Text/ Liu Jintao
Editor/Chen Dot
At the beginning of the new year, the CBA and basketball leagues at home and abroad are in the hottest stage, and the Chinese basketball players who are fighting in the south and the north have not forgotten to find more ways to contact fans.
Recently, Zhou Qi, Ding Yanyuhang, Wang Zhelin, Zhai Xiaochuan and Zhao Jiwei and other national players have successively entered the Little Red Book, where they share their stories in life, interact with fans, and show the most authentic and grounded side.
Behind the collective settlement of the men's basketball team, it is the effect of Xiaohongshu's efforts to enrich the ecology of basketball and sports content, which makes Xiaohongshu break through the barriers in traditional sports culture while touching more people, so that basketball players and athletes show a funny and warm side of life, and in a more three-dimensional image of athletes, constantly consolidate the foundation of sports culture construction.
01
Many basketball players have settled in, and the Little Red Book has accelerated the sports layout
"After the game, I will put on a mask and hydrate, I will apply the essence and cream before going to bed before going to bed, and I will do some facial treatments in the offseason."
This remark did not come from any skincare expert, but from Wang Zhelin, the tall and mighty inner beast "King" on the field. In the sharing of the Little Red Book, Wang Zhelin showed the "exquisite boy" side, in addition to the love of shaping the hairstyle, Wang Zhelin, as the national player of the men's basketball team, has another heavy personality.
Some female fans replied on the Little Red Book lamenting "more than I used", while Zhao Rui, a national team teammate who had a good personal relationship with Wang Zhelin, was "real-name envious" and could not help but leave a message in the comment area "Send me some mask to hydrate."
Also showing his lifelike side is the "Great Demon King" Zhou Qi. As a top international player competing overseas, Zhou Qi in Australia can not only use the performance of contributing an average of 4.3 blocks per game to invite opponents to "eat hot pot", but also often takes his teammates to feel the charm of Chinese hot pot outside the arena. In the sharing of the Little Red Book, Zhou Qi bluntly said that the best dish is fried steak, and the invitation to dinner also enhances the relationship between him and his teammates.
At the same time, Wu Qian, who is regarded as a popular candidate for MVP in the CBA and "does not play well and goes home to inherit hundreds of millions of family properties", entered Xiaohongshu during last year's Olympic Games, in addition to close interaction with fans, he also connected actor Xu Kai to open an interactive live broadcast of "breaking the dimensional wall", telling a lot of training and arena stories.
It has become a trend for basketball players to share their different lives and hobbies in little red books. Ding Yanyuhang bluntly said that he loved to read Zhen Huan's biography, and shared his mental journey of fighting against injuries; Zhai Xiaochuan loved to collect sneakers; Wang Zhelin would use games and listen to books to pass the time during the quarantine period; and Zhao Rui, who loved to wear, became a trend blogger in the Little Red Book...
In addition to them, basketball stars at home and abroad, including Iverson, Marbury, Yang Shuyu, Zhao Rui, Zhou Peng, Fang Shuo, Gao Shiyan, Xi Relijiang, etc., have also successively settled in Xiaohongshu, sharing daily life here and looking for closer ties with fans. According to the understanding of ECO Krypton, on the night of the end of the Olympic women's three-person basketball game, Yang Shuyu rose nearly 660,000 fans within 24 hours of entering the Little Red Book.
In the past year or so, sports content has become an important growth point for the platform of Little Red Book. By the middle of 2021, the number of sports notes in Xiaohongshu has increased by 1440% annually, becoming an emerging content platform that cannot be ignored in the field of sports.
Among them, the dimension of basketball content is also becoming richer, and the content ecology is gradually improved. At present, in addition to the national players and stars, there are more than 300 basketball masters who have completed the settlement, coupled with the 1000+ basketball creators who are deeply bound by the official xiaohongshu, so that the increase in basketball-related content on the platform has exceeded 500%.
