Fitness social media is a massive industry which is still growing - and the top social influencers generate millions of dollars each in revenue every year.
Every personal trainer business needs to take note of this, as fitness social media platforms are only getting more important for generating leads and making sales.
You might not hit the million-dollar mark this year, but get posting and sharing content, and you'll be rewarded with new leads and repeat business. Plus, you'll be able to secure your status as a knowledge leader in your field.
Here are the fitness social media platforms you need to join right now to drive new leads to your personal training business.
YouTube
YouTube is an obvious fitness social media choice for all personal trainers. Videos let you demonstrate workout techniques in detail. And they allow your customers follow best practice without the need for you to show them everything in person.
Owning a good video library means that you can refer your clients to individual exercises by emailing them a link. Seeing you on the video will secure the image in their minds of you as a knowledgeable trainer.
So they will be more likely to trust, and therefore book you to work with them. From that point, the cycle will hopefully continue!
YouTube isn't necessarily just for exercise demonstrations. Anything related to health or fitness would be suitable. You can branch out into showing how to cook and prepare healthy meals, just as one example.
Or you can talk through the underlying concepts of your regimes. Or share answers to the questions your customers are always asking you.
Each of these ideas can save you time - as you can just send people links when they ask you questions, for example.
Instagram is extremely popular with a young and energetic audience - perhaps your most likely target. These users have shared over 40 billion photos to date, and 75% of Instagram users take action after viewing an advert on this platform.
So it's a strong device to use when fishing for new leads online, as part of your fitness social media strategy.
You can post pretty much anything you like. Share pictures of happy clients (with their permission!), share your own routine, share news about special offers and promotions. Share pictures of you working out hard, or from your classes.
Get stuck in - but don't forget your hashtags. These actually increase engagement on the platform. And while you're at it, search for related hashtags and jump into the conversations of people using them.
You'd be surprised how much a useful comment on someone else's post might go if seen by the right audience.
Chances are, you're probably already on Facebook. But you should consider thinking about using it as part of your fitness social media. What this means is that you should set up a page for your personal training business too.
Here, you can post everything people need to know about getting in touch and booking sessions. As well as motivational posts and other useful information.
It takes some dedication to build a following, but Facebook adverts can be very tightly targeted. Pick your young, gym-loving demographic, get insights into their behaviors, and create adverts just for them.
The adverts are powerful as you'll be able to see what other interests your core audience has. This can help you to nurture strategic partnerships with other businesses in the area - for example, home gym supplies or local nutritionists.
You can also set up Facebook-based shops, meaning that you can sell branded items or training sessions with little active effort. You'll need some catchy copy, but the sales should more or less make themselves.
You should probably expect this to be low-volume until you're a big name, but any extra income is a good thing, right?
You might also be lucky enough to have one or two customers who get into the habit of booking via your system rather than phoning you up or emailing, saving you time on a regular basis.
Google+
Google+ is a fairly maligned - and let's face it, mostly abandoned - social network. But it actually does have its uses, particularly in terms of delivering SEO results.
You may struggle to grow your list of connections. But a full Google profile, linked up properly to your website, and a few hundred connections can actually help to boost your website's SEO ranking.
This means it will be 'easier' to find in search. But you should also make sure to target and use the right keywords for this purpose, including the name of your local city or town.
Local search is powerful but competitive, and if a Google+ presence pushes you above your rivals then so be it.
We wouldn't worry too much about being a very active poster here though. Most of the other platforms named in this blog are far more popular.
Pinterest isn't really the place for long, wordy posts.
Think of it as a platform to share inspiration - mostly pictures - with few words. It's nice to think laterally here. If you only post pictures of yourself in the gym, followers are likely to turn off.
But a shot of the beautiful countryside during your morning run? Now you're thinking along the right lines.
Inspiring images work well in an environment without much text, so anytime you want to share something interesting, go right ahead.
Engage with other gym enthusiasts by following and repinning their content. Connect with existing and potential clients to share interesting things.
LinkedIn isn't the most obvious fitness social media platform for a personal trainer. It's a fairly stuffy environment for the most part, after all.
However, being on LinkedIn can lend legitimacy in the eyes of your customers. You can list all of your fitness qualifications to offer reassurance to the uncertain, for example.
