Many of the niche authority development tactics online are a challenge.

Some seem like they’re impossible to master.

It shouldn’t have to be that way, either!

One of the top tips that industries are given in content marketing is to solve the industry’s problems and provide an easy solution. I’ve heard that many times. I bet you have to.

So, that is what I am out here trying to do. I want to solve the problem of niche expertise for you so that you can start painlessly developing your authority without being overwhelmed.

So, on that note, let’s begin digging into 22 different niche authority development tactics that will surely put your business or brand on top of the industry market.

 

Niche Authority Development Tactics on Social Media

Social media provides the perfect opportunity to develop your niche expertise!

Take advantage of that but remember that other people are also on the platforms doing the same thing.

You’ll miss many opportunities for niche authority enhancement if you ignore social media.

 

1 – Choose the Platforms Where Your Niche is Present

First, there are tons of social media platforms on the internet. There is more than the average person needs to worry about.

Attempting to join every social networking platform and being active is an excellent way to burn yourself out and no longer have a life worth being happy about. There is such a thing as social media overload.

So, instead of joining every social platform out there, focus on the ones where your niche is at.

Find websites directly related to your niche and look for their social page links. Get on their social pages and see how active they are. That’s an excellent way to determine if people are on the social platform companies are attempting to market.

Focus on the top social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest. If your niche is on those platforms, then those are the platforms you should be getting involved in.

All the rest of them are just going to be a waste of your time and energy.

 

2 – Join Social Groups for the Niche and Become Active

Facebook and Twitter have many social groups that likely have your niche audience.

Join these groups and become active in them.

During the learning process of utilizing these niche authority development tactics, you still want to try to get yourself known as much as you can.

Get to know the people in the groups. Befriend them. Help them when you can. Ask them questions and give them a chance to help you. Build trust. Always be kind and respectful to others. You want to paint a perfect picture of yourself online.

And with that being said, make sure you police yourself online. Anything you say can and will be held against you on social media and the internet. Don’t ruin your reputation.

Try to use the same username or handle when joining these groups. You want to make sure people start seeing you around the groups your niche hangs out at. Using the same name will begin to brand yourself easier so people can recognize you.

Utilize these social groups every single day that you’re able to.

 

3 – Be Active on Your Own Social Pages

Create your pages and profile on social media platforms.

Post to them daily! Use a scheduling feature if you have to but make sure you’re posting something daily. People need to learn more about you and that you exist.

By posting all the time, you will accomplish this.

You should just post once a day. But if you can post four to five times a day on each platform, it will help you out a lot more. These platforms are built and marketed for activity and discussions. The more, the better. Platform algorithms will reward pages and profiles with multiple segments of quality content daily.

And that’s the thing…

Make sure all the content you post is quality content.

That means the content needs to entertain, educate, or inform your audience. That means you should post genuinely unique content on each social platform. You can repurpose effectively, but new content for each social platform will do much better than reusing the same content repeatedly.

The main idea here is to be active and get eyes on you.

 

4 – Start Your Own Social Group on Facebook and Twitter

Take advantage of starting your social groups on Facebook Groups and Twitter Communities.

I started my group on Facebook about four years ago, and now there are over 20,000 members.

A social group that you make can be very beneficial for your niche authority development. People who join want to be around you. It is easier to advertise your content in your group. It is easier to find other experts and influencers and network with them. Having your own space in the niche will help create expertise for you at the end of the day.

Just make sure you keep your group active.

At first, it will just be you posting in the group.

Focus on getting those few new members. Once you do, target them for relationship development. Befriend them on social media and talk to them daily as you would a best friend. Not only will you make a good friends, but they’ll be more willing to help promote your group and recruit new members.

One great way to grow and keep a group activity is to constantly post resources that will benefit the niche.

 

5 – Follow the 90/10/3C Marketing Strategy on Social Media

I use a specific strategy when I am posting on social media. It is one of the best niche authority development tactics out there.

It’s called the 90/10/3C Marketing Strategy.

Let’s break it down!

90 stands for the 90% of your content should be native content that is not meant to be sales. This means the content should be entertainment, humor, memes, educational, informative, and resharing. It should also be directly native to the platform meaning all photos and videos are uploaded. Social media algorithms will index this kind of content the most.

10 is the 10% of your content reserved for promotional purposes such as advertising websites, sales, and other external activities. You want to do less of this and more native content. This is because social media algorithms will put less weight on the externally linked content. Few people will see it. By posting native content that isn’t advertising, you promote yourself as an expert in your niche.

3C stands for Content, Consistency, and Community!

Content should be made for your social pages. Utilize all content creation types but create mainly around trending styles such as video shorts and stories.

Consistency is how often and when you post content on your social media pages. You should post anywhere from one to five times daily on each social media platform. Post at least once a day. Post at familiar times, too. You want people, algorithms, and search engines to know how often and when you commonly post new content.

