As an online marketer and content creator, sometimes finding a specific niche is the easiest part of being successful on social media. Creating the right content can be challenging, especially if you don’t know where to start.
With so many people joining social media in the hopes of making a career based on their content creation, the level of competition will only continue to increase. You have to find a way to stand out and be original, all while creating content that is relatable and trendy.
As you brainstorm and come up with ideas for your social media posts, there are many things to consider. It’s important to post content that is relatable, easy to understand, and appropriate with current trends and ideas.
As you create content, allow your personality to shine through in whatever you post. Your brand should be backed by your own beliefs, morals, and ideas so that you come off as an original and personable creator.
Address the Direct Needs of Your Audience
If you have a following that engages with your content frequently, you may have the opportunity to gain insight directly from that group. People are full of ideas and opinions, and most are just waiting for someone to reach out to them and let them speak.
Giving your audience the chance to talk about their thoughts will gain their respect and give you a list of ideas for content that will be enjoyed by current and new viewers. There are many different ways that you can directly communicate with your audience.
Social media comments are easy to scan and can provide a direct line to your followers. Although some people may have rude (troll) comments, you can filter those out and focus on the genuine ones that matter.
Your audience will go to a comment section first in order to communicate, since it’s the simplest way to connect. Most comments won’t be more than a few sentences, but they can provide you with opinions that will help you steer your content towards the right direction.
Providing contact information is important because it gives users the ability to tell you their thoughts and opinions in a more private setting. A comment section is less appealing when users know that anyone on the Internet can see what they are saying.
If you have an email address or contact page URL on each of your profiles that someone can find easily, they will be able to share their thoughts in a way that makes things feel more like a private conversation, rather than a very public one.
Forum or group posts are a great way to create discussions within your own small community of followers and supporters. They can communicate amongst each other, and possibly work together to create solutions to problems without you even needing to get involved.
With this direct line of communication, you can create a post asking a question and direct all of your audience’s responses towards that one post. That way, the thread and discussion can stay in one area.
When you go live on any social media site, you can actively answer people’s questions through the comments of the livestream. They comment on something, give an opinion or ask a question, and you can vocally answer that comment and carry on an interactive discussion with the viewers.
This brings a completely new personal edge to your brand. For example, on Instagram Lives, you can add another person to your livestream. This could be a follower, or someone with questions who isn’t quite sure about following yet.
You can converse vocally back and forth, and show the audience your confidence in both yourself and your brand. Many marketers are too shy to step up and engage in a public setting, so this will set you apart.
Surveys allow people to remain anonymous, which will promote full honesty, even if it seems harsh at times. It’s important to collect as much information from your customers and followers as possible, so that you know how to make quality, enjoyable content and products that will generate more engagement and sales.
You could create a free survey on Survey Monkey or elsewhere, post the link on all of your social media pages, and wait for the answers to flood in. Gaining more data on your following will help you improve your content and also help you to understand what people are looking for with your brand.
This will also give you time to plan out how you want to address any specific questions and concerns that may appear frequently. You’ll be able to spot patterns and cater to the needs of your audience better.
Pay Attention to Breaking News
In a world where every major event is recorded by hundreds of different media sites and channels, you can be sure that every public detail of something big will be online. In order to stay relevant with your audience, it is essential that you incorporate breaking niche news with your posts at the appropriate time.
If you post about some major event a week after it happens, it may not hold much value or weight anymore. To stay on top of things, you can get alerts from different sites that will keep you up to date on breaking news events.
Both Google and Apple News have a settings feature that allows you to turn on notifications for major events. This will prevent you from falling behind, and you will always be in the loop and aware of what is going on in the world, which you can then share with your audience, if it’s relevant to your niche.
It’s essential that you have all the facts. Media misinformation is too common online, and that’s an issue you won’t want your brand associating with. Take your time when doing your research so that you can make sure that the information you are passing on is as reliable as you want your business to appear.
Posting incorrect information (especially if you’re in the health or finances niche) could cause your brand to lose credibility, which will affect both your reputation and business revenue as well.
Use sites that you can confirm are credible and reliable. Social media can be very split when it comes to politics and opinions, so you must make sure that you pull information from neutral and factual platforms whenever possible.
When you are on a specific site and are trying to decide whether to use the information that they have presented to you, there are a few things to look at. Check the date to make sure it’s current.
If there’s no date, the source may not be reliable. You may also want to do a simple Google search on the author to find out their credentials. Once you have all the factual information, you can incorporate the big “breaking news” stories for your niche into the social media content you post.
Make sure that the news still has some relevance to the common content you post, so that your followers know that you are sticking to a specific niche. If you post all kinds of content, your followers may choose to leave because you aren’t posting a surplus of the type of content that they enjoy.
See What Other Publications Are Discussing
Being successful on social media is a matter of being aware of what content brings success for other creators. Although you should always strive to create original and unique content, learning what types of content succeed with your audience will help you create a blueprint for your own social media posts.
Try looking at various types of publications to gain insight for your own content, such as consumer and trade magazines. Consumer magazines will help you understand more about your target audience.