Creating and sharing content which crosses the line between business and fitness could also serve you well. Think about penning some content marketing in the form of blog pieces. Titles might include 'How fitness regimes improve your workday' or 'The benefits of healthy employees'.
The latter title, in particular, could be your ticket to being invited to lead corporate fitness classes, which can be extremely lucrative.
If nothing else, LinkedIn is one more place to connect with potential leads, so you've nothing to lose by being on here.
Twitter moves too far fast for you to engage with every relevant post - or for everyone else to engage with you. But if you build up a decent following it can still be quite a useful tool.
If you've got time to kill on a bus or a train though, it can be a good way of reaching out to your audience on the fly. This is because the 140 character limit is very manageable in terms of creating posts.
You can share those YouTube videos we talked about earlier, too.
There are several analytics tools you can hook up to your Twitter account to identify the peak times to post. It's advisable to use these as a guide and then use an aggregator (like Twitter's own Tweetdeck) to schedule regular tweets at these times, aiming to auto-post at least a few times a day.
The key to building a following on Twitter, given the speed at which things move, are regular posts. It's definitely not easy but a scheduler can help you to keep up the pace.
Top Tips for Getting the Most out of Fitness Social Media
Now that we've run through the major networks, here are three quick top tips for getting the most from your posts on all forms of fitness social media.
1. Offer something of value
Remember that you always need to give your readers (or viewers) something of value when they interact with your social pages.
So think about enjoyable or funny photos or something that educates and informs. Boring content will be lost in the noise, and simply won't be shared.
2. Post whenever inspiration strikes
It's easy to forget about something you intended to post. Keep your mobile charged and ready to post and reply whenever you have downtime.
If you're lucky, an off-the-cuff picture can have a much bigger impact than a carefully planned weekly campaign - so don't be shy to post when the mood takes you!
3. Use an account aggregator
You're probably operating on multiple fitness social media outlets. It makes sense to use an account aggregator to manage them all at once, rather than dipping into each to make individual posts.
Try out a few and see which works for you, but remember to choose one that you can use on the go.
Keep an Eye on How You Communicate
Always keep an eye on how you're communicating. Think about your tone of voice. It's not always about what you say, but how you say it.
If you're used to using social media for your own personal needs - talking to friends, and so on - don't carry the same tone of voice over into your commercial.
It's fine to be friendly, but not over-friendly. The line can get a bit blurred, particularly if you're a one-person business.
What this means is that you can still have a personality, but the potential leads you're aiming for probably don't care if it's your birthday. Unless you're sharing a recipe for a healthy, nutritious, alternative to birthday cake.
Be careful about being tagged in photos you might not want your clients to see, too. You can adjust permission settings on many platforms so that you can't be tagged without your agreement.
But do always keep in mind that these aren't foolproof. So you might want to be a little cautious about what photos are being taken in the first place!
It's wise to set up separate professional and personal pages so that you can separate your business persona from the rest of your life.
Keep an Eye Out for New Networks
It might seem like we've reached the 'endpoint' of fitness social media platform development, given the dominance of a handful of companies in the space.
That said, it always pays to make an account on new networks as they pop up. If any new ones are made, from this point, that is.
No one could have predicted Facebook's rapid growth and success, and they may well underestimate the next platform too.
By getting ahead of your competitors, you'll 'landgrab' fitness posting topics, which will be great for your business. You'll be one of the most prominent fitness social media posters in the new space.
Using Fitness Social Media to Grow Your Business
Fitness social media is a powerful tool which all personal trainers need to pay close attention to. Plus, they don't need to cost much at all to deliver fantastic results, making them extremely cost-effective.
Remember that it's just one aspect of your marketing efforts, and you definitely shouldn't neglect your content marketing, email list or any other type of marketing work in favor of another.
But you can measure results very quickly with social media, making it an attractive and useful part of your marketing. It can be a great place to test reactions to certain content before committing more resources to an idea.
You should always keep a close eye on your fitness social media accounts. We realize you can't be on them all the time, but you should definitely try to engage with your audience as much as possible on these platforms.
Answer their questions and offer advice where you can - the more value you add to their lives, the more likely they are to make a purchase from you.
Good use of fitness social media can really drive your business forwards, with new leads, sales, and an improved public image. Fitness social media is the perfect partner for the rest of your marketing activities.
So what are you waiting for? Go and sign up to as many as you can right now, and get posting!