SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR GYMSocial Media is probably the most important tool for marketing your gym and spreading your message to as many people as possible. Not only is it highly effective, but it's very cheap, if not FREE! 99% of your members and potential members will use some type of social media whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. If you are not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out on a HUGE opportunity.
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Which ever sources you decide to use, it's important to link all of them together so that a single post goes out to all your Fans, Friends, and Followers on all of your social networks.
Facebook Fan Page
One of the first, and most important Marketing tasks is to create a Facebook Fan Page for your gym. Do not use a Personal Page to host your business on Facebook. It is tempting for most people at first to create a personal page because that allows you to reach out and request friends to your page. Facebook catches on quickly, and they will shut down your page after you’ve accumulated some friends. Save yourself the heartache and create a Fan Page. The Fan Page will not allow you to request friends, but there is no limit on how many people can like your page. Fans must find your page and like it. Your Facebook Fan Page is part of your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Facebook Fan pages are indexed by search engines while personal profiles are not. This means you have more links coming up in the top of the search rankings for google and other search engines when people are searching for fitness in your area. Visit Facebook Fan Pages for more information.
Facebook now limits all posts made by your Fan Page to only about 10% of your fan base. The only way to get your information out to more, or all of your fan base is to do what Facebook calls "Promote" your post. That means you pay to get your post exposed to more of your fans. The best way to ensure that your posts get out to all your members and anyone else you want to "stay in the know" is to create a Facebook Group.
Facebook Group
Once you've created your Facebook Fan Page and gotten the word out there to all your friends to like your Fan Page, it's time to start a Facebook Group. The group is different from the fan page in that only People can be part of the group, not Businesses, Organizations, or other Fan Pages. You might be asking yourself, "Why should I create a Facebook Group if I already have the ability to share all my events, pictures, and other information with everyone on my Facebook Fan Page"? The reason is simple. Everyone who's a part of your Facebook Group will receive all the posts made by all members of that Group. You also have the ability to see how many people viewed the posts, who viewed them, and you can see all their responses. This is much more effective than the Facebook Fan Page, which only sends your posts to 10% of your fans, and doesn't allow you to see who viewed your posts. The Group must be started by a Person. You can choose whether you want the group to be open or closed. The Facebook Group is an excellent tool to get important information out to your members.
Twitter
Twitter is another popular social media tool used by many people today. More people have Facebook accounts than Twitter accounts. Twitter does not have as many different functions as Facebook, but if used properly it can be effective at spreading your message to as many people as possible. With Twitter, you are limited to 140 characters for each message you send. Twitter is used mostly to post information about your business rather than having interative conversations like Facebook. One good feature about Twitter is the "Retweet". If someone sees your post and likes what you have to say, they can Retweet it to all their friends. This is good for maximizing your exposure to as large an audience as possible.
Instagram
A picture is worth 1,000 words. Let's face it, people like to look at pictures. Even more people like to look at GOOD pictures. With the release of Instagram, your everyday smartphone photo snappers were upgraded into mini state-of-the-art, professional photographers with access to all kinds of filters, labels, and backdrops to express their artistic creativity. Instagram is a great tool for small businesses, especially affiliates. People like to see pictures of fit people working out. They also like to see pictures of folks who aren't so fit working out, but looking good doing it. This is encouraging for people who may not be as ripped as Rich Froning Jr. or Julie Foucher, but have been thinking about trying your program. This will get your "Average Joe's" and "Soccer Mom's" coming through your doors to get fit.
Take LOTS of pictures and play with the different filters to find which ones work best for different pictures. Only post your BEST pictures. Nothing is more annoying, or unattractive than visiting a site and seeing hundreds of blurry pictures with a bunch of people working out in an unorganized, chaotic mess. You want your gym to look professional, clean, and organized. Take hundreds of pictures, but only post the ones that make your business stand out and that will make people want to come be a part of your community.
Instagram can have a tendency to be quite slow when snapping pictures and saving them to your phone. Camera+ is a good app that allows you to take pictures very quickly and automatically saves them to a temporary folder on your phone. Camera+ also has a bunch of filters and other features that Instagram does not. You can snap and edit all your pictures with Camera+, then upload them to Instagram and post them to all your social networks with one click. It's actually quite simple and you can complete the entire process of snapping a picture with Camera+, editing, transfer to Instagram, and post it to all your social media networks in less than a minute. Another cool app for your smart phone is Color Splash. It allows you to choose which parts of a photo you wish to appear in color, and which parts you want to appear in black and white. Color Splash is highly recommended for even more cool photo effects.
