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- Aug 13, 2017
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- Melbourne, Australia
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- Vlogger
Hello everyone!~
A while back I gave a quite elaborate answer to someone’s question about finding your niche on Youtube. I decided to write it out a little bit and share it with all of you. I’ll warn you in advance, it is quite a wall of text!
If you are asking yourself what I am basing this on, that will be a mixture of education (hospitality management) on finding and appealing to target groups, reading a lot about Youtube on this forum and other sites and a pinch of common sense of tying it all together.
First of all: What is a niche?
A niche is a specific area of operation with a limited target market. In Youtube terms this would mean a channel with a very specific subject directed at a specific audience. For example, take a review channel. The term review channel doesn’t say much about the channel at all. A kids toys review channel is already much more specific. This is a niche within the review channel sector. You could go even more specific by only doing wooden toys, or only toys from a certain brand, such as Nerf. The audience is also much clearer and narrower, namely kids and/or parents (or maybe even collectors).
Secondly: Why is having a niche important?
You might wonder, why do I need a niche? I like gaming and vlogging and fashion, so why not do all of these on my channel? The reason you can’t really do this, is because you would be trying to appeal to a mass market.
A mass market is a very broad group of people with a lot of different demographics and preferences. To reach such a big group of people you need a lot of advertisement and a lot of money. A good example are the big supermarkets, such a K-mart and Wallmart. They offer everything for everyone, but to get people to come (before they were an established brand) they had to spend A LOT of money on reaching all these people with their message: ‘we offer everything!’
So, how does this apply to Youtube? Let’s leave out the algorithm for a moment. There are a lot of people on Youtube who watch different types of content. I myself like to watch travel vloggers, opinion channels, animations, game design and informative history videos. But I don’t get this content from one person and you probably don’t either. We go to specific channels who are specialized in what they do, because often specialist do it best. You watch a gamer because his playstyle and commentary is nice, but this doesn’t mean this person would be a good vlogger or could host a good cooking show. Also doesn’t mean he can’t. But people often come to a channel for one specific type of content.
Now, before you start yelling: “But [insert name of big Youtuber] does AND vlogging, AND gaming, AND fashion and is great at it!” Yes, some people have found multiple niches that they perform well at. But before you have the luxury of finding your next niche, you need an established audience that will support you on this venture.
Okay, okay. You now know why a niche is important. But how do you find your niche?
Let me start off with an important note: You determine your own niche. Don’t ask others what you should be doing, or what they think your niche is. Take a pen and paper and write down the answers to the questions I am about to list. This will hopefully leave you with a clearer idea of what you want to do and what you are currently doing.
Your niche consists of two elements: Content and Audience. Let’s start off with content.
~ Content ~
To determine your content, you can use the standard 'How, why, what' questions. You might make multiple styles of content, so try to write it down for each style you do.
What do you film?
Do you film your travels, hauls, opinions, reactions? You can do more than one thing of course. Look through your videos and try to categorize them. Try to be as specific as possible. Not just ‘gaming video’, but ‘playthrough with commentary’ or ‘funny game moments with voice over’, etc. Also try to give a score to each video how much you enjoyed making them. Not just the filming, but also the editing.
How do you film?
Do you always sit down with a specific backdrop, do you walk around vlogging? And does this type of filming fit your content? If you are trying to film an opinion video, but you keep walking around in your room or outside, it might be very hard to follow. Or if you are talking about something you find annoying in your house, but you don't show the room or object, you lose a bit of engagement.
Why do you film?
Probably the most important question. WHY did you film the videos you've made? Was it for money, or fame, or traction? Because I can tell you there is only one reason why you should film and that is because it makes you HAPPY! Look back at the first question and categorize why you made your videos and how likely you are to make them again based on how much effort and fun they were.
~ Audience ~
Who do you film for?
It is really important to know your audience/target group. You can divide them into two sections: Expected Audience and Actual Audience.
Your Expected Audience are the people you THINK will watch your videos. Look back at your list of videos and try to write down for each one of them who you think would watch them. Again, try to be specific. Not just ‘children’, but high school boys, or elementary school girls. The more demographics you use, the better! Where is your audience living? How old are they? How many of them are male or female? Will they mostly be single or married? All these things can help you determine how well your audience will understand your feelings, opinions and jokes.
The Actual Audience are the people ACTUALLY watching your vids! You can very easily look this up in the demographics of the analytics page on Youtube [Creator Studio -> Analytics (on the left) -> Demographics]. Now, next to your expected audience, write down who actually watches your videos. Which age group are they in? Male, female? Which countries? Does it match with what you thought was your audience?
This distinction is important, because you can make videos thinking that people of your age are watching it, but if it turns out your actual audience is much younger, you will have to adjust your tone and references. Same goes if your audience is older than you think, or more male balanced than female, etc. If you better appeal to the people actually watching your type of videos, the more likely you are to expand that audience!
When do you upload?
This is very closely related to who your audience is. If your target group are mostly school kids, it won't help to upload at 10 am or 2 pm, because they will be at school. Uploading at 4 will guarantee that most of them will actually have access to their computer. The same applies to people who are working 9 to 5. Try to figure out WHEN your audience watches videos and post your video in that time frame.
You can Google for ‘What is the best time to upload’, but they will give general advice on when the peak times are people watch videos, instead of when YOUR audience watches it. But it is a good place to start.
