I swear this isn’t generic advice… It’s just that it did help (a lot) to niche down in my social media management business. Not in the “do what you know and don’t do anything else” type of niche — more of a “get really really good at what you enjoy” niche.
And even saying it now, I want to be super clear: you don’t need to niche down when you start your business. You niche when you’re ready to scale (and there is a difference).
When you start your social media management business, you’re learning. You’re learning what services you like to offer, what type of onboarding questions you need to ask, you’re learning strategy, communication, and boundaries — all of which you need BEFORE you can scale.
You don’t necessarily need a niche to do any of that. But, when it comes to scaling, niching makes it easier for you to get results (and your clients to get them, too).
But, whether you’re just starting out (yay! This is such a good first step) or thinking about niching down (I see you!! 👀), this is how I started my business, found my social media management niche, and scaled to where I am now:
The Beginning: What Happens When You Niche Too Soon?
To get the full picture, you need to know that I used to be a skincare content creator (I actually kept it for a while in my business). Cue winter 2020, I joined a program to go from running my account to working on others and officially launched ABC Social Media Management in the spring of 2021, getting my first client by the beginning of summer.
When I started, I immediately went to the same niche I was a content creator in: health, wellness, beauty, and skincare.
But it wasn’t exactly what I expected (even though it was what I knew). Client expectations were high, budgets were tight, and it was a hard niche to work in — at least, it was for me. And that’s the thing, it wasn’t working for ME.
It wasn’t until I had a random referral that I discovered the niche I love (it’s interior design btw). But if I didn’t get that referral, I wouldn’t be where I am now.
Niching down too much, too soon, can limit your experience, and sometimes what you think you love in the space isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Shifting Into Interior Design: Choosing My Social Media Management Niche
That one referral was an interior designer with a custom pillow line, and we worked together for 18 months (you can read the full story of my first interior design client here)!! That’s when I really fell in love with working with interior designers.
I let go of my clients in the health and beauty space, started speaking to interior designers, and marketing myself as THE social media manager for interior designers. As I started focusing more and more on interior design, I brought on new clients.
Two at first, then five the following year, and it just continued to grow. And there was no coach that told me to niche, it just happened naturally by finding what I enjoyed!
What to Consider Before Choosing a Niche
Before you choose a niche for your social media management business, there are a few things you need to consider (I’ll tell you right now NOT to just choose something random because it sounds “cool” or “profitable”):
- If you have deep experience in an industry, you can use it as a starting point – just don’t let it be your stopping point.
- Consider whether the niche is even conducive to marketing. Whether or not it has the potential to do well with the services you offer (or want to offer), or if it’s struggling.
- Pick an industry that can sustain you!! Your clients need to make money to pay you (just some food for thought).
- You don’t have to niche by industry (it’s just an easy fruit to grab). You can niche by service, by level of business, by values, or even by quality.
If you love a niche, go for it! But know that if it’s not one that usually does well on socials — or tends to have clients that cross boundaries or have unrealistic expectations — that you’ll need to push against it to create a business that supports you mentally and financially.
Why You Need a Niche (or Why Having One Won’t Hurt)
There’s something very attractive to social media management clients about a social media manager who’s well-versed in their industry. One of the most common things you’ll hear from potential clients is “Well, a lot of people just don’t get my industry.”
There’s also power in being the expert. It cuts down on the back and forth between content, clients, and you, since you know the lingo, you know the pain points, and you know what their clients are looking for.
You market to the industry (your clients) pain points, you know who YOU’RE talking to, who you’re marketing to, and who you’re working with, and that makes a HUGE difference in building your client roster.
Niching just so happens to make messaging and marketing in general 10x easier. You can find better, less competitive keywords to rank for in SEO, you can cater your website copy to your ideal clients, and your OWN social media accounts are specific to your niche (making them easier to find and connect with potential clients).
A Niche Isn’t Limiting Unless You Make It
My niche is interior designers, but I also work with interior design adjacent. The only exception is product-based business – I won’t work with them (and that’s on setting boundaries 👏).
I’ve worked with a Home Stager, a bed brand, and I’ve consulted with realtors — I also manage two equestrian facilities that are just for fun. A niche isn’t a rule or a hard stop for doing anything else (it’s YOUR business, YOU make the rules), it’s a way to make marketing and messaging easier.
If niching is holding you back, or you just need someone to help you figure out this whole social media manager thing, and you want to create a sustainable SMM business, this is for you: Click here to learn more about Mentorship.
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