Gogetop Featured in The Europe Times

Gogetop Marketing has been featured in a new business article published by The Europe Times, examining how RedNote, WeChat and generative AI are changing the way Chinese consumers discover, assess and engage with international brands.

The feature, China’s Internet Is Changing: RedNote, WeChat and the Rise of AI, draws extensively on market observations from Ann Zhu, founder of Gogetop Marketing. It explores a question that increasingly shapes China market-entry strategies: when so much of Chinese digital life takes place within super apps, what roles should social platforms, official websites and AI search each play?

The article reflects a pattern Gogetop has observed through its work with international organisations. China is not returning to a conventional, website-led internet. Instead, its digital environment is becoming more layered. Super apps remain central to communication, services and transactions, while AI is emerging as another route through which consumers seek recommendations, compare options and make decisions.

China’s Super-App Model Is Evolving

The idea that Chinese consumers do not use websites is an oversimplification.

Web browsers remain important for work, education, research and specialist tasks. The difference is that everyday digital activity is far more concentrated than it is in Britain, Europe or North America.

A consumer in a Western market may begin with Google, visit a company website, move to an online shop and then use separate email, booking and customer-service systems. In China, many of those functions sit within a small number of large platforms.

WeChat combines messaging with Official Accounts, Video Accounts, Mini Programs, payments, shopping, bookings and business communication.

Alipay connects payments with transport, retail and public services.

RedNote, known domestically as Xiaohongshu, brings together search, recommendations, reviews and commerce.

Douyin combines short video, livestreaming and shopping.

This is the super-app model: consumers can move from discovery to service and transaction without repeatedly leaving the platforms they already use.

Generative AI has not dismantled that structure. It has added another entry point.

The Europe Times reported that China had 1.125 billion internet users by the end of 2025, with 602 million people using generative AI services. Tools including Doubao, DeepSeek, Qwen, Tencent Yuanbao and Kimi are increasingly used for research, writing, translation, study, travel planning and consumer questions.

Instead of entering several keywords and working through a list of links, users can now ask a complete question and receive an organised explanation, comparison or recommendation.

As the feature observes:

“The AI assistant is becoming a new front door to the internet.”

This does not mean Chinese users are moving back to a traditional PC-based web. A more layered pattern is emerging. Browser-based AI tools are particularly useful for coding, research, document analysis and long-form work, while mobile super apps remain central to communication, shopping, entertainment and everyday services.

For international brands, this distinction is important. A website may not always be the first place a Chinese consumer encounters a company, but it can still provide the clearest and most stable account of who the organisation is, what it offers and whether its claims can be verified.

RedNote Is Reshaping Discovery and Trust

The Europe Times feature gives particular attention to RedNote’s development from a lifestyle community into an influential consumer search platform.

Users turn to RedNote for restaurants, skincare, travel, universities, schools, overseas property and professional services. Unlike a conventional search engine, the platform often presents personal experiences, creator posts, photographs, videos and comments rather than primarily returning corporate websites and media coverage.

That makes RedNote important not only for brand discovery, but also for credibility. Consumers use it to see how a product or service is discussed, experienced and compared in everyday Chinese.

For overseas companies, however, RedNote should not be treated simply as a Chinese version of Instagram.

The platform places strict controls on contact details and attempts to move users elsewhere. Businesses should not assume that telephone numbers, websites, WeChat IDs or QR codes can be freely placed in ordinary posts, comments or private messages. Depending on the sector, an account may also require professional verification, supporting qualifications and approved advertising or lead-generation tools.

In the feature, Ann Zhu explains that RedNote is often one of the first platforms Gogetop discusses with clients, but also one of the most frequently misunderstood.

An overseas company cannot simply reproduce an Instagram campaign, add an external contact route and expect it to work. The appropriate approach depends on the sector, account status, professional requirements and advertising structure.

This is particularly relevant to education, property, employment, financial services and other sectors in which general promotional content may cross into regulated or professional advice.

For Gogetop, effective RedNote marketing is not judged solely by the number of posts, likes or followers. The more important questions are whether the right audience can discover the brand, whether the content establishes trust and whether genuine enquiries can be generated through a compliant route.

