Never in the history of the social network universe was this statement more relevant: Find your own niche. Why do you think hashtags exist? To narrow down discussions, set trends - and to be found! And keywords? To filter the clutter of facts overdose. So is the party over for phenomenally successful generic social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn or Tumblr due to ‘excess’? Actually, the party is just becoming closer, more specific for an audience that’s hungry for something more personal and interest-based. While a major portion of population loves flashmobs but at some point, they prefer a personal ball dance in a beach-side restaurant. The shift is clear: niche is hotter!

Behold the world of custom social networks that are more private, clutter-free and target a specific community generating value for the users and qualified leads for the providers. For the individuals, it’s like their own personal brand of social network that’s partitioned and served to suit their whims and fancies (read interests). Little wonder thus that slowly yet steadily businesses have moved to niche social networks for selling, branding, marketing but more importantly – for staying. Don’t believe us yet. But do check out some niche social network startups that are trending:
- GitHub – a social network for engineers (yeap you heard that right) has well over 9 million registered users
- Academia.edu (for the academicians) boasts more than 25million users
- Doximity – is officially the social network of US doctors with more than 40% of the community on it. The company had announced a $50 million funding round in 2014.

So whether the social network is here to stay is an obsolete thought now. The question that must be trending is: why is niche social network a profitable affair?

1. Segregated leads: Custom social network comes with a default benefit of segregated audience. As a result, content is curated, targeted and served to the most relevant user base. Users don’t waste time on unrelated distractions and are able to sustain attention and eventually interest in specific content. Imagine what a delightfully relevant opportunity this is for the advertisers/businesses. This results into qualified sales leads finally giving measurable revenues. Moreover, this niche audience is less likely to get piqued by your ads and may as well become your brand loyalists.

2. Future investment: Building a niche social media app is like investing in a future business as more and more users are now moving towards narrower and custom social networks. For instance, Banana Bandy is a social network platform for creative community that lets creative people from across the globe connect effortlessly. Imagine the impact of messages, posts, photos, designs of these members who would appreciate any creative concept or a great product idea. There’s a simple logic: users who know ‘why’ you are selling are more likely to become long-term customers than the users who know ‘what’ you are selling.

3. Doing more equals selling more: You are able to do more with easy and focused interfaces in custom social networks instead of getting lost in a crowd of content overdose in generic social networks. Niche social networking platforms allow the users to do more than usual. This results into a more personalized brand-to-consumer experience establishing trust and goodwill.

4. Better ROI: Unlike in building a generic social network (or in trying to be a social network like ‘Facebook’), you are most likely to hit the bull’s eye. Your posts, ads or pictures will not be lost in a crowd of related and unrelated audience. Of course you need trustworthy end-to-end developers with reliable data hosting providers. Yet the return on investment on niche social network development would be faster due to its nature – it’s customized and hence quicker. When your niche network goes viral, you can expect an exponential growth.

And wait, there’s more food for thought. What are the most thriving niche areas for building social media apps? Will a sports social networking platform become bigger than a fashion social network? What will be the most trending and the most lucrative niche social networks in future? And which of those must entrepreneurs invest in? That and more in the next blog. Watch this space.

As you contemplate on the power of niche, you may want to check out some groundbreaking niche social networks developed by Vinfotech and loved by millions of users across the globe. And just FYI, if you have a marvelous idea for a niche -be it a travel social network, a fitness social media app, a healthcare collaborative platform or a gay/lesbian social networking site- we are game. Who knows our association might become the next trending niche social network!!!!!! Get in touch.