How to Find Your Instagram Niche When You Have Too Many Interests
If you’re reading this, you are probably an influencer or creative who feels all over the place with your Instagram.
You’ve probably heard of the importance of finding your niche in order to avoid competition, gain followers, and be successful on Instagram.
Or, you’re an influencer in the making and feel like your Instagram is too broad to work with your dream brands.
And you probably feel overwhelmed, like you’re not making any progress in narrowing your focus. Honestly, it’s not as easy as people make it out to be.
In this blog post, I’m going to talk about how all over the place my niche was when I first started on Instagram. Then, I’m going to walk you through various steps to narrow down your interests and find your niche (and I’ll be providing my examples, commentary and thought process along the way as guidance.)
A Little Backstory
If you’re new here, let me frame this blog post with who I am as a creative. I am an Instagram influencer and content creator with ADHD, who has many interests, and who gets bored easily if things remain the same. Alright, let’s get started.
I began the whole Instagram influencer thing back in 2017.
My Instagram back then was a mixture of landscapes and art (illustration and conceptual photography.)
In early 2018, fashion in dreamy landscapes became a focal point. Fashion has always been something that interested me, especially because I could never really get a grip on it. I’m obsessed with it yet I often feel dissatisfied with how I style myself. As Instagram opened up opportunities to collaborate with fashion brands, it allowed me to really explore fashion, what it means to me, how to style myself, as well as what direction I may want to take my Instagram.
With this hyperfocus on fashion, my art slowly began to fade away from my feed.
By November 2018, my Instagram was 95% filled with fashion photos in dreamy landscapes. However, I still struggled to truly call myself a fashion influencer because, well, I struggled with fashion despite loving it so much. (I also felt like I was letting my collaboration opportunities dictate my style instead of the other way around.)
This lead to a lot of confusion and many conversations with my friends and family about how unsatisfied I was with my fashion. I don’t understand fashion, I’d say. Why can’t I just ~get it~ and be stylish? Why is this so difficult for me? How can I say I have any influence in this category? I felt like an imposter.
So I started getting back in touch with my roots — art and nature.
While my fashion (and my fashion exploration) continued, I began introducing more landscape photos, conceptual photography, and also stylized product photos back into my feed.
When 2019 rolled around, I noticed my feed began to reflect my travels from the Bay Area to Boulder, CO (my home and where I went to school.) My feed further transitioned to my spring break road trip. Then, to my summer travels to Italy, Switzerland and Spain. And lastly, my Hawaii trip.
So, what, she’s a travel influencer now?
At this point, it’s easy to say my feed has housed fashion, landscape, travel, lifestyle, conceptual photography, products, and art.
And quite frankly, that list is the furthest thing from a niche. Ever.
So, let’s take this mess and use it as an example as you start learning how to find your own niche.
First, Write Down All Your Interests on a Piece of Paper
Let’s start this exercise assuming that you are currently posting what love and enjoy, you just fear you have too many interests and your feed is a bit too broad.
Okay, on a piece of paper, write down all the interests you currently have in your life.
— These are mine: photography, travel, beauty, nature, food, tea, illustration, exercise, food styling, fashion, non-toxic skincare, animals, home decor, youtube, flowers, design and branding, entrepreneurship, quotes, and outer space.
Cross Out What You Don’t Share on Your Instagram Feed
While your overall list of interests may influence your work, what interests are completely absent on your Instagram feed?
— Not on my feed: illustration, exercise, animals, youtube, design and branding, entrepreneurship, quotes, and outer space
— What’s left: photography, travel, nature, food/tea, fashion, beauty/skincare, food styling, non-toxic beauty, flowers, home decor
Now, Consider What People Ask You, DM You About, and Respond to in Your Comments
What are people DMing you about? What advice are they seeking? What are they coming to you for? What products are they asking about? What are they commenting on?