~ Conclusion ~
You have made it to the end! Congrats and here’s a cookie! I hope you found it interesting and above all, I hope you found is useful! If you have any questions or if you need a bit of help determining your niche, just place a post in this topic and I will see what I can do
A while back I gave a quite elaborate answer to someone’s question about finding your niche on Youtube. I decided to write it out a little bit and share it with all of you. I’ll warn you in advance, it is quite a wall of text!
If you are asking yourself what I am basing this on, that will be a mixture of education (hospitality management) on finding and appealing to target groups, reading a lot about Youtube on this forum and other sites and a pinch of common sense of tying it all together.
First of all: What is a niche?
A niche is a specific area of operation with a limited target market. In Youtube terms this would mean a channel with a very specific subject directed at a specific audience. For example, take a review channel. The term review channel doesn’t say much about the channel at all. A kids toys review channel is already much more specific. This is a niche within the review channel sector. You could go even more specific by only doing wooden toys, or only toys from a certain brand, such as Nerf. The audience is also much clearer and narrower, namely kids and/or parents (or maybe even collectors).
Secondly: Why is having a niche important?
You might wonder, why do I need a niche? I like gaming and vlogging and fashion, so why not do all of these on my channel? The reason you can’t really do this, is because you would be trying to appeal to a mass market.
A mass market is a very broad group of people with a lot of different demographics and preferences. To reach such a big group of people you need a lot of advertisement and a lot of money. A good example are the big supermarkets, such a K-mart and Wallmart. They offer everything for everyone, but to get people to come (before they were an established brand) they had to spend A LOT of money on reaching all these people with their message: ‘we offer everything!’
So, how does this apply to Youtube? Let’s leave out the algorithm for a moment. There are a lot of people on Youtube who watch different types of content. I myself like to watch travel vloggers, opinion channels, animations, game design and informative history videos. But I don’t get this content from one person and you probably don’t either. We go to specific channels who are specialized in what they do, because often specialist do it best. You watch a gamer because his playstyle and commentary is nice, but this doesn’t mean this person would be a good vlogger or could host a good cooking show. Also doesn’t mean he can’t. But people often come to a channel for one specific type of content.
Now, before you start yelling: “But [insert name of big Youtuber] does AND vlogging, AND gaming, AND fashion and is great at it!” Yes, some people have found multiple niches that they perform well at. But before you have the luxury of finding your next niche, you need an established audience that will support you on this venture.
Okay, okay. You now know why a niche is important. But how do you find your niche?
Let me start off with an important note: You determine your own niche. Don’t ask others what you should be doing, or what they think your niche is. Take a pen and paper and write down the answers to the questions I am about to list. This will hopefully leave you with a clearer idea of what you want to do and what you are currently doing.
Your niche consists of two elements: Content and Audience. Let’s start off with content.
~ Content ~
To determine your content, you can use the standard 'How, why, what' questions. You might make multiple styles of content, so try to write it down for each style you do.
What do you film?
Do you film your travels, hauls, opinions, reactions? You can do more than one thing of course. Look through your videos and try to categorize them. Try to be as specific as possible. Not just ‘gaming video’, but ‘playthrough with commentary’ or ‘funny game moments with voice over’, etc. Also try to give a score to each video how much you enjoyed making them. Not just the filming, but also the editing.
How do you film?
Do you always sit down with a specific backdrop, do you walk around vlogging? And does this type of filming fit your content? If you are trying to film an opinion video, but you keep walking around in your room or outside, it might be very hard to follow. Or if you are talking about something you find annoying in your house, but you don't show the room or object, you lose a bit of engagement.
Why do you film?
Probably the most important question. WHY did you film the videos you've made? Was it for money, or fame, or traction? Because I can tell you there is only one reason why you should film and that is because it makes you HAPPY! Look back at the first question and categorize why you made your videos and how likely you are to make them again based on how much effort and fun they were.
~ Audience ~
Who do you film for?
It is really important to know your audience/target group. You can divide them into two sections: Expected Audience and Actual Audience.
Your Expected Audience are the people you THINK will watch your videos. Look back at your list of videos and try to write down for each one of them who you think would watch them. Again, try to be specific. Not just ‘children’, but high school boys, or elementary school girls. The more demographics you use, the better! Where is your audience living? How old are they? How many of them are male or female? Will they mostly be single or married? All these things can help you determine how well your audience will understand your feelings, opinions and jokes.
The Actual Audience are the people ACTUALLY watching your vids! You can very easily look this up in the demographics of the analytics page on Youtube [Creator Studio -> Analytics (on the left) -> Demographics]. Now, next to your expected audience, write down who actually watches your videos. Which age group are they in? Male, female? Which countries? Does it match with what you thought was your audience?
This distinction is important, because you can make videos thinking that people of your age are watching it, but if it turns out your actual audience is much younger, you will have to adjust your tone and references. Same goes if your audience is older than you think, or more male balanced than female, etc. If you better appeal to the people actually watching your type of videos, the more likely you are to expand that audience!
When do you upload?
This is very closely related to who your audience is. If your target group are mostly school kids, it won't help to upload at 10 am or 2 pm, because they will be at school. Uploading at 4 will guarantee that most of them will actually have access to their computer. The same applies to people who are working 9 to 5. Try to figure out WHEN your audience watches videos and post your video in that time frame.
You can Google for ‘What is the best time to upload’, but they will give general advice on when the peak times are people watch videos, instead of when YOUR audience watches it. But it is a good place to start.
~ Conclusion ~
You have made it to the end! Congrats and here’s a cookie! I hope you found it interesting and above all, I hope you found is useful! If you have any questions or if you need a bit of help determining your niche, just place a post in this topic and I will see what I can do
