Have you been looking at rebranding your fitness business? You know that you could build your business by reaching a wider market through social media platforms, but you’re yet to take the plunge, or maybe are using social media but are finding it hard to remain consistent?
I’ve been through quite the journey with this over the last year in particular and wanted to share with you a few of my experiences that may help you on your journey.
To me, there is a little more to using social media to attract your ideal client, build your fitness business and grow your brand than just boosting ads, hitting potential customers with endless buy, buy buy posts. Yes, we all know that plays a role but there is so much to learn on a technical level that can be applied, so let’s go a little deeper.
I use social media as a platform to create relationships, build value and genuinely/authentically impact women on a deeper level. I do this by being super clear in my mission and vision, attracting a following of my ideal clients, being unapologetically me, bringing up subjects that maybe others do not have the courage to speak about right now but can relate to and asking the hard questions of my online community to spark conversation and allow them to share their stories.
Create Relationships:
Who is your ideal client? Where can you add value to their journeys to build trust, rapport and to create relationships with them so that they will want work with you, and refer their loved ones and friends to you?
I give my community what I was looking for in a time of need and pain. Turns out there were many other women who wanted what I was looking for.
I will give a business repeat business if the staff are genuinely interested in getting to know me, who remember my name, where they will try and help me solve a problem.
I will spend money where I feel I have created a relationship with them, that they value me and that I am not just another person handing them my money for a product or service.
These are people that will go above and beyond.
I feel I do my best to provide this to my community. No, I am not perfect, but I am always trying to go above and beyond because at the end of the day I genuinely care for each individual and if I can better their circumstances, provide insight or a referral that will help them in their journey, I am happy.
Get to know people. Social media is no exception to this. Simple.
Building Value:
Where can you add value?
I ensure that every post is either empowering, relatable, allows the client to see who I am in real life, shows some sort of application where change can be created, brings up a topic that is not being spoken about, asks where I can help them today to coach them or offers them free content.
I personally would be very put off by a social media account that was trying to sell me a product or a service CONSTANTLY without showing me who they are, what they have got and how it will benefit me (or why should I care).
This is what people are looking for, so ensure that you are adding value when posting.
Vision and Mission:
Are you super clear on your vision and mission both personally and professionally? Do you know who your ideal client is?
You need to get really clear on your vision and your mission. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Who do you want to impact? What is the legacy you want to leave behind for your children?
Sure, this may sound super deep and a lot of people make the mistake of trying to be something to everyone, but at the end of the day you’re here for a reason, and once you get clear on what that is, things will start to flow.
A social media platform is creating your brand. If you’re not clear on what that brand is (your vision and mission) then you will not be attracting your ideal clients. Ideal clients are those wonderful people who you really want want to work with, who you’d jump out of your warm bed every morning to train and coach.
Would you rather a seemingly smaller following of ideal clients or a massive following of people who really are not interested in what you are offering and who do not really align with your values and mission?
You want to live an inspired life and feel like your business is who you are and not just what you do? This is the key, get really really clear. It not always easy, but always worth it.
Every post will feed into the vision and mission and you will develop a very strong brand, following and people who are wanting to buy into what you are offering.
Do not underestimate your reach and your impact, be consistent.
Do you often feel that you are not impacting or reaching enough people through social media?
Until recently I was basing my success of my social media reach and impact on the likes and comments on my posts.
I am very consistent with my platforms, and sometimes come across a post from a similar business in the fitness industry who had done a similar post within a couple of days of mine, that had hundreds of likes and comments. I am not going to pretend that I don’t get a little down about every now and then, and wonder what is the difference? What am I missing?
There are two things I want to share with you.
1. Facebook works on an algorithm, business pages in particular without paid advertising have 1-2% visibility to those who like your page. So if a post does not have likes or comments, it’s not that people do not like it. It is that they haven’t seen it! Things like times of day that your ideal clients are online are also important. The more likes and comments you have the more it is visible and the more likes and comments you will get! It may pay to experiment with boosting posts to increase your reach and attracting your ideal client.
2. People are still being impacted, sometimes deeply but do not display that by liking or commenting on a post. I don’t think that we can base the success of who we are impacting by how many likes and comments we are getting. People are silently watching, learning, applying and being empowered.
Do not underestimate your impact, continue to be consistent and putting your message out there. That one day you do not post may be the day that someone needs you the most.
Share your journey, story and show who you really are.
Have you given your ideal clients the chance to really get to know the real you?
I talk about topics that I know women are suffering with, have pain around or are too ashamed to speak up about in order to give them a voice. I hope this inspires women into action to create change and seek the help they need to lead the life they want to be leading.
I encourage you to share your stories, experiences and let people see you be vulnerable, show that you also have struggles that are relatable, just be you. People connect with real people. By you doing this, you will give them the permission to the do the same.
Be Visual.
Are your posts engaging?
In a social media world where you are competing for attention, words will get lost.
Always use photos or images that relate to what you are talking about, be sure to credit the source where you got the image from.
Better yet – videos under 3-5 minutes have a lot of impact, are easy to listen to while clients and potentials are getting about their day.
Post when you are inspired and fired up!
When you are posting what energy are you putting out to your community?
I am an organised chaos kind of girl.
I do not have a social media strategy, I will blog, post and share images when I am inspired to do so.
Inspiration comes from everywhere for me. When I first started this journey I didn’t know where I would get content from for blogs and posts to share nearly everyday. Now that I am clear on my mission and vision it shows up daily.
Sometimes I will post three to four times a day, others only once.
If you are not feeling inspired share a quote, or a picture of your everyday life, or just share why you are not feeling inspired.
For example I am writing this blog at 3:30am on a Saturday morning when really I should be resting and recovering, this barely happens – but you get my point.
The energy that you are feeling at that very moment is something you need to harness and put out to your community. This is when I find I get the biggest response and feel I create the most impact.
At the end of the day your social media platform is a reflection of you and who you are, so be very certain on who that is and things will start to flow, you will attract your ideal client and create a following who is interested in YOU and what you are offering. Remember, as we explain to our clients, it will take time and consistency. It may not be easy – but it will be worth it!