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Pioneer of the 'sense of participation' marketing philosophy, who redefined brand building in the internet era through fan communities
Li Wanqiang (born 1982) is a co-founder of Xiaomi Technology, former Vice President responsible for brand marketing and MIUI products. He is the core proposer and practitioner of Xiaomi's 'sense of participation' marketing methodology: through MIUI developer edition weekly updates, forum interactions, and fan events, transforming Xiaomi users from consumers into co-creators of the brand. In 2014, he published 'The Sense of Participation: Xiaomi's Internal Word-of-mouth Marketing Manual,' systematically articulating this methodology and becoming a landmark work of Chinese internet marketing. His practice at Xiaomi proved the viability of a 'no advertising' brand building path in the mobile internet era.
When users participate in the product creation process, their relationship with the brand upgrades from a purchase relationship to a co-creation relationship. This sense of participation creates brand loyalty and word-of-mouth propagation power that traditional advertising cannot buy.
Source: 黎万强，《参与感：小米口碑营销内部手册》，中信出版社，2014年
In the internet era, good products spread themselves. Rather than spending on advertising, invest the advertising budget in making better products. Product word-of-mouth is the most enduring and credible marketing channel.
Source: 黎万强，《参与感：小米口碑营销内部手册》，中信出版社，2014年
An active fan community is not just a marketing channel but also a feedback source for product improvement, an amplifier of brand value, and the most credible recommendation source for new users. Building a community has more long-term value than running advertisements.
Source: 黎万强，《参与感：小米口碑营销内部手册》，中信出版社，2014年
Traditional brand building is one-way communication: brand → media → consumers. Internet thinking brand building is multi-directional interaction: brand ↔ community ↔ users. This reconstruction not only changes the communication method but also changes the power relationship between brand and users.
Source: 黎万强，《参与感：小米口碑营销内部手册》，中信出版社，2014年
User participation → product improvement → better word-of-mouth → more user participation, forming a self-reinforcing growth flywheel
MIUI updated every Friday; users submitted bugs and feature suggestions in the forum, saw their feedback adopted in the next week's update, reinforcing the sense of participation, prompting them to participate and spread more actively, forming a flywheel effect.
Before product launch, carefully cultivate a small number of high-quality seed users, making them the brand's first 'missionaries'
Before releasing MIUI in 2010, Xiaomi first searched major forums for 100 most active phone enthusiasts, making them the first MIUI users. These 100 people became Xiaomi's earliest word-of-mouth spreaders, helping MIUI rapidly spread in enthusiast communities.
Fast iteration rhythm on a weekly basis, maintaining users' continuous sense of participation and freshness while quickly responding to user feedback
MIUI consistently released a new version every Friday, with each update having a clear changelog noting which features came from user suggestions. This rhythm kept users highly active for years and allowed MIUI's reputation to continuously ferment in enthusiast communities.
Convert advertising budget into product investment and community operations, replacing paid media with word-of-mouth, replacing exposure with sense of participation
During Xiaomi's rapid growth period of 2011-2013, it almost did no traditional advertising, concentrating resources on product R&D, MIUI community operations, and Mi Fan events. This strategy enabled Xiaomi to achieve growth from zero to billions in annual sales with extremely low marketing costs.
Early Xiaomi did almost no traditional advertising yet became one of China's most well-known consumer electronics brands. The answer to this paradox: sense of participation creates stronger brand awareness than advertising — when users participate in creating the product, they actively spread it, which is more credible than any advertisement.
Sense of participation marketing is highly effective at small scale, but as user scale expands (from millions to hundreds of millions), genuine community interaction becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. Li Wanqiang himself acknowledged that Xiaomi faced the challenge of maintaining authenticity of participation after scaling.
Building fan community starting from 100 seed users
Joined Xiaomi in 2010, responsible for MIUI products and brand. Recruited 100 phone enthusiasts from major forums as seed users, established the MIUI developer community, set the Friday update rhythm, forming the basic model of Xiaomi's participation marketing.
Systematizing participation methodology, driving Xiaomi brand national explosion
Responsible for comprehensive Xiaomi brand building, including the 'Born for Geeks' brand slogan, Mi Fan culture, and offline events. Led the 'Mi Home' experience store concept in 2013. Xiaomi annual sales grew from 7.19 million units in 2012 to 18.7 million units in 2013.
Publishing 'The Sense of Participation,' systematizing methodology; sabbatical exploring art
Published 'The Sense of Participation: Xiaomi's Internal Word-of-mouth Marketing Manual' in 2014, systematizing Xiaomi's marketing experience into a replicable methodology. Began sabbatical the same year, exploring photography and art creation, publishing photography collection 'My Heart's Joy' in 2016.
Returning to Xiaomi, exploring new retail and brand upgrade
Returned to Xiaomi in 2016, responsible for brand upgrade and new retail exploration. Drove the construction of Mi Home offline retail system, exploring how to maintain the effect of participation marketing at larger scale.
Context: Li Wanqiang was born in Hunan Province, later studied at Xi'an Jiaotong University, majoring in industrial design, laying a design thinking foundation for his later product and brand work.
