Xiaohongshu agents: An underestimated business arena

In 2025, consumer goods reached their peak moment.

Take the tea - beverage market as an example. Guming and Mixue Bingcheng successfully went public one after another. Cha Wang Ji is also making rapid progress and has already submitted its prospectus, expecting to be listed on the NASDAQ soon.

Moreover, in the secondary market, Pop Mart, Laopu Gold, Mixue Bingcheng, and Mao Geping have seen their stock prices soar due to their outstanding performance, becoming the "F4 of consumer goods" in the eyes of investors.

These breakout enterprises spanning tea - beverages, trendy toys, beauty, and gold, along with the sparkling water revolution of Yuanqi Forest and the efficacy - based skincare narrative of Simpcare, jointly outline the grand scene of the new consumption wave.

Looking back at the growth paths of these brands, it's not difficult to find a common point - they were the earliest beneficiaries of the grass - planting model and also jointly promoted the growth of the grass - planting ecosystem.

To date, grass - planting has become a standard marketing method. Whether it's emerging brands or traditional giants, whether in the consumer market or industries such as healthcare and education, all are trying to dig deep in the "grass - planting" soil to discover new growth opportunities.

Among them, Xiaohongshu, as a native grass - planting platform, has attracted much attention and discussion. Brands that have achieved rapid growth through the grass - planting model have been repeatedly observed and analyzed.

However, behind this bustling grass - planting ecosystem, there is a group that has been overlooked - the agents who connect the platform and the brands.

According to 36Kr, compared with 2023, the number of Xiaohongshu agents increased by about 50% in 2024. Meanwhile, the growth rate of the total agent turnover is also quite remarkable.

Different from the 80/20 rule in the agency ecosystems of other platforms, the market share among top - tier, mid - tier, bottom - tier, and new agents here is relatively balanced. Taking last year as an example, top - tier agents took 30% of the incremental market, while the remaining was shared by mid - tier agents (40%) and smaller and new agents (30%).

These agents are like bridges, connecting the marketing needs of enterprises on one end and the rules and secrets of the Xiaohongshu platform on the other. They, together with users, creators, and merchants in the Xiaohongshu community, form a win - win ecological pattern of "C (users) K (bloggers) B (clients) P (agents and platform)."

They are well - versed in the theory and practice of grass - planting on Xiaohongshu. Through capabilities such as data insight, content output, and advertising operation, they extend the tentacles of Xiaohongshu's grass - planting strategy to enterprises in different industries and of different scales. They not only promote the business growth of brands and the prosperity of the platform's commercial ecosystem but also gain business growth dividends in the process. How do this group operate? How do they help brands achieve business growth on Xiaohongshu?

Recently, during the 2025 Xiaohongshu Business Partners Conference, 36Kr had a chat with Zong Xian, the general manager of Xiaohongshu's business channels, as well as Liu Renying, the founder of Chenmuchenqi Group, and Chen Cheng, the founder and CEO of Zhuoer Digital, who are high - quality representative agents on Xiaohongshu. Understanding them may lead to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the Xiaohongshu agency ecosystem.

The "72 Transformations" of Agents

Over the past three decades of China's Internet development, the rise of each new media has almost always given birth to a new form of advertising.

In the early days, the emergence of portal websites such as Sina and NetEase led to the large - scale appearance of traditional banner ads and pop - up ads. When platforms like Toutiao and Douyin emerged, it brought about the popularity of in - feed ads. The appearance of Xiaohongshu, however, broke the logic of extensive advertising and created a grass - planting marketing model centered on real user sharing.

Meanwhile, agents with distinct platform imprints also emerge along with the business ecosystems of different media. Some agents on certain platforms focus more on buying traffic, while some lose their uniqueness due to the lack of differentiated strategies on the platform. Zong Xian, the general manager of Xiaohongshu's business channels, believes that "Xiaohongshu attaches great importance to the content itself, which makes the agency ecosystem different. It forms differentiation in in - depth strategies and unique competitiveness in content strategies and user insight."

These agents on Xiaohongshu, relying on the community nature and user characteristics of the platform, have grown into an all - around group with unique features in aspects such as user psychology and consumption behavior insight, understanding of customer needs, content output, and advertising conversion.

The Collision between Scientists and Sensibility

In 1960, marketing expert Theodore Levitt published an article in the Harvard Business Review, pointing out that enterprises paid too much attention to the products themselves and ignored the real needs of consumers. This is the famous "marketing myopia" theory.

Levitt believed that enterprises should shift from a product - centered approach to a consumer - centered one and deeply understand the needs and desires of consumers.

That's why people - centered marketing has become crucial, and Xiaohongshu agents share the ability to understand users.

How can we accurately understand the real needs of users?

