Odnoklassniki for Brands: How to Promote Your Business on Russian Social Media

After the exit of major international platforms, Russian brands began to rethink their media plans, prioritizing local platforms such as Telegram, VK, and Odnoklassniki. While Telegram became a channel for news and direct distribution, VK and OK evolved into ecosystems for stable organic and paid promotion.

Odnoklassniki, part of the VK ecosystem, is a platform with clear positioning, recognizable formats, and a loyal, mature audience in 2025. Here, strategies that no longer yield results on Instagram or TikTok are still effective. The key factor is that the cost of acquiring and retaining users is still lower than on more competitive platforms.

How can Odnoklassniki be used in a media mix? Which formats deliver results in 2025? And is it worth investing in brand promotion specifically here?

Let's break it down step by step.

Why should a brand enter Odnoklassniki in 2025?

Odnoklassniki in 2025 is a social network with a long history and a stable channel for promoting products and services in the 30+ segment. The reason is simple: the platform has regained its position in media plans due to demographic and infrastructural shifts over the past two years.

Firstly, a mature and active audience sits here. According to Datareportal 2025, 30% of Russia’s population is already over 55 years old, with a median age of 40.3 years. This is an audience with disposable income, specific needs, and high trust in content on familiar platforms. This group forms the core of Odnoklassniki's user base.

Secondly, it’s growth in organic reach and engagement. Users on Odnoklassniki are more likely to engage with content compared to more saturated platforms: they give 'likes', leave comments, share posts in interest-based groups, and even discuss brands in private messages.

Thirdly, it’s full integration into the VK Ads ecosystem. This provides opportunities for precise targeting, programmatic purchases, and A/B testing through a single dashboard. Campaigns targeting audiences aged 35+ show stable metrics in Odnoklassniki for reach, engagement, and cost-per-click.

Finally, it’s minimal competition and low cost per contact. In contrast to the oversaturated VK and Telegram, advertising in Odnoklassniki is an opportunity to establish a presence in a less crowded environment and gain a loyal audience with high interaction time.

Odnoklassniki audience

Around the middle of 2022, companies resumed promoting on Odnoklassniki as the platform's audience began to grow.

In 2025, Odnoklassniki is a platform with a clearly defined adult audience that actively engages with content and is comfortable with ads in their feed. According to Datareportal, 73.4% of Russians use social media, and a significant portion of older age groups remain on Odnoklassniki, especially women 35+, users from regions, and those who prefer a 'cozy' communication format in a familiar environment.

Who are they?

• Women aged 35-65, interested in home goods, beauty, medical and educational services, children's products, and content related to recipes, life hacks, and brand stories.
   
• Men aged 35-60, frequently interested in cars, repairs, technology, hunting, gardening, and tools.
   
• Audiences over 55, focused on consuming information calmly, often engage in topics such as finance, health, real estate, and leisure.
   

A key feature is high engagement. According to the platform itself, users leave tens of millions of 'likes' and comments daily. This means that well-crafted content works not only as a showcase but also as a stimulus for discussion and sharing.

Additionally, over 70% of users access the platform via mobile devices, so it's critical to optimize materials for smartphones: short text, clear messaging, and sharp visuals.

The youth audience on Odnoklassniki is virtually non-existent. The main activity is concentrated among users aged 35+, especially women and families.

Community as a funnel: how to build your approach on Odnoklassniki

For content placement, businesses have three types of communities to choose from:

• Public page/business profile — a universal format with a full set of tools (products, reviews, videos, buttons, ads);
   
• Interest group —it’s more for community-building and discussions;
   
• Event — used occasionally, such as for announcements, exhibitions, or sales.

For brands, the optimal format is the public business page. It allows you to connect a product showcase, add videos, include a button linking to a website or messenger, set up ads, and promote posts. The interface is somewhat similar to a group on VK, but tailored to the specifics of Odnoklassniki’s audience.

From the SMM point of view, the design of the page is of a great importance. This is the first thing a user sees when they visit a community, and it sets expectations. For example, the brand L’Oréal Parishas designed its page on Odnoklassniki as a cohesive visual space.

