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Before anything goes viral, it lives in a small corner of the internet. Quiet, specific, and shared among people who love it and get it.
Take mukbang. It began in South Korea as a livestreaming format where creators ate large meals on camera, chatting with viewers. It wasn’t built for global reach - it caught on because a niche community showed up for it.
ASMR grew when viewers realized certain sounds gave them physical “tingles” and started sharing those videos.
K-pop traveled through fan translations and grassroots promotion, long before studios or brands joined in.
None of these moments were manufactured for mass appeal. They spread because they mattered to individuals and niche communities first.
As YouTube’s 20-year Culture & Trends Report, “What starts as local now has the power to become global, one view at a time.”
It’s strange because not long ago, it worked the other way around. If something was going to reach millions, it had to go through the right channels and come from the top down—big producers, record labels, television, celebrities, magazines, and massive marketing budgets.
Now, an authentic GRWM video filmed in a bedroom can become global entertainment. A regional artist can top U.S. charts without leaving their hometown. A whisper can become a genre.
And by the time the data confirms the trend is happening, the moment is either saturated or over. Brands that wait for the numbers to create relevant content have already missed out.
Why Niche Moves First (and Fastest)
First things first, what’s responsible for the shift to niche-first trends?
The short answer: Social media.
Social platforms (YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snap, Reddit, Twitter/X) have made it possible for anyone to publish content instantly, and for others to remix, react, stitch, duet, and build on top of that content. This behavior accelerates bottom-up cultural movements because:
- You don’t need distribution from a network or label.
- You don’t need permission from a gatekeeper.
- You only need a community - or even just one person - to care enough to share it
This structure favors specificity, identity, and obsession - aka niche behavior.
You could see the blueprint even in the early internet.
In 1996, a 3D-rendered “Dancing Baby” started showing up in email chains and office computers everywhere. It wasn’t designed to be a trend. It was strange, pixelated, and had no real context. But it moved - passed from person to person, shared for the simple reason that it was weird and new. That was a cultural moment born entirely from curiosity and connection, not strategy.
And we’ve seen that same process replicate a million times since:
Numa Numa. Charlie Bit My Finger. Evolution of Dance. Double Rainbow. Chocolate Rain. Skibidi Toilet. Grimace Shake.
And today, social media is algorithmically tuned to surface what’s working—niche content can hit a cultural flashpoint much faster than traditional channels ever allowed.
So, what does this mean for brands?
1. You need someone dedicated to the scroll
This is a real role now. You need someone who lives inside the platforms—someone fluent in TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, and the weirder corners of YouTube. Not just monitoring trends, but actively participating in the culture that creates them.
That might be the youngest person in the room—the one who’s fluent in TikTok editing, niche meme pages, and what “rizz” actually means. Gen Z is already wired for this: 81% use social media daily, and half spend more than three hours on it. Put them in charge of spotting signals—not chasing trends, but surfacing what people actually care about.
Back them up with tools. Social listening platforms like Brandwatch, Sprout, or Meltwater can track trend velocity and flag emerging conversations. TikTok’s Creative Center and Trend Discovery tool are built for this work.
To scale even further, add an AI agent to the mix. Today’s best agents can summarize Reddit threads, flag rising video formats on YouTube, and cluster trending keywords—all in real time.
But none of that works without someone who knows the vibe. You need eyes on the feed. Every day.
2. Rethink what “influence” looks like
Influence used to = celebrity. Brands paid for mass appeal, polished endorsements, and million-dollar smiles. And that still works - sometimes. People still care what Jennifer Aniston uses to wash her hair. But those deals come with a price tag. And unless your audience is looking for luxury and legacy, it’s probably the wrong fit.
What drives behavior now looks a lot different.
It’s a TikTok creator with 15,000 followers who knows how to break down a product in three chaotic seconds. It’s a Discord mod who defines the tone of an entire gaming subculture. It’s a YouTube channel with 40k subscribers that makes a format so sticky it gets copied a hundred times in a week.
Micro-influencers - creators with 10k to 100k followers - are where culture often moves first. And the data backs it up:
- Micro-influencers see 7.2% engagement rates, compared to just 1.7% for macro-influencers.
- 82% of consumers are likely to follow micro-influencer recommendations, especially when the content feels authentic.
- 61% say micro-influencers are more trustworthy than larger creators.
- They’re also more affordable. The average cost per post is $250 vs. $1,000+ for macros.
And this behavior holds across generations:
- 77% of Gen Z have made purchases based on an influencer recommendation.
- 70% of Millennials say they prefer product recs from influencers over traditional ads.
- Even 58% of Boomers have purchased something after seeing it recommended online.