In the consumer decision - making chain, the pre - link data that brands most desire to obtain are hidden in Xiaohongshu's content ecosystem. Millions of notes are updated on the platform every day. Users spontaneously share their shopping experiences, initiate consumption consultations, and collect practical guides, which constitute a complete and real pre - consumption decision - making scenario. Based on this, we can restore the existing or unperceived demands of users.

Take Atour Planet, a mid - to high - end home - furnishing brand whose core audience is a group of refined women over 23 years old with purchasing power. Chen Cheng, the founder and CEO of Zhuoer Digital, told 36Kr that when promoting the Deep Sleep Pillow Pro2 for the brand, they used the category - specific user portrait of Xiaohongshu's "Lingxi" and defined the population penetration model through content TGI (Target Group Index). They identified the segmented groups with problems such as frequent waking up during sleep, snoring, and fatigue sensitivity and their differentiated needs. Focusing on users' deep - sleep needs, they went beyond the category thinking, deeply understood and reached out to people from the perspective of lifestyle. Eventually, they achieved an increase in brand awareness driven by the flagship product, and the brand effect drove the search for a series of products. They ranked first in the pillow category on both Xiaohongshu and e - commerce platforms.

In this process, agents act like "scientists" using various tools to decode users. While rational analysis is important, emotional perception and experience cannot be ignored.

Only by understanding the good in the bad and the bad in the good can we truly understand good and bad. In other words, an agent who rarely opens Xiaohongshu and has hardly ever had a spiritual connection with users can hardly convey warmth in the emotional world, even if they conduct in - depth rational analysis of users.

This year marks the 6th year that Chenmuchenqi has been deeply involved in Xiaohongshu as an agent, serving over 30,000 customers in total. Liu Renying, the founder of Chenmuchenqi Group, told 36Kr that she herself is a senior Xiaohongshu user with over 10 years of experience, and this is also the company's recruitment standard. "Only in this way can we truly understand the platform and better help customers find good content, good products, and good needs from the user's perspective."

The purpose of marketing is to fully understand and comprehend users so that the product or service suits them and sells itself. When agents have the user's perspective and a deep understanding of the Xiaohongshu community and its marketing methods, it is easier for them to establish in - depth and synchronized communication with users.

The Traffic Secret of Sincerity and "Human Touch"

After identifying the needs of the target group, how can we connect with users?

For those who are familiar with the concept of "grass - planting" and have seen numerous grass - planting cases on Xiaohongshu, the answer is obvious: content.

Silicon Valley investor Albert Wenger pointed out in "The World After Capital" that we are moving from an era of "capital scarcity" to an era of "attention scarcity." In the information fragments that are as ubiquitous as air, brands are in a silent battle for attention.

Zong Xian, the general manager of Xiaohongshu's business channels, told 36Kr that Xiaohongshu has a unique double - column in - feed and search traffic field, where users need to make active choices. Therefore, the advertising content is required to be highly real and useful.

Therefore, creating real, useful, and user - need - meeting content has become an essential skill for agents on Xiaohongshu.

With the development of society and the change of consumption concepts, consumption is shifting from "goal - correct" to "value - correct." In this process, consumers pay more attention to the "beauty, goodness, and appropriateness" in consumption behavior, that is, they pursue products and services of higher quality and more in line with personal values and aesthetics.

To some extent, behind the loud noise of Pop Mart and Laopu Gold is the essence of the reshaping of the consumption decision - making logic by the individual emotional value system and the "self - pleasing" lifestyle.

Back to grass - planting. Nowadays, consumers not only focus on functional values but also on emotional and spiritual values. Therefore, non - functional promotion is emphasized in Xiaohongshu notes and content.

If the role of using data to screen and analyze to find and understand users is like a "scientist," then in content creation, agents also need to switch to the role of an "artist."

Xiaohongshu users are refined people with unique lifestyles, high aesthetics, and high net worth. To impress this group, the "artist" needs to convey emotional value, truth, goodness, and beauty. Therefore, when creating content on Xiaohongshu, every detail, from the design of the cover image, the drafting of the title, to the use of a punctuation mark, cannot be ignored.

Speaking of Atour Planet, after understanding that the users are people who have pursuits for life, sleep, and home, Zhuoer Digital focused the content on the emotional experience related to "home."

To enable users to intuitively resonate visually, Zhuoer Digital clearly defined "a ray of sunlight" as the visual cue to touch users' hearts in the notes. Therefore, in the cover presentation, there will always be a ray of natural light shining into the room from the window. Even specifically, the proportion of the bright light source in the picture should be greater than 1/4, and the pillow is not the main focus in the cover; "home" is.

