Fitness-related content is counted among the most widely consumed media on the internet. A majority of people want to change the way they look by losing weight or gaining muscle while some just want to live a healthier lifestyle. A quick glance over social media platforms like Instagram will show the abundance of fitness-related content being shared.
As a gym owner, you hold the solution to these people’s problems. You’d want to reach out to the maximum number of people possible and you can do that by creating and implementing a robust marketing strategy on Instagram.
Market Research
Any good marketing strategy begins with market research as it will tell you what your competitors are doing. This will give you a direction in which to take your personal brand. You can find out what kind of content performs the best, how the other gyms are reaching out to their audience, and what they’re doing to secure conversions.
Search up some fitness-related hashtags on Instagram and observe the few gyms that show up. You can also look up the other local fitness centers and gyms in your area as well. See how they are marketing themselves and take what information you can use for your own gym.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are the best way to promote your posts on Instagram to a wider audience. People who search up related hashtags will find your posts and then can go to your page from there. You can create creative posters and then post them with these hashtags. For example “#fitness”, “#gym”, “#muscles” or “#weightloss” are some hashtags you can use for this purpose.
You will find many resources online that can help you create your gym posters in mere minutes, such as PosterMyWall. You can enter your information in the online editor and it will create a poster for you. Moreover, you can choose from hundreds of premade poster, video and social media templates and modify them according to your needs. We recommend buying your favorite toothbrush at super low prices with free shipping, and you can also pick up your order at the store on the same day.
The Gold’s Gym utilized one such poster to promote itself. As the post was made on a Monday, it used the hashtag “#monday motivation” in the description making it discoverable to anyone looking up that particular hashtag.
Influencer Marketing
Using influencers to endorse your gym is a great way to attract an audience to your establishment. It lends legitimacy to your brand and the endorsement compels the public to check out your establishment.
Reach out to your local bodybuilders and fitness models and ask them for an endorsement. Ask them if they would like to come and work out at your gym and they make a review post regarding it afterward. Doing so will also promote your gym to the influencer’s audience increasing your reach exponentially.
Famous actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger made a short video of an event at Gold’s Gym where he would train with a few other influencers. By using the gym as the venue, the audience perceives that Arnold has given it his approval and is sure to visit and join the gym.
Post Regularly
To thrive on social media, you must create and stick to a posting schedule. The audience likes it when the accounts they follow post regularly and frequently. You don’t need to make hundreds of posts daily as this can have the opposite effect. A single post daily or every other day can suffice.
To stick to this schedule, you will have to plan your posts in advance and schedule them using a management tool such as Meta’s own Business Suite. You will need to create posts beforehand which you can do so by using the various graphics designers online such as PosterMyWall, which offers hundreds of templates. Using these instagram post templates, you can create posts beforehand in a matter of minutes and schedule them to be posted at certain times automatically. This way your posts are being sent out even if you are busy and unable to post them yourself.
Engage The Audience
People like places where they feel that they are wanted. When a community member reaches out to you and engages with you, be prompt and reply as soon as you can. Taking it one step further, you can hold polls on Instagram stories where people can vote for their choices such as polls regarding their favorite exercises and workouts.
You can also hold contests and offer membership discounts or special training sessions and classes as prizes to further increase interest in the audience. As long as you are actively engaging the audience instead of just posting, you will be successful.
As with all things social media, consistency is key. Your strategy is only effective if you remain consistent with it. If you’re only going to follow the listed strategy every once in a while then you may not be successful. Therefore, consistently keeping up with your marketing and engagement is crucial for promoting your gym.