Social media has become an integral part of the way businesses now market themselves. The use of a social media content manager is essential for businesses now as it keeps them on top of their communication and presence online.
The gym industry is particularly reliant on digital marketing, with over 90% of customers typically influenced by the information they see online.
Read on for our top five tips for successfully promoting your gym on social media.
Use your in-house resources
Gym operators can take on social media marketing without the need for a big budget or outsourcing through an agency.
Your staff, personal trainers and gym members are an unlimited resource for content – they are your content writers.
They have brilliant success stories and valuable insights your social media can use to influence and retain membership.
Be selective
It can be tempting to try and be active on every single social media platform, but it’s better to do selected ones well rather than all of them badly.
Ask your members what they use – where for they search for news, information or offers like the William Hill bonus.
Play around with different networks and test out different types of content. Once you know what gives you the biggest engagement, keep doing it consistently and you will reap the benefits.
Social media management tools are your friend
Management tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck can help you manage your social media pages.
These tools allow you to schedule posts – an excellent time-saving tool. There are content calendar functions to plan a weekly strategy that is timely and relevant. This goes to show how social media management software is paramount in this day and age as the digital world is expanding.
This allows you to focus on real-time moments that happen within the club and gives your social media the ideal mix of content to keep people engaged.
Create a content calendar
Develop a calendar of content based on your marketing and organisational goals.
You may want to start the week by giving members motivational messages to kick-start their fitness activities. Add in other advice during the week such as health or nutrition tips.
Don’t forget to work in staff and member focused content to ensure that the people who matter most feel valued.
Once you have a framework laid out, use the management tools to schedule the content.
Don’t overlook policies and guidelines
If you’re using staff to feed into your social media strategy, make sure they have a clear understanding of your gym’s policies and guidelines.
Train them on best practices and a set of standards to ensure they always remain professional and ‘on message’.
Place your social media policy in your company handbook and have employees sign it. Educate employees that social media can adversely affect the club as well as negatively impact their professional and personal brand.
