By Emily Qiu
As RED (Xiaohongshu) continues its transformation from a niche lifestyle-sharing platform into a dynamic consumer search engine, more Australian brands are getting good results. But at the outset they often face a key question: Should we build organic content, collaborate with influencers, or invest in paid ads for faster results?
This decision shouldn’t be left to chance — it requires strategic assessment. The optimal approach depends on your specific objectives, timeline, and your market stage. Before choosing a path, it’s crucial to understand how RED marketing works and how it will align with your strategy.
Three Popular RED Marketing Tactics that Work
1. Content Marketing
Ideal for brand building, this approach gives you full control over messaging. You can tell your brand story through thoughtful posts, detailed product features, and authentic brand tone. It’s cost-effective, but time-consuming—and you may struggle to gain traction without enough trending content, as you may need to sacrifice some trendiness to make space for meaningful product messaging. This strategic balance requires careful planning and sufficient cultural insight to make your content perform well in both conversion and visibility.
2. Influencer Marketing & Paid Advertising
Rather than waiting for organic discovery, influencer marketing campaigns and RED ads put your content directly in front of your likely customers. These tactics bring instant exposure, especially useful for product launches or seasonal sales promotions. However, they involve higher costs and shared control with creators and the platform.
Strategic Guide to Unfold Your Blueprint on RED
New to RED? Start with Market Testing
If you’re preparing to enter the Chinese-Australian market but remain uncertain about whether RED is a worthwhile investment, start with an influencer marketing campaign to test the waters.
The right Influencers and topic-specific content tags on RED can help your brand identify and resonate with the right audience in an authentic, relatable way. By tracking engagement (including likes, comments, shares, and saves) and analysing their behaviour from a marketing communications perspective, you’ll gain insights into how Chinese consumers perceive your brand, while simultaneously building awareness and momentum.
If you’re aiming for broader reach at an even lower cost, consider pairing your influencer marketing strategy with Key Opinion Consumer (KOC) marketing. KOCs are a cost-effective way to further enhance your brand’s credibility and foster deeper connections with Chinese communities.
Need Quick Sales? Trigger Immediate Conversions with RED ads
If you are considering a product launch or seasonal campaign to drive quick sales, here’s your go-to strategy:
Start with a branded ad campaign on RED, featuring clear messages and compelling calls to action. During this process, RED’s algorithm works in your favor by targeting users based on behavioural, geographic, and psychographic data (such as interests, emotional resonance, content rejection signals, etc.).
It would be better to have a furnished brand account on RED before launching. Because a single ad can’t convey your full story—nor should it. Most users need more than a snapshot to make a purchase decision, and your brand’s tone and value proposition deserve more space to breathe. A polished brand account on RED should have a clear bio explaining your value, 3 to 5 curated high-quality posts that show your identity and offerings, and a verified badge (a small blue icon next to your name) to build trust and encourage purchases.
Want to Secure Your Competitive Edge? Build Your Long-Term Brand Equity on RED
If your objective is to remain top-of-mind with Chinese consumers in Australia and secure your competitive edge over your rivals, a content-led strategy is your best bet.
With curated content that draws on deep Chinese cultural insights and consistent publishing efforts, building strong emotional connections and fostering customer loyalty becomes effortless. Consider launching content series such as “Behind the Scenes,” “Customer Stories,” or “Staff Favourites” to humanise your brand and create relatable narratives. You can also design diverse user scenarios that align with varying customer preferences and needs.
If your brand offers multiple product lines, RED allows you to segment and showcase them through targeted content collections. This strategic approach lays a strong foundation for growing your customer base and boosting sales performance. To maximise the return on these organic efforts, it’s important to complement them with strategic paid tactics. Use RED ads during key sales periods to drive traffic back to your RED page or local landing sites, and collaborate with Chinese influencers to strengthen audience relevance and get your messages across.
However, it’s always important to craft culturally relevant messaging and avoid using direct translation from your English materials, as Chinese users can easily tell and poorly localised copy loses attention fast. To maximise impact and secure high returns on your investment on RED, consider working with experienced Chinese agencies who understand what works and how to make your brand stand out.
Ready to Make RED Work for Your Brand?
Success on RED isn’t about following a trend—it’s about finding the best strategy that fits your brand. At Chin Communications, we help Australian brands break the Chinese social media clutter with cultural and platform insights, as well as a deep knowledge of Chinese-Australian audiences. Talk to CHIN today for a tailored RED strategy that delivers real results.
