A tour operator in Hulunbuir (Inner Mongolia) reached out to me recently with three questions:
- How do I attract potential tourists from across the country through short-video platforms?
- What keywords should I target to reach people who are planning a trip to Hulunbuir?
- How can I find high-performing competitor content and adapt it into my own?
Many operators already know the playbook in theory — search for keywords, study competitor posts, mine the comments for customer intent. But they get stuck at execution: searching manually, scrolling endlessly, copying into spreadsheets one by one. The process never scales.
These three questions are actually one workflow: first, map the competitive landscape (what content is getting traction). Then find the exact search terms potential customers use. Next, dig into individual posts to see what questions users are actually asking. Finally, turn the best reference content into your own.
Before diving into the step-by-step, two things need to be clear.
How "Local Posts" Actually Work on Xiaohongshu (RedNote)
Many people assume a post becomes "local" simply by adding a location tag. In reality, Xiaohongshu uses a two-layer system to determine local relevance.
Layer 1: POI tagging. When you add a specific location to your post — a landmark, a shopping district, a store address — the algorithm prioritizes showing it to nearby users. Choosing a specific venue or district rather than just a city name gives you denser local exposure.
Layer 2: Location-related keywords and hashtags. When your title, body text, or hashtags mention city names, district names, or local terms (e.g., "#HulunbuirGrassland" "#HailarFoodGuide"), the algorithm identifies the post's geographic relevance and decides whether to push it into the local feed.
You need both layers working together. A post with a POI tag but no location keywords in the text — or vice versa — only taps into half the available traffic.
For local businesses, the rule is simple: always add a specific POI when publishing, and naturally weave city and district names into your copy.
The Tourism Exception: You Need Both Local and Nationwide Reach
Some local businesses — restaurants, nail salons, gyms — only need customers within a few kilometers. Studying local posts is enough. But tourism is different.
If you run tours in Hulunbuir, your customers are scattered across the entire country. Before they travel, they search for things like "Hulunbuir travel guide," "how much does a Hulunbuir trip cost," or "Hulunbuir family-friendly itinerary." These are nationwide search queries, not local ones. If you only focus on local posts, you'll only reach people who are already there — and miss the biggest pool of potential customers: people who are still planning their trip.
For tourism businesses on Xiaohongshu (RedNote), the strategy needs two tracks:
- 70% of effort on nationwide keyword content: Cover search terms like "destination + guide / budget / duration / season" to capture users during the pre-trip decision stage
- 30% of effort studying local posts: Reference how local creators write, how they tag POIs, and what on-the-ground perspectives resonate
The core principle: write your content for a nationwide audience, but always publish with a specific POI. This way, your posts get found through nationwide search traffic and shown to nearby users at the same time.
With these two foundations clear, let's walk through the workflow: map the landscape → find exact search terms → mine user intent → produce content.
Step 1: Map the Landscape — What's Working Right Now
Start with the big picture: search the main keyword — in this case, "Hulunbuir travel" — and see what top-performing content looks like across the niche.
Search "Hulunbuir travel" on Xiaohongshu, sort by most liked in the past 6 months, and use MediaClaw's search result scraping feature to collect the top results in bulk for analysis.
This step gives you a bird's-eye view of the niche: which content angles are getting traction, and what hooks drive engagement.
While you're at it, switch the location filter to local and take a separate look at how nearby creators are writing their content. The volume of local posts may be small, but they're valuable for studying tone and style — what language local posts use to describe the same attractions, what angles they shoot from, and what expressions feel authentic and grounded.
Step 2: Find the Exact Search Terms — What Are Potential Customers Searching?
After mapping the landscape, the next question is: what exactly are people across the country typing into Xiaohongshu when they're planning a trip to Hulunbuir?
If you only create content around one broad keyword like "Hulunbuir travel," you'll face heavy competition. What users actually search for is far more specific — "best month to visit Hulunbuir," "Hulunbuir road trip route planning," "Hulunbuir family trip itinerary." These long-tail keywords are the real entry points for potential customers to find you.
Use MediaClaw's keyword expansion feature to start from the seed keyword "Hulunbuir" and automatically extract 190+ real autocomplete suggestions — free and unlimited. You can also use the niche strategy feature to let AI assess the overall opportunity and content direction:
For deeper long-tail analysis, AI automatically categorizes the intent behind each search query:
The results naturally cluster into several content tracks:
- Itinerary & routes: Hulunbuir 5-day 4-night route, Hulunbuir road trip planning
- Budget & pricing: How much does a Hulunbuir trip cost, Hulunbuir car hire pricing
- Season & packing: What to wear in Hulunbuir in July, best month to visit Hulunbuir
- Activities & experiences: Hulunbuir family trip, Hulunbuir grass sledding, Hulunbuir horseback riding
Each track is a content pillar. Publish 20–30 posts covering these long-tail terms, and the cumulative daily search traffic adds up fast. For the full keyword research methodology, see: How to Find High-Intent Search Traffic on Xiaohongshu.
