How Social Media Has Helped Niche Marketing

Over the past decade, social media and social networking sites have redefined what it means to be online. These days, people go online to either be heard or to listen. They want to share an emotional connection of some sort. Fueling this desire to connect, the introduction of social media has proved to be especially beneficial to smaller companies and those that are marketing toward a very specific or niche group. The majority of people in America are online and this means that every company has access to a portal into their customers’ homes. Some analysts disagree and believe that it’s possible for a group to be too specific and too defined. However, if a company has intent followers that are loyal and passionate for their product, there is no such thing as too specific.

“The more specialized the target group, the higher the likelihood of engaged customers—and the more opportunities for social media marketing” (Levey). By knowing who your audience is, the easier it is for that company to reach that specific audience. Rather than promoting your company or product to everyone that lives in America, these companies need to focus on exactly who is their target audience. Once these details are finalized, the company can then begin the process of finding those that specifically fit their description. Twitter and Facebook are some the best ways of reaching a niche market. People willingly expose themselves to the Internet by putting their lives out on social networking sites for all to see. It is just up for the company to start making relationships with these prospective customers.

In order to find and retain these followers, however, a company must focus on the quality of the content that they are sending out. For instance, on Twitter, people want to be able to scroll through their feed and learn something very quickly from those that they follow. By posting a worthy tweet, this company has just gained the attention of a new potential customer. Also, most people “like to get something for their social involvement. They respond well to contests, discounts, coupons, offers and sales” (Magazine readers are social). By understanding that this is a reciprocal relationship between the company and the follower, the company has a better understand of what they offer and what they can get back in return.

However, each niche market is different and unique. “’The dynamics of niche markets are different depending on what the markets are,’ Binder said…’When you get into the food category, people look for experts. In travel, all you have to have is an experience. In healthcare, people aren’t passionate but they are committed” (Levey). These are just a few examples of the various types of niche markets that exist. However, each niche expects certain objectives from social media. Sometimes Twitter and Facebook may be too broad and general so that specific niche may be found on a different type of networking site. For instance, AllRecipes for cooks and Ravelry for knitters were both created for a specialized niche. While these websites are nontraditional, if a yarn company were to look for their niche audience, they would surely find them on Ravelry.