Marketing: Social Media on a Shoestring Budget

Did you know that Facebook now accounts for more traffic to media sites than Google? It’s true — and it’s only going to increase with Facebook’s new social advertising options and aggressive pace to increase content visibiltiy on the platform. Having a social presence for your fitness club will increase traffic referrals to your website, but it’s not about doing all social platforms at once. What’s most important is dedicating yourself to the right platform, with a consistent, quality presence.

What’s that, you say? You don’t have time to manage a social media presence? I’ve heard that excuse before, which is why I’ve put together this blog post about 5 tips for managing your fitness club’s social media presence on a short amount of time, a little amount of budget and few contributors to help administrate the page.

Pick the right platform

Facebook is usually the easiest platform to start with. You’ve probably already got a presence in the form of your personal account, there are more users here than anywhere else, and it enables you to reach a large amount of users for a small amount of money. If you’re skeptical about Facebook, try Instagram — it’s a free platform with no visibility limitors (meaning, if you post it, the sky is the limit in regards to visibility).

Stay consistent

Social media posting isn’t about posting a 100 times a day — it’s about picking a schedule and committing to it. If you can only commit to posting once or twice a week, that’s great! But do it. The last thing you want is to drive traffic to your social properties and have an inactive presence when they get there.

Identify your content moments

Being in the fitness industry, your content moments are frequent, and usually easy to spot. A “content moment” is a moment that inspires, engages and communicates your brand and objective. In a gym, these moments are happening every day. Talk to your personal trainers, your members. Ask them to take a survey (and incentivize it by giving away a free massage or personal training session). Use this content to power your social properties for months to come.

Diversify your content

All of your content doesn’t need to be fresh and new. In fact, you can use curated content from other resourcse like Fitness Magazine and Shape to drive more visibility when linking back to their page. When you are sharing content from other resources, make sure you add your own spin to it.

Do it right

If you are going to be posting pictures, videos and the like of your members and employees — get your approvals. Not everyone wants their photos to be shared, and you should respect their privacy.

Milena Regos is a principal at Out&About Marketing. Out&About Marketing is a social media consultancy with focus and experience in the fitness industry. For more information visit www.outandaboutmarketing.com.