If you are an overseas brand and are trying to test the waters entering the China Market and improving your brand visibility in the Mainland, you may want to consider setting up a Brand Official Account. It has come across my attention that not many people are aware about the brand official account, and most importantly its usefulness. This account is effective for brands who want to give the platform a try and is suitable for brands that sell on the platform itself.
Most will already be familiar with WeChat Official Account where a brand can gather followers, send them push notifications and redirect them to their website. However, this can be costly, an alternative option is to open an Official Brand Account on Xiaohongshu with lower costs and it has a more targeted and customised approach due to the targeted customer base on this platform.
Create a brand experience
The Brand Official Account serves well as a communication channel between a brand and its users. It allows the brand to interact with customers as well as gather a larger customer base, as the brand can constantly monitor and reply to the comments and queries posted by users. It is critical to be aware of your brand experience and have a plan to create the brand experience you want to have. In all, this makes customers feel more valued and respected in a professional manner since the brand is directly communicating with them and answering any questions.
"It allows the brand to interact with customers as well as gather a larger customer base"
Turn an enquiry into a purchase
Often questions regarding the purchase location and the price of the product is usually asked which then the Brand Official Account can reply to. In cases where there is no Brand Official Account, these questions are left unanswered and result in the possible loss of potential customers for the brand. If brands reply to the customers, it can motivate them to buy the product more and direct them to their shop on Xiaohongshu to make the purchase.
If you have a Chinese website, creating your brand official account on Xiaohongshu can also lead users to your website. A brand can still market on Xiaohongshu even without a shop with their Brand Official Account. Some brands struggle between selling on their own Chinese website or on cross border platforms. When using stand-alone websites, it is important to create traffic to generate a substantial number of initial customers which implies higher costs. However, on Xiaohongshu users regularly search for items, creating more scope for the brand and create a larger potential customer base.
"Where there is no Brand Official Account, these questions are left unanswered and result in the possible loss of potential customers for the brand"
A straightforward version of WeChat
When entering the China market, everyone knows the necessity of creating a WeChat official account but not many people know why. This account needs to be run effectively which may lead to high operational costs and it takes time to activate the user base and convert them into buyers. If you want to get started, the Xiaohongshu Brand Official Account can serve like the WeChat account. You will have a front page, a section describing the brand story, brand logo and posts by the brand. For brands we manage, we set up an account and create content for the brand story and add all other necessary content as well as post 2-3 times every week to show that the brand is active.
Additionally, the time it takes to get this account up and running is approximately 1 week, while on WeChat it usually takes 1 month. The platform is monitored every day and we interact with the users and direct traffic to the Brand’s Xiaohongshu, WeChat Shop or any other purchase location.
We set up a Brand Official Account for one of our clients, a US based medical skin care brand and assisted them with KOL marketing of their ecommerce shop on Xiaohongshu, their first and only sales channel in China. We are in charge of their whole channel and maintained regular posting and interaction with potential customers to better engage them.
In short, the Xiaohongshu Brand Official Account serves as a very useful function for brands to maintain and interact with their users and even gain a larger pool of customers. While this may seem like a lot of trouble when it comes down to managing the account with our constant monitoring of the page this is something any non-experienced brand or seller can consider. Whether or not you have a shop, creating this account on Xiaohongshu most certainly helps with branding.