Skip to content
Khepri Digital
Book a strategy call
Social media

How to Market on Xiaohongshu in Singapore and Malaysia

By Gordon Hwa, Founder, Khepri Digital
Published · 9 min read

What is Xiaohongshu (RedNote)?

Xiaohongshu (小红书, "little red book"), known in English as RedNote, is a Chinese app where people post notes, photo or short-video reviews of food, beauty, travel, shopping and daily life, and other people search them before they buy. It works more like a search engine with reviews than a social feed. Xiaohongshu Business says more than 130 million people a month use it to discuss, research and plan trips abroad (Campaign Asia, May 2026, sponsored content by Xiaohongshu).

Who uses Xiaohongshu in Singapore and Malaysia?

There is no official count of Xiaohongshu users in Singapore or Malaysia. The figures quoted online come from agencies and don't agree with each other, so we don't use one. What can be shown is who the app reaches:

Audience How big What they use Xiaohongshu for
Chinese Singaporeans 73.9% of Singapore residents are ethnically Chinese; 26.6% speak Mandarin most at home (General Household Survey 2025) Restaurants, cafes, beauty, shopping, weekend plans
Chinese Malaysians 22.1% of Malaysia's population (DOSM, Q1 2026) The same, plus trips to Singapore and around Malaysia
Chinese residents in Singapore Expats, new citizens, students and families Daily life: clinics, schools, property, services
Visitors from mainland China 3.1 million in 2025, more than any other market (STB) Planning the trip: where to eat, stay, shop and go

Mandarin at home is falling in Singapore (29.9% in 2020, 26.6% in 2025, in the same survey), so don't assume every Chinese Singaporean wants Chinese content. Visitors and residents from mainland China do.

Governments have noticed. Tourism Malaysia signed a memorandum of collaboration with REDBOOK Holdings, the company behind Xiaohongshu, in May 2025, and runs an official account covering all 13 states (Tourism Malaysia). Xiaohongshu Business signed an MOU with the Singapore Tourism Board in May 2026, and says searches for family travel to Singapore passed 1.02 million in 2025 (Campaign Asia).

Is Xiaohongshu worth it for a Singapore business?

It is if Chinese speakers are a real share of your customers or the customers you want: restaurants and cafes, hotels, retail, beauty, tuition and schools, property and financial services. It isn't if your buyers are English-first businesses or the public sector; Google, LinkedIn and Meta will reach them for less effort.

Clinics can use it, with care. A paid creator's note about a treatment is a testimonial, and Singapore's healthcare advertising rules ban those. Read what the Healthcare Services Act allows before you brief anyone.

How do you start marketing on Xiaohongshu?

  1. Search the app first. Type your category and area in Chinese, the way a customer would ("丹戎巴葛 午餐", Tanjong Pagar lunch). See which notes come up, what they show and what people ask in the comments. Search your own name too; people may already be posting about you.
  2. Open a professional (brand) account in your company's name and get it verified.
  3. Post notes that answer those searches, written in Chinese by a native speaker.
  4. Add creators and ads once you have notes worth promoting.
  5. Give every campaign a code or link so you can count the customers it brings.

Do you need a business account on Xiaohongshu?

Yes, a verified professional (brand) account in your company's name. It shows the business behind the notes, lets you reply as the brand, and is needed for the platform's ad and creator tools. Keep it in your company's name, not your agency's, so the account and its followers stay yours.

What should you post on Xiaohongshu?

People arrive with a question, often typed into Xiaohongshu's search bar, so each note should answer one:

  • Specific and useful. "Three set lunches under S$25 near Tanjong Pagar MRT", with prices, photos and the address, beats "Come try our new menu".
  • Written in Chinese by a native speaker. Simplified characters for mainland visitors and residents; Mandarin that sounds like Singapore or Malaysia for local Chinese. Machine translation is spotted at once and skipped.
  • The search words in the title and text. Use the words people type: the area, the dish or treatment, the price, "新加坡" (Singapore) or "吉隆坡" (Kuala Lumpur).
  • A cover photo and a title that work as a search result. The cover and first line decide whether anyone taps.
  • The facts people need to act: price, hours, address, how to book, whether you take Weixin Pay or Alipay+, and whether staff speak Mandarin.
  • Real people, not stock. Notes from customers and creators carry more weight than a brand talking about itself, which is why creator collaborations matter.

Keep the same prices, hours and address on Xiaohongshu, Dianping, Google and your website. Customers check more than one, and a mismatch costs you the visit.