Step 3: Mine Real User Intent — Comment Section Analysis
The first two steps gave you the competitive landscape and traffic entry points. But there's one more dimension: what questions do users actually ask under specific posts?
From the top-performing posts you collected in Step 1, pick 5–10 with both high likes and high comment counts, and export their comments. The comment section is where user intent is most concentrated.
Once collected, sync the data to Lark Base, where comment text, usernames, user locations, and like counts are all clearly organized:
Take it further with AI analysis — automatically categorize user intent (pricing, timing, transportation, operator reviews, practical tips) and generate expandable topic suggestions:
These questions are exactly what your content should answer, and they directly supplement the topic directions from Step 2. Comments like "can you recommend a local guide" or "how do I contact you" are direct customer acquisition signals.
MediaClaw's comment collection feature lets you export all comments in one click. Combined with lead keyword filtering, it automatically flags high-intent messages and generates a separate prospect list. For the full comment analysis methodology, see: How to Collect and Analyze Xiaohongshu Comments.
Step 4: From Reference to Execution — Transcript Extraction & AI Rewriting
After the first three steps, you know which content angles are working, what keywords potential customers search for, what specific questions they care about, and you've built a collection of high-quality reference posts. The next step is turning those references into your own content.
For high-performing video content, sync it to Lark Base after collection, where you can extract the full transcript — turning spoken content into a written script. Once you have the script, use AI to break down its structure: how the opening hooks viewers, how the middle delivers key information, and how the ending drives engagement. Then rewrite it with your own first-hand experience.
As a local tour operator, you have real routes you've walked, real questions from past clients, and real mistakes you've learned from. These are the information advantages that competitor videos don't have — and exactly what you should add when rewriting. This isn't copying; it's using data to find proven content frameworks, then filling them with your authentic experience.
For the detailed transcript extraction and AI rewriting process, see: How to Extract Video Transcripts and Rewrite with AI.
Putting It All Together
The four steps form a complete pipeline:
- Map the landscape: Search your main keyword, collect top-performing posts in bulk, and understand the competitive landscape. Study local posts for authentic, on-the-ground expression styles.
- Find exact search terms: Use keyword expansion to discover long-tail keywords and identify the search entry points your potential customers use.
- Mine real intent: Export comments from viral posts to extract the specific questions users care about.
- Produce content: Extract reference post transcripts and combine them with your real experience for AI-assisted rewriting.
All data from each step can be synced to Lark Base, tagged by content pillar, and updated weekly — forming a continuously rolling content calendar. For the full setup guide, see: How to Build a Xiaohongshu Content Calendar: 5 Steps to a Data-Driven Topic System.
Beyond Tourism: What Other Local Industries Can Use This
This "collect → analyze → plan → execute" methodology isn't limited to tourism.
Pure local services (restaurants, cafes, beauty salons, gyms, tutoring centers): Your customers are within a few kilometers. Focus on local post samples, and use nationwide viral content as reference. Search your category keyword plus your city name, collect a batch of local posts, and let the data show you which topics keep appearing and which formats drive the most engagement.
"Serve locally, attract nationally" businesses (tourism, homestays, specialty products, destination marketing): Same dual-track strategy as the Hulunbuir case — nationwide keywords plus local POI tagging.
Agency teams: Every time you onboard a client in a new city, pull a local content sample first. In 10 minutes you'll have a baseline read on the competitive landscape, and sync the data to your team's shared Lark Base.
Install MediaClaw, search your industry keywords, collect search result data for free, and start making content decisions from data.
FAQ
Should tourism businesses on Xiaohongshu focus on local traffic or nationwide search traffic?
Tourism customers are distributed nationwide. Put most of your effort into content targeting nationwide search keywords (like "Hulunbuir travel guide" or "best month to visit"). Use local content as a supplement — mainly to reference authentic local expressions and scene-setting.
How do I find out what keywords potential tourists are searching?
Use MediaClaw's keyword expansion feature. Start from your destination name to extract 200+ autocomplete suggestions, free and unlimited. Then categorize the keyword list by itinerary, budget, season, activities, etc. — each category becomes a content track.
What's the value of comment section data for content marketing?
The comment section is the most direct source of real user intent. Questions asked under viral posts are exactly the topics you should be writing about — and they help you spot blind spots in your content plan. MediaClaw supports one-click comment export with keyword filtering to automatically flag high-intent messages.
How do I use reference posts effectively after finding them?
Sync video content to Lark Base and extract the transcript. Use AI to break down the content structure, then rewrite it with your own real experience. The key is adding your unique information advantage — real routes, client feedback, lessons learned — rather than simply copying.
