Little Red Book
(Xiaohongshu)
Marketing
China's most influential social commerce platform — where 200 million consumers research what to buy every month. Here's how to build a presence that drives real sales.
Users
Advice Monthly
Daily
User Base
Xiaohongshu is where Chinese consumers decide what to buy — before they open Tmall.
Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu) — also known as RedNote — has transformed from a shopping guide into China's dominant platform for product discovery. For foreign brands, this isn't just another social media platform. It's China's most powerful pre-purchase research engine.
The brands that succeed in China treat Xiaohongshu as the foundation of their marketing strategy. The brands that struggle treat it as an afterthought.
How Xiaohongshu works
Three interconnected mechanisms drive the platform — and understanding them is the foundation of any effective strategy.
Search-First Discovery
Users actively search for products, brands, and categories — like a lifestyle-focused search engine. Ranking for the right keywords determines whether consumers find you.
Content Seeding (种草)
"Planting grass" — authentic reviews and experiences that create purchase desire. The algorithm rewards genuine, well-crafted content with real engagement over polished ads.
Social Commerce
Consumers discover, research, and increasingly buy — all within the app. Product tags link notes directly to stores. The path from inspiration to purchase has never been shorter.
KOLs vs KOCs: two halves of a whole
The most successful brands on Xiaohongshu combine both. KOLs provide the aspiration. KOCs provide the validation. Here's how each works.
KOL — Key Opinion Leaders
KOC — Key Opinion Consumers
The 5-part content strategy
What works on Xiaohongshu isn't what works on Instagram or TikTok. The algorithm rewards authenticity, saves, and genuine engagement — not polished perfection.
Build Your Brand Account Foundation
Publish 4–7 brand account notes per week. Mix product education, behind-the-scenes content, and lifestyle integration. Use a consistent visual identity but keep the tone conversational — not corporate.
Seed Products to KOCs at Scale
Start with waves of 20–50 KOCs per month. Send products with a brief (not a script) and let their authentic voice drive the content. Target 50–80% content conversion rate from seeded products.
Optimise for Search Keywords
Xiaohongshu is a search engine. Use 5–8 strategic hashtags per note: 1–2 broad industry tags, 2–3 specific product tags, and 1–2 trending tags. Research what your target consumers actually search for.
Amplify Top Performers with Paid
Don't promote untested content. Wait until organic notes prove themselves (high save rate, genuine comments), then boost with Spotlight Ads (薯条推广) or Information Flow Ads. Start from RMB 500–1,000 per note.
Track Cross-Platform Impact
The real ROI shows up on Tmall — not Xiaohongshu. Monitor Tmall brand-name search traffic as your primary success metric. Brands with active Xiaohongshu programs typically see 20–50% increases in Tmall organic search within 3–6 months.
Budget and timeline by stage
What to invest and what to expect at each phase of your Xiaohongshu journey.
Launch Phase
Growth Phase
Scale Phase
Foreign brands winning on Xiaohongshu
These brands have built genuine platform presence — not just advertising campaigns.
La Roche-Posay
Built one of the largest foreign brand content libraries on Xiaohongshu through massive KOC seeding. Millions of authentic user reviews drive consistent Tmall traffic.
CeraVe
Leveraged dermatologist KOL endorsements combined with everyday KOC reviews. The "affordable effective skincare" positioning resonated deeply with the platform's community.
Oatly
Became a lifestyle brand on Xiaohongshu by seeding through coffee shop culture. User-generated content around "oat milk lattes" created organic virality that money can't buy.
Ganni
Rode the "Scandi-chic" wave on Xiaohongshu. Launched on Tmall in 2021 and used KOC seeding to build the brand story around Scandinavian design values.
Drunk Elephant
Community-first approach. Encouraged authentic before-and-after content from real users. High save rates on ingredient education notes drive sustained search visibility.
Filippa K
Launched on Tmall with Xiaohongshu as the primary awareness driver. Minimalist Scandinavian aesthetics resonated with the platform's design-conscious audience.
On Xiaohongshu, consumers don't find your brand through ads — they find it through other consumers. The brands that understand this build trust. The brands that don't, just spend money.— Shanghai Jungle, Xiaohongshu Strategy Team
The 6 most expensive mistakes foreign brands make
We see these patterns repeatedly. Each one costs brands months of progress and thousands in wasted budget.
Starting with paid before organic
Investing in Spotlight Ads or Information Flow Ads before building an organic content foundation. Consumers see your ad, search your brand, find nothing — and your budget is wasted.
Using KOLs only and skipping KOCs
Five polished KOL posts create a spike, then silence. Fifty KOC reviews create sustained search presence and trust that compounds over months. Most brands need both — but KOCs first.
Publishing corporate content
Treating Xiaohongshu like a brand website. Polished corporate imagery and marketing copy get buried by the algorithm. The platform rewards content that looks and feels like it came from a real person.
Ignoring search optimisation
Xiaohongshu is a search engine. Brands that don't optimise notes for relevant keywords — category terms, ingredient names, use cases — miss the consumers actively looking for products like theirs.
Expecting instant ROI
Xiaohongshu builds purchase intent — the sales happen on Tmall. Brands that measure only direct Xiaohongshu revenue undervalue the platform and cut investment prematurely.
Running campaigns instead of programs
A one-month burst of KOC content followed by silence. The platform rewards consistency. Successful brands maintain ongoing content production — 4–7 notes per week, every week, indefinitely.
Xiaohongshu store vs driving to Tmall
Where should you sell? Most foreign brands use Xiaohongshu for discovery and Tmall for transactions — but direct commerce on Xiaohongshu is growing fast.
Sell on Xiaohongshu
- Shortest path from discovery to purchase
- Product tags link notes directly to store
- Cross-border store available (no China entity needed)
- Commission: 5–20% (higher than Tmall)
- Growing platform with strong commerce investment
- Red-Cat Project enables XHS → Tmall links
Drive Traffic to Tmall
- Concentrate operations on one selling platform
- Lower commission rates (2–5% on Tmall Global)
- Established logistics via Cainiao network
- Stronger consumer protection and trust
- Most Chinese consumers still complete purchases on Tmall
- Combined organic + paid budget stays focused
Our Xiaohongshu services
Shanghai Jungle manages end-to-end Xiaohongshu strategy for foreign brands — from account setup to content production to KOC network management.
Key terms you'll encounter
We help foreign brands go from zero to meaningful Xiaohongshu presence — with a strategy that drives real sales on Tmall, not just vanity metrics on the platform.
Every brand we work with starts here. A 30-minute conversation where we listen first, then tell you what we think — including whether Xiaohongshu makes sense for you right now.
Book a Free Consultation