Community is the engagement side of things. You should constantly engage with your followers and visitors. You should answer every private or direct message. You should reply to every comment. This is especially important for a brand new account that can respond to everything.

Think of the 3C concept as a kingdom. Content is King. Consistency is Queen. Community is the Royal Kingdom holding it all together. Without all of these strategies combined, the kingdom would fall.

That is what I use and blame for my social media success.

 

Niche Authority Development Tactics through Learning

I used to be an assistant fire chief.

I wasn’t an expert in firefighter administration, but my emergency management education got me the role.

I quickly learned that in the firefighting world, training never stops. Fighting a fire is something you want to be an expert at.

In a roundabout way, all industries have fires to fight, and learning should never stop.

 

6 – Learn Something New Every Day About Your Niche

Create this one goal for developing your niche expertise.

Learn something new every single day.

I’m not telling you to take the whole day to learn something about your niche. But you should at least take a few hours, one hour, thirty minutes, ten minutes, or even just five measly minutes out of your day to learn something new about your industry.

It takes almost a year to develop your expertise in a topic. It can take less than that if you commit yourself to learn something new daily.

I’m sure you have a smartphone.

Ask a Google and simple question about your niche that you’d like to know the answer to. And then click a link and read an article, watch a video, or listen to a podcast.

On the topic of podcasts – they make it perfect to learn something new each day. Listen during your commute to work. Listen during your workout routine. Listen with some headphones before bed. Podcasting is a revolutionary idea for our marketing and content creation folks.

Three of my favorite ones will also help you: The Copyblogger Podcast, Marketing Against the Grain, and Social Media Examiner. These three podcasts are great if you want to learn more about marketing, social media, content, and sales strategies.

If you learn something new every day and never stop learning, you’ll find it one of the best niche authority development tactics.

 

7 – Join Free Courses and Pay for the Best Courses Online

There are tons of courses online for almost every niche.

I bet there are plenty of them for your niche, too!

Find all the free courses you can find. Take them one by one. Even if they just repeat one another in some way, give them a chance and just learn a specific knowledge more than once.

It is always good to beat a subject into your head by hearing about it more than once.

Remember the saying, “Content is King”? That is beat into our heads. In reality, it was the truth, and it is still the truth.

After you’ve exhausted all the free courses, focus on the paid ones.

Listen, people who create paid courses want to make money from you. It makes sense since it is business after all, right? But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about what you get out of it. They want good referrals because that is how most of them keep getting business.

So, most of the time, the premium courses will be worth the cost.

You don’t have to spend a thousand dollars on a course, but if you find one for a couple of hundred dollars and can afford it, jump on it.

Courses are a great way to learn a lot about your niche.

If you can attend a Masterclass, those are informative!

 

8 – Buy Books About Your Niche and Read Them

Books are still amazing things.

I buy books based on my niche every chance I can.

I go to places like Thrift Books and buy secondhand books while helping libraries with my purchase.

I can usually spend $100 and get more than ten books. They typically sell all the older ones, too.

But enough of advertising Thrift Books (not sponsored, by the way)…

Books are still a great way to learn stuff about your niche. I like using a highlighter and marking the most important aspects of the book related to my niche.

The fantastic thing about the book is that if what you’re learning from them is not detailed enough or you have to know more about it, you can turn to Google search and find out everything you need based on what you learned in the book.

It is also very healthy to read. It keeps your brain going. It helps you be a better writer.

Read about your niche as often as you can.

 

9 – Read Blog Posts and Articles About Your Niche

If you’re reading this article, you’re likely reading my blog – unless someone has stolen my content.

The point is that blogs are still a precious resource for learning new things and gaining new niche authority development tactics to use within your industry.

I suggest you find all the top blogs in your niche and bookmark them.

Read them every day that they post something new.

Find the blogs that are not as popular and read their content.

Blogging allows us to get a different look and perspective on topics we’re interested in. Don’t rely on the big blog when the small blog might also have an effective solution to your biggest challenges.

Blogging is alive and will continue to be a valuable resource for authority development.

Be sure to leave comments on the blog posts as well. It is a perfect time to ask questions about the niche from your fellow experts and get good answers. It’s like being able to raise your hand in school – we need that extra tactic to learn correctly.

And while you’re at it, start writing your blog.

 

10 – Learn About and Solve the Most Difficult Challenges of Your Niche

If you want to become an expert on the topics your industry is about, you need to focus on becoming a problem solver.

What are the most challenging topics or problems within your industry?

What issues need answers but are not getting them?

Those are the things that you should be focusing on.

If you can solve the most challenging questions in your niche – you’ll be seen as an expert. If you can provide a simple solution for the niche audience to be able to solve the most complex problems – you’ll be considered one of the most driven experts in your industry.

