How To Change Your Niche

Plenty of Influencers and Creators reach a “crossroads” in their business at some point where they start to rethink which niche they want to focus on in their content. Maybe they started out by only talking about fashion, but eventually realize that they want to change their niche to focus more on motherhood. Knowing what to do when this happens—whether that’s to start over or slowly switch—can cause a bit of anxiety for someone who has spent a lot of time building their current brand.

At Sidewalker Daily, we work with Influencers and Creators to help them monetize their social media and work with brands. We’ve talked our Creators through all sorts of confusing or complex issues as they navigate through their journey, including how to change their niche! And since we also work on the brand side of the Influencer Industry, consulting with companies on their Influencer Marketing Campaigns, we have an inside peek into what they’re looking for when they work with Influencers and Creators. In this article, we are addressing some of the things that may come up when you’re thinking about rebranding yourself or switching your niche, and giving you some tips and advice based on our unique perspective in the Influencer industry.

Changing Your Creator or Influencer Niche: What You Need To Know

You’ve worked hard to build your credibility as a Creator; it can be challenging to make major decisions that will have a big impact on your business and your brand. You may be faced with anxiety or stress when it comes to making the decision and when this happens,  so does “analysis paralysis.” You may find yourself overthinking, stuck, and end up not doing anything because the overwhelm gets the best of you. 

Not sure how to start over?  Before we go deeper into switching up your niche as a Creator or Influencer, we want to let you know that people go through this all of the time. We work with Creators and Influencers of all sizes, across all niches, and we can tell you with confidence that changing niches, rebranding yourself, and anything in this category has been done before. It’s totally possible—so release some of your worries!

Not only is it possible to learn how to change your niche, it can ultimately bring you more happiness. If you’re even thinking about changing your niche, chances are you’re probably at least somewhat unhappy with where you are now. You want to change it for a reason! Rebranding your  business could end up being the thing that took your business to the next level.

First, Reflect On Why You Want To Change Your Niche

First things first, why do you even want to change your niche? There’s no right or wrong reason to wanting to change your niche, but we recommend giving it some thought so you can clarify for yourself what you truly want. 

Like we just mentioned, you may be considering changing your niche because you’re unhappy where you are now. We’re huge advocates for being authentic as a Creator, so your happiness does matter. If you’re creating content that some people like, but you’re miserable…you risk that dislike shining through in the content you create. Not only that, you risk Creator burnout because it’s pretty hard to stay consistent doing something that you don’t enjoy. 

But are you interested in changing your niche because people started coming to you for something other than you originally expected? Incorporating audience feedback into your content is an important piece of your content strategy, but you do have to be wary when it reaches a certain point. AKA, you still might want to prioritize creating for you and the audience you want to cultivate, not anyone and everyone.

While we often recommend going through a niche change when it comes from within, we recognize that you are running a business. You want to create content that helps you makes money in one way or another, and so you need to structure your content around that. Sometimes this means expanding and changing what you post. 

There’s not necessarily one way to look at it, and not all Creators feel the same way. Some Creators want to feel completely aligned with their niche and what they’re talking about, while others are okay with being a little more emotionally removed from their content. Understanding what headspace you’re in before you think about how to rebrand yourself on social media can give you some perspective.

Know That You Can Like A Lot Of Things…While Being Known For One

“Having a niche” is one of the most debated topics in Creator and Influencer content marketing. Plenty of people in the industry feel strongly about honing in on a niche, while others don’t think it matters as much. Not to mention, figuring out how to niche down can be tough to navigate.

And while we totally understand that sticking to one niche feels limiting for a lot of Creators, this is one of those things that usually needs to be approached with a business mindset. Take us at Sidewalker Daily for example—our niche is entrepreneurship and the Influencer and Creator economy. We’re all passionate about other things, but we don’t talk about them on our YouTube channel because we want our messaging to be very clear to the person watching on the other end.

(P.S. We’ve even switched niches on our account from travel inspiration to the Creator industry. It was somewhat of a challenge to switch over, but it was necessary for us to grow our business helping Creators!)

Choosing a niche means being specific and clear about your content. If you’re posting about anything and everything, it’s a lot more challenging to target a specific audience and cater to them. Remember that this doesn’t mean you can’t have other interests. Just because your audience knows you for mostly one thing, doesn’t mean you can’t mention anything else that you enjoy.

Overall, choosing a niche doesn’t mean you never can talk about anything else ever again. There are plenty of ways to work variety into your content—you might even find surprising ways to work in more topics while sticking to your niche. If you’re having trouble aligning yourself to your content or formulating your niche, book a coaching session and we’ll help you sort it all out and figure out a customized gameplan just for you. 

Should You Start Another Niche Account?

The biggest questions we get about switching niches and rebranding is whether or not you need to start your account over from scratch. It’s one thing to want to change direction as a content Creator, it’s another thing to physically make that change. And this might not be the answer you’re looking for, but this truly is a case by case situation. Because each account is unique, we’d be doing you a disservice if we told you that each Influencer and Creator account should be treated the same way.

With that in mind, we have some advice based on what we’ve seen so far. If you want personalized recommendations, we’d be happy to talk through it with you during a private coaching session.

Starting A Second Channel

We always lean towards telling Creators not to start a second channel. Why? Simply because one channel is already a lot to manage! If you want to start over with another social account but continue growing the one you have, it’s a semi-risky move. With all the planning, repurposing, posting, etc…several accounts for different niches can get overwhelming. 

Again, this is not going to be the same for everyone. If you have an assistant, team, extra time, whatever it may be, this might be an okay choice for you.

