My maternal and baby Xiaohongshu account, ywttia, has only about 2,000 followers.
Yet brand enquiries have barely stopped since I had my child, and the fee for a single collaboration has been roughly equivalent to one renminbi per follower. That is unremarkable for a large account, but surprising for one with two thousand followers.
More interestingly, I know exactly what is wrong with the account: for a long time, most of its posts have been advertisements. It does not give new readers enough reason to follow, and its growth has not been strong.
Why can an account that is not growing quickly still have commercial value?
Follower count tells us how many people are there, not why they are there
Brands naturally look at follower count. It is simple, visible and easy to compare. But it describes only the size of the audience. It does not tell us who is sitting there, which stage of life they are in, or whether a product can enter their current needs naturally.
Maternal and baby content has a distinctive rhythm. Needs keep changing through pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, birth and every new stage of a child’s development. Many purchases are not distant interests. They are decisions that need to be made now. When the life stage is real and the setting is clear, even a small account can gather a group of people with very specific needs.
For a brand, ten thousand casual viewers are not always more valuable than two thousand people in the relevant moment.
That is why “low follower count” and “low commercial value” are not the same. Followers measure scale. Commercial value also depends on audience fit, the density of need, trust and whether the content can place a product in a credible situation.
The scarce thing is not the maternal label, but a real life that can hold a product
The account did not switch into maternal content from nothing. It already had a language of interiors, aesthetics and everyday life. Later, it began documenting pregnancy preparation, pregnancy, birth and parenting.
That transition gave each collaboration a more specific container.
On a white background, an object is only product information. At a table at home, on a route taken with a child or inside the real order of a day, a viewer can understand why it is needed, how it is used and whether it has anything to do with their own life.
When I shared what I had learned, I loosely divided content into three levels: an object with no setting, an object in a setting, and an object in a carefully composed setting. “Carefully composed” does not simply mean expensive. Composition, light, environment and a person’s state together create a credible sense of life.
The market does not lack accounts labelled “maternal recommendations.” What affects price is whether an account has a recognizable point of view and can give a product the right context of use. The more interchangeable the supply, the easier it is for prices to fall. The clearer the difference, the easier it is for value beyond follower count to be seen.
Being able to sell advertising does not mean the account is healthy
The account also gives me an honest counterexample.
Ongoing collaborations show that it has transaction value for brands. Slow follower growth shows that it has not provided ordinary readers with a stable enough content value. Both can be true.
If nearly every update is reserved for advertising, existing followers may remain because they relate to the real identity and life stage behind the account. New readers, however, have little reason to join. Short-term commercial success can even hide the fact that the long-term content asset is not growing.
I therefore would not turn this case into a formula promising high rates for every two-thousand-follower account. Category supply, content quality, audience stage, brand budget and results all change the outcome. The one-to-one rate describes this account during a period of time. It is not a universal price list.
What it taught me is not to use one number as the whole story.
Follower count is not false. It is simply incomplete. What an account is worth, and how far it can go, depend on the relationship it has built with a particular group of people—and whether it keeps giving that relationship reasons to continue beyond the next advertisement.