Xiaohongshu (RedNote) in Malaysia: A Guide for Brands

Last updated: October 2026 · Last checked: 19 October 2026

Think of it as Instagram and a shopping review site fused together: users post "notes" (photo/video posts with long-form captions) reviewing products, clinics, restaurants and experiences, and other users discover businesses through search and the recommendation feed rather than primarily through following accounts. This makes organic content genuinely discoverable in a way most Western platforms no longer allow.

Xiaohongshu is a Chinese lifestyle platform whose app is provided by a Shanghai company, and Tourism Malaysia cites more than 300 million monthly active users. The facts below come only from official or published sources, each with its date.

Sources:

• NPR, 15 January 2025↗ (opens in a new tab)
• rednote on the Malaysian App Store↗ (opens in a new tab)
• Tourism Malaysia media release↗ (opens in a new tab), 28 May 2025

RedNote is Xiaohongshu's English name, and the app appears as “rednote” in the Malaysian App Store. XHS is simply the initials of the pinyin Xiao Hong Shu, so XHS, Xiaohongshu, RedNote and 小红书 all mean the same app and the same account.

Malaysian users and brands use all four names. Searches for “xiao hong shu Malaysia” and “rednote Malaysia” are about the same platform this page covers.

In Malaysia, Xiaohongshu is used mainly by Chinese-speaking Malaysians, and by travellers from China who research Malaysia there before a trip. Tourism Malaysia's Director General said in May 2025 that Malaysia has been consistently trending on Xiaohongshu as one of the most searched destinations among Chinese users.

Published counts of Malaysian users vary by source and are mostly from 2023 or earlier, so we do not quote one here. For arrivals from China by year, see our Malaysia tourism statistics.

Business verification (the blue checkmark) is tied to commercial features such as store links and contact cards, and Xiaohongshu's own rules may restrict ad eligibility for unverified accounts. It is a strong trust signal for Chinese-speaking consumers who actively check for it before engaging with a business account.

See the verification service for the full process, or run the free verification eligibility checker first to see where you stand.

Two main levers: Juguang ads (paid placements in search and the main feed) and KOL/KOC collaborations (paid partnerships with creators, which read as organic recommendations and typically outperform pure ads on trust).

Most effective campaigns for MY/SG businesses combine both — Juguang for reach, KOL/KOC for credibility. See the XHS marketing service for how we structure this, and check your own copy against platform norms with the free XHS content checker.

New to the terms? See what KOL, KOC and UGC mean.

Xiaohongshu functions as a search-and-discovery engine as much as a social feed — a large share of usage is people searching a specific need ("aesthetic clinic KL", "renovation contractor JB") rather than scrolling a following list. That changes what "good content" means: a note optimised for search intent and saves outperforms one optimised for likes alone.

• Note structure. A clear title stating what the note answers, a strong cover image (the single biggest factor in whether a note gets opened from the feed), and a body that front-loads the useful information before any brand pitch — notes that bury the point under a wall of hashtags or emoji tend to underperform on both save rate and search ranking.
• Popular content categories. Beauty/skincare, F&B, travel, home/interior, and increasingly cross-border shopping and services are the platform's deepest categories — the same verticals where MY/SG businesses see the strongest organic pull (see "RedNote by industry" below).
• Xiaohongshu Ads Manager (聚光/Juguang). The platform's own ad console for boosting notes into search results and the main feed. Xiaohongshu's own rules may restrict which accounts can use it, so most brands verify a business account (企业号) first. See the verification service if your account isn't there yet.
• External link policy. Xiaohongshu's own rules may restrict how and where outbound links can appear in a note's body or bio, so check the current community guidelines in the app before planning a note around external clicks. Practically: plan around in-app search visibility and DMs/store links instead.
• Community guidelines and account standing. Like any platform, Xiaohongshu enforces its own content and conduct rules, and account standing (not just follower count) affects distribution — an account with prior violations gets less algorithmic reach even on compliant new content. Check your own note copy against common restrictions with the free XHS content checker before publishing.

Xiaohongshu is search-led and mostly Chinese-language, while Instagram and TikTok are feed-led and mixed-language in Malaysia. People open Xiaohongshu to research a purchase or a trip, which is why notes written around what people search keep being found long after posting.

For side-by-side decisions, see XHS vs Instagram, as well as TikTok vs XHS for Malaysian brands.

A brand can post from a personal account, but Xiaohongshu's own rules may restrict business features to a business account that has passed professional verification (the blue tick, or Blue-V). Xiaohongshu runs its professional account platform at pro.xiaohongshu.com↗ (opens in a new tab).

Our XHS business account guide covers the documents a Malaysian company needs, and the free verification eligibility checker shows where you stand.

The formats that work are notes that answer a search: a photo set or short video, a title that says what the note answers, and a caption that gives the useful detail first. Reviews, guides, before-you-buy checklists and “how I chose” notes fit how people use the platform.

• Photo notes (图文笔记): a cover image, several photos and a long caption; the most common format.
• Video notes: short videos with the same search-led title and caption.
• Creator notes: KOL or KOC posts briefed by the brand, disclosed as collaborations.

For writing notes people find through search, see how to optimise Xiaohongshu notes.

If you need the work done, our XHS marketing service runs content, KOC seeding and ads, and the XHS web login guide explains desktop access.

• Aesthetic & dental clinics: before/after-style content performs strongly but must stay within KKM/MDC advertising rules — see the compliance knowledge base before posting treatment content.
• F&B & retail: genuine product/experience content and KOC seeding outperform direct-sale posts — this is a discovery platform, not a catalogue.
• Interior design: portfolio-style project reveals are a strong native fit for the platform's visual, long-form post format.