What sets L’Oréal Paris’ page apart is its well-thought-out SMM structure: it’s visually crafted as an interactive landing page within the social network, where users can immediately follow the path: interested → engaged → purchased. At the top, there’s a banner and community icon in a unified brand style, creating recognition and fostering trust.

Below are the blocks that function as a funnel:

• Interactive elements (quizzes, newsletters, product selection) engage users in action. This increases the time spent interacting with the community and helps better segment interests.
• Next comes the product showcase with up-to-date prices, resembling an e-commerce catalog. Everything is designed natively: photos, price, name, without intrusive calls to action. The user is given the opportunity for a "soft purchase" without leaving the social network.

• The feed is structured neatly: visuals don’t clash with each other, there are no sudden color or tone shifts, and the content follows a seasonal and thematic logic (spring, skincare, SPF, vitamin C, etc.).

This structure works great for organic reach: a person enters for the content, but stays because it’s interesting, convenient, and engaging. It’s not just a beautifully designed community; it’s a real content-to-product funnel. Each block is in its place: one draws attention, another helps choose, and the third pushes towards action.

What works in promotion: cases and approaches

The design of the community sets trust, but it’s the content that keeps the user. How the brand communicates with the audience — whether formally or informally, in advertising language or in a more personal tone — determines whether the interaction will succeed.

Promotion on Odnoklassniki requires adaptation. Simply copying Instagram's style or templates from VK won’t yield results here. The audience is mature and pragmatic, meaning they seek either usefulness or inspiration presented in an understandable way. Strategies built on respect for the consumer work best: no pomp, no overload, with a focus on real interests.

In practice, this might look like a video demonstrating a product or a short clip explaining the conditions from a first-person perspective. This approach is perceived as useful, clear, and relatable, especially for the 40+ audience.

Contests and giveaways also work well, especially if they’re integrated into the content flow and don’t feel like an external promotion. A good example is the contest by L’Oréal Paris for the launch of their Panorama mascara. It gathered almost 2,000 comments — a rare level of engagement in similar commercial communities.

Note how the giveaway is designed. The post begins with an emotional lead: "You might say: Panorama mascara delivers unprecedented volume..."  and it immediately feels like more than just an ad. Then comes the pleasant news: "In March, you have a chance to get it as a gift." The conditions are simple and clear: follow, like, repost, and comment on what effect you expect from the mascara and why. This approach turns the giveaway into a conversation, inviting people to share about themselves, not just press a button.

The success of a content strategy also depends on the audience the brand is targeting.

L'Oréal Paris demonstrates how to adapt visually rich lifestyle content for a 35+ female audience on Odnoklassniki. The visuals are bright but not detached. Instead of glossy ideals and slogans, the brand works with relatable images: spring, renewal, self-care, and confidence. Emotional headlines ("Create your reason to shine," "3 myths about vitamin C") are paired with short explanatory texts, which include both the product’s effects and simple usage instructions.

Instead of direct calls to action, advice, mood, and a gentle invitation to follow the link. The content is delivered in manageable, unobtrusive portions, but consistently: from videos to cards with QR codes. The audience responds passively but engages. They view, read, click, and save.

The Drom community is a good example of how to engage a male audience on Odnoklassniki through informational content. There’s no gloss or emotion. Only facts, discussions, cars, humor — everything that interests an adult man. Posts are presented as short reviews: ‘Should you buy the Subaru Levorg in 2025’, ‘Crown is 70 years old’, ‘New Honda: interior, specs, comparison’, ‘Would you buy..’

This is a stable audience that reads, remembers, and returns when needed, especially when it comes to choosing equipment, reviews, models, and personal purchases. The style is calm, ‘from the heart’, without advertising clichés. Concise headlines, rich photos, facts, entertaining videos, and personal observations work well.

It's worth noting that both the female and male audiences on Odnoklassniki prefer content with a clear tone, practical meaning, and humor. For women, this is conveyed through emotion and beauty; for men, it’s delivered via facts and logic. But in both cases, it’s about native, regular content that resonates with their real interests.