How do you advertise on Xiaohongshu?

Xiaohongshu sells ads through Juguang (聚光), its ad platform, at ad.xiaohongshu.com. Ads appear in the search results and in the discovery feed, usually as promoted notes that look like ordinary notes, and the strongest ones are notes that already do well without paid support. An account has to be verified before it can advertise. Businesses without a China entity usually buy through one of RedNote's official advertising partners, who also handle billing. We run clients' ads from our own Juguang account, verified through our China entity.

How much do Xiaohongshu ads cost?

Xiaohongshu doesn't publish a rate card for overseas advertisers, and costs depend on the audience, the format and how competitive your category is. Agency articles quote minimum budgets, but none we found give a source, so we don't repeat them. Budget for three things separately: the ad spend itself, creator fees, and the work of writing and photographing notes in Chinese. From our own account: Juguang sets a minimum ad spend of about S$650, and we recommend starting with about S$1,000 so a test has enough reach to read. Ask any agency for its minimum spend and fee in writing before you start.

How does influencer (KOL and KOC) marketing work on Xiaohongshu?

Paid creator collaborations go through Pugongying (蒲公英), Xiaohongshu's official creator platform at pgy.xiaohongshu.com, which matches brands with creators and marks the notes as sponsored. KOLs are creators with large followings; KOCs ("key opinion consumers") are smaller accounts whose notes read like a friend's recommendation. We agree fees with creators directly. KOCs cost less per note, and because people use Xiaohongshu like a search engine, several notes that answer different searches can reach more buyers than one big post. For a local business, it's worth testing a few KOCs who live in Singapore or Malaysia, or who are visiting, before paying for one big name.

Brief creators on the facts (price, address, the offer code) and let them write in their own voice. A note that sounds like an ad gets scrolled past. Paid and gifted notes aimed at Singapore customers also have to be disclosed under ASAS's guidelines; see Singapore's influencer advertising rules.

How do you measure sales from Xiaohongshu?

Not in likes. Give each campaign a way to be counted:

Method What it counts
An offer code per campaign or creator ("RN10") Visits and orders, at the counter or online
A tracked link or WeChat contact per campaign Enquiries and bookings
Weixin Pay or Alipay+ at the counter How many visitors from China paid, and how much
"How did you hear about us?" at booking A check on the codes

Then move the budget, every month, to the creators, notes and offers that brought customers. Saves and comments are early signs; they aren't sales.

Xiaohongshu, Dianping, WeChat or Douyin: which one first?

For most Singapore and Malaysia businesses, Xiaohongshu first, because it reaches all three Chinese-speaking audiences. Add Dianping if you're a restaurant, shop or attraction, because visitors check reviews there once they arrive; WeChat if residents need to message or pay you; and Douyin only to reach people in mainland China before they travel. See what we run on each app in our Chinese marketing services in Singapore.

Frequently asked questions

Is RedNote the same as Xiaohongshu?

Yes. RedNote is the English name of Xiaohongshu (小红书), the Chinese app for reviews and recommendations. The name spread in January 2025, when many American TikTok users joined it ahead of a threatened US ban and it topped Apple's US free downloads (Radio Free Asia). Its main audience is still Chinese speakers in mainland China and around the world.

Can a Singapore or Malaysian business advertise on Xiaohongshu?

Yes, but usually not directly. Ads run on Juguang, Xiaohongshu's ad platform, and overseas businesses typically buy through one of its official advertising partners, who open the account and handle billing. You also need a verified brand account in your company's name. Paid creator collaborations go through Pugongying, the official creator platform.

Should we post in Chinese or English?

In Chinese. Xiaohongshu's audience searches in Chinese, so English notes rarely surface. Write in simplified characters for visitors and residents from mainland China, and in natural Singapore or Malaysian Mandarin for local Chinese. Keep English for Google, Meta and your website, where most local Chinese still see English ads.

How long before Xiaohongshu brings customers?

A paid campaign with creators and an offer code can bring visits within weeks. A brand account that people find through search builds over months, as notes about you accumulate. Judge the first three months on code redemptions and enquiries, not on followers.

Sources

This guide supports our Meta Ads service.

More on Social media

See what your customers see when they search for you.

A 30-minute call with the people who would run your account. We look at your ads, your pages and what AI says about your brand, live.

Book a strategy call
Fixed monthly fee. Every account stays in your name.
Book a strategy call