New and aspiring influencers have to ask themselves lots of questions if they hope to find success. One of the most important questions is simply, “What’s my niche?” But is a niche even necessary? After all, plenty of popular influencers create and share a broad range of content. We’ll help you weigh the pros and cons of sticking to an influencer niche or reaching for broader appeal.
Should You Stick to a Niche?
Niche influencers may have plenty of charisma, but their knowledge and skills in a specific field tend to be their main draw. Imagine a food influencer who focuses solely on seafood or a fashion influencer who specializes in 1980s-style women’s clothing. Niches can even be limited to geography. Think of a travel influencer who sticks to touring coastal towns in the U.S.
Because these influencers cater to such specific interests, they may have small audiences. But because they have small audiences, they can interact more with followers and reap higher engagement levels.
Brands love this about niche influencers. Niche influencers have the authenticity and credibility to make recommendations to their followers and drive conversions.
The one major downside to sticking to a niche is that your potential followers and brand partnerships are limited. A seafood influencer won’t attract people who don’t like fish food. And a women’s fashion influencer with a passion for the 1980s won’t attract brands that focus on modern men’s styles. However, a general food influencer might attract those followers, and a general fashion influencer might land that brand partnership.
Tips for Selecting an Influencer Niche
Despite the limitations, honing in on a niche is a smart step for most influencers. Here are some tips on how to find a category that fits you:
Consider your education.
Did you study anything in college or independently research a topic that you’re passionate about? Audiences might find you credible enough to offer insights.
Think about what makes you feel fulfilled.
Your love of basketball could lead you to become a sports apparel influencer. Love to craft furniture? You might enjoy running a woodworking blog or YouTube channel.
Draw inspiration from others.
Look at a list of YouTube channels you subscribe to and social media influencers you follow. Have you started following any niche content or joined any small communities? You might begin to notice interests you didn’t even realize you had.
Look for gaps.
What communities do you wish existed? Perhaps you’d like to see someone write local restaurant reviews. Or maybe you want an influencer to cover a topic from the perspective of a certain gender, race or age.
Use subcategories to get really specific.
If you want to be a gaming influencer, what’s your favorite console or genre? If you’re aiming to be an interior decorating influencer, what’s your favorite style? By narrowing your focus even more, you’ll find an even more engaged audience. However, you’ll also continue to limit your audience’s potential size as well as your brand partnerships.
Should You Keep Your Influencer Niche Broad?
Influencers who refuse to limit themselves to a single category enjoy some advantages over niche influencers. As an influencer with broad appeal, you might have more flexibility when it comes to brand partnerships. All sorts of businesses will turn to you when their objective is to simply increase brand awareness among the general public. These brands recognize that your following may not be as engaged, but it does have the potential to be large and diverse.
One downside to keeping it broad is that audiences might not find your brand endorsements particularly trustworthy or compelling. Just because you make sponsored posts for a footwear brand doesn’t mean your audience will consider you an expert on sports apparel. Your personality and likability may persuade followers to try out a brand though.
The Importance of Star Power
New influencers who are trying to attain broad appeal will find that it’s difficult to build an initial following without a niche. Preexisting fame can be very helpful. If you’re a famous or even semi-famous artist or athlete, you’ll attract a certain number of long-time fans as soon as you make a social media account. You can then use your platform to endorse brands or weigh in on all sorts of issues.
People who manage to take this route are often known as celebrity influencers. Think of actor and comedian Kevin Hart. According to Rolling Stone, one of Hart’s earliest roles was in the 2002 sitcom “Undeclared.” Nowadays, after having appeared in numerous popular movies, Hart uses his star power to partner with a range of brands, including PokerStars and Fabletics.
Hart can use his existing fame and entertaining personality to expand his audience. And brands are willing to work with him because he’s very recognizable. The same can be said for celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Selena Gomez.
Tips for Evolving Beyond a Niche
What if you’re not lucky enough to be a celebrity with an existing audience? There are still other ways to achieve broad appeal as an influencer. Here are some tips that might help.
Expand slowly.
Some people decide to start as niche influencers and then, after gaining some fame, expand outward to other niches. For example, you might spend some time creating content for a travel blog. Once you have a sizable following, you can start to incorporate home improvement or cooking posts into your weekly writing.
If you take this approach, keep in mind that sudden shifts may be jarring for your audience. And if you ditch the original influencer niche entirely, you’ll likely lose some followers. A portion of your audience may stick around no matter how many other niches you decide to explore. These followers are dedicated fans of your personality and style.
Choose multiple niches.
Even the most broad-reaching influencers gravitate toward certain subjects. Make a list of multiple topics that catch your interest. Consider vaguely related niches or niches that are subcategories under the same broad umbrella. Your list might include several entertainment topics like video games, comic books and board games. Or you might choose a series of self-care niches, such as skincare, fitness and meditation.
Here are some other potential groups:
- Gardening, interior decorating and home repair
- Pets, wildlife conservation and environmentalism
- Professional sports, fitness and music
- Parenting, gaming and family-friendly travel
- Business, tech and mental health
- Sustainability tech, eco-travel and gardening
Get creative, and choose categories that might have some audience overlap. Once you have your list, start creating content that fits those topics. Many content creators use this approach to great success. They cover just enough subjects that they’re hard to pin down into a single niche.
Two examples of influencers who do this include bloggers David Evans and Peony Lim. David Evans, who runs the Grey Fox blog, covers a spread of topics that include menswear, cars and travel. Meanwhile, Peony Lim has blog content that touches on food, travel, fashion and beauty.
So, to niche or not to niche? The answer largely depends on your eventual goals as an influencer. If you want flexibility in brand partnerships, you should aim to expand beyond a single influencer niche. However, if you’re not already a celebrity, one of the best ways to make a name for yourself is by creating niche content.
