What are Niche Networks, and Why Do They Matter? | by Sunshine Venable | Jun, 2023

Have you ever wondered where you can talk with like-minded people about topics that interest you? In today’s world, everything is digital. This is where niche networks come into play. A niche network is where people who share ideas, hobbies, interests, products, and services can come together through social media platforms. For example, some niche networks may include but are not limited to Reddit, Quora, Nextdoor, Untappd, Dribble, and Goodreads. You might use one of these and didn’t even realize it!

Okay, that’s cool, but why does this matter to social strategy and marketing?

In 2020, brands experienced something that created a permanent shift in advertisement and consumer reach. Social media usage was through the roof, and this was due to COVID-19. With social interactions at a halt, brands began to see a rise in social media usage, nearly 4 billion users to be exact (Hyder, 2021). For example, TikTok saw the platform’s global time spent by users increase by 210 percent in 2019, which continued to grow even more when the pandemic hit 2020 (Lin, 2022).

This sparked a light for brands and companies. They saw that niche networks were these small audiences of ordinary everyday people that showed their passionate side about the topic of discussion and actually wanted to be there. Some influencers were even found on these platforms. Users were highly engaged with the influencer’s content. This meant that brands’ and companies’ new social strategies should focus on social media and niche networks. Brands started implementing paid social media advertising in their strategy (Freberg, 2022). Some of these brands even reach out to celebrities and famous influencers to do so.

Influencity explains the influencer niche as “a small, specialized segment of the market consisting of a certain category of target consumer (Influencity, 2023)”. So, what does that mean? Social media users started to become infatuated with influencers because they talked about information from their daily lives, life hacks, and even talked about products or reviewed them. Whether they knew it, these influencers created ‘personas (Freberg, 2022)’ for themselves. This is what made users love and want to follow more. Some influencers will even do “paid sponsorships,” where they are sent products from a brand or company and are paid to discuss and use the product.

So, what is an example of a brand using niche platforms, and does it well?

Audi on Reddit is an excellent example of a brand using a niche platform that does it very well. Audi decided to do a campaign called “Think Faster, “ an ‘Asking Me Anything’ (AMA) Series on Reddit (Smiley, 2018). The series features celebrities and famous influencers answering a variety of different questions, all while going insane speeds on a racetrack with a professional driver in one of Audi’s sports cars.

The exciting part is that these influencers have to keep their cool while all of this is happening. The brand has featured celebrities such as Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld, Elizabeth Banks, and many more in their series. The results of “Think Faster” were ecstatic. So ecstatic that Audi decided to bring the series back.

One of my favorite influencers that was featured on Audi’s social campaign was Liza Koshy, who has over 17 million subscribers on YouTube. Liza has an entertaining and outgoing social persona, so Audi knew she would bring her loyal fans to their content. Her facial expressions were to die for. At one point, Liza tells the driver, “Come on man, that’s all you’ve got?” That’s the persona that users loved. Although she was under pressure, she still knew how to have a good time.

Next time that you’re using Reddit, Nextdoor, Quora, Untappd, Dribble, Goodreads, or your network that you like to find more information about your interests and hobbies or even talk to others who are similar, remember that you’re using a niche network. Niche networks are essential to social strategies for brands because these networks are where users are loyal and passionate at.

References

Hyder, S. (2021, July 14). Why Niche Communities Are the Future of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved from Inc: https://www.inc.com/shama-hyder/why-niche-communities-are-future-of-social-media-marketing.html

Influencity. (2023, April 19). The Power of Influencer Niches: Why Targeting Specific Audiences is Key to Influencer Marketing Success. Retrieved from Influecity: https://influencity.com/blog/en/the-power-of-influencer-niches-why-targeting-specific-audiences-is-key-to-influencer-marketing-success

Lin, Y. (2022, May 16). 10 SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS EVERY MARKETER SHOULD KNOW IN 2022 [INFOGRAPHIC]. Retrieved from Oberlo: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/social-media-trends

Smiley, M. (2018, May 22). Audi brings back the ‘Think Faster’ AMA series on Reddit. Retrieved from The Drum: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/05/22/audi-brings-back-think-faster-ama-series-reddit