Promotion on Odnoklassniki requires a unique approach as the standard "value-sales" templates no longer work here. The audience responds better to authentic, native formats: stories about how to use a product or service, tips based on real experience, answers to frequently asked questions, and demonstrations.

One effective method is to alternate between different types of content: informational posts that highlight the brand's value; situational posts tied to holidays, news, or the season; and personal posts from employees, customer stories, or behind-the-scenes footage from within the company. This mix helps maintain attention and build trust. And when promoting a product, it's more effective to weave the message into the story through advice, a narrative, or an example rather than presenting it directly.

Another important issue that can be used in Odnoklassniki is posts with a call to action. In this network, "put a thumbs up", "make a repost", "leave a comment" under the post or "subscribe to the community" can be considered as key actions. The first of the mentioned above works on the principle of similarity. That is, if a user leaves a reaction, he will most likely see other brand publications in the feed. However, a huge amount of appealing content tends to scare users away. Therefore, this format should be included in the plan not as often as the main content.

It’s important to note that reactions boost algorithmic reach. When a user clicks 'like' on a post, the platform will show them similar content from the same community or related topics. This helps expand reach without additional costs.

However, a huge amount of promotional content tends to scare users away. Constant CTAs like ‘leave a comment’, ‘share’, or ‘hit like’ can come across as intrusive. In 2025, embedded calls to action, integrated into the message, recommendation, or story, are more effective.

Which ad formats deliver results

Paid promotion on Odnoklassniki in 2025 is based on two main mechanics:

• Seed Placement — placing native posts in already active communities with overlapping target audiences.
• Targeting through VK Ads — launching ad campaigns with precise settings for age, geography, interests, and device type.

Seed placement helps quickly reach an audience that is already engaged with the topic, especially when selecting ‘live’ platforms with active subscribers. Targeting through VK Ads offers full control over reach, meaning you can precisely choose who and where to show ads and easily scale campaigns through a unified system.

Paid social on Odnoklassniki is launched through the unified VK Ads dashboard. It supports various formats: banners, videos, carousels, short texts, and in-app placements. Campaigns can be adapted for both desktop and mobile devices, with creatives tailored for specific screens.

In 2025, the universal format works particularly well. These ads automatically adjust to the platform and user behavior: the same creative can be shown on Odnoklassniki, VK, and partner sites. This significantly simplifies launches, speeds up tests, and helps quickly identify working combinations.

If the brand wants to target only the Odnoklassniki audience, the settings allow you to choose this platform as the exclusive placement channel. This is useful when a campaign is aimed at users 40+, focuses on regions, or when testing how Odnoklassniki performs without linking it to VK.

We gave a detailed description of the launch of paid promotion through the VK Ads here.

How to use programmatic advertising for promotion on Odnoklassniki

In 2025, programmatic advertising accounts for 84.8% of digital budgets in Russia. This segment grew by 12.1% over the year. More and more brands are switching to automated buying based on interests, behavior, and look-alike models.

Advertising on Odnoklassniki also easily fits into this system, through the VK Ads dashboard or external DSPs if the campaign is run by an agency or Trading Desk. This is especially convenient for retargeting, consumer category segmentation, and targeting the 35+ audience without the need to manually configure each campaign.

The main advantages are flexibility and scalability. The brand can manage reach, frequency, and bids in real-time, adjusting the campaign to meet current objectives.

For more details on programmatic advertising and platforms for automated purchases, click the link.

Collaboration with influencers in Odnoklassniki

In 2025, the influencer marketing market in Russia reached $190 million, growing nearly 12% compared to the previous year. A significant part of this growth was driven by the social network Odnoklassniki, which is attracting an increasing number of adult users over 35. The platform actively supports content creators, launched monetization programs, and constantly expands content formats.

The platform is also actively developing author communities: in 2024, their number grew by 18% compared to the previous year, surpassing 100,000 groups. Influencers are monetizing their accounts, publishing native integrations, participating in partner special projects, and regularly using video and storytelling. All of this creates a stable environment for collaboration with brands targeting specific age segments.

