By Coconie Zhang
RED has become one of the leading social media platforms for engaging with Chinese Millennials and Generation Z. Nowadays, its influence extends beyond Mainland China, reaching out to and empowering users in international markets as well. According to OctoPlus (a marketing agency), with over 700,000 active users, Australian-based users ranked 7th in terms of RED use outside Mainland China. These users can be demographically divided into four groups: Chinese tourists, international students, Chinese migrants, and overseas Chinese-speaking populations (i.e. from other parts of the Chinese diaspora).
The high value and buying power of these user groups make RED an attractive social commerce platform for Australian local businesses. This is because they are known for being digitally savvy, trend-driven, and willing to spend on life experiences – products such as lifestyle, fashion, beauty, luxury, or tourism. Before making purchasing decisions, these users actively search for information on RED, in particular seeking insightful reviews and peer recommendations. This makes RED an important marketing option for Australian brands to get in front of their cashed-up Chinese customers.
How can an Australian business best engage with Chinese users on RED? Here are some hands-on tips to help your content stand out from the crowd.
Make Your Topic Desirable
Based on RED’s community-oriented nature, creating attractive topics can significantly boost engagement, leading to higher traffic, increased awareness, and more interaction on your RED account, especially when audiences find the topics helpful and insightful. Here are four basic types of topics to help you get started on RED:
1. Hands-on Advice
Offering informative and practical content that helps the audience acknowledge or apply something in real life.
2. Themed Collection Post
A collection of similar products that helps the audience easily compare options and make decisions.
3. Performance-based Content
Sharing results and user experiences, such as product reviews.
4. Checklists
Helping the audience prepare for something or ensuring nothing is missed.
How to Get Topic Ideas
The best approach is to think from the perspective of your target audience: what do they need, and what are they looking for when browsing? You can find inspiration by analysing their comments, direct messages and your follower data. Additionally, exploring relevant trending topics on RED can help you gain deeper insights into your target audience’s interests. Finally, organise your topic ideas with examples or brief explanations in a file to inspire future content creation.
Make Your Title Attractive
A great title helps you grab attention and conveys the content, which makes your audience want to read further. To embed trending and relevant keywords smartly in the title, you can follow four equations below:
Post Media Images on RED Like a Pro
Appealing images will capture attention as well as create emotional connections with your target market. Instead of posting content casually, business accounts should focus on using striking visuals, whether through creative ideas or compelling designs, to build a memorable brand image that will stick in the minds of their audience. Specifically, for high-quality content, audiences expect authentic photos or videos with high resolution, refined editing, and a consistent brand aesthetic.
Strive for Stronger Body Copy
The body copy is typically the main section for delivering the full information of a post. To enhance readability and engagement, use clear content layout, such as formatting with short sentences, paragraph breaks, and bullet points. A friendly tone, along with emojis, questions, and relevant keywords, can further boost audience interaction. Additionally, including 5 to 20 relevant hashtags can help reach more people who will be interested in your post.
Turn Comments into Connections
Positive comments can significantly impact audience impressions and purchase decisions. After posting, don’t forget to check the comments, actively reply to them, and consider featuring or highlighting the most important ones.
Post Smart. Post Right.
The best time to post on RED is generally during weekday mornings, lunchtimes, as well as early evenings. However, this can vary across different industries, depending on the daily routines of the target audience. By analysing audience data to understand when they are most active, you can optimise posting times and increase content visibility.
Still Hesitant to Try?
We understand how intimidating it can be to market in an overseas market as a foreign business, especially when considering cultural and language differences and diverse consumer behaviour. That’s why we’re here to help tailor your brand to succeed in the Chinese market through RED.