02
Star athletes become "tap water", what does the Little Red Book rely on?
Sports, for Little Red Book, is a new and dynamic new field.
Since last year, Xiaohongshu has gradually laid out the sports field and broadened the sports content. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Xiaohongshu became a special strategic partner of the top event of the main station, as well as the official partner of the Chinese women's football team. In addition, teams including the Chinese women's football team, FC Barcelona, the French national football team and the Argentine national football team have entered the Little Red Book, reaching more fans.
Not only attracting athletes to settle in, Xiaohongshu also stimulates their desire to create content, a phenomenon that deserves the attention of the industry. Since 2021, more than 100 head athletes from basketball, skiing, gymnastics, diving, skating, football, table tennis and other fields have also become the creators of Little Red Book.
Last weekend, coinciding with the 20-day countdown to the Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing posted a "snowy" update, sharing his training footage and status. Sharing her own skiing story in Xiaohong's book is already a common thing for this "Beijing girl".
Chen Meng, who previously won the women's table tennis singles championship at the Tokyo Olympics, will not only share her dedication to public welfare on weekends, but also fade the domineering spirit on the field in daily life videos. Opening gifts, watching the sea, drinking coffee, and sharing the cover of "MeiMeida" are all the content creations of Chen Meng's life and true temperament on The Little Red Book.
As the New Year draws to a close, Yang Shuyu, who is "salty and sweet", also shared the prepared New Year goods in the Little Red Book. In the past few months since entering Xiaohongshu, she has gained the attention of more than 960,000 fans by sharing street photography, dressing, arena stories and mental journeys, and has properly become another women's basketball team"-like existence.
In Xiaohongshu, the athletes who settled in released colorful life dynamics, showed a more three-dimensional character image, changed from a "sportsman" to a more grounded "life home", showing off the field, closer to life, but also full of charm and fun.
From the perspective of the industry dimension, the development of sports content on the Little Red Book lies in the mastery of high-quality, personal IP influence and value of the head athletes. So the question is, why does Xiaohongshu, a content community characterized by trends, e-commerce and "planting grass", have such a strong attraction and appeal to star athletes?
In fact, many athletes were already loyal users of this platform before they entered Xiaohongshu. On the one hand, relying on the high-quality content ecology and sincere sharing of the community atmosphere, Xiaohongshu perfectly fits the increasingly strong desire of the athlete group to express themselves, where they not only share their daily life, contact fans and sports fans, but also find a strong sense of belonging and a relaxed sense of life.
On the other hand, today, when the road to the commercialization of athletes is becoming more and more mature, Xiaohongshu gathers a large number of brands and hundreds of millions of users, which can also provide attractive prospects and possibilities for the commercial exploration of athletes. With the "endorsement fever" of athletes after the Tokyo Olympic Games, the strong commercial potential of Little Red Book is undoubtedly a new scene of sports marketing that deserves attention. Or take Yang Shuyu as an example, after he entered the Little Red Book, whether it is a cooperation with TF or Ogawa, it reflects the advantages and strength of the Little Red Book in sports realization.
How to smoothly monetize sports content and IP has always been a difficult problem that needs to be solved for the development of the sports industry in China. The platform of Xiaohongshu will focus on sports IP and can provide a new and perfect commercialization link for athletes, clubs, leagues and events in the future.
Indeed, from its inception to the present, users are more in the community to publish and read useful and beautiful content, which makes the product have a strong "planting grass" characteristics, and its user group also has a stronger purpose and sharing desire. On the other hand, because the community continues to encourage "sincere sharing and friendly interaction", creating a sincere and warm community atmosphere, this rationality not only gives competitive sports a friendlier environment, but also allows athletes to have a better interactive ecology.
03
To create a sports content ecology, the Little Red Book has gradually become a compulsory course in the industry
With the continuous entry of sports stars and the continuous increase in user interaction and popularity, the effectiveness of Xiaohongshu's efforts to build a sports content ecology is gradually emerging.