The most popular topics among Odnoklassniki users include cooking, traveling in Russia, fashion, personal care, daily tips, and life hacks. Examples of rapidly growing public pages include:

Cooking Video Recipes by Natalia Kalnina https://ok.ru/kalnina 692К

Community/Blog	Subscribers	Content Style	Relevant Brands
Vandrouki | Almost Free Travel	1.2 M	Collections of cheap flight tickets, tours, life hacks	OTAs, ticket aggregators, banks, travel bots
Hot Tours & Travel Companions	346 K	Group trips, promotions, date-based offers	Tour operators, companion services, travel platforms
Around the World in Two Salaries | Waking Travel	305 K	Destination comparisons, discussions, tips	Hotel booking, car rentals, travel finance
Wild Tourists | Finding Travel Buddies	103 K	Live community: discussions, recommendations, newbie help	Expedition brands, gear, travel platforms
Last-Minute Deal Scanner | Shturval	83 K	Automated posts of hot deals with direct links	Online booking services, dynamic ads

Vkus Zhukovy — A family blog about life, food, and travel

Zhenya and Nastya Zhukovy share their everyday life without gloss or pretense. They write in the first person, simply and in a friendly manner. The main topics include homemade food, healthy living, travel within Russia and abroad, product reviews, and useful tips.

Each post is a small story with photos, personal experiences, travel routes, or recipes. Popular sections include ‘Hobbies’ and ‘Master Classes’. The photos are always natural, family-oriented, and unposed, which creates a sense of authenticity and trust.

At the end of posts, the authors often ask the readers a question, which sparks discussions in the comments. The audience is particularly active on topics related to food, health, home life, and family vacations.

Advertising integrations are seamlessly embedded. Products and services, such as Trip.com, eSIM, or insurance companies, are mentioned in the context of real experiences without separate labeling.

Luchy-Nika family and pets

It’s a cozy lifestyle blog about life with cats and dogs, who are considered true family members. The focus is on short videos, photo stories, and warm sketches. The tone is soft, trusting, and lightly humorous.

Videos consistently gather from 8,000 to 25,000 views. The comments feature lively discussions, especially on topics like pets' behavior, character, and habits. The audience is primarily female, aged 35+, and views the content as a heartwarming break and a cozy space where everything feels authentic.

Advertising integrations are subtly embedded through personal stories. For example, a post about the SIRIUS pet food starts with a story about Mira, ‘my personal psychologist’, and smoothly transitions to the importance of health care through proper nutrition. The product’s benefits are naturally woven into the context, without promo codes or discounts — just genuine experience, value, and an honest tone.

Nastya and Tips. Making Your Life Easier

Nastya writes about everyday little things as if she’s sharing with a friend in a messenger. Topics include savings, home organization, shopping, and daily psychology. Everything is presented in the first person, with humor and personal stories.

The format is short: observation, conclusion, advice. Recommendations come solely from personal experience, ranging from smart purchases to convenient credit cards. The language is lively, easy, and quick to read.

The audience consists of women aged 30 to 55 who value practicality and want to spend less without compromising their quality of life. Posts generate dozens of comments. Readers share their own stories and thoughts. Nastya’s style builds trust and a sense of friendship.

Advertising integrations are framed as personal stories. For example, a post about the Black card from T-Bank discusses how Nastya used to ‘drive herself crazy’ over spending, but now saves with cashback. The text includes real numbers, a referral link, and the bank’s promotion, but it’s presented not as an advertisement but as an honest review.

Beautyholick’s Makeup Bag - beauty and cosmetics

A beauty blog aimed at a mature female audience, where the influencer talks about skincare in a simple yet knowledgeable way. The focus is on anti-aging products, new cosmetics, at-home rituals, and step-by-step advice. The tone is ‘I try and share’, without pressure or intrusiveness.

The format consists of detailed reviews with photos and videos, ingredient breakdowns, ‘before/after’ comparisons, and explanations on how and why to use each product. Everything is presented in a friendly, straightforward manner.

