10 Social Media Content Ideas For Gyms and Personal Trainers
Social media can be a valuable tool and cost effective solution for your fitness business. Used properly, it’s possible to generate leads and create loyalty for existing members/clients.
Knowing who your customer is so that you can create content that they will want to engage with is important and I’d always recommend creating customer profiles and developing a strategy before setting about creating your content.
However, there is certain health and fitness content that most gym-goers and health conscious people will resonate with so today I’m going to cover these and give you some inspiration for what you could post!
These ideas are pretty tried and tested and you can adapt them for your own clients.
NOTE: During the COVID19 outbreak, how fitness businesses operate has changed dramatically but it’s likely you can still apply some of these tips in some form.
1. Tell the success story of a current member (with their permission of course!)
Most people looking to join a gym or start with a PT will want to know what success people have achieved in the past with them and what their overall experience has been. This can be one of the most powerful tools you can use as the content is authentic and trustworthy.
You may want to use some words from that member alongside before and after shots if they are happy with that.
Additionally, you are creating good community vibes by celebrating that member’s success with them. Win win!
REVIEWS/TESTIMONIALS: These are also an amazing way to demonstrate proof and success. Feature them in your feed as well as in Stories and be sure to use the client name so long as they agree. If you can get a video testimonial, all the better, these are the gold standard for reviews.
2. Workout ideas
This is where you can really add value and show your knowledge and expertise.
Why not create some short workout videos for people to do at home or on holiday. You could even create a series and focus on a different part of the body in each video.
You might want to create a bodyweight series if people are away on holiday so that they don’t need to worry about gathering equipment together. Or perhaps you could focus on creating videos with minimal equipment and using ‘alternatives’ to weights.
The great thing about these videos is they are evergreen and can be posted to various platforms multiple times (e.g. over the course of a year). You can also create engagement and future content ideas by encouraging people to give you feedback on the workouts.
3. Healthy eating and recipes
Nutrition and exercise go hand in hand and you definitely can’t out train a bad diet! So show your expertise and add value by posting tips and advice on healthy eating. Ideas for healthy snacks and what foods to avoid can be super helpful.
If you want to go further, you can talk about what foods people might eat to reach different goals.
4. Meet the team
For potential new customers, knowing who forms the gym team is desirable. Having an idea of what niches different trainers might cover can make the difference between that person enquiring for a trial or not.
For example, one of your team might be an expert in kick boxing, someone else might be a spin teacher whilst you may have a great bodybuilder available to coach.
It’s also nice for people to put faces to a brand. It makes a brand more human and they are much more likely to engage.
5. Celebrate member achievements
This a great opportunity to nurture your member community. People work hard at the gym and receiving encouragement and support along the way is important.
Therefore once a member has reached their goal, celebration of that can feel wonderful for that person and exciting for those around them.
This kind of content usually generates lots of engagement. It’s happy, positive news and shows a supportive community people will want to be part of.
6. Show your business in action
For those social media users that are unfamiliar with your business, getting a look at what it’s like behind those doors and what goes on is paramount.
They’ll get a feel of the business and can get a steer on whether it’s right for them.
For members that are already training with you, most* will be pleased to be tagged and celebrated!
Instagram (and Facebook) Stories is a great place to show your business in action and if you are feeling brave, you can do a LIVE stream if you have something exciting to communicate.
*I say ‘most’ as it’s important to make people aware and ensure they are happy with being on social media.
7. Show behind the scenes
Like the above post, showing behind the scenes of your business can be really interesting for social media users as it gives your brand/business personality.
Maybe show some footage of a team meeting with some exciting upcoming gym classes or challenges or sneak peaks of things to come.
8. Run a challenge
Challenges can be a great way of generating lots of engagement and therefore brand awareness. Whether it’s who can plank for the longest with a bucket of water on their back (!) or something completely different, people love to get involved in a fun challenge and this will increase engagement and brand awareness.
Remember to create a memorable hashtag and tag other relevant users.
9. Share User Generated Content (UGC)
Like the social proof that a client testimonial provides, sharing User Generated Content is a great way of showing you have happy clients.
It can often create a feeling of FOMO too which has a knock-on effect in making people want to get involved and check your business out.
For the original poster (most likely a member), they also feel good about having their content shared by you and so the circle of positivity continues.
10. Run giveaways or competitions
Running give-aways or competitions (yep, there’s a difference!) is a good way of creating a buzz, generating engagement and increasing brand awareness.
You might want to use this for a launch or to celebrate something or maybe, ‘just because’. There’s no right or wrong here.
Think of a prize that would really appeal to people in your space - maybe a month’s membership, some luxe gym wear, some vouchers or a range of various prizes (you can also hook up with other brands to run giveaways which is a great way to get more exposure).
However you decide to run the giveaway or competition, ensure you are asking people to like, share and tag other users as part of entering. This is how you maximise your brand reach (note there are terms and conditions you’ll need to be aware of on different platforms).
So there you have it! 10 ideas for your social media content.
There are loads of other content ideas such as giving advice on the best gym gear and equipment to use but I’ve stuck to those 10 tips today. Note, if you are sharing these kind of tips, be share to tag the relevant brands or businesses.
One final tip: Video is huge and usually gets more engagement so make sure this is included in your content.
Using as many functions of each platform is also important as it gives your content (ie. your business) more visibility.
Happy creating!
If you’d like to talk more about how I can help your health or fitness business create better, more effective content, get in touch for a chat.