Among them, basketball is undoubtedly a very important growth point in the future. In December last year, according to the "China Basketball Development Report" released by the Chinese Basketball Association, China's basketball population is about 125 million, of which the core basketball population is about 76.1 million, and the proportion of the population playing basketball in the country's 6-65-year-old population is 10.9%, and basketball is already the first collective ball sport in China.
Indeed, the CBA and overseas leagues, basketball masters, etc., are the creators of excellent content in the Little Red Book. In addition, basketball content also has its own trend attributes, of which equipment, wear and shoes, etc., are highly sought after by young people. It should be known that in Xiaohongshu's current monthly active life of more than 200 million, users under the age of 30 account for 72%.
Some data from the "China Basketball Sports Development Report"
Therefore, attracting national players to settle in not only allows the content group of Little Red Book to expand to basketball, expand to the CBA and overseas leagues, but also create a richer content ecology and attract more sports and basketball users to join. At the same time, it also enhances the commercial potential of Xiaohongshu and lays a solid foundation for opening up more commercial channels.
For the development of China's basketball and sports industries, it is also necessary to find content platforms like Xiaohongshu. To paraphrase a hot word on the Internet, Little Red Book can become an enabling platform in the field of sports. Specifically, sports and basketball culture need to be closer to the lives of more people through the younger and more innovative form of content production of The Little Red Book.
It should be admitted that in the context of social and cultural development, the stereotype of "straight men in steel" and "athletes" still exists, and the emergence of social media has gradually helped people realize the other side of professional players, approachable stars, and colorful off the court, but sometimes noisy sounds will drown out the real side of athletes.
Therefore, high-quality IP and athletes need to constantly find high-quality content platforms, so that the platform itself first becomes a filter for high-quality users. In this regard, the Little Red Book has a natural advantage. With the help of the Little Red Book, it not only shows the more life-oriented side of athletes, provides more new content for the fan group, but also builds a new channel for mutual understanding and communication between players and fans. When athletes and fans treat each other sincerely, walk into each other's lives, and build a positive interaction between stars and fans, it fully demonstrates the value of Little Red Book as a "lifestyle community".
On the other hand, part of the increase in China's sports industry exists in the "broken circle" market. For the sport of basketball, Xiaohongshu can become a sharp weapon to break the circle, reach more pan-basketball users, and cultivate new fan groups.
First of all, the sports content positioning of Xiaohongshu is not hardcore and professional, but focuses on easy to understand, practical and reference to fashion trends, lifestyles, sports experience skills, etc., such content can make the vast majority of users on Xiaohongshu can get it. Therefore, the sharing of basketball stars and the output of basketball-related content can capture some brand new user groups that have no previous understanding of basketball.
In addition, according to observations, ECO Krypton found that the reading habits of some basketball depth users have gradually tilted towards the Little Red Book. Professional, hard-core basketball training, basketball teaching content, and the popularity and interaction on the Little Red Book are also increasing.
Therefore, the basketball industry also needs to penetrate into this relatively new content platform to serve professional fans here. From social media to short videos to Little Red Book, the change and development of content platforms requires athletes, clubs, and IP parties to keep pace with the times and take the operation of good content on new platforms as a compulsory lesson.
Of course, we must also realize that in a national sport like basketball, more and more players and content producers are settled in Xiaohongshu, and they cannot copy the original content mode and account positioning on other platforms, but should produce new and original content based on Xiaohongshu's own platform attributes and user reading habits. This is a challenge for traditional sports.
Nowadays, with the continuous cultivation of the sports content ecology of Xiaohongshu, it has become an important track that cannot be ignored in the development of the sports industry. In the future, with the help of more platforms like Xiaohongshu, athletes can connect with the general public more closely, let sports enter the trend life of young people, and jointly shape a broader sports market.