By Santosh Murthy, managing director, Identity Communications
Recently, there has been significant buzz around Xiaohongshu (XHS) (also known as RedNote), also known as Little Red Book or Rednote, as Americans seek alternatives to TikTok considering potential bans.
This growing interest has sparked global curiosity, among marketers and investors alike. It has also thrown the platform into a frenzy, with the native Simplified Chinese platform now having to cater for English users, while holding fast to its strict guidelines and T&Cs compared toother social media environments.
So why should Australian marketers care? Together with the potential of a rapidly increasing audience base (if English is established as a way forward) the platform in its current iteration authentically engages a sizeable audience of approximately 800,000 Chinese speaking Australians. With its 43% YOY growth from Dec ’23 to Dec ’24 it is fast becoming a vital piece of the ecosystem for any brand that seeks to communicate with all Australians.
TikTok ban
Key considerations working with XHS
The platform is not straight forward, while there are certainly similarities to other global social platforms, there are several process and functional challenges (particularly the approval process), that can potentially make XHS difficult to navigate.
Do you need a brand account?
In short, yes. Though ‘need’ may be pushing it – it is certainly best practice. A brand account will benefit all future activities; including paid advertising, organic content, and KOL (key opinion leader) engagement. It will also give your brand a presence within the platform, supporting the authenticity of your engagement with the Chinese Australian community. There are methods that can be explored which will enable advertising without an account, however this is not recommended as a preferred option if you plan to interact with the platform regularly.
At the time of writing, XHS has advised they are seeking only to authorise off-platform links from official Brand accounts as an additional incentive for official accounts.
Cultural nuance in creative
As with any content, the message needs to resonate with its audience and be fit for the platform. With XHS this is particularly relevant as messages that adopt storytelling, capitalise on norms, aesthetics, and social trends, will increase its shareability. This is key to engaging users on this platform (with high trust in recommendations from other users.) Creative considerations include both differences in language/meaning when translating assets, as well as optimising for the unique intricacies of the different formats within XHS.
Santosh Murthy
How to get started?
Understanding the potential return for your brand will determine how much time and resources will need to be invested to navigate the nuances of XHS.
If you are an organisation that speaks to a core younger demographic (76% of XHS Australian user base is aged 18-40) or are in specific categories designed for the XHS experience (e.g. beauty, lifestyle, entertainment) – it is a no-brainer. For all other brands, especially those that speak to all Australians, it’s time to pause and reflect if/how a carefully considered diverse audience strategy reaching Chinese Australians can increase the effectiveness of your marketing dollar.
XHS is not for every organisation or brand, and as noted – there are barriers to entry and ongoing considerations. The most effective means to overcome the challenges of exploring XHS further is via understanding and pre-empting the needs and requirements on how your brand will interact with the platform and establishing a relationship with XHS (in China).
Ultimately, this is where brands will find the most value in engaging diverse media specialists.
What next?
It’s important to note just how robust XHS is. Investment is completely scalable, with best practice recommendations including a tailored approach that uses your brand account and consistently measures and optimises paid activity for effectiveness. This of course, would need to be paired with culturally relevant and resonant messaging for authentic engagement.
XHS’ aesthetically pleasing formats and unique-user experience from its open splash through its grid layout and static/video posts, provides multiple touch points from a paid perspective. A holistic strategy that factors organic content and KOL engagement is worth considering. Most importantly, consideration should be given to the impact of having a consistent presence on platform rather than focusing just on peak periods such as Lunar New Year.
Even without factoring in the speculated audience growth (if the English audience user base grows in Australia), there is certainly enough opportunity for most brands to consider an immediate presence on XHS, with a well-considered strategy likely to result in return that could rival other platforms.