Personal branding

Do you need to niche down your personal brand?

Why “niching down” might be a bad idea

Leanna Jackson
Better Marketing

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When TikTok’s user base exploded in 2020, my feed was flooded with videos on “how to go viral on TikTok”. And yes, this was my actual FYP in the app. Creators had found a way to gain followers and go viral by sharing tips on how to go viral. Their main suggestion: find your niche.

Photo by TheRegisti on Unsplash

While their advice was applicable to TikTok, I’ve seen and heard this mantra across other platforms for years.

Testing the “niche” theory

When I started publishing articles, I aimed to extend my audience reach and establish myself as knowledgeable in my field.

At the same time, I was starting a journey into a new profession. I noticed a lack of useful content for people getting started, so I wrote about that too. Starting with these two topics helped me focus on specific content I needed to produce.

My niche: Experienced Marketer learning about UX Design who shares helpful content for new marketers and designers alike.

Creators on Instagram, TikTok and even LinkedIn typically start by sharing the same types of content. These creators test format, find one that works and repeat.

Eventually, they may be able to branch out and create other forms of content. Maybe they try a new video transition, photo editing filter, or post type. If one takes off, they can start using that one as well.

Focusing my content on one niche

In the last six months, I’ve seen more engagement and views on Medium articles published in niche publications. It makes sense, followers of these publications follow them to get specific content.

But, I’ve also been publishing content about other topics and haven’t lost any followers.

On social media platforms, I’ve had good luck increasing reach and awareness sharing content in specific groups. I’m sharing the niche content with niche groups.

Sharing directly on my feed didn’t lead to the same results. There are many reasons for this: lack of consistency, incorrect keywords or hashtags, etc.

Reasons you should not focus on only one niche

We’re dynamic people

On top of working in marketing, being a UX design student, and writing, I am also a gardener, runner, and music-lover with my own views of the world. Focusing solely on one area of my life (career) limits what content I should share to grow my audience.

However, my goal is to actually be seen as a storyteller (not just a worker bee who shares tips for marketing and UX).

You deserve to be seen as multi-faceted. Personally, I engage with creators across a variety of topics. So why should I limit my content to one topic.

You might lose followers when you start to expand your content

If you become known as the “go-to marketing person” and then start sharing travel experiences or recipes, followers may leave. Of course, this is a hypothetical situation.

But if you start by sharing a variety of content, your audience will be less shocked when you continue broadening your topics. Plus, you won’t have to constantly try to relate your work back to one focus point.

Growing an audience on any platform is no easy feat. It takes patience, time, practice, and testing to figure out what works. While focusing your content on one niche is a great way to get started, try a few different topics and expand from there.

The world is limitless, so why limit yourself?

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