What to Post on RedNote as a Western Creator

In January 2025, TikTok got banned in the US. I had over 400,000 followers on TikTok at the time. Overnight, that audience was at risk. I started looking for alternatives, and that's when RedNote blew up as the safe haven for TikTok refugees.

The app shot to number one in the US App Store. Millions of American creators and users flooded in. Most of them treated it like TikTok 2.0, posted for a week, and left when the novelty wore off. But I stayed. Because when I looked at the numbers, something didn't add up. 300 million monthly active users. Almost zero Western creator competition. An audience actively engaging with English-language content. The opportunity was obvious.

So I started posting. No strategy. No translation. Just took my existing content and uploaded it.

238,894 views. In English. No translation.

My first post on RedNote was a video called "How to Nail Your Introduction." It had already done well on TikTok and Instagram. I didn't change anything. Same video, same English audio, same captions. Just uploaded it directly.

It got 238,894 views.

Everything was in English. I didn't write a Chinese caption. I didn't add Chinese subtitles. I didn't use Chinese hashtags. I did the absolute laziest version of cross-posting, and it still pulled numbers that would make most TikTok creators jealous.

That one video taught me something important: you don't need to overthink your first post. The content you're already making works. The audience is there. You just have to show up.

You already have content. Use it.

Go to your TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube analytics. Sort by top performers in the last 30 to 90 days. Pick the one that got the most engagement. Upload it to RedNote. That's your first post.

I'm serious. Don't reinvent the wheel for a new platform. The content already proved it resonates with people. The question is just whether it resonates with these people. And here's what I've learned after growing to 23,000 followers: the Chinese audience isn't as different as you think. The same videos that do well on Instagram and TikTok tend to do well on RedNote. Good content is good content, regardless of the platform.

That surprised me. I expected the cultural gap to be massive. I expected to have to create completely different content for a Chinese audience. But the reality is that human attention works the same way everywhere. A strong hook, a clear takeaway, a visual that makes someone stop scrolling. Those things translate across languages.

The three content formats that work

RedNote supports three main formats. Knowing which one to use and when makes a real difference in how your content performs.

Short-form video

This is the most important format for growth. The algorithm pushes video hard, especially in the Explore feed. Vertical videos, 15 seconds to 3 minutes, shot on your phone or pulled from your existing short-form library. If you're already making Reels or TikToks, you have a library ready to go. The sweet spot seems to be 30 to 90 seconds.

This is where I started. Took my best-performing TikToks and just uploaded them. No edits, no changes. It worked.

Carousels

RedNote's version of Instagram carousels, but they perform significantly better here. A carousel of 5 to 9 images with text overlay and a solid cover image can get thousands of saves.

Here's a trick: your newsletter issues can become carousels. Take the key points from a newsletter, screenshot the sections, or redesign them as slides, and post them as a carousel. Alex Hormozi's content gets reposted this way constantly, and the numbers are wild.

Horizontal YouTube videos

This one surprised me. RedNote isn't just vertical short-form. You can upload horizontal videos from YouTube and they perform well. I posted a horizontal "10-Day Guide" video and it pulled solid engagement.

So if you have a YouTube channel, your long-form content has a second life on RedNote. Upload the full video or cut highlights. The platform handles both formats.

Don't rethink your content strategy. Just repurpose.

The name of the game on RedNote is not creating new content for a Chinese audience. It's getting the content you already make in front of more of your potential target audience. Go to your analytics, sort by top performers, and start uploading. That's the whole strategy.

I've sold hundreds of courses to the Chinese market. Tens of thousands of dollars last year. From content I was already making for Instagram and TikTok. The Eastern market used to feel like a pipe dream to me. It's not. There are just fewer Western creators here than anywhere else, which means less competition and more room if you actually show up.

What actually drives discovery

On YouTube, the thumbnail drives clicks. RedNote works the same way. Users scroll the Explore page, and what stops them is a strong cover image with a clear title. Think of every post as a thumbnail.

Three things matter for getting your content seen:

A cover image that features you from the video itself, with a clear, readable title overlaid. This is what people see in the feed. If the cover looks generic or confusing, they scroll past.

A title in Chinese. Even if your video is in English, the title is what tells the algorithm and the audience what to expect. A Chinese title makes your content discoverable to the full user base, not just the bilingual segment.

A bilingual caption. Write your English caption the way you normally would. Then add a Chinese translation below it. The Chinese doesn't need to be word-for-word. A summary of the key points works. This gives the algorithm Chinese text to index and gives Chinese-only readers enough context to engage.

Hashtags? They help, but they're not the main lever. The cover image and Chinese title do the heavy lifting for discovery.

English content works. And that's actually a feature.

RedNote has a massive bilingual audience. When you post in English, you're reaching the segment of 300 million users that speaks or reads both languages. My 238,000-view video was entirely in English. No Chinese anywhere. The audience found it and engaged anyway.

That bilingual skew is probably a good thing for your business. If you sell services, products, or coaching, the people who can actually buy from you are likely the ones who know some English. English-language content naturally attracts that audience.

Why Chinese subtitles change the game

English-only posting works as a starting point. But adding Chinese subtitles does something different than just expanding reach. It creates stronger brand affiliation.

When someone speaks Chinese first and English second, they can probably follow your English video well enough. But subtitles in their first language let them follow along effortlessly. They catch every word. They stay longer. They feel like the content was made for them, not just accessible to them. That's the difference between someone who watches once and someone who follows.

My wife speaks Chinese. I considered having her translate my videos manually. But spending 1 to 2 hours per video on translation doesn't scale when you're posting multiple times a week.

That's why I built Create In Chinese. Upload your English video, get bilingual subtitles, a Chinese cover image, and a ready-to-post caption back. The whole point is to make repurposing for RedNote as fast as posting anywhere else.