Solve a major problem and prove an easy solution; everyone will follow you more than anyone else in the industry.

But where would you find these challenges?

Everywhere.

They’re being talked about on social media. There are discussions about them on Reddit and message forums. Even you probably have questions that don’t have answers to them.

Just look around, and you’ll start to notice the industry’s significant challenges!

And focus on solving them!

 

Niche Authority Development Tactics from Other Authorities

Sometimes the best place to get information is from the people who know it best.

Never look at another expert as competition. Instead, look at them as a learning opportunity. Learn what they know. Learn what they don’t know.

Other experts in the industry have become experts for a reason.

You should rely on what they know to make yourself more knowledgeable about the industry topics.

 

11 – Learn About Your Niche from Your Competition

Find out who your competition is.

Your competitors have the same mission as you do. What other people, companies, or brands in the industry perfectly align with you? Those are the people and entities that you would call your competition.

Those are who you should follow and learn as much as possible.

Your competition got to a point for a reason. They’re successful at what they do. You should understand that and applaud them for getting there.

Read all their stuff. Watch out for their styles. What are they doing that makes them unique? What exciting things can you learn from simply watching their styles?

Eventually, other people in the niche will be watching you because you’ll be their competition.

 

12 – Get the Latest Industry News and Mailing Lists

Subscribe to everything related to your niche!

Go to Google Alerts and create an email alert for different topics directly associated with your niche. Read all the alerts that are sent to you. Learn from what they have to tell you.

Find all the news and media sites around the industry and read everything they post.

Find the industry-related magazine and subscribe to them.

And make sure you’re signing up for every email list and newsletter for the niche: big and small. Popular ones and never heard of lists. Subscribe to them all.

The more information you have in your inbox about your industry, the better!

This will also help with one of the niche authority development tactics mentioned above – learning something new daily! If you get all these industry news and newsletter emails, you’ll have something new to learn about every day.

Knowing the latest about an industry will help develop you into an expert.

 

13 – Research Failed Industry Leaders in the Niche

Find out who used to be your competition.

Look for people and companies associated with the niche but failed and closed shop.

You especially want to learn about these folks because you want to know what they did to make them fail or close down. If you know those things, then you’ll know what to avoid.

Sometimes the best people to learn from are the ones who have made all of the major mistakes.

 Sometimes it is hard to find content online from companies who have since closed their doors. Take advantage of websites like The Wayback Machine to give you information about past websites and their content that no longer exist on the internet.

Many companies that exit usually have news articles about their failures as well. Some CEOs will even write articles talking about it.

You might even find these people and send them messages directly. The worst thing that could happen is they don’t respond to you.

Do your research and find out what you should not do as an authority in your niche.

 

14 – Follow Niche Industry Experts on Social Media

Your competition is definitely on social media.

And you should be following them!

And you should enable your phone to alert you when they post!

This is especially true for the most prominent players in your niche.

These people and companies got as good as they are for a reason. Their social media posts usually strengthen their reputation. Pay attention to what they have to say on social media.

Learn from their content.

It’ll give you an idea of how you should post on social media. But make sure you’re not being a copycat because no one like a copycat, and you’ll fail in the end if you get caught doing it.

Follow your competition on all social channels that you’re a part of.

Don’t be afraid to talk to them and form relationships as well.

 

15 – Find a Mentor and Learn From Them

Maybe you just need to find someone to look up to!

It is seriously a good idea!

Find another authority in your industry and learn about their mission. Learn about their styles. Learn about their knowledge.

If you enjoy what you learn about, take the next step, and try to connect with them.

Networking with mentors is a more effortless niche authority development tactic to master. Because in most cases, people are willing to be role models for others in a niche.

And everyone should have a mentor. There is nothing wrong with having one at all. I have many of them myself.

Tim Stoddart, for example, has been one of my biggest mentors. His teachings have helped me make a lot of significant decisions. I might even bug him a little too much, but it’s because I enjoy what he has to say. And it feels good to look up to someone.

I hope people look up to me at some point, and I want to mentor others who wish to become leaders in their niche.

 

Niche Authority Development Tactics at a Cost

All knowledge isn’t free!

Most basic and moderate knowledge is 100% completely free of charge. It is enough to get you started on becoming an expert. It might even be all the information you need to process for the time being.

But in most cases, the expertise you can gain by spending some money will often give you advanced experience and bring your authority to higher levels.

If you have money to spend on your authority development, consider the following options.

 

16 – Get a College Degree Evolving Around Your Niche

A college degree might help make you an expert in your niche.

But I want to be completely transparent with you! Degrees are expensive, and they’re usually not enough. Education is essential, but so is getting experience in most cases.