The audience actively engages, sharing experiences, expressing gratitude, and discussing ingredients.

Advertising integrations are presented as expert reviews. In a post about GRACE FACE eye patches, the influencer explains the product’s effects, ingredients, usage instructions, and includes a purchase link. No promo codes, just value and a clear guide on how to apply the product. The comments are lively, discussing the effects and asking questions.

Igor Chernyakov. self-taught sushi chef

An author’s food blog focused on homemade Japanese cuisine, street food, and culinary experiments. At the core is Igor, who learns, tries, compares, and shows how to cook simply and deliciously. The format consists of short videos with vibrant visuals, dynamic editing, and charisma.

The videos feature rolls, steaks, noodles, burgers, unagi, and plenty of kitchen gadgets: knives, grills, sauces — all in action, without unnecessary words. The presentation style is confident, humorous, and self-ironic.

Videos gather from 10,000 to 25,000 views, with meat dishes and rolls being particularly popular. The comments section is full of lively discussions, advice, and questions: "What if I skip the rice vinegar?", "What can I replace on the grill?"

Advertising integrations are seamlessly incorporated into the format. For example, in a video with a Tefal electric grill, Igor grills two burgers and asks, “Which one is tastier — with cheese or with bacon?” In the description, there’s a link to the grill, a promo code, and legal labeling. Everything feels natural and to the point, without being intrusive.

The audience consists of men and women aged 30+, passionate about cooking and technology. The comments section is lively, with jokes, life hacks, and personal opinions. Everything is straightforward, like in the kitchen of a good friend.

In 2024, Odnoklassniki launched the Master Classes section — a new format within the Hobbies service, where authors publish step-by-step guides, recipes, video tutorials, and educational content. This format expanded the opportunities for influencers and niche experts, allowing them to create regular, valuable content on specific topics, from DIY to travel and healthcare.

An example is the About Altai and Travel page by photo blogger Alena Shcherbakova. Posts by this micro-influencer in the Hobbies section receive active engagement. One of them, the 9 Waterfalls of Altai, is designed as a vertical visual with a clear headline and a personal touch. Inside, there are tips, links, comments, and engagement through an easy-to-follow mechanism: save, visit, subscribe.

Content in this format feels like real experience turned into a useful guide, not an advertising text. For brands, this offers an opportunity to integrate products and services into the native consumption flow, especially in segments where trust is crucial: tourism, cosmetics, healthcare, and hobby or leisure products.

Let’s summarize

In 2025, Odnoklassniki is a platform with a clear and engaged audience, ready to listen and respond. Most of its users are mature individuals who care more about real solutions than hype and trends: where to get medical treatment, how to choose insurance, what to study, or where to travel. Increasingly, they find answers through influencers they trust.

Odnoklassniki works especially well with content that is close to life, local, useful, and presented in the first person. People want to see a real person behind the scenes, not an impersonal brand. That’s why culinary bloggers, travel authors, and family accounts feel confident on the platform — they become not just sources of recommendations, but helpers with everyday matters.

Brands that choose this approach with influencers gain not only reach but also trust, soft, non-intrusive engagement with the product. The ‘reaction — show similar’ algorithm makes promotion especially precise, and the integration with VK Ads allows campaigns to scale and extend beyond just one platform.

In short:

• Odnoklassniki is an effective platform for 35+
• Influencers on Odnoklassniki are a channel for trusted contact with customers
• What works: native content, reviews, videos, local faces
• VK Ads offers scaling and segmentation opportunities
• Invest in Odnoklassniki if your target audience is mature, in B2C segments like healthcare, education, DIY, and e-commerce
   

Want to leverage Odnoklassniki’s potential in your media strategy? RMAA helps brands promote themselves in Russian social media, considering the audience, formats, and analytics. If you're targeting 35+ segments and seeking a channel with high engagement and clear scaling logic, we know how to launch a campaign on Odnoklassniki effectively.

Leave a request on our website, and we will offer the optimal scenario for your brand, goals, and budget. We work with full analytics, hypothesis testing, and transparent reporting.

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