How important is niche?

[Shawn Gossman]

How important is niche for an online community in 2023?

Some general forums like @Nebulous OffTopix has made it.

But many other general forums haven't made it.

Many people niche down. FAF is a Niche. @secretprojects Secret Projects is a niche. @Naiwen food forum is a niche.

Niching down allows you to target a specific audience and enables you a finer marketing strategy.

Niching down can prove to be easier for marketing a forum.

What do you think? Do you feel in 2023, niching down a forum is more important than ever?

I'd love to see what others think about this.

 

[Naiwen]

How important is niche for an online community in 2023?

Some general forums like @Nebulous OffTopix has made it.

But many other general forums haven't made it.

Many people niche down. FAF is a Niche. @secretprojects Secret Projects is a niche. @Naiwen food forum is a niche.

Niching down allows you to target a specific audience and enables you a finer marketing strategy.

Niching down can prove to be easier for marketing a forum.

What do you think? Do you feel in 2023, niching down a forum is more important than ever?

I'd love to see what others think about this.

I think it's important in my opinion at least anyways. My history community is also one that's very successful.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I think it's important in my opinion at least anyways. My history community is also one that's very successful.

I feel it is important as well.

I mean you could probably get away with a general forum but it will be difficult I think.

But a niche forum is easier to run because you know who you're looking for.,

The further you can niche down the better too.

 

[Tracy]

There are VERY few niches that haven't already been covered. All one can do is try to offer features that are not available on the "monsters" of the niche.
Trying to go "toe to toe" with most of them will simply result in your arse being kicked as you don't have the traction that they do. You have to bring more to the game.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

There are VERY few niches that haven't already been covered. All one can do is try to offer features that are not available on the "monsters" of the niche.
Trying to go "toe to toe" with most of them will simply result in your arse being kicked as you don't have the traction that they do. You have to bring more to the game.

I agree with this.

Take my niche for example, admin forums, obviously has been done time and time again.

I think I want people to get an experience from this admin forum os it being a friendly place for them to discuss forum administration without too many bells and whistles added to the mix.

I try to keep the forum as core featured as possible. I try not to add anything that takes away from the forum.

I want to focus the "unique selling position" of this forum to be core forum feature focused but of course a community of friends, too.

It's also nice to see folks on here who has been in the "forum game" for a long time

 

[Naiwen]

Hence why I prefer being unique in my own niches.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Hence why I prefer being unique in my own niches.

It's good to try to be as unique as possible.

But anymore, I don't think there is such a thing as a unique niche.

I think a niche has at least one forum out there for it (most likely more than one) or at least a few social groups, blogs, etc.

And while that's fine, don't let it stop you from creating in the niche... what makes the community unique is what you bring to it that is unique more than the rest of the forums in the niche.

Choose a niche and niche even farther down within the community - if that makes sense?