Ever wondered about how to advertise on Xiaohongshu before kick-off a whole plan of China Marketing? Shed light on the most common types of advertisement on Xiaohongshu are native ads in two major ways. The two options are Chips Boosting and Aurora Advertising, below outline their features and advantages, serving as an initial foray into China marketing.
Chips Boosting 薯條推廣
This basic boosting function is available for all types of Xiaohongshu accounts. Although its targeting options are relatively broad, the post can be boosted without any advertisement label, allowing it to blend into users’ natural browsing experiences.
Currently, there are four promotion goals to choose from: likes and saves, post views, followers, and profile traffics. The boosted posts would be displayed on Xiaohongshu’s discovery page, which is also the homepage. However, strong marketing intention (i.e. hard-selling content) is not allowed.
Aurora Advertising 聚光平台效果廣告
Only Enterprise Professional Account (for the differences between various Xiaohongshu accounts, refer to this article) could use Aurora for advertising. Allowing precise targeting based on characteristics of Xiaohongshu users, such as search behaviours, interests, age, and location, to ensure advertisements can reach the accurate group of target audience. When using Aurora for advertising, “Sponsored (贊助)” will be shown at the bottom right corner of the post thumbnail on discovery page.
Why choosing Xiaohongshu Aurora Advertising?
Other than precise targeting options, compared to Chips boosting, Aurora provides more comprehensive promotion goals, conversion-driven settings and ad landing options. For example, when setting the goal as direct message, a “Message Now” button will appear in the promoted post and landing will be private Xiaohongshu inbox of the brand, making it easier for users to interact with the brand. In terms of pricing model, Aurora Advertising is charged per click, providing a clearer understanding of advertising costs for subsequent adjustments to the advertising strategy.
Ad Formats in Xiaohongshu Aurora Advertising
In the Aurora system, there are three types of advertising formats: News Feed Ad, Search Ad, and Video Ad.
- News Feed Ad: displayed on the discovery page alongside User Generated Content (UGC), to reach users naturally and maximize brand exposure.
- Search Ad: 40% of Xiaohongshu users actively engage with the platform’s search function*, indicating a growing preference for Xiaohongshu as a primary search tool over traditional search engines such as Baidu. This underscores the importance for brands to target relevant and popular keywords associated with their products or services. The search ad displayed on the search results page can effectively achieve this goal.
- Video Ad: After users click on any video post on the discovery page, they will enter a full-screen autoplay video stream. Video ad seamlessly integrate into users’ viewing of different videos, requiring no additional clicks from the users to view the ad content and deliver the message directly.
(from left to right: News Feed Ad, Search Ad, Video Ad – highlighted “Message Now” button at bottom-left)
Xiaohongshu Advertising Model Comparison (As of December 1, 2023)
| Chips Boosting | Aurora Advertising | |
|---|---|---|
| Account Requirement | Available for all types of account | Enterprise Professional Account only |
| Ad Label | None | “Sponsored (贊助)” tag on thumbnail |
| Pricing Model | Fixed exposure | Charged per click |
| Targeting Options | Relatively broad | Precise targeting |
| Promotion Goals |
|
|
| Additional Ad Landing Options | None | Varies by the promotion goal |
| Display Area | Discovery page | Discovery page / Search results / Video stream |
| Promoted Content | ❎ consist strong marketing intention | ✅ marketing content but has to follow Xiaohongshu regulations |
With appropriate advertising strategies and localized promotion contents, brands can showcase their uniqueness and story on Xiaohongshu. Our excellent China marketing experts provide tailored advertising designs following trendy topics on Mainland China social media matching with brand position, and continuously observe and improve the performance after deployment. Contact INITSOC’s digital marketing team to find out the best solution for your brand!
*Source: Xiaohongshu Spotlight Help Center, October 31, 2023
