Last Updated on December 9, 2024 
Jeffrey Hau
Understanding the XiaoHongShu Algorithm
XiaoHongShu’s algorithm evaluates the quality of the content to take action, especially for new content creators with their first post or ‘note’ on the platform. This observation and evaluation phase is known as the ‘sandbox’ phase, which is crucial for new content creators on XiaoHongShu to take note of.
In this phase, which can last from a week to a month, the platform will review the new account’s posts based on their content originality and nature. If the platform detects the posts as too promotional, the account’s visibility to users will be heavily restricted.
Another part of the platform’s algorithm is through engagement metrics such as likes, comments and bookmarks. Posts with high engagement rates from users will be seen as attractive and in demand, which is favoured and will be rewarded with boosted visibility to a wider audience by the platform.
The platform’s assistance comes in the form of the creator’s posts being ranked higher on users’ XiaoHongShu home page, increasing their visibility and attractiveness.
Tips to Get More Views and Reach on XiaoHongShu
Make Your Content Relatable and Desirable
Unlike other platforms like Douyin or Weibo, users on XiaoHongShu favours user-generated content. Instead of official brand accounts shoving product information into their faces, users on XiaoHongShu prefer user-generated content (UGC) where other users with the same interests share their authentic personal experiences with the product.
Avoid producing perfectly polished content that is too obviously marketing-oriented. This type of content might not be desirable to users due to its lack of authenticity, and might even put your account at risk of the ‘sandbox’ phase as we’ve mentioned before.
Instead, try focusing on producing UGC content that speaks to users in an approachable and relatable way, making them believe that the information comes from a real person instead of being executed by a brand to promote products or services.
Let’s look at a quick example together. The example of Kiehl’s shows the difference in interaction and engagement rates between user-generated content and official promotional content from the brand, reinforcing the preference of users towards UGC.
Use The Right Keywords & Hashtags
Unlike users on other platforms like Douyin who usually browse freely for entertainment, users of XiaoHongShu rely quite heavily on the ‘search’ function to directly access content they are interested in or can solve their specific queries. Think of it like a visual search engine, a little like Pinterest.
They hunt for content in their interest by searching keywords on the platform. In this case, utilising trending and relevant keywords or hashtags in posts is incredibly important for content creators to expand their reach to users.
Don’t worry, there are actually plenty of sources to help you identify and select the best keywords and hashtags to boost your posts’ visibility, including the official XiaoHongShu platform itself.
Before posting your content, the platform’s keyword planning and recommendation feature will analyse your content and show you relevant keywords with their respective search index popularity, for you to consider and select the best ones to boost your post visibility.
For an extra tip, aside from the primary keywords that let searching users access your posts, we would also suggest you contain ‘long-tailed keywords’ in your content.
These keywords are longer than primary keywords and are usually found in the content itself rather than the content title.
For example, if the primary keyword is something like ‘men’s fashion’, the long-tailed keyword would be something more specific like ‘summer men’s athletic wear’. These keywords help your post to stand out from millions of posts with the same main keywords and help you to attract niche user groups searching for specific purposes to your content.
Optimize The Cover Image to Improve Clicks
Humans are all visual creatures. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’, this phrase sums this point up perfectly.
A visually pleasing cover image, as known as the first photo in your post carousel, is the single most important component of any post, encouraging users to click into your XiaoHongShu post to view the rest of your content.
On the other hand, a boring cover image will just lead to users ignoring and scrolling past your post. As the click-through rate is the crucial factor for your posts’ engagement rate, the creation of an attractive cover image must be emphasised for your post’s success.
To create attractive visual aesthetics for your cover image, try improving your photography or graphic design skills, ensuring that the overall vibe of your cover image aligns with the product or brand you are conveying.
You can also include an eye-catching title in the image through methods like exciting language or questioning structure, which can leverage users’ curiosity to click on your post. Let’s take a look at some examples of successful cover images.
These cover images both show examples of a clear attractive title or visually pleasing elements in the cover image resulting in a higher engagement rate, meaning that users like to click into these posts with these cover images.
Write Engaging & Valuable Content
Although we mentioned that visual-based content such as images is more favourable to XiaoHongShu, you shouldn’t neglect text-based description as well!
As visual-based content drives users to click on your post, good text-based content is an important part of retaining users to stay and consume your content.
Referring back to the previous point mentioned about keywords and hashtags, the key to producing engaging and valuable content is to naturally integrate the desirable keywords into your written content.
Avoid cramming all keywords into your content at once, as this will affect your content’s understandability and also affect the reading flow of your content, which might result in a lower engagement rate.
Ensure that your content can provide valuable information that users are looking for to solve their queries. Remember, visual-based content is just the gateway for users accessing your content, the quality of the content itself is the way to boost engagement rates.
Post At Least Two Times A Week
XiaoHongShu’s algorithm loves active users with constant content creation. The platform prioritises accounts with a stable posting schedule where it will promote these accounts’ content to users more.
