Drive Membership With These Fitness Social Media Strategies

Any successful modern fitness brand can tell you just how impactful their social media efforts are on their business. In a day and age where most people spend hours on social media each day, it’s essential to market online where your potential customers and clients are. It’s predicted that there will be 257 million social media usersby the end of 2023! The tricky part for most fitness professionals is knowing how to leverage their social media to actually serve their brand and their clients.

Social media marketing is a part of digital marketing where businesses use social media platforms and websites to promote their products, services, and brand. Companies, like gyms and studios, that have an engaging online presence can create connections with their customers, gain insights and data about their target audience, increase sales through influencing, and drive traffic to their websites.

No matter your business, social media marketing is not only convenient and lucrative, but it’s also one of the best ways to stay competitive in your field. How do people learn about your business offerings and what sets your brand apart from other competitors? In today’s predominantly online world, companies are reaching their most relevant customers through social media. Fitness social media is more prevalent than ever. Fitness influencers are constantly posting their progress and their strategies on social media. Connecting with a fitness community starts for most people on social media. 

Ultimately, gyms and studios that take full advantage of social media can increase their membership and drive more customers and revenue to their business. Using social media for fitness marketing is key if you want to reach the people and clients who need your services the most!

Platforms for Fitness Social Media 

You may think that if you’ve used one social media platform, you’ve used them all—but that’s not really the case. Different platforms attract different types of users, channels, and data for your marketing strategy. Depending on the demographics you’d like to target, certain platforms are going to be more useful than others; many brands will use multiple platforms to cast a wider net, too. Here’s a breakdown of the most popular social media platforms and how fitness brands can make the most of them.

Facebook & Instagram

Facebook and Instagram are two of the first platforms that people think of when they hear “social media” and are some of the most popular platforms in the fitness industry. Both platforms are often used in tandem since you need a Facebook business page to create a business account. Both have business management potential that can help you gather insights about your audience and promote your brand. 

You can also cross-post content on both platforms. For a lot of businesses, they use Instagram to bring leads in using visual content and then use Facebook to nurture the community they’ve built by linking to their website and using targeted ads. This is just as applicable to gyms or studios trying to bring in more members!

Twitter

Twitter is another platform you may potentially use to promote your brand, though it’s not nearly as effective as Facebook and Instagram when it comes to marketing your fitness services. Twitter has a huge volume of tweets and interactions, which means it’s easy to get swept under the rug. Aside from visibility, Twitter is also not the best platform for sharing video content and other similar types of media. If you want to create a discussion, Twitter is a good place to share your opinions on some fitness topics, such as diet culture, the food industry, supplements, training routines, etc.

LinkedIn

Unlike a lot of other platforms, LinkedIn is designed to be used in a corporate setting with professionals and entrepreneurs guiding discussions. While LinkedIn isn’t great for simply trying to sell your product, you can still participate by providing valueand getting more brand engagement. For example, you may contribute to the health and fitness discussions by posting about nutrition, proper techniques, etc. 

You will be connecting with people who want to learn from your expertise as well as other experts in your field, so have a professional headshot on your profile and keep your content fairly formal. Twitter tends to be driven by debate and opinion while LinkedIn focuses on collaboration and sharing.

TikTok

For a lot of video-heavy content, you’ll be good to go with Tik Tok; and, while it does draw a younger audience generally speaking, there are a lot of consumers of all ages using this platform. It’s easy to create content, uses a lot of humor and relatability, and videos can fairly easily trend with the right song and hashtag. Content also doesn’t have to be incredibly well-thought-out all of the time, either—just “documenting” your workouts, reactions, or other industry-specific activities can help you build a following.

YouTube

Podcasts, tutorials, and instructional videos are going to be live on YouTube, which is an excellent resource for fitness social media marketing. To really succeed on this platform, high-ranking videos and high-traffic searches are going to be the most popular, so don’t skip out on the quality of your videos here. A lot of content creators use YouTube to post raw footage while posting snippets of their content on other channels like Instagram. YouTube content may take longer to make, but the high quality will pay off in the long run.