WeChat Is Becoming Part of a Brand’s Public Information Structure

The feature also examines WeChat’s changing role.

For international organisations, WeChat can perform functions that might otherwise be spread across a website, newsletter, booking system, customer-service platform and online store. Its ecosystem includes Official Accounts, Video Accounts, Mini Programs, search, payments, commerce and enterprise communication.

AI is expanding the potential value of information published within that ecosystem. Tencent reported that queries through Weixin Search rose by more than 25% year on year in the first quarter of 2026, while the use of Video Accounts also increased. The company is continuing to develop Yuanbao and other AI functions across its services.

Publishing a WeChat article does not guarantee that it will appear in an AI-generated answer. Nor should any brand or agency promise automatic inclusion.

It does, however, underline the importance of maintaining accurate, public and regularly updated Chinese-language information. A business with little credible Chinese content gives consumers, search systems and AI tools very little from which to understand its identity, services or expertise.

As Zhu noted in the article, a WeChat account is no longer only a channel for company updates. For many organisations, it is becoming part of the public information structure through which people understand the company.

Why an Authoritative Website Still Matters

The strength of China’s super apps has led some international businesses to question whether they still need a Chinese-facing website.

Gogetop’s view is that the website’s role is changing rather than disappearing.

A company website remains one of the few digital assets that a business controls directly. It can provide a consistent record of the organisation’s name, history, leadership, services, locations, credentials and contact information.

It also gives journalists, commercial partners, search engines and AI systems a formal reference point outside any one platform.

In the feature, Zhu explains that a website is no longer simply a destination for visitors. It is also a structured source that can help search and AI systems establish who an organisation is, what it does and whether its information can be verified.

This is why Gogetop increasingly advises clients to consider search engine optimisation, generative engine optimisation and AI-search visibility as connected disciplines.

SEO helps a brand become discoverable through conventional search engines.

GEO, or Generative Engine Optimisation, focuses on whether a brand’s information can be clearly understood and potentially referenced by generative search systems.

AI-search visibility considers how accurately a brand is identified and represented across AI-led discovery environments.

GEO is not simply a matter of repeating keywords or publishing large volumes of generic AI-generated content. Authority is more likely to be built through original evidence, named expertise, accurate dates, transparent authorship and consistent corporate information.

The website provides the formal record. Social platforms provide context, consumer language and lived experience. International brands need both.

From Discovery to Verification

The Chinese customer journey is becoming less linear.

A consumer may begin by asking DeepSeek, Doubao or Yuanbao for a recommendation, turn to RedNote for personal experiences, consult a WeChat Official Account for formal information and then make contact through a website, Mini Program or approved enquiry route.

This means that websites, RedNote, WeChat, video platforms and AI search should not be managed as unrelated marketing projects.

A company website should provide verifiable information. RedNote should support discovery and consumer research within the platform’s rules. WeChat should offer formal Chinese-language content and continued communication. Video platforms should be used where demonstrations, livestreaming or commerce support the wider strategy.

The content may differ from one platform to another, but the company’s name, positioning, services, credentials and central claims should remain consistent.

China’s internet is not moving backwards from apps to websites.

AI assistants are organising information, super apps are delivering services and transactions, social platforms are shaping trust, and websites are providing information that can be checked.

For international brands, the question is no longer whether to choose RedNote, WeChat, a website or AI search.

It is whether the brand can be found, understood and verified across all of them.

About Gogetop Marketing

Gogetop Marketing is a London-based cross-border marketing and communications agency supporting international organisations seeking to reach consumers in China and Chinese-speaking audiences worldwide.

Our services include China market-entry strategy, RedNote marketing and Blue V verification support, WeChat and WeChat Channels management, Chinese-language content, KOL and KOC campaigns, international public relations, website development, SEO, GEO, AI-search visibility and cross-border brand communications.

Read the Original Feature

China’s Internet Is Changing: RedNote, WeChat and the Rise of AI

https://theeuropetimes.co.uk/chinas-internet-is-changing-rednote-wechat-and-the-rise-of-ai/

Discover Gogetop’s China Market Services

https://www.gogetop.com/Blog/china-social-rednote-wechat.html

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