To take advantage of this opportunity, you should at least maintain a posting frequency of at least two times a week to get noticed by the platform’s algorithm. However, keep in mind that the posting frequency must be balanced to avoid interference from the platform’s algorithm.
You should also avoid cramming all your posts on the same day of the week, as your account may be detected as spamming and your content’s reach will be limited. We would recommend you post new content daily, and the algorithms will see your account as an active account and reward you with higher exposure.
Post During the Best Times
Besides your posting frequency, the time of your posting should also be kept in mind to achieve the best results.
In general, the best time to post on XiaoHongShu is the times with the highest traffic on the platform, which are 9am to 3pm, and also 5pm to 9pm.
The best days to post your best content are also days when users have more free time to browse the platform – think weekends or public holidays.
However, if you are hoping for your content to reach your desired target audience, the suitable timing depends on your audience’s demographics, daily routines and behaviors.
For example, if you’re looking to reach out to users who are office workers, it is best to post during their free times such as morning commute or noon lunch breaks. These are the times when they are free to go on the platform and have a higher chance to access your content.
Although many experts speculate that Thursdays and Fridays perform better on XiaoHongShu, we’ve found no exact evidence to support this claim.
Include a CTA to Encourage Likes, Shares, and Comments
Users like to be told what to do. Instead of ending your post’s description with a normal sentence, try to include a call-to-action (CTA) text in your content.
As literal as its name, CTA is the text you use to instruct your audience to carry out ‘actions’ to engage and interact with your post. You can incorporate your CTA using creative and catchy taglines, and attach it in either your post’s description or the last image at the end of your post.
For example, at the end of your content about skincare products, try adding a description such as ‘DM to receive exclusive skincare tips!’.
CTAs like this can influence your audience to follow your instructions and interact with your post, driving up your posts’ engagement rate, and benefiting you in the XiaoHongShu algorithm.
However, remember to use a nice tone! You don’t want your audience to feel forced or offended.
Respond to Comments & Create Engagement
Interactions with users are key to staying on top of the algorithm. Apart from influencing users to interact with you, you can also take another approach by initiating these interactions with them!
When users leave comments under your posts, try to use your identity as the content creator to respond to these comments.
Whether it’s thanking them for their comments, giving solutions to their queries, or even simply participating in discussions under the comment section, each of these responses is building up strong engagement with your audience.
This shows the algorithm that you are an active user/creator willing to interact with your audience, letting it verify your content and account as high-quality, and push your content across a wider audience on the platform.
Create Posts That Follow Consumer Trends
Consumer trends are an unskippable factor when it comes to your content creation for XiaoHongShu. These trends among consumers are changing rapidly, especially on UGC-focused platforms like XiaoHongShu.
New trends emerge out of nowhere and they might be replaced instantly by upcoming ones, just like waves in the ocean.
Online surfing （网上冲浪）is a method to keep track of these consumer trends, where you can browse across the platform to ‘surf’ on any emerging new waves. Make use of the influential power of these trends.
Try to ride on these trends by making content surrounded around these trends to lead more traffic to your content. This can be done by incorporating keywords and hashtags of hot topics into your content, making users notice your content while chasing their interested trends., as mentioned before, the platform’s official keyword planning and suggestion feature can help you with this.
Keep Track & Fine Tune Your Posts
With all necessary steps taken, one final step left is to observe the performance of your XiaoHongShu posts. Make use of the platform’s own data analytic system or third-party platforms such as Xinhong (新红) and QianGua Data(千瓜数据) to produce easy-to-understand performance reports for you to observe.
Track your posts’ performance based on metrics such as click-through rate and engagement rate to really understand what your audience loves about your content.
Take note of the specific posts with desirable performances and look for their similarities that appeal to the audience, such as the post’s topic, the post design or many more.
Besides your own posts, try observing your competitors’ posts as well. If their content is performing better than yours, don’t get jealous!
Instead, use this opportunity to spark ideas for your future content. In short, observe for factors leading to good performance and incorporate them for future improvement, and also gather inspiration for your upcoming content.
Conclusion
PRIZM Group currently operates in both Guangzhou and Hong Kong, serving as your reliable partner.
PRIZM is a one-stop solution for your business’s marketing needs on the platform of XiaoHongShu. From content planning, and content creation to content promotion, our specialised services have you covered, ensuring to help you boost your brand and sales through this platform.
Our satisfied clients include the City University of Hong Kong. PRIZM assisted CityUHK in quickly gaining recognition from students and parents in Mainland China through the XiaoHongShu platform.
We crafted unique localised content about CityUHK for its XiaoHongShu account while emphasising and communicating CityUHK’s brand identity through the content.
At the end of the campaign, CityUHK’s XiaoHongShu account welcomed over 10000 new followers who engaged with its account through over 17,700 interactions with the posts.
Is your brand ready to embrace and build engagements with the Chinese market and enjoy the unlimited potential of this market? Why not explore our services and start paving your path to success on XiaoHongShu?