Fitness Social Media Strategies

There are a lot of potential platforms you can use to boost your fitness brand and voice; now, you have to decide what kind of engagement you’re looking for and how you can pique your audience’s interest. Here are some of the common strategies you can use for fitness content and engagement.

• Video content. Fitness is a very active and often visual activity, so take advantage of creating video content. It’s incredibly shareable, interactive, and prioritized in the social media algorithms. Plus, you can be pretty creative when it comes to content.
• Influencer marketing.People often need social proof to commit to making a purchase or engaging with a brand, so using influencers to try your service, like going to your gym, and then creating content around their experience can be extra effective.
• Online classes.Social media is a great way to reach people who may want more versatile workout opportunities, such as taking an online fitness classor a virtual fitness class. Creating a workout series on YouTube, for example, has shown a lot of success in the fitness industry.
• Live streaming.A lot of people want guidance when it comes to workouts but don’t necessarily attend a studio; that’s where live streaming comes in handy. A study found that 80% of peoplewould rather watch a live video instead of reading a blog, so you can engage with people live all over the world with a great fitness session streamed live.
• Motivational content.Getting into an exercise routine or getting healthy in general can be confusing, tiring, and discouraging to say the least. Most people need a lot of encouragement and community, so producing motivational content is a great way to boost your brand and engage with your online fitness community.
• Educational content.Put your expertise to use and share your knowledge with the masses; there are a lot of people who don’t know how to exercise their bodies effectively. The more useful your content, the more impactful it will be and the more loyalty you’ll foster.
• Paid ads.Social media platforms are useful for organic posts, but you should also leverage paid ads where you can target specific audiences and keywords to reach those most interested and ready for what your fitness brand offers.
• User-generated content.The more relatable and authentic you can be on social media, the better. That is the content people will be most interested in, so finding personal stories that resonate with others should be a priority. To do so, you must create a community on a social media platform and build some traction so that people organically share content regarding your brand.
• Giveaways/contests.To really get people engaged and interacting with your brand, you can have exciting giveaways or community-driven contests, like a 3-month paid membership to your studio or class. This gives you a lot more visibility and can even help you get testimonials and reviews for your website or services.
• Feature patrons/reviews.Having reviews from other patrons or clients is a great way to generate leads and interest in your business, and social media is the perfect way to highlight your success stories and positive reviews for other potential customers.

Why Should Gyms Use Social Media?

Even big-name gyms need to allocate some resources to creating social media strategies. With more workout-from-home options available and the social pressure that comes with going in person, gyms can tailor the image they want to project and attract interested consumers with the right branding. Here are some specific examples of how gyms benefit from social media marketing:

• Brand awareness.First and foremost, using social media to promote your business, gym, studio, etc., is going to get your name out there and create a reputation for your brand. What sets your company apart? What distinctive qualities make your brand recognizable?
• Thought leadership.If you’d like to be seen as an expert in the health and fitness industry, you must demonstrate that expertise. This will make you not only more competitive amongst your peers and competitors, but also make you more trustworthy for potential clients and members of your community.
• Attract new members.Speaking of new members, having a brand that is interesting, effective, funny, or engaging in some other way will help bring in newcomers. Social media can help you target those interested in your fitness offerings and convince them to make the purchase, sign up for the monthly subscription, or complete some other call to action.
• Provide value.You are also contributing to a community and engaging with others, which usually means people are more willing to engage with you. Sharing content and showing enthusiasm while still marketing your products or services is a great way to both provide value to others and demonstrate the value you offer to more serious leads.

Let Social Media Work for You

Social media marketing is an exciting and flexible tool that fitness experts can use to build a community, offer better services to customers, and ultimately help your gym or business thrive both in-person and online. A fitness social media strategy can flesh out your overall digital marketing efforts and attract people to your gym or studio.

Whether you have a following on social media or are just getting started in the fitness space online, you can use Wellhub to inspire your followers and get your clients to the gym. Wellhub gives people access to all kinds of gyms, studios, and even wellness apps to round out their fitness experience. Learn more about Wellhub today!

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