By Justin Hanover
Courtesy FRNation.com
If you’ve ever wanted to get more clients through social media marketing, then you’re reading the right article. You’re about to discover which social media platform is right for you and get a 7-day marketing plan.
The good news is that this method works even if you don’t have a degree in marketing. Or if you have just started your professional fitness business! The biggest problem I see, over and over, is people trying to market on every platform from the start. It’s too much! Eventually, you can put systems in place and use programs to help you market on many platforms but for now… start with one. To be honest, most people are on almost every social media platform anyway. Starting with one platform allows you to become consistent with your personal training or gym marketing efforts.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY!
Right? Just like you teach your fitness clients: “You must be consistent with diet and exercise to reach your fitness goals.” The same goes for you. To get new clients on the regular you need to be consistent with your online fitness marketing.
So, which platform is a good fit for you? Let’s take a look.
Facebook: Want to create a community around your business?
Facebook is great to create a community around your personal training business or gym. It allows you to create either a group or a page. Once they subscribe you are more then more likely to show up on their feed and they have a place to go to learn more about you. Facebook is great to share in every medium: written posts, photos, and video.
Instagram: Share through photos.
Instagram is a great platform to reach your clients if you love photos and graphics. Also, the story function allows you to stay in touch at a moment’s notice. If you have a client that is comfortable, you can shoot a video of them working on a new movement or even ask for a testimonial of your services. Instagram makes it easy to make offers and promos.
YouTube: The Video King
Do you want to build your fitness business through video? Do you want to offer in-depth training videos that your ideal clients can use? You’ve seen them all before! Creating fitness workout videos on YouTube lets your ideal clients get an idea of who you are before purchasing your services. It allows you to give them a ton of value and they can even start to see a transformation. When they come to you, they will be begging to work with you!
TikTok: Sharing Short Clips.
Do you want to make videos that are a little shorter, more personal, and need a lot less production? TikTok is for you. TikTok is like stories on Facebook and Instagram. It can be a great way to help your current clients and prospects. You could create a series of videos of tips and tricks on fitness and diet by answering common questions. You could even create the persona of “The Fitness Buster” and bust common fitness myths.
I highly recommend using Canva to create stunning and professional posts for any of these social media platforms! Try it out. You are going to love it.
Choose one of the above that you think suits you and your business the best. Think about what you want to do. Do you want to use the platform to create a wide online presence so you can sell online classes and programs? Or do you want to use the platform to target people in your direct local network? Choose according to your needs.
Create a Plan
So, now that you have chosen your platform and how you want to use it to help grow your business. The next step is to create a plan. We often treat marketing on social media like something that we should be able to do on the fly throughout the day. But when left up to our own devices we don’t end up posting for many reasons. Such as blocks like “No one is listening.”, “I don’t have anything different to say!”, or “I don’t want to annoy people.” Those blocks cause stress and we want to avoid stress so then we don’t post. Our grand plan to use Instagram as our fitness business marketing strategy comes crashing down in a moment. So how do you avoid this? You avoid it by taking social media marketing seriously and you create a real actionable marketing strategy and plan. The same way you would create a plan for a client! You know the power of creating structure, without it, we fall, and with it we thrive.
I know this so well because it is exactly what we do in our coaching programs. We create a structure so you can succeed in your fitness business. (We can help you with marketing your gym or personal training business too!)
So let’s create a plan for your social media marketing. This week, I challenge you! To post every day. To prove to yourself that you can do this. I recommend that you do this challenge on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok because it will take less time. YouTube videos can be time-consuming because the content is usually longer, requires editing, and an in depth plan. I am going to make this really easy for you by actually outlining a plan below.
**IMPORTANT: Make sure that every post includes a call-to-action (CTA). That is marketing language for “ask them to do something”. I included ideas in the plan below**
7-Day Social Media Marketing Challenge
Day 1
Share a Pro tip about diet:
Think of something that is being discussed currently in the industry and take a stance for or against it. Or think of something that your clients always struggle with and give them a pro tip about how to deal with it.
CTA – Want to learn more about creating a healthier diet? Book a session with me by [Your booking method]
Day 2
Share a success story:
Ask one of your clients for a testimonial of your services. These are the three questions you need to ask.
- What was it like before you worked with me?
- What was it like while you worked with me?
- What was the result after working with me?
Ask them if you can use a picture of them to go with your post or even take a short video if they don’t mind.
CTA – Want to get results like [Client Name]? Learn more about our gym at [Website]
Day 3
Share an exercise:
Teach your audience how to do a specific exercise to receive a specific result. It could be how to do squats to get stronger glutes.
CTA – Want to learn more about strengthening your [Muscle Group]? Drop a comment below!
Day 4
Share a Fix:
As a fitness professional, you know the best way to perform exercise so people don’t hurt themselves. So go out there and share your knowledge. I am sure there are so many times when you walk through the gym and see people doing an exercise completely wrong! This is your chance to help them with their problem and help them avoid injury.
CTA – Was that helpful? Drop a comment below with any questions you have.
Day 5
Make an offer:
You want to always be giving value in your social posts but you also want to make clear offers. Create an offer. It could be 10% off your first training session. It could be a package of personal training sessions at a special rate. Just make sure to include a deadline! This will have people take action and also protect you when someone asks for 10% off a year down the road.
CTA – Call/text today to take advantage of this amazing offer. Not for you? Share this post with a friend!
Day 6
Share about your favorite fitness product:
This is fun. Share something about your favorite fitness equipment, it could be a machine, a brand of dumbbell, a yoga mat, or even a water bottle. This lets prospective clients get to know you better and may make you stand out from other fitness professionals. Maybe your prospect loves that brand/product. (I recommend a video on this post!)
CTA – What is your favorite workout product? Comment below!
Day 7- Last Day! You’re doing great!
Bust a Myth:
We know that everyone has ideas and beliefs that stop them from reaching their goals. A lot of times this idea or belief is a complete myth. Maybe something wild like “I have to work out at 4 am or I won’t lose weight”. Think of something that you know your clients and prospects believe that gets them all tripped up. Share about how it is a myth, prove them wrong, and position yourself as the expert in the room!
CTA – Want to work with me? Book a session with me by [Your booking method]
Phew! What a week you’ve got in store. The best part about what I just gave you, is that you could use this plan every week of the year. Over and over and over. (And it plugs right into a gym’s marketing calendar) You never have to think or worry about what to post again. I promise that once you get the hang of this, you won’t even have to think about it anymore. It will become natural and easy. It will make sense. The key points here are that you are helping your prospects and clients solve their problems. Next, you are showing that you have helped others solve those same problems (testimonials). Finally, you are giving them the opportunity to work with you (offers & CTA’s).
Now if you want to do this, comment below: “I accept the challenge!”
Dedicate yourself to the challenge this week. It could completely change the way you market yourself and your fitness business.
Fitness Revolution helps fitness business owners build and scale successful businesses they love running. Through Strategic Business Coaching, powerful tools and metrics, and live training events, FR is able to help these studio owners tackle their biggest, most pressing challenge. For more information, visit https://frnation.com/.