Facebook Fan Page
One of the first, and most important Marketing tasks is to create a Facebook Fan Page for your gym. Do not use a Personal Page to host your business on Facebook. It is tempting for most people at first to create a personal page because that allows you to reach out and request friends to your page. Facebook catches on quickly, and they will shut down your page after you’ve accumulated some friends. Save yourself the heartache and create a Fan Page. The Fan Page will not allow you to request friends, but there is no limit on how many people can like your page. Fans must find your page and like it. Your Facebook Fan Page is part of your Search Engine Optimization strategy. Facebook Fan pages are indexed by search engines while personal profiles are not. This means you have more links coming up in the top of the search rankings for google and other search engines when people are searching for fitness in your area. Visit Facebook Fan Pages for more information.
Facebook now limits all posts made by your Fan Page to only about 10% of your fan base. The only way to get your information out to more, or all of your fan base is to do what Facebook calls "Promote" your post. That means you pay to get your post exposed to more of your fans. The best way to ensure that your posts get out to all your members and anyone else you want to "stay in the know" is to create a Facebook Group.
Facebook Group
Once you've created your Facebook Fan Page and gotten the word out there to all your friends to like your Fan Page, it's time to start a Facebook Group. The group is different from the fan page in that only People can be part of the group, not Businesses, Organizations, or other Fan Pages. You might be asking yourself, "Why should I create a Facebook Group if I already have the ability to share all my events, pictures, and other information with everyone on my Facebook Fan Page"? The reason is simple. Everyone who's a part of your Facebook Group will receive all the posts made by all members of that Group. You also have the ability to see how many people viewed the posts, who viewed them, and you can see all their responses. This is much more effective than the Facebook Fan Page, which only sends your posts to 10% of your fans, and doesn't allow you to see who viewed your posts. The Group must be started by a Person. You can choose whether you want the group to be open or closed. The Facebook Group is an excellent tool to get important information out to your members.
Twitter is another popular social media tool used by many people today. More people have Facebook accounts than Twitter accounts. Twitter does not have as many different functions as Facebook, but if used properly it can be effective at spreading your message to as many people as possible. With Twitter, you are limited to 140 characters for each message you send. Twitter is used mostly to post information about your business rather than having interative conversations like Facebook. One good feature about Twitter is the "Retweet". If someone sees your post and likes what you have to say, they can Retweet it to all their friends. This is good for maximizing your exposure to as large an audience as possible.
A picture is worth 1,000 words. Let's face it, people like to look at pictures. Even more people like to look at GOOD pictures. With the release of Instagram, your everyday smartphone photo snappers were upgraded into mini state-of-the-art, professional photographers with access to all kinds of filters, labels, and backdrops to express their artistic creativity. Instagram is a great tool for small businesses, especially affiliates. People like to see pictures of fit people working out. They also like to see pictures of folks who aren't so fit working out, but looking good doing it. This is encouraging for people who may not be as ripped as Rich Froning Jr. or Julie Foucher, but have been thinking about trying your program. This will get your "Average Joe's" and "Soccer Mom's" coming through your doors to get fit.
Take LOTS of pictures and play with the different filters to find which ones work best for different pictures. Only post your BEST pictures. Nothing is more annoying, or unattractive than visiting a site and seeing hundreds of blurry pictures with a bunch of people working out in an unorganized, chaotic mess. You want your gym to look professional, clean, and organized. Take hundreds of pictures, but only post the ones that make your business stand out and that will make people want to come be a part of your community.
Instagram can have a tendency to be quite slow when snapping pictures and saving them to your phone. Camera+ is a good app that allows you to take pictures very quickly and automatically saves them to a temporary folder on your phone. Camera+ also has a bunch of filters and other features that Instagram does not. You can snap and edit all your pictures with Camera+, then upload them to Instagram and post them to all your social networks with one click. It's actually quite simple and you can complete the entire process of snapping a picture with Camera+, editing, transfer to Instagram, and post it to all your social media networks in less than a minute. Another cool app for your smart phone is Color Splash. It allows you to choose which parts of a photo you wish to appear in color, and which parts you want to appear in black and white. Color Splash is highly recommended for even more cool photo effects.