I’m a double master. I have an MBA and a Master of Science in Emergency Management. I have a lot of business experience, and combined with my MBA, that gives me some business expertise accreditation in that industry. I don’t have much emergency management experience, and even with my expert degree, I wouldn’t be hired for the best jobs in that industry.

Just keep in mind that education doesn’t top experience. You need a healthy combination of both if you wish to rely on getting a degree completely.

You might need to work for someone for a while before working for yourself.

 

17 – Buy Out the Competition that is Current Mastering Your Niche

If you have money, buy your competition out!

This isn’t going to work for all instances.

But if you can buy out your competition to reach an expert level – then, by all means, go for it. Neil Patel did this sort of thing in a roundabout way. He acquired Uber Suggest, which helped him become an expert player in the SEO Software as a Service industry. Instead of inventing a new product, he simply bought out an existing leading product.

But buying out the competition doesn’t always enhance your expertise level.

You might also need to buy the employees with the competition to maintain expert status. Or you might have to do the work they have done. That isn’t always going to be the most straightforward task.

Of all the niche authority development tactics, this one is mainly meant for already established niche experts wishing to gain a higher level of authority by being on top of the competition.

But if you can make it happen and it’s a sound investment, go for it!

 

18 – Go to Conferences About Your Niche Industry

If your industry has conferences, try to attend as many of them as possible.

They usually have a hefty fee added to them. Some might even require you to spend more than a thousand dollars on the ticket.

But these conferences are some of the best ways to get as close to industry leaders as possible.

They’re also great for networking and getting your name in the industry. You’ll meet others, and they get to know you and remember your name.

If you can just attend one conference, try to make the best one.

But if you can go to several of them, then that is what you should do.

And be sure to look at what your local area offers because sometimes these events are happening right under your nose.

Conferences are a great way to enhance your expertise, especially your industry network reach.

 

19 – Invent Something New and Amazing For Your Niche Industry

Remember when I gave you information about solving significant challenges in your niche?

Imagine if you could invent the next big thing in the niche!

That could solve a lot of problems. The next big thing!

So, why not try to do just that? Invent the next big thing in your niche. Maybe it’s software. Maybe it’s a service. Perhaps it’s a physical product. What it could be – it could be your ticket to becoming an expert in your industry.

I would focus my invention on the significant challenges of the niche.

If you can solve those challenges with your invention, you might be able to earn a lot of money creating it.

If you give it away, you’ll earn much respect and following. That is always an option. So is freemium stuff, too – give some of it away but charge for the best features.

Be an innovator of your niche and invent something extraordinary!

 

20 – Niche Consultants and Coaching Services

You can always hire someone to help make you better at something.

The internet is full of consultants and coaches that will do everything in their power to make you an expert at any topic you want to be an expert at.

Sometimes the price tag is a little high, but the value is usually just as high, if not higher.

Many people offer this service. I’m an outdoor marketing expert. I’ll gladly teach other outdoor brand owners how to market for the outdoors. But personal coaching will come with a price tag.

Be sure to do your research before hiring someone. Not everyone is going to be that good at teaching people. Read reviews and choose based on the information you gain from what other people think about the consultant or coach.

It is your money in the end, and you have the right to make sure it is spent wisely.

 

Bonus Niche Authority Development Tactics

Enjoy these last couple of bonus niche authority development tactics.

They’re tactics that are not often recommended.

But don’t take that as them not being worth anything.

Any tactic is a tactic that might be what makes you the expert you strive to be.

 

21 – Network with Offline Local and Region Experts

Look around town for experts in your niche.

You might have connections to network with right in the town you live in or the region you reside in.

The great thing about local folks is that you can help get a local foot in the door within the industry you want to be an expert in.

Search for experts in your area, network, network, and network.

 

22 – Keep a Niche Journal and Update it daily

This sounds silly, but it isn’t.

It’s a playbook! Like in Football and other sport!

You’re writing down everything you have learned and all the cheats you have come to know. You’re creating a bible of niche authority development tactics that will essentially grow your expertise in the niche.

It’s a reference book that you can return to later on down the road.

I have notebook after notebook of helpful information I’ve learned over the years.

Take and keep notes for ultimate success!

 

And that is how effortless it is to develop your niche expertise.

If you follow the essential advice above, your authority in the industry will significantly increase. Continue to practice some of the steps above, especially the ones I emphasize, and eventually, people will be coming to you to become an expert in your niche.

If you’re new to this blog, subscribe to my mailing list for more tips and tactics.

If you’ve been a longtime reader, can you do me a favor and tell others about this blog who might find it interesting?

About the Author

Shawn Gossman has created content, blogged, ran online communities, and shared a passion for digital marketing for over twenty years. Shawn believes the best way to help content creators, businesses, brands, and marketers is to give away more than you sell. The same advice is recommended for the readers that follow this blog. Shawn also offers a variety of services for extra help in the area of content creation, blogging, forums, and digital marketing.