In this 5-part series, Malia Davis will help to demystify the use of social media marketing for your fitness-based business. Diving deeply into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, and Pinterest, Malia will help you to discover how you can best utilize each platform.  Topics to pbe covered include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how integration of social media can give your program an added boost and help you be found on Google. Malia will also touch on the sensitive topic of ROI (return on investment) relative to social media marketing costs, breaking down the effectiveness of social media in the grand scope of your marketing efforts.  

Part I – Facebook

In the world of Fitness, digital marketing with Facebook can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Facebook is a social platform that relies on the inherently social nature of our culture. The influence that your close circle and 2nd level connections have on you can be seemingly unfelt, but research shows that what you see in your newsfeed is effecting how you think and act in your daily life. It is considered the second most visual social networking platform and at over 1.3 billion active users is retaining some of the highest level of engagement the internet has ever seen. So – why does that matter for your business and where does Facebook fit into your Digital Marketing Success Story?

Motivation to get or stay fit has a lot to do with daily inspiration and a supportive community. Both of these are inherent aspects of Facebook. Once a brand has established their presence on the platform – it is then a matter of providing relevant, inspirational and educational content that your audience will be using to motivate them, their family and their friends.

Consider the following options for adding engaging content to your company’s Facebook Marketing page.

Before and After Photos:

Everyone loves a success story and Facebook is a great way to share that with a large audience. Ask a client if they would be willing to share their story and inspire your prospective clients to join your program.

Fitness Program Launches:

Often times the hardest part of sales is educating the client on what it is they will be getting for their dollar. Utilize this platform to launch your program step by step and to answer questions that you may not have known your clients were asking.

Inspiration:

Once you have captured your audience, it is important to keep them. If a “like” means their newsfeed will be constantly barraged with sales pitches, you can bet you will see your drop offs increase and your audience shrink. Take this opportunity to be a valued resource to your prospective and current clients. You know things that can greatly benefit them. Make sure you are mixing proposals and products with education and inspiration.

How do I manage this stuff?

While it may be appealing to utilize a program like Hootsuite to preprogram these postings – many experienced page managers have mentioned seeing a very marked drop in performance of postings that were scheduled through them.

Instead – consider utilizing Facebook’s scheduler within the platform itself. For more information on this you can click here for a helpful step-by-step.

What about Advertising?

All the postings in the world won’t help you if you are marketing to an audience of one.  Facebook is one of, if not the very best database of demographic information. Marketing dollars should be working as hard as you are, and the data mining that Facebook provides allows you to zero in on your target market to make sure that you are being seen by those most likely to convert into clients. You can find more information on setting up a Facebook Advertising Campaign here.

Check back next week for Part II of this series: Twitter.