Advertising Strategy of Online Advertisements

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the advertising strategy of cosmetic brand, "Perfect Diary" in two social media platforms, Weibo and Xiaohongshu (RED). Data samples were purposively selected from its advertisements published during June 2018 and June 2020. With the use of quantitative content analysis, advertising appeal, message strategy and execution of the 200 advertisements were examined. The analysis results show the different use of advertising strategies in two different platforms. In terms of advertising appeal, Weibo is dominated by emotional appeal whereas Xiaohongshu (RED) is dominated by rational appeal. In terms of message strategy, Weibo focuses more on the use of the “Ritual View,” which emphasizes consumer's self, while Xiaohongshu (RED) showed a tendency to adopt the “Transmission View,” which emphasizes the situation in which the product is seen as part of Xiaohongshu (RED) and addresses the situation in which the product is seen as part of a consumer's routine. In terms of message execution, it was found that Weibo used celebrity endorsement the most, while Xiaohongshu (RED) used demonstration the most.