PR AGENCY DIARIES: FINDING YOUR NICHE, TARGETING AND GROWING THAT AUDIENCE

When your Instagram is packed with posts that pop (highly engaging, popular content from people raking in the followers) and you know you can create content that’s just as good (if not better), how do you cut yourself a piece of the pie and let people know what you’re about? If you’re stuck in a rut and want to know how to grow your audience - both from followers and from agencies paying the big bucks, this one is for you.

Find your corner of the internet and own it
Task number one is to pick your niche and crown yourself the king or queen of it. Love photography? Health & fitness? Fashion? Travel? (Sorry for using the ‘T’ word, #domesticstillcounts).

One of the most effective ways to grow your audience is to stick to your strengths – the topics and industries you’re interested in and know heaps about. Someone who’s into plants (for example) will often follow dozens of plant accounts, but how can you make yours their favourite? Think about how you can contribute something new to an already popular subject and put your own stamp on it.

Prepare your profile
Before you start reeling in those beloved followers make sure your profile is the place they wanna go. TikTok, Instagram, Twitter – whatever your platform of choice, make sure the content they’ll find is what they want to see, your bio (while short and snappy) tells them who you are, and any supporting content (like story highlights or links in bio) are also singing your new tune.

Say you’re switching tack and trying to be all about that (sea)bass to become NZ’s number one fishing Insta – archive some of the posts that don’t fit the bill anymore and start doubling down on your fishing content.

Defining your audience
If your niche is pets then hunt out those fur baby fanatics, if your niche is easy home-cooked recipes your sweet spot is those cooks on a curfew. If you try to target an audience that is too broad, you won’t be successful in reaching anyone. If you pick one which is too small, well, that’s fairly self-explanatory. You’ve gotta know who you’re talking to – otherwise, how will you know what they want to hear?

#hashtageverything
Every decent post on Instagram is in a big old hashtag filing cabinet. The key is getting as many qualified eyeballs on your post as possible, meaning a good social strategy is key. Leveraging the right hashtags gets you in front of the right crowd, and thus gains traction with a genuine audience who will be interested in your content.

Finding hashtags related to your niche will also lead you to posts already using them and connecting you to the audience you’re after. Plus, it should hopefully keep haters to a minimum.

Find your people
Whatever your niche, the internet is a wonderful place to find other people who love the things you love. While you’re growing your following, don’t forget that those followers are people too – engage with the other people in your niche and you’ll not only build your network but you’ll make some genuine connections, too.

Once you’ve carved out your corner of the internet and positioned yourself as the expert, you might be tempted to turn those posts into bank. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got you – read our 101 for landing those collabs here.