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What is RedNote (Xiaohongshu)? China’s Instagram alternative

June 5, 2025 |   Melody Wang

RedNote’s popularity boomed globally at the start of 2025, when the United States government’s attempt to ban TikTok, prompted many Americans and people around the world to sign up for RedNote. Despite its global recognition, many might still be wondering what is RedNote? Also known as Xiaohongshu in China, which translates to Little Red Book, RedNote is a popular Chinese social media platform. RedNote is China's answer to Instagram and Pinterest. The platform provides demonstrations, recommendations and reviews on fashion, beauty, travel, lifestyle advice, and more. In this blog, we will explore different kinds of RedNote official accounts, its key marketing features, and how the platform can be utilised for marketing purposes to help you truly understand what exactly is RedNote.

RedNote logo


Table of contents 


 

RedNote key statistics

  • RedNote has 225 million monthly active users (MAU) 
  • 79% of the large majority of RedNote’s users are females
  • 85% of users are from tier 1 and tier 2 cities
  • 70% of users are overwhelmingly teenagers and young adults under 35 y

Key RedNote Statistics

 

Types of RedNote official accounts

Users often visit official accounts to learn more about a brand, search for preferred goods and services, evaluate the quality of the brand and assess the organisation’s credibility. RedNote offers three different official accounts: 

Personal account

Personal accounts have low requirements for registration. Users can utilise the personal account to do product reviews, provide shopping insights and share daily life snippets.

Institutional account

Institutional accounts are created for state institutions, universities and media organisations. Institutional accounts enable organisations to implement public relations activities on RedNote.

Business account

RedNote Business account is ideal for businesses, brands and organisations. Business accounts provide business-oriented applications such as a verification badge, business information cards and the option to create a store on Red Mall.

RedNote official account types

 

RedNote’s key features for marketing

Content feeds

RedNote’s homepage displays three primary feeds: 

  • Explore feed: Provides personalised recommendations based on the user’s interest with specific channels that users can toggle between for content on specific topics like food, travel, fashion, tech and more.
  • Follow feed: Enables the user to view content and livestreams produced by accounts that they follow.
  • Nearby feed: Displays content from areas that are close to the user based on their location.

RedNote content feeds

How brands can optimise for RedNote’s algorithms

It's crucial for brands to know how to optimise their content on RedNote’s algorithms to maximise their reach and boost their brand awareness on RedNote. Organisations should create original content that includes images or short videos to make it visually appealing and engaging for the tailored audience.

Furthermore, brands can utilise strategic keywords and hashtags to optimise their content on RedNote’s search to boost its visibility. Content creators can also encourage their viewers to like, share, save and comment to to encourage the algorithm to boost brand reach.

Additionally, brands are encouraged to regularly reply to the viewers’ questions and comments, indicating to the algorithms that your brand is an active, helping boost visibility.

 

Content formats

Brands have different options on how they want to format their content to engage users on RedNote, these include: 

  • Notes: Posts on RedNote are known as Notes. Users can post static images or carousels with written captions. 
  • Videos: Short-form video content can be uploaded to provide informative and engaging content such as tutorials and reviews. 
  • Livestreaming: Brands can facilitate livestreams to build and connect with their target audience on RedNote. Brands can demonstrate their products, perform live Q&A with viewers and ascertain insights on how the audience engages with the brand.

rednote content formats

User Generated Content (UCG)

What makes RedNote stand out from other Chinese social media platforms is that 90% of its content is UGC, as users share their genuine opinions and experiences on the app. Users can provide written and visual reviews, tutorials and recommendations on their experiences. Their impartial assessment and recommendations of brands can help increase brand awareness, trust and therefore, conversion on the platform. 

 

Search

Due to the abundance of informational content on RedNote, many users treat it as an alternative search engine. In fact, 60% of users search on RedNote on a regular basis to collect information that they can trust. The platform’s search algorithm operates based on keywords, hashtags, current location and personalised interests. Additionally, RedNote’s search engine displays the latest trends, historical searches and personalised recommendations.

 

Messaging

RedNote’s users can utilise the messaging tool to facilitate one-on-one conversations with their family, friends and interact with brands. Furthermore, group chats can also be created to bring communities together on the platform.

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Red Mall

81% of RedNote's users are eager to buy goods they see on the platform. However, as RedNote does not permit any external links on the platform, its e-commerce Red Mall feature allows users to purchase products directly on the platform. Some features that make purchases seamless include:

  • Brands can sell their products on RedNote by linking their verified business account profile and their Red Mall store.
  • Direct links to specific Red Mall product listings can be included in posts featuring those products.
  • One-click purchase ensures a smooth and effortless conversion.
  • The picture-in-picture feature lets users watch livestreams and explore Red Mall product listings simultaneously, enhancing the shopping experience by making it easier to learn about items while shopping.

While this feature is available on RedNote, many users still choose to complete their purchases on other channels such as Tmall or explore other channels such as a brand’s WeChat Official Account or Chinese website to conduct further research. In fact, 85% of Chinese consumers tend to use multiple touchpoints including a mix of offline and online channels throughout their customer journey.

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RedNote advertising

RedNote provides a range of paid marketing options that help organisations further boost their visibility on the platform, including:

Collaboration with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)

Brands have the option of liaising with KOLs on RedNote to build credibility and establish brand awareness with their target audience. KOLs are prominent social media personalities that have a monumental follower base typically beyond 10,000.

Paid ads

There are many advertising formats on RedNote that brands can choose to increase their awareness and build their image. These advertising formats include feed ads, pop-up ads, search ads and more. 

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How to use RedNote for marketing

RedNote is an ideal platform that excels in boosting brand awareness. It's personalised algorithms can boost organic and paid content that is aligned to the users’ preferences.

Furthermore, many users turn to RedNote for recommendations on travel, lifestyle, aesthetics, and more, making it a key platform during the consideration stage of the marketing funnel. As the algorithm surfaces content related to user searches, it nurtures interest and keeps brands top of mind, helping influence purchase decisions.

RedNote in the marketing funnel

 

Ready to elevate your brand with RedNote?

RedNote offers a powerful suite of marketing tools designed to elevate brand visibility and drive engagement. Through diverse content feeds, targeted paid advertising, and personalised algorithms, it effectively connects brands with the right audience. Ready to boost your brand awareness with RedNote? Contact us to get started.

 

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