Slowing Shifting Your Current Account

Shifting your social media accounts’ focus from one niche to another is possible. You just need to go about it the right way. But what should a proper niche shift look like? It depends on your goals.

We’d recommend that you avoid completely switching your topic in one day. That’s going to be extremely shocking for your current followers if one day you suddenly start talking about something completely different than what they are used to. Take some time to consider your new interests and how you might work them into your current content plan. 

This is especially important if you’re a Creator who wants to take your audience with you through the shift. If you want to include them, try these ideas for shifting your niche:

• Put polls in your Instagram story asking your followers about your content and what they like.
• Go Live and share details or explanations about why you’re considering shifting and talk about it with your audience

We have seen some Creators and Influencers go about it differently. They prefer to just “rip the band-aid off” and start from scratch. They tell their audience about the shift, archive old posts, and more forward. This is possible, and really comes down to whether you want your audience to be part of the shift or not. 

Either way, we recommend creating some form of announcement that lets your audience know what’s going on. This can be done in a variety of ways, but essentially you should find a way to communicate the shift. A simple, “you can expect to see more ____ from me moving forward” is a good way to let people know that you’re expanding or shifting your content. 

If you’re nervous about announcing your social media rebrand, remember that people take in so much content every day that they’re not thinking about yours nearly as much as you are. There will be people who stick around because they love you, people who appreciate the shift and see your reasons for it or the value in it, and people who drop off.

No matter what, there will be someone in each of these categories, so embrace it!

What To Do About Losing Followers

As you change your niche, the reality is that you need to be prepared to lose followers. Even if you accept that losing followers who aren’t served by your content is okay, it still stings a little. It’s just a mental aspect of social media that we all go through. That’s why it’s so crucial that you keep in mind the possibility of losing followers as you adjust your content.

But also keep in mind that you’re going to get more again and people who are interested and excited about your new niche. The person you’re actually targeting to help with your content will come if you’re clear and consistent in your messaging. It is 100% okay if the followers you had before your shift don’t fit into that group anymore. Get into this headspace before you transition so that you can be prepared and stick to it once you start.

Complete An Audit Of Your Accounts

Don’t go into your niche shift without first creating some sort of plan. You can start by doing an audit of your current accounts and seeing where they stand. What have you enjoyed creating? What content has performed well?

At the end of the day the shift might be for you personally, but having a strategy and plan will ease some of your uncertainty about the whole thing. Maybe you build out a sample content plan with ideas  for your new niche as you perform your audit. This will give you a chance to see if you actually want to make the change and whether or not it’s coming from a logical point of view.

Switching can be a personal choice for your happiness, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have some fears of being successful. That’s why even if it’s less of a business decision and more of a personal decision it’s still helpful to think about it from an objective point of view.

Should You Create New Logos Or Branding?

This isn’t the same for every Creator and Influencer, but sometimes a shift in content calls for a shift in, well, everything. From new logos and colors to an entirely new name or website, some big changes might be on the horizon for you as you go through a niche change. Maybe you’re adding educational courses or some other major change to what you offer. This might mean you need a new look or a new website. 

Consider building some buzz around it! If you’re making your new niche announcement, this is a really good time to mention that your website address is changing or that people can find you by a different name. It’s exactly like a launch strategy for a business—let people know that even though you’re not going to be the same as before, you’re going to have plenty of good stuff coming their way. This way they’ll be prepared for the change, and possibly even be excited and eagerly waiting for you to launch your new vision. 

Your branding is more than just some nice looking colors. We can’t stress enough how important good branding is when you make your media kit and when you pitch to brands. It helps you show off what you’re all about and more deeply convey your purpose and your content. Need help with branding? Check out our design studio.

Update All Of Your Platforms

Make sure the changes are reflected across all of your social media platforms as you rebrand. The type of content on your YouTube and your Instagram might be a little bit different, but you don’t want to have a bunch of random, unrelated stuff on one of them. It just comes off a little bit chaotic and unprofessional, both things that you don’t want people on the brand side to feel if your goal is to work with brands.

We always think it’s a good idea to keep some things universal across your platforms, such as your:

• profile photo
• username or handle
• keywords or other signifiers of your personal brand

This just helps your audience follow you from platform to platform. When a loyal Instagram follower comes across your TikTok, they’ll immediately recongize you and make the connection. So as you rebrand, keep all of your platforms in mind, not just one of them.

Rebranding Yourself As A Creator or Influencer

If you’ve reached a point in your Influencer or Creator journey where it feels like it’s time for a change, don’t let your fears about switching your niche stop you from actually doing it. While having a niche and being consistent is important in this industry, Creators and Influencers switch or alter their primary niches all the time.

It can be done, and hopefully the information in this post helps you get started. Here are the big takeaways from this post:

1) Reflect on why you want to change your niche before you dive into anything – but don’t overthink it.

2) Remember that you can be known for a lot of things while still focusing in a specific topic as a Creator.

3) Weigh the pros and cons of starting over from scratch with the pros and cons of shifting slowly. Decide what’s best for you and your current situation.

4) Be prepared to lose followers. Always remember that followers you can actually serve are better than followers who don’t engage with your content.

5) Have some strategy as you shift, starting with an audit of your accounts.

6) If you’re creating new logos or branding, make sure your current followers know about the upcoming changes.

7) Update all of your accounts to match.

Still feeling uneasy about switching your Creator niche? Not sure how to build your content strategy at all? We’re here to help! Book a one-on-one call with one of our Influencer experts and we’ll come up with a gameplan to grow and monetize your business thats specific to you and your goals!