Do you know how Jen Gunter is?
If you’re at all interested in issues of women’s health, you probably do.
She’s a Canadian OBGYN, from Winnipeg.
But she has a blog that has been read 15 million times, she’s the author of multiple books and she’s a New York Times columnist. (There are TED Talks too, of course.)
How did this happen?
Through lots of passion and hard work, no doubt.
But it also happened because Jen Gunter is extremely active on Twitter. To a degree that is probably not healthy, actually. (I don’t like Twitter, particularly…)
She has over 325,000 followers on Twitter and another 50,000 on Instragram.
Some people have called her “The Internet’s Gynecologist.”
Again, she’s an OBGYN. From Winnipeg.
Why is Jen Gunter famous?
She’s famous because she found a niche on the internet. She discovered there was a ton of bad information on the internet about women’s health and she decided to start correcting it.
She discovered that she could use Twitter to publicize what she was doing – and get into Twitter fights with those she was going after.
She found a community (actually multiple communities) and she participated actively in that community in a way in which displayed her authenticity, her expertise, her passion and her personality.
And now she’s famous, with a NYT column, a third book coming out in 2021 and speaking engagements.
You Can’t Be Jen Gunter – But You Can Find Your Niche
Unfortunately, the ship has already sailed on being “the internet’s gynecologist”. Social media has existed for over 15 years and many, many professions – if not most – now have a few representative personalities who hog the spotlight.
But her example is still relevant in 2021: if you can find the right spaces on the internet where your expertise, passion and personality will be appreciated, you can then you can find all the spaces online where these people hang out. And then you can leverage those communities for your business.
How to Find Your Social Media Niche for Your Business
- Find all the major forums online which relate to your business (use Alexa.com to discover whether or not they’re valuable websites)
- Select the most relevant and popular forums and join them
- Become an active participant in the discussions but make sure you are a good citizen
- Figure out where else the members spend their time – other forums and social media (including groups within social media platforms)
- Join those social media platforms (if you haven’t already) and join any groups within those social media platforms
- Participate in the community and, again, ensure you are a good citizen
- Then post, post, post: Demonstrate your personal character, your expertise and your authenticate personality