Creating content isn’t just a way to promote your business anymore it can actually be your business. There are YouTube millionaires, TikTok superstars and Instagram influencers living the high life, all because they found a niche and rocked it. Your niche is out there waiting for you too; you just need to go get it. But how?
Finding a niche as a content creator can feel overwhelming. With so many options out there and such varied interests to choose from, which niche is right for you? We’ve consulted with four experts to bring you tips and insights that can help you find your true niche as a content creator for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and beyond.
Why You Need a Niche to Grow Your Business
Becky Beach of Mom Beach LLC is a blogger and Instagram Influencer who has broken into that highly coveted young-mom audience by niching down on dieting. She has more than 20,000 followers on social media and 60,000 page views per month on her Mom Beach blog. She’s been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, Huffington Post and Parents, and she says it all started exploding when she decided to focus on one niche.
She started by writing and posting about finance, marketing, business and dieting. It wasn’t until she really focused on dieting as her niche that her Instagram following grew significantly. More than finding the right niche, Becky thinks just picking a niche is what can jumpstart your success.
“I think if I picked just finance or marketing, the same thing could have happened,” she says. “The point is to pick one niche and only post content for that niche. You shouldn't have your Instagram representing several niches because it will be harder to grow. I wouldn't say any specific niches determine your success. If you are passionate about your niche, it will show up in your posts and attract an audience.”
According to a survey, 43 percent of creators make a livable wage from their content: around $50,000 or more a year. And 78 percent make over $23,500 each year. Finding your niche can help you join the ranks of these successful creators.
Try on a Few Content Niches to See Which One Works for You
Rax Suen of Nomads Unveiled may have found the ultimate niche. A digital nomad who creates content around his travel adventures, Rax has made content creation into a living, but more than that — he’s used it to realize a dream. And it’s a dream most of us can agree is pretty awesome. His advice? Be patient and try a few niches first.
“You want to find something you’re passionate about creating even if it doesn't earn you money right away,” he says. “This is particularly so if you’re starting as a content creator vs. creating content for an established business. Content creation often doesn't generate substantial income immediately. You want to do something you enjoy and will stay consistent with for a good period of time before it turns profitable.”
Choose a Niche You Love and Great Content Will Follow
John Eringman, aka @johnefinance on TikTok, has more than 1.2 million combined followers across TikTok and Instagram. He’s clearly chosen a niche and stuck with it to great success. What started as a side-gig TikTok account in December of 2019 has now become a full-time content creation business. His advice for anyone searching for their niche is super simple: find a topic you love. For John, that topic is clearly finance.
“A lot of people think they need a super-specific niche to stand out in a saturated industry,” says John. “But I recommend the opposite. Start general, and see what you like. Then narrow in on those niches.”
Rax found success in a saturated niche. Travel content is one of the most popular topics social influencers and bloggers take on, but Rax is able to stand apart with his unique spin. That’s mostly because he loves it.
“It’s hard to find a niche that doesn't exist,” says Rax. “It’s more about bringing your personal spin to a topic that makes it different. While the niche is important, people are interested in others that resonate with them. Two people in the same niche can present a topic differently and have different follower bases because of their personalities, beliefs and communication styles.”
Conduct Simple Research to Find a Content Niche
Justin Kline, CEO of Markerly, suggests you plan ahead and dig into some easy market research. Some of the questions he recommends you ask yourself before you decide on a niche include:
- What can I bring to the table that other creators can’t?
- How will I add my own personal spin to my content so that it stands out from competing content?
- How photogenic is my pet? (More on that one later.)
“All the major stats for brands are publicly available online,” he says. “Do research, and determine if the brand demographic aligns with yours. When it comes to partnerships, every brand is going to care about different things. They’ll look at your content to determine what your lifestyle is like. Do you have pets? Where do you live? How frequently do you post? Not all brands care about the same factors but finding one that aligns with your content and beliefs is key to creating authentic content.”
Now back to your pet. Justin thinks you should get your pet in on this content creation gig. In fact, he’s a huge believer in the power of pet influencing. And he’s got data to back that up.
“The pet influencer market has been growing at a rapid pace recently,” says Justin. “Right now, thousands of people on TikTok are looking to a 13-year-old dog named Noodle the Pug to predict how their day will go, based on whether or not he woke up with bones or no bones. This is just the latest example of pets cementing themselves as some of the most prominent social media influencers. Markerly recently conducted a case study surrounding MewMix’s Tasty Layers food line, where humans and their pet influencers remixed the original jingle with their own personal twist. Results showed old content can be recycled for new platforms if done tastefully.”
Four Steps to Find Your Content Niche
According to the experts we interviewed here, follow these simple steps to find your perfect content niche.
- Be patient. Try on a few niches to see which one fits, which one gets the most engagement with your audience and which one is the easiest to create content around.
- Do your research. Look around on major brand websites to see which niches they are going after, which content creators you want to model your empire after and who your target demographic is and what they’re into.
- Be yourself. If you find a niche in a saturated space, that’s ok — as long as you’re authentic to yourself. That individuality will bring a unique spin to the niche that will catch on with your followers.
- When in doubt, turn to your pet. You never know — she might just be the next Noodle the Pug!
Incfile has helped more than 1,000,000 business owners reach their dreams of entrepreneurship. From brick-and-mortar stores to social influencing empires, our business resources, tools and solutions are designed with your needs in mind. We’re entrepreneurs, just like you. And that means we know exactly what you need. We have the startup services you need to turn your content creation niche into a money-generating business as soon as you’re ready.
Nicole Bowman
Nicole Bowman is a freelance writer who thinks turning research into stories is the best gig ever. She started writing billboards back in 2002, worked in book publishing in New York for many years and now she creates all sorts of engaging content for the web. Nicole lives in Rehoboth Beach, DE, with her husband, two sons and their poodle, Tootsie. She loves the great outdoors, bookstores and tennis.
