As a business owner you know that gaining new clients and customers is essential for consistent turnover and growth. To bring people through the door, you need to engage with them where they hang out. And if you’re trying to do this online, the starting point should still be social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
Building paid campaigns in social mediaÂ
We’re going to talk about how to build a following organically below, but first let’s take a look at what you can do if you have some budget to play with. It’s important to know that paid campaigns usually need a minimum of at least $900 per month for them to be effective.Â
When starting to do paid marketing on social media it can be useful to become familiar with some essential principles. Understanding the phases of awareness, consideration, and conversion help you avoid wasting your advertising money:
The Awareness Stage is all about letting your audience know that your facilities exist. With an engagement campaign, you can show the world who you are and what you can do for them. The key term is awareness here. Don’t go in expecting a lot of conversions as you’re trying to get the business name out.Â
Awareness ads should showcase your business and get in front of people several times. Once this has occurred, you can move to the consideration phase. This is where you highlight more aspects of the business or studio that speak more exactly to what they may be after. You can segment your ads to cover different areas to see what would be the most effective.Â
Finally it’s time to move to the most aggressive phase of any paid marketing campaign. In the conversion phase you’re going to be looking for people who have engaged positively before with a special offer or bonus. This can encourage them to finally make the leap and sign up for a class or membership. It’s important to note that conversion-targeted campaigns do tend to be the most expensive.Â
Building quality landing pages for your campaigns
If you’re spending the money on paid campaigns, it’s critical that you have a great destination for them. A landing page should share the story of your business and show prospective clients what your studio is capable of. Every landing page should always have a clear “call to action” placed at the top of it that directs visitors to what you want them to do next.Â
Landing pages usually don’t have further site navigation to keep the user focussed on the presented information. Also, keep the information focussed and simple. Don’t try to over explain, let the results speak for themselves.Â
Building an organic following on social mediaÂ
In general, the more you post, the better, especially at the beginning. This is true so long as you are still producing quality content. There’s no point in pumping tons of low quality posts as this will turn people off your brand. Aim for at least once a day for a few months.Â
Once you’ve established a consistent posting schedule, aim for two or three posts every day. A studio’s ultimate objective is to have a 24-hour audience in the sense that there is something new for them to see no matter what time they check-in. The voice and tone of each post should be consistent to build your business and brand identity.Â
You also need to vary your posts, don’t put out photo after photo. You can also create videos through things like Facebook’s creator studio as well as use question prompts or statements to engage with people. The important thing to remember is that social media is largely a visual platform and anything you put out should be well-designed.
Our advice, is to find the right software partner to grow your fitness business, as the best in breed, such as Truecoach will provide guidance and advice on all aspects of running your venture, including getting the most out of social media channels.
