Experienced marketers know that when it comes to finding an influencer to promote your brand, bigger isn’t always better in terms of follower count. Instead, the focus should be on working with content creators whose audience closely aligns with your target market. That’s where niche influencers can shine.
What are niche influencers?
Unlike broader categories like fashion, beauty, or food, niches are specialized segments within the larger umbrella classification. Influencers in these narrowly focused areas tend to have small but loyal followers—typically in the thousands—with relatively little competition, regardless of their platform.
Benefits of working with niche influencers
Niche influencers are often incredibly invested in producing high-quality content to maintain the authentic voice that helped them grow their audience in the first place. In addition, marketers may find niche influencers have:
- Greater engagement in campaigns
- Increased conversions
- More affordable rates
If you’re ready to better understand the niche meaning, see the impact of influencer niche ideas, and view examples of real content niches, check out these examples based on some of the fastest-growing Instagram niches.
Most niches are a subcategory of a bigger, more well-known category.
Most popular influencer niches
1. Beauty
This broad category includes everything from skincare and makeup to haircare and fragrance. But even within those subcategories, you’ll find mega and celeb influencers, many of whom have their own line of makeup or namesake perfumes.
Because beauty is such a huge and vast industry, many influencers have narrowed down their content to focus on the specific criteria that interest them, building a following of like-minded consumers. Think DIY acne treatments, affordable colognes for men, skincare for women over 60, and cruelty-free nail polishes and nail art, the latter of which Alexis Bernard showcases for her 1,838 followers on Instagram.
2. Decor
Interior decorating, DIY home crafts, upcycling, cheap finds, and holiday decor all fit under this umbrella category, but there are plenty of niche influencers who have paved their own path to success in this industry.
You’ll see content highlighting thrift-store finds, trips to antique shops, and how-to videos for those with an eye for detail and a talent for creating. Instagram influencer Denise Rodriguez, for example, has amassed 12.9K followers with her colorful and unique 1950s pieces, including this display on her “Valentine Shelfie.”
3. Health & Fitness
Workout routines, nutritious meal planning, fitness gear, and sports training all fall under this popular realm, although the categories to hone in on true niche areas are endless. Consider fitness tips by age group or health advice for those facing a medical condition like diabetes.
Martinez Sellers has created a platform primarily focused on “mental health hygiene”—primarily for people of color. A nano influencer on Instagram, “Mental Health Marty” is a great example of a niche content creator.
4. Parenting
If families use it, a product can probably find a niche among parenting influencers. Whether your brand reps snacks, children’s clothes, toys, technology, or cleaning supplies, the list of family-centered accounts on social media is virtually infinite.
But if you really want to hit your target market, consider niche parenting influencers like those that focus on single-parenting, parenting a child with a food allergy, or even parents of multiples. The Mozie Triplets, for example, cater to a niche crowd on Instagram.
5. Pets
Most people love their pets enough to view content related to their grooming, feeding, and health and wellness. There are veterinary experts, ranchers, dog trainers, groomers, and even animal nutritionists and acupuncturists creating informative and entertaining content on every platform.
For brands looking to connect with niche Instagram influencers within the pets category, start with a quick hashtag search. A quick check for #Gecko, for example, turns up the ChromatoMorphs account, a page dedicated almost exclusively to small lizards.
Niche influencers might focus on more obscure pets or highlight “pet news” like a growing number of pet surrenders or overbreeding issues.
6. Travel
The niche influencer meaning is only limited to the scope of your imagination. Take the travel category, for example. Beyond sharing photos of their travels or great airfare deals, niche travel influencers might have built their engaged following on traveling with pets, van life, cheap vegan eats when traveling abroad, or even RV maintenance.
Sylvia Longmire writes about accessible travel, including her own experiences as someone who uses an electric wheelchair. She provides valuable content for her 9,730 followers on Instagram about everything from delicious foods and concerts to helicopter tours and sporting events.
7. Fashion
You don’t need to be a marketing guru to know that fashion is one of the broadest and most promoted categories among influencers. Beyond just clothing and accessories like footwear, jewelry, purses, and eyewear, there are subcategories like streetwear, vintage, antique, formalwear, menswear, and baby clothes—among countless others.
Content creators who focus on fashion—regardless of their niche—often use similar techniques to showcase pieces and looks. You’ll likely see try-on hauls, reviews, styling tips, unboxing videos, outfit of the day (OOTD) get-ready-with-me (GRWM) videos, designer looks with budget-friendly substitutes, and giveaways.
Niche fashion influencers can often be found using hashtags for particular trends, such as #SlowFashion, #UpcycledApparel, #CrochetedFashion, #VintageNikes, or other unique qualifiers.
Need an example? Check out some hashtags used by niche influencer Shruti Jain, a vegan fashion content creator who promotes sustainable apparel.
8. Food
There’s a lot of crossover with this category, as food-related content could cover anything from restaurant reviews and recipes to energy drinks and growing your own vegetables. With so many food-related topics, it makes sense that there are common techniques to create and share brand-focused content.
You might see a variety of cooking tutorials using a particular appliance—such a crockpot, pressure cooker, or dehydrator. Or healthy alternative recipes for people with dietary restrictions. Or cocktail ideas using a certain brand of alcohol or dining reviews of establishments at destination resorts or theme parks.
How unique can a niche food influencer be? Check out Haya Hasan Ansari’s content on Instagram, where the recipe developer, cookbook author, and mom has taken meal planning and cooking for a family to a new level. Get a glimpse of her simple and delicious stage-by-stage meal ideas for babies and toddlers, like this post with a recipe for babies as young as 7 months.
With some knowledge of niche influencer marketing and examples in some of the major categories, brands can get a feel for how their products or services might be best represented by lesser-known but trusted influencers.
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