Part one of two: From its beauty community origins, Rednote has become a welcoming place for tech brands. MNC marketers should be alert to its potential.
For global marketers, China’s digital landscape has always been a challenge. WeChat, Douyin, and Alibaba dominate most conversations. But a quieter force has been reshaping how younger Chinese discover, discuss, and decide: Xiaohongshu, better known internationally as Rednote.
Starting life as a beauty and lifestyle community nearly a decade ago, Rednote has grown into something much more interesting. It’s become one of China’s most trusted peer-to-peer platforms, with more than 300 million monthly active users and a profitable business model. Its reach spans travel, wellness, technology, and even professional life.
Shopping tips and cosmetics reviews haven’t disappeared, but they now sit alongside appraisals of consumer, health and business tech products and smart home devices, as well as things like workplace productivity applications. Whatever the sector, Rednote acts as a search-and-discovery engine where users seek depth and practical guidance. Defining features include:
- Storytelling over selling: Users spend time with posts that explain. Notes can be long, combining images and detailed captions. For tech companies where details and authority matter, this environment can be more natural than the fast-swipe world of short video. A well-crafted post explaining how a cloud platform helps remote teams, or how a green building solution reduces carbon emissions, can earn genuine engagement.
- Communities that care: Rednote thrives on specific interest groups. They are not faceless masses but engaged, segmented communities that rally around shared concerns – for example, engineers debating the merits of an EV technology. For brands, the benefit lies in concentrated relevance rather than sheer reach.
- Search-led discovery: Rednote can be the first stop when people want answers. Its algorithm prioritizes interest-based content, meaning that brands must structure content intelligently, not simply pay for visibility. Quality, as well as metadata, keywords and hashtags, influence whether content surfaces when users are actively looking for solutions.
- Commerce with minimal friction: Rednote links inspiration with action. Users can move from discovery to purchase with a few clicks thanks to move from discovery to purchase with a few clicks thanks to its integration with Alibaba’s ecosystem. This is likely to work better for consumer tech than things like software licences or industrial machinery. But Rednote can still help create valuable impact in the consideration stage of the journey. The principle remains the same: remove friction from the decision-making process.
- Regional relevance: The platform is testing the water in Southeast Asia and rolling out cross-border e-commerce features. While it’s early days, Rednote could yet become a regional player, opening the possibility of adapting and extending campaigns originating in China to other growth markets.
Niche segmentation and approachability: Tech brands on Rednote
Recent tech entrants to Rednote include Apple, Zeiss and Didi.
Apple’s entry to the platform in October coincided with the launch of the iPhone 17. It has positioned itself as sharing updates on “technology, creativity and the future”, a broad proposition designed to appeal to both Apple enthusiasts and a more general audience. It has amassed over 300,000 followers in less than a month.
The decision to use Rednote comes as Apple reckons with the challenge of growing market share and sales in China while protecting its premium status. Content includes behind-the-scenes footage and stories from celebrity collaborations, such as Jackson Wang’s participation in the iPhone 17 launch, along with informal stories on what went into producing the campaign visuals. It also features key moments from CEO Tim Cook’s recent visit to China, which highlight the brand’s commitment to the market while making it more approachable.
Zeiss’s Rednote journey began in July with dedicated accounts for different business divisions including microscopy, consumer optics and eye health as well as a corporate account. This allows it to speak to niche segments on the topic’s they’re really interested in. Content is diverse, ranging from life snapshots of the founder, Carl Zeiss, to industry news updates and a National Day feature on the relationship between its products and the beauty of Chinese culture.
Didi’s focus is similarly targeted: Chinese travellers to Japan, a new market for the company. Japan is not an easy place for ride hailing services to operate in, but its proposition is appealing to travellers who sometimes have a hard time with local transportation options. It helps that travel is also a major theme on Rednote. Content centers on travel guides offering two to five-day itineraries for different parts of Japan, covering travel routes, attractions and food hotspots. Didi integrates ride-hailing benefits such as coupons and discount codes into its guides. It also aligns with travel trends and seasonal events, detailing things like firework viewing locations in the summer, autumn foliage sites in Kyoto and Christmas lights in Tokyo. To date it’s built up a following of around 24,000.
It’s early days for these brands, but it’s encouraging that from the outset they are taking advantage of Rednote’s potential for segmentation and targeting, as well as adapting their content for the informal style that users expect. As with any social platform, experimentation will help determine the right note, and brands can move at a pace that suits them. The important thing is to start. As Rednote shows, there are more ways to access highly engaged audiences in China than you might think.
In our next instalment, we will offer first-time users some practical tips for building their presence on Rednote.
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