(Source: Mediakix, Campaign Monitor, AARP)
Influence today is distributed, contextual, and community-driven. And sometimes, the most powerful voice is the one most brands overlook.
That’s also why AI influencers aren’t quite sticking (yet). Gen Z in particular values trust and human connection. While some AI models have built niche followings, 55% of consumers disapprove of AI-generated models in ads, and most still prefer real creators with real lives. Culture can be weird, chaotic, and messy - but it works best when it feels human.
3. Fund formats that are already working inside niches
In niche communities, formats often matter as much as the faces. Maybe it’s the “Things I’d Never Do as a Dermatologist” TikTok, the “Unhinged Amazon Reviews” carousel on Instagram, or the “What I Eat in a Day (with zero context)” video series on YouTube. These repeatable formats have built-in momentum you can plug into.
The good news is creators you partner with will already know what works with their audience. So, when you fund their format, you’re not just renting influence—you’re embedding your brand inside something people already look forward to.
Here’s what that might look like:
- Sponsor a recurring review series, not just a one-off post
- Collaborate on a co-branded version of a creator’s existing concept
- Back a creator’s next season, mini-series, or podcast arc that fits your message
- Support a new twist on a proven format, with creative freedom and funding baked in
Creators thrive when they get to do what they already do well, with your support behind the scenes.
4. Respect the weird
To support a niche, you may have to get comfortable with content that doesn’t look like an ad—and might not even make sense to you at first.
Niche culture often feels strange because… it is. It’s built on inside jokes, layered references, lo-fi production, absurdism, and language that shifts weekly.
But that’s also what makes it powerful. This content speaks directly to a tight-knit group of people who get it, and brands that show up respectfully can become part of that dialogue.
One standout example, as reported by Axios: Gap partnered with a micro-creator who built her audience by reviewing hoodies—literally just trying them on to see which one “hoodied” best.
Instead of forcing a brand concept, Gap let her stay in her world. They worked with her to design a new hoodie and introduced it through her niche community. The creator kept her format, tone, and audience—and Gap respected that.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be edgy for attention (or even edgy at all). You simply have to understand what corners of the internet your audience lives in and how to live there too.
Some mindset shifts that help:
- Don’t ask “Would legal approve this?”—ask “Would the subreddit love this?”
- Don’t sanitize. Let the content live in the visual and verbal world the niche already uses.
- Don’t expect traditional metrics to tell the whole story. Weird content often spreads quietly, in DMs and comment sections, before going wide.
5. Show up like a niche creator
Once you’ve embedded yourself in a community, you earn the right to act like one of them. That means shifting from brand voice to platform-native behavior. It’s not just about what you say—it’s how you show up. Here are some outstanding examples:
Duolingo
Duolingo is the gold standard here. Their TikTok isn’t run like a marketing channel - it’s a character account starring their mascot, Duo. They joke about being unhinged, post chaotic skits, and respond to trending audio before most brands even notice it. The content feels like it comes from the platform, not from a boardroom.
Ryanair
Ryanair does this well, too. On TikTok, they use lo-fi filters and self-aware memes to joke about their notoriously low-cost experience. For example:
They’ve posted snarky replies to customer complaints, leaned into trending sounds, and even made fun of their own tiny seat sizes. It works because they’re in on the joke.
Scrub Daddy
Scrub Daddy, the sponge brand, has also gone full creator mode—posting campy thirst traps of its sponge mascot, joining creator collabs, and participating in viral formats like it’s just another TikTok user. It’s weird, self-referential, and beloved for it.
This is what showing up in culture looks like:
- Post native formats first - meme, stitch, parody, skit, subtweet.
- React fast. Culture rewards timeliness more than polish.
- Respond like a person, not a press release. Jump into the comments. Make inside jokes. Be chronically online.
6. Make speed possible
Culture doesn’t wait. If your content takes a week to get approved, you’re already behind. Showing up in culture requires a real-time response. That means rethinking your operations.
Start by making space for speed. Here’s how:
- Create fast lanes. Set up workflows where reactive content can skip the usual queue. Give your social team permission to publish within pre-approved boundaries—no waiting for exec sign-off.
- Define guardrails. Align early with legal and brand so everyone agrees on what’s risky, what’s fine, and what’s a hard no.
- Build standby teams. Some of the fastest brands have always-on Slack channels, weekend content coverage, and a dedicated culture team monitoring the feed.
- Fund for agility. Keep a portion of your budget unallocated so you can jump on opportunities without reworking your plan.
Remember, fast doesn’t mean sloppy. It means your team is empowered to act while it matters, not after.
Bottom line: Culture moves at the speed of the scroll - and the brands that win are the ones already in the feed, not waiting on the data. To matter in the age of niche, you have to show up early, weird, and ready.