For me, I experience people messaging me about my clothes, accessories, beauty products, and home decor. They’re either asking where they can shop my style or complimenting me on my outfit, makeup, or home decor.
I often get asked about my camera gear and editing.
People ask me many questions about Instagram itself - the algorithm, Influencer topics, working with brands, rates, photo ideas, etc.
Locals often ask me what restaurant, shop, or location I am at when I post something of interest.
Lastly, I experience a lot of positive feedback and messages when my content is stylish, aesthetic, and when I radiate positivity (like smiling versus a serious face in my in-feed photos or when I’m candid and goofy in my Instagram stories.)
Revisit Your List and Cross Out What People Don’t Really Ask You About.
At this point, your list should look a lot shorter and more concise (Maybe you’ve even brought back a potential interest because you realize people ask you about it often.) After crossing more things off of my list, this is what I’m left with:
— My list: fashion, beauty, lifestyle, aesthetic photography, travel/nature, Instagram/entrepreneurship(?)
Reflect on Your List to Decide What to Post on Your Instagram Feed.
Let me walk you through my process.
When thinking about my Instagram feed, it’s important that my photos are aesthetically pleasing so we can cross out “aesthetic photography” as a topic of focus. Rather, it’s more of a guideline or value I have for my content on mt feed.
I’m going to cross off Instagram and entrepreneurship as a topic for my feed, too. Instead, I am going to house these topics here on my blog so I can write more in depth about them for people like you! Plus, this would all be way too much information to read in an Instagram caption anyway. (I will have an Instagram highlight dedicated to my blog for my followers to swipe up on to be redirected to my latest blog posts, however.)
Travel and nature are usually integrated into my photos stylistically rather than being a focus. Of course, there will be a pretty sunset or beach photo here and there. But overall, I incorporate my environment into my photos to make a pretty photo more so than speaking to nature, travel destinations, vacation tips, etc. You feel me?
So, let’s take aesthetic photography, Instagram and entrepreneurship, and travel/nature off the list for the in-feed focus.
What Categories Are Left?
What categories are left for you? Whatever they are, embrace them with open arms.
This is your broad niche.
My categories are fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. I know what you might be thinking. Haley, I feel like you’re still too broad? Fashion, beauty, and lifestyle are as broad and generic as you can get. Isn’t that like every other influencer out there?
The answer is yes. Read on.
Now that you have narrowed down your niche to three focal points, it’s time to spend some time with them to make them more specific.
As you begin to spend time with your focal interests, you will realize certain things within them are very unique to you. This will help pinpoint what you do and don’t like within these broad interests. And this will become your niche.
So, take note of the things you do like and counteract them with what you don’t like. For example:
— Fashion: I like neutral and pastel tones, I don’t like vibrant fashion. I like mixing chic, feminine styles with baggy masculine styles. I love accessories, I don’t like when an outfit doesn’t include these.
— Beauty: I love soft, natural glam makeup, I don’t like bright eyeshadows or bold lip colors. I like showing the process of doing my makeup so others can learn from it, I don’t like just showing it off.
— Lifestyle: In terms of the home, I like surrounding myself with neutral, elegant, luxurious, and chic tones and textures. I don’t like my space to be dark, messy, super vibrant, casual, and without any cohesiveness. (At this point, you may be seeing repetition within my interests that make my niche me. Can you pinpoint them?) For other aspects of my lifestyle like food, exercise, travel, shopping, etc. the same vibe/aesthetic will be seen throughout.
At this point, let’s take a stab at describing my niche.
— Chic, stylish, elevated fashion
— Natural soft glam makeup
— Elegant and luxury lifestyle
What Do You Do Now That You Know Your Niche?
Let your focused interests, your niche, inform the content you create.
It’s even helpful to write them out somewhere so you can always remind yourself of your niche and make sure your content stays within those specific categories.
This will help your followers, and potential followers, know what to expect from you. It will help inform your personal brand. And lastly, it will help you when you reach out to brands for collaborations and send them your influencer media kit.