How Social Can Make Your Niche Shine

Are there truly riches in the niches? You bet!

Whether you're a DMO, attraction or tour operator, your niche is your livelihood. Showcasing it will help drive the right business to your door. However, how are you letting the world know your niche? Social media, especially LinkedIn, is a powerful tool to tell your niche story.

LINKEDIN

Personal Profile
Your public personal profile settings provide a number of great opportunities to showcase your niche market specialties.

• Your cover image is a visual way to shine a spotlight on your specialties.
• On your personal profile, ensure your company name is correct and is linked to your company page on LinkedIn.
• The summary section is perfect for telling your professional story and highlighting your niche markets. Try to use bullet points for impact. Don't forget to include your web URL!
• Video in the summary section is an amazing tool to visually focus on your niche.
• The projects section is an often-overlooked opportunity to spotlight your niche markets and travel specialties. You can elect to add this section when you visit the "Add Profile Section" tab.
• The publications section allows you to add articles you've written. Simply add links to your blog or outside published articles that support your niche.

Company and Showcase Pages
Many people miss the important step of setting up a company page on LinkedIn. This essential page helps people learn about your business niche.

• Your cover image, business description, tagline and about section are essential in helping readers understand your niche market.
• NEW! A clickable button choice has just been added. Selecting "Learn More" or "Contact Us" is a great way to lead people to a specific page on your website.

Diving deeper into the options on LinkedIn, you'll find the opportunity to set up a showcase page within your company page area. When choosing the name of your showcase page, select something related to your niche market. You have the opportunity to set up multiple showcase pages, with a maximum of 10.

• Once again, your cover image, business description, tagline and about sections are essential in helping readers understand your specific niche market that you focus on in each showcase page.

Posting to both your company page and showcase pages will bring your niche market front and center for your LinkedIn followers.

Going through each of your social platforms and doing an audit will help you adjust your message so that your niche market stands out and attracts the type of clients you really want.

While taking the time to refine your profiles and social presence may seem like a waste, isn't working with the wrong type of client more of a waste? By showcasing your niche markets, you'll be attracting the type of clients who will LOVE you and your specialties.

In the end, it will be a time-saver!

Written by Catherine Heeg, an international speaker and trainer who focuses on social media marketing strategies for the tourism and hospitality industry. Join the conversation and connect with her at www.cmsspeaking.com and socially.

Photo courtesy of Catherine Heeg.