Social media is one of the most effective marketing tools available to you. With multiple platforms to utilize, finding the right one for your target audience is essential. Understanding the content they want to see and how to adapt it to each platform for maximum optimization is just as important. The effectiveness of platforms isn’t straight across the board for industries — it varies, so it’s important to understand which social media platform does what and what best fits the brand of your club.
Facebook remains the number one most utilized social media platform. Seventy-nine percent of online adults and 68 percent of all Americans use Facebook, according to Pew Research Center. Facebook is great for business owners in the ability to create a Facebook page, which can serve as a hub for all of your content. It gives users the chance to “like” your page and give reviews, furthering your credibility.
In this competitive industry, having a page that supplies relevant information is invaluable. People want to know what they’re spending their money on, so having positive reviews and a consistent brand voice in your posts can turn a lead into a customer. Having a poorly monitored Facebook with no information could take visitors to another business page that can give them what they’re looking for.
Facebook gives you the ability to include business hours, phone number and location. You can promote events, create polls or share visual/written content. Have a sale going on and want to advertise? Facebook is a surefire way to do so, with the ability to increase your reach drastically by purchasing a Facebook ad. In doing so, you get to pick your target audience and advertising goals, and Facebook does the rest, while letting you sit back and enjoy the increase in numbers when viewing Facebook analytics.
Tip: Use Facebook advertising.
- Gives you the ability to define your target audience by demographics, location, interests and behaviors to ensure your ad isn’t being marketed to the wrong people.
- Offers custom ad formats to help your goal, letting you choose between the categories of lead ads, dynamic ads and link ads.
- Performs split testing to determine which advertising efforts were the most successful to help further improve your efforts later on.
Instagram has a focus on visual content, making it the perfect place to really push the overall essence of your brand. If you’re marketing to young adults, Instagram should be a platform you pay a lot of attention to, with roughly six-in-10 online adults (ages 18-29) using Instagram, according to Pew Research Center.
Instagram has a “gallery” set up, supporting both video and photo content. With the new option of going live, it gives the opportunity to show followers what is happening at that moment with live feedback along with seeing who’s viewing — making it perfect for live Q&A’s with personal trainers or a “behind the scenes” look at a new renovation.
Instagram is also perfect for showcasing member success stories. It gives the ability to show a before and after photo side-by-side with its new multi-photo post feature. Along with that, sharing motivational content that encourages followers to get up and get to your gym can result in more traffic overall.
When posting on Instagram, make sure you hashtag and enter your business’ location, as the “explore” feature let’s you search hashtags to find what others with similar interests or locations are posting. And, in doing this, you can see what people are doing at your club. You can pick members’ posts to feature on your account, making the member feel like a celebrity.
Tip: Try these Instagram posts to maximize your visibility:
- #WOD. Take a few minutes and your smartphone and record a video of a personal trainer doing a workout of the day for instagram. Describe the workout in the comments, then encourage followers to share their own workout of the days for a chance to be featured on your Instagram.
- #MotivationMonday. Share motivating quotes, photos or success stories that will motivate and inspire followers.
- #TransformationTuesday. Find a member with a success story weekly and post their transformation to your Instagram every Tuesday with a short testimonial on how going to your club helped or inspired their transformation.
- #WellnessWednesday. Share a workout tip or healthy food recipe for your followers, make an effort to give them small tips on improving their lifestyle and health.
Snapchat
Get creative with social media by using Snapchat. With your club, you can show trainers doing workouts, the crowds of you gym, any new equipment you get, any special guests visiting your gym and so many other things.
Encourage users to follow you on Snapchat to stay up-to-date with what’s going on right now. Have classes scheduled? Do a sneak-peak of an instructor practicing something for the class, or take video during the class with the next available date as the caption.
Tip: Invest in a geofilter.
- It’s a quick, unique advertising tool. When people go to Snapchat pictures of the end of their workouts (which people will — because people love Snapchatting at the gym), they can scroll over and include your geofilter with your logo or location on the screen. Just make sure you design something that people would want to have on their photos.
Get ahead of your competitors by creating a Pinterest page for your club. Pinterest is a “#Fitspiration” Mecca for people looking to get in shape and begin a healthy lifestyle — and with the plethora of information regarding the fitness industry, what better place to get the word out about your brand?
Along with visibility, it makes your brand feel human and real. Don’t use Pinterest for product-promotion only, rather use it for showcasing the brand voice and personality. If your gym has a large woman member basis, Pinterest is a social media site you shouldn’t overlook, with 45 percent of Pinterest’s users being women.
Tip: Create these boards to get your Pinterest feed started
- Board #1- Fitspiration: Use this board for a general sharing of inspiring quotes or photos that will motivate your audience to want to get up, come to your club and work toward their healthy lifestyle.
- Board #2- Recipes we love: Pinterest is full of recipes, so why not share some good pre- and post-workout snacks with your followers? Pinning things other than just your gym helps humanize the brand and gives your members’ something to relate to.
- Board #3- Free weight workouts: Since a lot of beginners are intimidated when it comes to free weight workouts and technique, what better way to motivate them to get up and try than to have easy free weight workouts with photos that they can easily share on Pinterest. Having content that is useful for them will result in them following your boards.
- Board #4- Equipment in our gym: Showcase your equipment along with nice photos on a board along with a description of what it is and different workouts you can do with the equipment.
- Board #5- Success stories: Weight-loss success stories can go viral on social media quickly and are a hit on Pinterest. Share stories of people at your gym and their stories and before and after photos. People will repin, see your gym, read their story and how it started at your gym, ultimately putting the idea of joining in their head.
