In this basic guide, we'll delve into Xiaohongshu content strategies, its user base, and tips for optimizing your website for Xiaohongshu in 2024.

What is Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)?

Xiaohongshu, often referred to as Little Red Book, is a popular social commerce platform based in China. Founded in 2013, it initially started as a platform for users to share reviews and recommendations for overseas products.

Over the years, Xiaohongshu has evolved into a comprehensive lifestyle platform, offering users a wide range of content including fashion, beauty, travel, food, and more.

With over 300 million registered users, Xiaohongshu has become a trusted source of information and inspiration for Chinese consumers.

Who Uses Xiaohongshu?

Image from AsiaPac

As of July 2022, Xiaohongshu's audience predominantly comprises 89% females, primarily from cities like Shanghai, Beijing Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

This demographic primarily consists of young, urban women who prioritize quality and are keen on exploring the latest trends and tips.

Most commonly promoted industries on Xiaohongshu include skincare, fashion, and cosmetics.

With an increasing number of content creators and users joining the platform, Xiaohongshu has evolved into a bustling hub for millions seeking daily inspiration in shopping, lifestyle, tutorials, and more.

What are 3 key Xiaohongshu content strategies for 2024?

With over 450,000 pieces of content published daily on Xiaohongshu, it should go without saying that it’s essential to ensure your content stands out and reaches your target audience.

Xiaohongshu content, also known as Viral Notes or "Biji", encompasses a variety of formats, from photos to short videos, accompanied by text descriptions.

In addition to creating trend-driven, lifestyle-based content, here are some content creation tips to maximize the visibility of your branded content on Xiaohongshu and effectively engage your targeted Chinese audience.

Focus on content making content between 15 seconds to 3 minutes

Xiaohongshu videos section. Image from pandaily

Similar to other Chinese social media platforms, video content continues to drive engagement on Xiaohongshu. In 2020, Xiaohongshu introduced its Video Channel feature, enabling users with over 500 followers to share videos up to 15 minutes long.

Despite this limit, the most popular videos typically range from 15 seconds to 3 minutes. However, while shorter videos are prevalent, longer-form content can succeed if it offers compelling narratives or valuable insights, such as detailed travel guides or behind-the-scenes footage.

Write longer captions for SEO, but not over 1000 characters

While shorter, concise content may be effective on platforms like Weibo, Xiaohongshu appears to favor more in-depth caption content that provide valuable insights and information to users.

The platform's algorithm appears to make user recommendations by extracting keywords from content, including topics, geographic locations, and recurring key phrases. Therefore, strategically incorporating key phrases multiple times throughout the article can better inform Xiaohongshu of the content's intent.

Xiaohongshu users appear to respond less positively to explicitly promotional content - so try to maintain a natural, conversational, versus promotional tone.

When it comes to post length, longer content is generally preferred, but it should not exceed 1,000 characters. Longer articles offer more opportunities to cover a wider range of valuable keywords, allowing the algorithm to extract them more accurately.

Therefore, even celebrity content with brief texts may not always perform as well on Xiaohongshu, as demonstrated in the earlier example.

Time your posts, strategically.

Image Source Asia Pac Digital

Consider peak browsing times on Xiaohongshu, typically between 7-9 am, 12-2 pm, and 9 pm-12 am China Standard Time. However, browsing patterns may vary across different content categories.

For example, skin-care-related posts may see higher engagement from urban female white-collar workers during evening hours.

Additionally, account for the platform's post examination and approval process, typically taking 10 to 30 minutes, when planning future posts.

How else can you optimise your digital presence for Xiaohongshu?

To harness Xiaohongshu's vast user base and dynamic social commerce environment, optimizing your website serves as a vital digital gateway for conversions.

Here are essential tips to boost your online presence on Xiaohongshu:

1. Link to Xiaohongshu’s E-Commerce features

If applicable, ensure seamless navigation of your website to Xiaohongshu's e-commerce features. This entails providing direct links to your products, facilitating smooth transactions, and delivering a user-friendly shopping experience that aligns with Xiaohongshu's interface and user preferences.

2. Make sure that your website loads fast

Despite Xiaohongshu optimization, a website remains indispensable. It serves as a comprehensive online hub, offering detailed information, broader brand visibility, and diverse content that Xiaohongshu alone may not provide. Additionally, a website grants greater control over branding, customization, and e-commerce functionalities, facilitating direct transactions and building long-term relationships with customers. Moreover, it ensures accessibility across various platforms and search engines, expanding reach beyond Xiaohongshu's user base.

This is where Chinafy comes into play.

By incorporating Chinafy into your existing tech stack, you can enhance how fast and how well your website loads.

With its advanced combination of code and hardware, Chinafy offers China-specific optimizations and a scalable, multi-load-balanced infrastructure, resulting in a fully-managed site that is on average 6-8x faster in China.

Ready to optimize your website for Xiaohongshu? Click Get Started to see whether your website is a good fit for Chinafy.