Most people know about the “Chinese Millennials” described as tech-savvy, well educated and open-minded individuals who make up a total of 31% of the Chinese population. Chinese Millennials view consumption and money in different ways than the rest of the population, they spend more money on themselves buying high quality and luxury products. 85% of the users on XiaoHongShu are millennials, hence brands should consistently want to cater their brand page and promotional strategies to appeal to these users in particular. Chinese millennials have essentially filled the generation of new consumers, so it is important for new brands to target them.
“Millennials are too young for my brand”
" On this platform, approximately 80% of the users are female and 70% of new users are millennials all of whom are born after 1995. If your brand doesn’t appeal to millennials, XiaoHongShu is likely not the platform for your brand."
However, XiaoHongShu is an ideal platform for brands wanting to target these millennials. Girls in general are known for love sharing and updating about their lives and XiaoHongShu allows the users to do just that. Millennials live in the era of KOLs, which impacts their consumer behaviour and decision making process. KOLs (Key opinion leaders - also known as influencers) are used to increase brand awareness and to strengthen the customer and product relationship to fuel consumption and sales is not a new concept. Not only are they effective in delivering marketing messages to their audience but they also make them feel more genuine, enabling consumers to filter through all the clutter and make quick decision on their purchases.
Example: One of the top KOLs in fashion and bags is “Mr Bags”. Despite being just 26 years old, he is regularly invited by international brands to participate in fashion shows in Europe and launch cross-over items. His collection with Tod’s sold out in 6 mins (unit cost RMB 10,800).
“KOL should repeat my brand and product name at least x times”
About 62% of consumers search online for reviews and information before purchasing a product and a whopping 90% believe brand recommendations from friends. Using KOLs helps to facilitate word of mouth, instead of serving as a distribution channel of your official brand message (such as product description, ingredients, functions…..)
On Xiaohongshu, KOLs try testing a product and also incorporating an aspect of their daily life. Engaging your consumers with daily life related content, will be received far better than hard-selling your content directly. The key to engaging with millennials on XiaoHongShu is to make the marketing messages genuine and authentic, manufactured content will not perform well with these users.
Example: Although this is not a KOL campaign, it gives you an idea on how to interest the potential consumers with genuine content and images.
XHS is a unique social media platform, brands wanting to be part of the app will need to shift their perspective accordingly. Do not view your posts as advertisements, but start viewing XHS as a platform to build a deeper relationship with consumers. Changing the purpose behind your posts will improve the quality and authenticity of your content and allow you to communicate effectively with your millennial customers.
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