Xiaohongshu / Dianping | Project Lead | 02/2025 - 04/2026

From student screenshots to local demand.

A growth case study on building a student-led KOC seeding system for an IELTS and study-abroad education brand, with clear context, constraints, execution logic, and measured results.

Product IELTS and study-abroad education services
Role Project lead owning strategy and execution
Team Coordinated 200+ student KOCs/KOLs
Xiaohongshu exposure overview screenshot
Featured Result Window 0 note exposures in 30 days, up 606% from the previous 30-day baseline.

01 · Case Snapshot

A simple four-part case frame for interview context.

The page is structured around the questions an interviewer will ask first: what product, what role, what constraint, what exact actions, and what changed against baseline.

1

Situation

Local education brand growth across Xiaohongshu and Dianping. I led strategy, creator coordination, content system design, and performance review.

2

Challenge

The category was crowded, budget was limited, and official brand content alone did not create enough trust for high-intent students.

3

Action

I built a KOC matrix, recruited and coordinated student creators, standardised content prompts, and optimised topics weekly with data.

4

Result

In a featured 30-day window, Xiaohongshu exposure reached 29,137 and engagement reached 672, with Dianping exposure up 350%.

02 · Problem

The growth problem was not content volume. It was trust at local search moments.

IELTS and study-abroad users compare options slowly. The brand needed searchable, student-led proof that felt more credible than direct institutional promotion.

Student decision anxiety content examples
IELTS study content screenshot examples
Core insight: peer experience can answer trust questions before a student submits an enquiry.

Challenge: no budget dependency in a red-ocean category.

The market was full of IELTS tips, agency posts, and study diaries. The campaign needed to grow organic visibility without simply publishing more official content.

  • ConstraintLimited paid-media support, so reach had to come from organic notes and community participation.
  • Trust GapStudents were more likely to believe peer stories than direct brand claims.
  • DemandThe content needed to support local discovery and enquiry behaviour, not only vanity views.
0 paid-media dependency
2 local discovery platforms
1 clear trust problem

03 · Strategy & Execution

I built a repeatable KOC system instead of running one-off content posts.

The system defined who should post, what story they should tell, what visual proof to show, and how each post should map back to discovery, engagement, or enquiry signals.

Student plog and IELTS study content examples
IELTS journey content examples
Execution rule: authentic student identity plus visible study proof plus searchable intent.

Strategy: convert student experience into searchable social proof.

I grouped creators and content into clear archetypes, then used practical prompts to make output easier to produce while keeping the posts grounded in real student experience.

  • MatrixStudy routine, IELTS tips, campus experience, decision anxiety, local search intent, and trial experience.
  • CreatorsCoordinated 200+ student KOCs/KOLs and matched them with suitable content angles.
  • PromptsStandardised titles, image structure, keywords, hooks, and experience points for faster production.
  • ReviewTracked exposure, engagement, enquiry tickets, and conversion signals to adjust topic direction.
Step 1

Map content archetypes

Built student-led themes around pain points, local intent, and real learning scenes.

Step 2

Coordinate KOC output

Matched creators with topics they could produce credibly and repeatedly.

Step 3

Optimise by behaviour

Used engagement and enquiry signals to keep high-performing angles and replace weak ones.

04 · Results

The result story is shown with a time window, baseline, and business meaning.

The featured Xiaohongshu result window is Feb-Mar 2025, compared with the previous 30 days. The wider project ran from 02/2025 to 04/2026.

Xiaohongshu exposure result screenshot
Xiaohongshu engagement result screenshot

Xiaohongshu exposure lift

Student-led notes increased the brand's searchable surface area during the featured 30-day window.

Baseline
4,127
Current
29,137
Window Feb-Mar 2025, 30 days
Driver KOC volume and search-oriented student notes
Meaning More local prospects encountered peer proof before enquiry.

Interview Takeaway

I can build low-budget growth systems that turn community participation into measurable demand.

This case demonstrates ownership across market diagnosis, KOC coordination, content production systems, multi-platform execution, and performance optimisation.

  • Clear context: local education product, project lead role, distributed KOC network.
  • Clear constraint: red-ocean category with limited paid-media dependency.
  • Clear result: baseline, time window, and measurable growth numbers.