Decision: N/A (birth event)
Reasoning: Industrial design background cultivated sensitivity to user experience
Outcome: Design thinking became an important component of his brand marketing methodology
Lesson: Design background has unique value for brand building
Context: Li Wanqiang became one of Xiaomi's co-founders, responsible for MIUI (Xiaomi's customized Android system) product and brand building, beginning his most important professional practice.
Decision: Join Lei Jun's startup team, responsible for brand and products
Reasoning: Moved by Lei Jun's internet thinking vision, believed that making phones the internet way was an important opportunity
Outcome: Became the core architect of Xiaomi's brand building and main practitioner of participation marketing methodology
Lesson: Choosing the right track and right team is the most important career development decision
Context: In August 2010, MIUI released its first version. Li Wanqiang led the seed user strategy: searching major forums for 100 most active phone enthusiasts, making them MIUI's first users and spreaders.
Decision: Use precise seed users to replace broad advertising
Reasoning: Enthusiast word-of-mouth is more credible in the target user group than advertising; 100 genuine fans are better than 10,000 passive exposures
Outcome: 100 seed users quickly grew into tens of thousands of active MIUI community members, with significant word-of-mouth effect
Lesson: Precise seed users can start the word-of-mouth flywheel better than large-scale advertising
Context: Li Wanqiang established the MIUI 'every Friday update' rhythm, with each update having detailed changelogs noting features from user suggestions, forming a continuous participation loop.
Decision: Replace traditional major version updates with weekly fast iteration rhythm
Reasoning: High-frequency updates maintain users' continuous attention and participation, also quickly responding to user feedback, forming a virtuous cycle
Outcome: MIUI community engagement continuously increased, user sense of participation became Xiaomi's most important brand asset
Lesson: Rhythm is the core of community operations; high-frequency interaction creates participation habits
Context: Li Wanqiang led the establishment of the 'Mi Fan' culture system, including exclusive titles, community activities, and offline Mi Fan festivals, transforming users from consumers into brand community members with identity.
Decision: Create exclusive identity for users, build brand community culture
Reasoning: Identity is the core of community stickiness; the 'Mi Fan' title makes users feel they are members of a special group
Outcome: Mi Fan culture became an important symbol of the Xiaomi brand; Mi Fan Festival became an annual marketing event
Lesson: Give users an identity, and they will fight for it
Context: Li Wanqiang systematically organized Xiaomi's four years of marketing practice into 'The Sense of Participation,' articulating the 'Participation Sense Three-Three Rule' (three strategies: create hit products, build fans, become self-media; three tactics: open participation nodes, design interaction methods, spread word-of-mouth events), becoming a landmark work of Chinese internet marketing.
Decision: Systematize practical experience into a transmissible methodology
Reasoning: Xiaomi's success has a replicable methodology; sharing it can help more companies and also strengthen Xiaomi's brand influence
Outcome: 'The Sense of Participation' became one of the most important works in Chinese internet marketing, influencing the marketing strategies of numerous Chinese internet startups
Lesson: Systematizing practice into theory is the key step in upgrading from practitioner to thought leader
Context: During Xiaomi's rapid development period, Li Wanqiang announced a sabbatical, investing time in photography creation, exploring life experiences different from commerce. This decision was quite rare at the time.
Decision: Choose to temporarily step back at career peak, seeking inner balance
Reasoning: Under the pressure of rapid commercial growth, needed to find self through creation, exploring more possibilities of life
Outcome: Published photography collection 'My Heart's Joy' in 2016, explored personal expression beyond commerce, also bringing new perspectives to brand work after returning
Lesson: Entrepreneurs need to periodically step away from high-speed operation to maintain long-term creativity
Context: Li Wanqiang ended his sabbatical and returned to Xiaomi, facing the challenge of: how to maintain the effect of participation marketing after Xiaomi's scaling (tens of millions of units annually), and how to drive Xiaomi's new retail transformation from online to offline.
Decision: Return and tackle the scaling challenge of participation marketing
Reasoning: Participation marketing needs upgrading at new scale and channels; he was the person most familiar with this methodology
Outcome: Drove Mi Home offline retail system construction, exploring applications of participation marketing in offline scenarios
Lesson: Methodology needs to continuously evolve with changes in scale and environment
Written by Li Wanqiang himself, systematically articulating Xiaomi's 'sense of participation' marketing methodology, including the three-three rule, seed user strategy, community operations, and other core methods — the primary source for understanding his thinking and one of the most important works in Chinese internet marketing.
Li Wanqiang's photography collection and personal reflections during his sabbatical, recording his process of finding inner balance under commercial pressure, also reflecting his thinking on 'sense of participation' at a personal life level.
Chen Run's research on Xiaomi's development history, with detailed accounts of Li Wanqiang's MIUI community building and participation marketing — an important external perspective work for studying Xiaomi's brand building.
Lei Jun's internet thinking and extreme product philosophy were important intellectual sources for Li Wanqiang's participation marketing methodology
Li Wanqiang's participation marketing and Zhang Xiaolong's WeChat user design philosophy have deep resonance on the core concept of 'user-centered'
Lei Jun and Li Wanqiang jointly built Xiaomi's brand and marketing system; Lei Jun responsible for products and strategy, Li Wanqiang responsible for brand and community
黎万强的《参与感》是中国互联网营销史上最重要的著作之一，它第一次系统地将用户参与理论化，给了中国创业公司一套可操作的品牌建设路径。
