For personal trainers, social media can be a cost-efficient and effective solution that can help you to take your fitness brand to the next level.
If you use social media correctly, it's possible to create loyalty and generate leads for current clients and members.
However, you need to make sure you're using social media effectively for this to be the case.
There are many different ways to publish content, but not all will bring the desired results. This is why you need to have a carefully planned content strategy.
In this article, we list 10 types of social media content personal trainers can produce consistently to attract new members to their audience, build trust and ultimately gently nudge people to become leads, then clients.
It goes without saying that you only share stories of clients who gave their consent to use their testimonials for your marketing.
You could find yourself in a whole world of trouble if you share information about someone's fitness journey and you have not received any permission.
Remember GDPR and data protection laws. It's not worth the financial and reputational backlash.
Now, if you have a bullet-proof strategy in asking for testimonials, this shouldn't be a problem.
The more success stories you can share with your audience, the more proof you can provide to future clients about your competence.
So, asking for testimonials needs to be part of your client care procedures.
There are a few ways you can post success stories on your social media accounts.
If you're specialised in body transformations, you can even write a detailed blog article on the journey of that client, ask permission for using their before and after photos, and use their words to describe their experience.
Then, you can create platform-specific visuals and share them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter or more with a link to the original article.
You can ask your clients to record a video testimonial which you can then share across your platforms, you can also upload it to YouTube and ad it to your website as well.
The less time people have to hang around social media, the better chance you can attract them with a video or a powerful visual.
Whatever format you have, you can make the most out of it, like one of our PT Distinction members, Judd, keeps doing on Facebook:
Many people look online for healthy recipes and ideas today, so posting unique recipes can undoubtedly help you gain more traction on social media.
When posting healthy meal ideas, you don't need to complicate things by sharing a unique recipe that is entirely out of the box and contains exotic ingredients.
These sorts of recipes are only going to appeal to a limited audience.
Instead, it makes sense to post ideas that are convenient and straightforward.
You can focus on the ingredients and the cooking method when explaining it and highlight the benefits of making that particular meal.
Something similar to what Massy Arias has done in this post on her Instagram:
Posting your workout ideas and suggestions can show your expertise and knowledge while adding value to your social media pages.
Like the recipes, it's essential to focus on workouts that people will find easy to follow, ensuring minimal barriers and an instant sense of achievement.
Whether your target audience would exercise at home, outdoors or in the gym, find little snippets of exercise tips that they will find helpful in their goal.
One of the great things about exercise videos is that they represent evergreen content, which means you can post them to several different platforms. You can repost them again in the future as well.
Again, you need to ensure you have permission from your members before sharing any information about them or tagging them in a post.
Remember, some people may not want to share with their friends or loved ones that they have hired a personal trainer, so you cannot assume they will want you to post this on social media.
Celebrating your members' achievements is an excellent way of nurturing your member community.
When people work hard to achieve results in the gym, encouragement and support can mean more than you imagine.
This can help people feel motivated to keep going, as they know that their efforts are being valued and recognised.
When you celebrate one of your clients via a social media post, it will undoubtedly generate engagement.
This is because many people tend to comment to congratulate the member in question on their results.
It also helps people see that you've built a supportive community, and they would like to be a part of that.
Video content can be even more powerful here too.
If you have a team of people working for your fitness company, doing a meet the team sort of post can make a big difference.
After all, when a new customer joins a gym, they want to know more about the type of people they'll be working with.
It can also help give people peace of mind if they're interested in training in a specific area.
For example, if you have a boxing professional on your team, revealing this and telling more about their profile can help draw people interested in boxing.
Just like with success stories, you can create blog articles introducing your team members in length and then share those articles on your social media with a bit of teaser to encourage your audience to click through.
Another way to stand out from the crowd on social media is by showing some behind the scenes shots and posts relating to your business.
This can be incredibly interesting for your followers on social media because it helps them see your brand's personality.
For example, you may want to show some sneak peeks of what's to come at your business.
Alternatively, you may want to show some behind the scenes footage of your business, such as footage from a gym class or a team meeting you've hosted recently.
If you have a client who also has a big following, you might want to ask them share those behind the scenes moments with their audience as well.
This way, you can reach people outside your circles.
Another great idea for social media content is to show your business in action.
Whether that's pictures of an event you organised, a short video clip of one of your classes or even screenshots of how you design workouts for your online personal training clients.
Doing this will give a valuable insight into what it's like working with you.
This will give people a feel about your company, and helps them get a steer on whether or not your business will be suitable for them.
Some of the best social media platforms for showing your business in action are Instagram and Facebook because of their Stories feature.
To make sure you allow potential customers to see, and recognize your brand, you may want to create a logo.
Like customer testimonials and reviews discussed above, user-generated content acts as social proof.
So, if you have in-person or online training clients who share their progress on social media, reposting their content is an excellent way of showing your audience that your clients are happy.
You can also ask them to tag your profiles in those posts.
When there is great user-generated content, it can often generate a desire to belong among your followers.
People feel like they want to be a part of what your business has to offer. Plus, it helps make your brand feel more genuine and less sales-y.
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Running a fitness challenge is an excellent way of creating plenty of engagement and, therefore, brand awareness.
Many social media influencers have mastered this, creating easy challenges that everyone can get involved in.
Remember, it doesn't need to be complicated. Choose something easy, and everyone can do it.
Content like this is incredibly beneficial because it generates massive levels of engagement, and it can be a way of getting your content viral.
After all, viral content is something we are all looking to achieve.
Whether it's an online challenge or people would have to go into your facility, encouraging people to get involved will generate more interest around your business.
Take this Gym Group Rowing Challenge they promoted on Instagram, for example.
Last but not least, running a social media competition is another great way of increasing your engagement on social media.
After all, whenever someone enters the competition, they will be engaging with your brand.
Plus, they will be sharing your post with their followers.
Then a few of their followers may enter the competition, and then they will share it, so the snowball effect continues.
There is no better way of reaching as many people as possible on social media. Of course, you need to make sure you offer a prize people will find tempting.
Another way to make a competition like that go viral is to do it as part of an awareness campaign for a cause you are passionate about. Do you remember the 22 pushup challenge?
If you believe in something and want to raise awareness while also bringing health and fitness to your audience, feel free to launch a similar competition or challenge.
So you have it: social media is an excellent choice to boost customer loyalty and attract new customers. We hope these ideas and suggestions will help you up your social media game to grow your brand.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in September 2022 and has been updated to give you up-to-date information.
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