Chen Cheng, the founder and CEO of Zhuoer Digital, shared an interesting detail. Their media director once showed them eight note material pictures of Atour Planet and asked what they had in common. It turned out that each picture used warm light, which is very attractive to people who yearn for a good life and like the feeling of home. Eventually, the average click - through rate of these covers was 11.2%, with the highest reaching 15.3%.

In Xiaohongshu grass - planting, the term "human touch" has been mentioned countless times, emphasizing the authenticity and intimacy of the content, making users feel as if a real person is standing in front of them.

Specifically, a picture of someone holding a cream works better than a picture of the product alone, and a live photo has more of a sense of life than a static photo.

Of course, the title is also very important. On average, five times as many people read the title as read the main text. In the view of Liu Renying, the founder of Chenmuchenqi Group, users are even more strict than bosses. A missing "!" in the title may cause the reading volume to plummet. Therefore, in terms of content, Chenmuchenqi continuously iterates on creative production and accumulates an industry content map to ensure the quality of grass - planting content.

As the cost of traffic continues to rise, it is always the real, useful, and high - quality content for grass - planting that can truly influence users' decisions. It can help enterprises establish unique memory points and form long - term brand influence or effective conversion. Only by building differentiated capabilities in content can agents establish a deep connection between brands and consumers.

Be the All - Powerful Helper for Clients

Philip Kotler once mentioned that for marketers, every business is a service business. You are not a chemical company; you are a chemical service enterprise.

Understanding clients and maximizing the chemical reaction of clients' demands are skills that agents, as "chemists," are very good at.

The representative Xiaohongshu agents mentioned above first treat clients as friends. They first ask "what kind of help do you need" and then talk about "budget." Behind this is in - depth client analysis and deep empathy, aiming to be the ones who understand the products best.

When facing some clients with limited initial budgets, Zhuoer Digital still racks its brains every day on how to achieve maximum results with limited budgets. They not only handle advertising for clients but also help with content planning and material creation. After each advertising campaign, they carefully analyze the data to see which content is more real, useful, and popular among users, and which materials have a higher click - through rate. Through continuous optimization, they gradually found the content style and advertising strategy suitable for the clients.

Therefore, agents are not just simple executors; they are also the "brains" of clients.

As users' diverse lifestyles gradually penetrate into various consumption scenarios on Xiaohongshu, the search volume of keywords in industries such as home improvement, education, travel, automobiles, healthcare, and wedding photography has increased exponentially. Driven by the mutual needs of both sides, agents have evolved into "hexagonal" warriors with all - around abilities. The industries they serve are expanding, not only including consumer goods but also education and healthcare. They can not only do grass - planting but also handle lead ads and e - commerce closed - loop operations.

Liu Renying, the founder of Chenmuchenqi Group, who has been deeply involved in Xiaohongshu lead ads, revealed that leads on Xiaohongshu are more real, customer acquisition is more accurate, conversion efficiency is higher, and the customer unit price is high. At the same time, the platform has great business prospects, which is conducive to brands expanding new growth and breaking through the business ceiling, rather than simply pursuing traffic and GMV. From a methodological perspective, agents doing lead ads on Xiaohongshu are no different from doing brand grass - planting. In other words, agents are using the grass - planting method to manage leads. They identify the seed population, gradually "understand people," "influence people" with content, provide good service, and ultimately "win people."

Today, more and more agents pursuing high - quality growth are emerging on Xiaohongshu. During the interviews with them, 36Kr also found a very rare characteristic among them - they serve both large and small clients, not judging by the scale or budget.

Zong Xian told 36Kr that agents can help small and medium - sized clients with new customer acquisition and operation. For example, in terms of new customer acquisition, agents can cover the national market. In terms of operation, small clients usually do not have a professional team, while agents can achieve full - coverage of fine - tuned, precise, and extremely well - executed content production and advertising methods.

Meanwhile, he revealed that the penetration of small and medium - sized clients is still insufficient, and the number of new clients will increase significantly. In 2025, every agent will have more opportunities. "We have seen that in new customer development, the contribution ratio of the agency channel has been continuously increasing, with a 60% increase in 2024 compared to 2023."

A New Milestone of "Quality"

In the past two or three years, Xiaohongshu's commercialization has grown very rapidly, attracting a large number of performance - oriented clients and new agents. While demand creates opportunities, it may also bring in bad players. As more and more agents flood in, it will inevitably bring some hidden dangers. For example, in order to compete for clients, there may be price - cutting competition. Some agents cut costs, leading to a decline in service quality.

There is a huge difference in performance among agents of different qualities.

For example, a leading education company placed ads for postgraduate entrance exam courses on Xiaohongshu. The original agent used the traditional form - filling link, and the CPL was nearly 300 yuan, far exceeding the client's assessment standard of 200 yuan, and the result did not meet expectations.

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