This is a guest post written by Jann Chambers. Want to contribute?

Finding a niche social media platform for your coaching business can be difficult when we live in a world full of big social media names, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Understandably there’s a lot of competition on these platforms, making things even harder. However, all is not lost and there are plenty of other social media platforms available which your coaching business could be making use of.

Before looking at niche social media platforms, there are a few key elements regarding your business that you’ll need to establish:

1.  What type of business are you? (B2B, B2C, etc.)

2.  What are your goals as a business?

3.  Who is your target audience?

Once you’ve established the above three points, it makes it a lot easier to find a suitable niche social media platform for your coaching business. After all, if your target audience doesn’t match the social media platform that you choose, it’s not going to produce effective results.

Research your audience

Making use of a niche social network can enable you to hit your specific target audience within the coaching industry. The first and most simple step to take is to perform a search on Google, with keywords that describe your type of business. For example, if you are a business coach, you may type in "business coach" or "business coach Atlanta" or maybe "small to medium size business coach Atlanta."

Your search results will produce websites and social media platforms, including forums, related to your search term. Exploring what’s on offer within your industry is key to finding the most appropriate social media platform for your business – you’ll want to make sure that the platform has a decent following and is active. Often search results can pull up very old platforms that are now extinct, so make sure to do your research before you dive straight in.

Choose a select few

It may be tempting to join all of social media platforms to get your business seen and heard, but this is most certainly not the right approach. Social media marketing can take a lot of time and effort; you have to be consistently on the ball, so try and stick to two or three social media platforms for your business, at least when you first start.

Let’s take a dog product business as an example; you want your conversion rates to be higher, so you’ll look for a niche social media platform to target a very specific audience. A dog product business could easily get some attention on Facebook and Twitter, but what’s the point in competing against such a large community when you could find a niche platform, like Dogster, which is a social network dedicated to dog lovers; you’ve got your entire target audience in one place, with an active community base, and following on Facebook too. You’ve skirted around the edges and found your niche, whilst engaging with the bigger competitors like Facebook, without actively posting on Facebook.

As more and more people use social media platforms, you’re naturally going to find that people will search for niche networks to join and become a part of. There really is a niche for everything, so regardless of your business, your target audience or your goals, there will be a social media platform that you can make use of. Whether it’s a blog, forum, message board or website, social media is a big player in the marketing world and you can take a slice of the pie as much as anyone else can.

Create content to share

Now that you have chosen the social media platforms you'd like to utilize for your coaching business, you have to figure out what to share on those networks. If you haven't already, create a blog on your coaching website. Blogs not only drive more traffic to your website if the content is relevant, but also encourage your clients to engage with you.

Posting interesting topics that are appropriate for your target audience is simple to do and can often be managed in one place using tools like Hootsuite. Many blogging platforms even come with their own pre-made templates, so you don’t need to be a design wiz to create something professional and exciting for your users. Why not take a look and find out more information as to why starting a blog today, for your business, can be beneficial.

Connecting with people that are interested in the coaching industry is naturally going to be an easier audience to target. Whilst the ‘big boys’ are out in full force with billions of users, there are thousands of niche social media platforms waiting for your business to become a part of them. Search smartly, take your time and, most importantly, remember not to overdo it.

About Jann Chambers

Jann is a Content Writer at ukwebhostreview.com - She is committed to providing all you need to know about technology along with researching and analysing the best hosting providers.

Check out these related articles:

• Strengthen Your Coaching Website Now With These Simple Tips
• How to Write Fantastic Content and Get More Coaching Clients
• How Content Marketing Will Skyrocket Your Coaching Business
• 6 Lessons I’ve Learned Being a Coach Solopreneur
• 4 Key Questions Coaches Must Answer Before Deciding to Scale Up Their Business
• Five Client Referral Tips from a Six-Figure Coach
• Six Tips For Creating a Website That Works
• 5 Marketing Tools to Make Your Work Easier
• 5 SEO Concepts All Coaching Business Websites Should Implement