Since these magazines always focus on a specific niche interest, you can find the ones that align with your niche, and use them to learn as much as you can about things going on in the world of that topic.
You can also learn more about your niche and rising trends by reading the most popular trade magazines available. These publications are typically not for consumers, but for the brands and leaders who cater to those people.
There are plenty of blogs on the Internet that talk about niche topics. You can learn about trends or new ideas from other creator’s writings, and get inspired by their thoughts.
This is only to spur ideas in you, not to give you a content buffet to prey off of. Try to find blogs that rank high on search engines so that you can also create content that will drive searches straight to your pages.
Most of the YouTube channels that thrive focus on a specific niche that drives a loyal following in order to get subscribers as quickly as possible. When they have specific video ideas that succeed, you will be able to tell by the amount of views they get on that one video compared to others.
Try to make content based off of the videos that do the best on each creator’s channel so that you have all of the best videos on yours. For the ones you see faltering, analyzing it to see why they may have failed and whether or not you can do better.
Looking to other brands who fit the same category as you will never be a bad thing. When people view or research a certain topic, they’ll want to see some level of similarity.
Let other brands inspire your content. Some older and more successful brands can be utilized as a type of guide to lead you towards similar success, if you work to follow the blueprint that they have laid out. When you combine the slants of some of their ideas with your own, you’ll have great original content to post.
Watch for Trends That Are Taking Off
As more and more people with unique ideas become content creators, new trends are likely to take place more often. When a certain song, sound, idea, or joke is trending, you are likely to get more views and engagement for following along with this trend.
Finding new ways to create content while going along with a trend will also bring more views. People like new content, but they also enjoy the familiarity of knowing what type of content they are viewing.
There are many types of trends to look out for that will help you boost your engagement on most social sites. Seasonal trends are one. As the seasons go by, some trends start to appear annually.
There are many trends that take hold during the Christmas season, so it’s essential to be on the lookout. A lot of people take time off for the holidays, and with school breaks, more people will be on the Internet than normal.
And since everyone is always looking to participate in fun trending ideas, you may want to try creating your own seasonal trend. Seasonal trends could be about fashion, cooking, self-help, saving money, and more.
Using a trending song in the background of your video is a great way to drive a certain audience. If you like the song, then you will already have one thing in common with your viewers.
You can build quite a following if you can connect with a popular fan base of another artist. Some songs that begin to trend could be anywhere from fifty years old to a song that was released a day ago.
Songs become popular on social media for many different reasons, depending on current events or other trends that are going on. On TikTok, using a certain trending song or sound can help you get tons of new views and followers.
There are always new photography trends to try. If your brand has anything to do with fashion, beauty or art, using photography trends and adding a touch of your own creativity is a great way to keep things original while drawing in a wider audience.
Most of the photography trends that pop up are not for master photographers and editors, because many people have to be able to create the photos in order for the idea to trend.
Most photography trends include fun lighting and colors, unique locations, and vintage aesthetics. You can use photography in other niches, too. It can be used to make meals look delicious, to create beautiful self-help nature posters, and more.
Whether a brand has done something crazy and fun, or simply messed up enough to get people talking, there is always a way to make the most of their new attention. Talking about your own opinions, relating to the situation with experience, or making light of it with humor is a great way to weigh in on the topic while also bringing attention to your own business.
On apps that have a section for short videos, creators will choreograph dances to a popular song in hopes of it becoming the new dance trend. If it takes off, hundreds of other content creators will use the same song and dance, all crediting the original creator of the dance.
This is a great way to show off your fun side, and using both the song and dance will bring in new engagement as well. When a new show or movie takes off online and is widely discussed throughout several social media sites, there is always a reason.
There may be something controversial, funny, or simply captivating about the show. You can create content discussing your personal opinions and predictions for the show, any type of reaction to the show, and/or your overall rating.
If it’s a show that has grown popular partially due to the fashion and aesthetic, consider theming some of your content to create a similar aesthetic, and use hashtags and the description to show your intentions.
For example, the show Euphoria held a wide variety of an audience captivated for months as they released their second season. Content creators took to social media with outfits and makeup styles all inspired by the “Euphoria aesthetic,” something that has now trended for months, and helped many creators boost their engagement due to their creativity.
Tie It Into Current Events
As you post content on different social media sites, it’s essential to show viewers why your content matters. One of the easiest ways to bring importance to your brand is to create content that ties in with things happening around the world.
Using current events will make your content more relevant and relatable. As different studies are emerging and new information comes to light, try to keep an eye out for anything that falls into your specific niche.
For example, if you are a self-help guru, you may want to incorporate new studies on mental health into your content, so that your information is up-to-date and as helpful as possible.
When online users know that they can depend on you to keep them informed on the topic you focus on, they will keep coming back, and bring others with them as well. You can use current events to widen your audience.
For example, if your niche focuses on sports, but your audience tends to stick with a younger age range than you prefer, you can work to change that. You could research studies or news relating to older ages and the benefits of a certain sport.
Bringing this to light could bring more age groups to your pages, and increase your typical demographic. You just have to search for content that you can use to bring in whatever audience type you are targeting with each post.
