Open up the pattern and actively guide diversified aesthetics

Refuse to think in a fixed way. We should attach importance to market research, user analysis and activity feedback, conduct in-depth research on the platform's audience portrait, and refuse to equate the preferences of Xiaohongshu users and mainstream female users with traditional labels such as pink and emphasizing appearance over functionality .

According to a survey conducted by the automotive information platform Dongchedi, more than half of users disagree with car companies' stereotypical marketing to women, with the most concrete criticism directed at the classic stereotype of "pink". According to the above statistics, the acceptance rate of pink car bodies among women is 4.59%, and the acceptance rate among men is 0.28%. Compared with 41.97% of women and 37.32% of men for white cars, pink is not popular among both male and female car owners. This is also verified by the popular content of car company accounts. For example, the note that ranked first in the statistics for Wuling Motors was a modified car in milk tea color. Among the notes with high interaction numbers of each account, there was only one piece of pink-related content.

From the above survey results, we also learned that except that women rank "safety" higher than men , and men rank "power" higher than women, the ranking of car purchase considerations for men and women is basically the same. In the word cloud and comments, we found that even for a note focusing on appearance, battery life, safety, price, fuel consumption, vehicle delivery time , etc. appear more frequently in the comment area than appearance. Although comments praising the appearance will get more "turnovers" from operators, users' concern for practicality should be given more attention .

Turn passivity into initiative. After gaining a deep understanding of user preferences, operators must not only cater to their tastes, but also actively guide users to accept new aesthetics and enhance their subconscious awareness and recognition of the brand portrait. For example, the new energy brand Tesla has responded to ever-changing circumstances by remaining unchanged. It has created a "high-tech sense" through strategies such as factory publicity and the idolization of its founder, and has enhanced users' acceptance of its brand through their natural yearning for and trust in high-tech things.

If your car model does not belong to this positioning sequence, you can also refer to the cross-border case - the marketing and promotion method of the "ingredient party" of skin care products. Use reverse thinking, break down the product based on ingredients, remove the brand premium, and bring your own products to the same starting line with other highly recognized products, guiding users to develop a "parallel substitution" mentality of "only buy the right one, not the expensive one". In short, based on the characteristics of your own products, turn passivity into initiative and flexibly use different key points to attract your customers.

2. Reduce costs and maximize material utilization

Realistically speaking, not every brand has the budget to create different content on each platform. Many materials will inevitably need to be "reused" on each platform. The Xiaohongshu data of such car companies is generally difficult to surpass the accounts of independent content planning and production, but they can also optimize the content within a limited scope to achieve a higher cost-effectiveness.

@Tesla Tesla is a good example. Overall, Tesla's Xiaohongshu content overlaps with other platforms to a certain extent, but it is not a rigid copy of a certain platform. Instead, materials from various platforms are selected according to their adaptability and "micro-reshaping" before being published on Xiaohongshu. There are several specific ways:

Fine-tuning adaptation method. Evaluate the content that has good data and is suitable for the tone of this platform among those released on other platforms, and upload it after text adaptation or secondary editing. For example, the following two platform tweets use the same video material, which was posted on Douyin on the first day and released on Xiaohongshu platform on the next day.

Through observation, we can find obvious differences between the copywriting of Xiaohongshu and Douyin for the same material. Extract the key information of the video into the text part, keep the writing style as close to the Xiaohongshu online feeling as possible, insert appropriate expressions, and add the topic hashtag at the end of the text to increase the content's reach to the target users. The above simple processing can achieve the effect of "killing two birds with one stone".

Follow the platform's footsteps. First of all, we must firmly grasp the direction of platform traffic inclination , such as the video trend in recent years. In the past 180 days, Tesla has released 87 videos and 75 pictures and texts. Among the car companies sampled this time, Tesla has the highest "video rate". When the platform gives more attention to video traffic, it can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

In addition, we should communicate more with platform media and actively participate in platform activities . Xiaohongshu platform often launches vertical activities. Active participation in these activities can obtain official recommended traffic from the platform, such as the recently launched "RCC Flying Plan". Seizing this type of traffic support opportunity can effectively reduce costs and increase efficiency, and improve operational results.

3. Strengthen e-commerce thinking and stimulate consumption patterns

Strong e-commerce thinking. Car brands have been trying to use the Xiaohongshu platform for direct conversions for a long time. As early as 2020, Lynk & Co did a live broadcast on Xiaohongshu to sell cars. However, due to the long process of car purchase decision-making, many brands are relatively conservative in their actions on Xiaohongshu's automotive e-commerce. However, as a platform that has actively developed e-commerce in recent years, it is inevitable that Xiaohongshu will bear certain sales functions. Users can use Xiaohongshu stores to pay deposits, purchase spare parts, and make appointments for offline experience services. The short video area on the homepage can be used to spell the word "decoration" to divert traffic to private domains, etc. When users are successfully "planted with grass", they can be converted into customers in a timely manner, shortening the car purchase link. By analyzing user car purchase preferences, the accuracy of operations can be continuously optimized, and the internal cycle of operations and marketing can be well implemented.

Strong emotional connection. Not only should we produce high-quality content, but we should also guide users to co-create , utilize the platform characteristics of Xiaohongshu, and gather high-quality KOL and KOC content to maximize product effectiveness and sales efficiency. For example, Wuling has held topic activities many times and invited users to contribute, which has greatly enriched the richness and content quality of the keyword page, portrayed a more three-dimensional picture of life after buying a car, and guided potential customers to consume.

Full-link operation. Buying a car is not a one-time deal. Whether it is modification, repair, parts sales, or cultural and creative derivatives, the overall consumption chain can be infinitely extended.

According to statistics from Tuhuo-China Auto News Network, in 2021, female car owners spent 214 yuan more on car maintenance than the average of all cars, and the proportion of them purchasing film, crystal coating, and invisible car cover was much higher than that of all customers. At present, women mainly purchase car maintenance services at 4S stores, mainly out of fear of being cheated. Although it is more expensive, the more important thing is to save trouble and give peace of mind. For car companies, if they can strengthen user mind cultivation, deepen user cognition, and increase "outside car planting" through platform operations, more potential consumption points will be stimulated and the value of individual users can be maximized.

Conclusion

As automotive new media marketing enters the "her" era, it is necessary not only to understand users but also to lead them .

The smoke of the new consumer battlefield has not yet cleared, and its various sets of tactics are very suitable for the automobile industry, which has just entered the female market, to select the best. Grasp the core points, address user pain points, inspire user thinking , and shorten the consumption chain . From point to surface, from outside to inside, chase the blue ocean and seize the opportunity.

Author: Zhang Sisi, Fan Liyao

Source public account: Dewai No. 5 (dewaiwuhao)