Has your fitness facility's marketing become social yet?
Monday, June 11, 2012 at 11:39AM | Kelli Hatton Last week, I visited Denver and presented a workshop to fitness facility owners and managers on "Learning to be Social" as part of the Fitmarc Educational Series. Our focus - setting up a social media marketing plan that not only increased market presence, but also increased membership sales and retention. While many fitness facility owners have realized the marketing power of social media, many others have not, or have not taken the time to do anything about it. For those folks who are waiting, take a look at this video, "The Social Media Revolution 2012," recently updated with current stats on social media usage.
While there are many astounding stats in this video, there are a few that really stood out:
- Over 50% of the world's population is under 30 years old
- 96% of these Millenials have joined a social network
- 78% of consumers trust peer reviews of products and services
- Only 14% of comsumers trust advertising
- 34% of bloggers post about brands and their opinions of them.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be discussing ways to help plan and execute your social marketing. We will also look at how you can move through several stages of engagement to truly connect with those consumers that are interested in your brand.
Is there anything specific that you would like to see explored during these next few posts? Please let me know - let me know your challenges, your concerns and your success stories! Contact me, Kelli Hatton, with your thoughts.
Kelli Hatton is an active fitness professional, consultant and speaker with expertise in employee development, business development, marketing and management. As a business development professional and consultant, she provides management, sales, marketing and customer service training to organizations looking to increase their productivity. She also leads the Business Development team for Fitmarc, the South Central US Distributor for Les Mills Group Fitness systems. To learn more, contact Kelli today.
Reader Comments (6)
We have an LA Fitness in Bonita Springs that does not market social or even follow their reputation ... I don't think corporate does for that matter either. They made my "dumpster fire" blog for being LA Fitness, not LA Cleanliness. As soon as my contract is up in July, I'm outtie. I have never belonged to such a filthy gym. In the past I've even tweeted from cardio about no paper towels anywhere (because there was no staff member available to replace them) as a test to see if anyone was listening and never even received a reply.
Gyms like this are missing a HUGE opportunity to engage with consumers, improve their service or drive new members across their threshold.
There are a few trainers at the gym who are outstanding and also connected socially. It would be wise for the gym to follow them just to learn what some of these hard workers actually do for the members. Eh, IMHO of course.
Chris - thanks for your comments! Unfortunately, there are many fitness facilities that, like your local LA Fitness, are missing a tremendous opportunity to engage current and future members by not having or maintaining a social media presence. By assisting facilities with planning, beginning and maintaining their social media, I hope to help improve member experiences and increase facility success through thoughtful and consistent social exchanges. With the adoption rate of social media growing more and more rapidly, fitness facilities can not afford to be "anti-social."
I've since followed up with a direct @tweet to them and they didn't even respond. There is no engagement, on top of no monitoring of the conversations that consumers have about their establishments.
We have used the social media quite alot with our members. If you would like their feedback on how successful fitness business have utalised social media and can effectively help retain your members I am sure our members will be more than happy to share :)
Good article by the way!
Joe
Chris - thank you for your follow up. I've heard the same from others, and have also had personal dealings lately that are similar. Look for my follow up post soon!
Joe - thanks for your post! I always like to hear about successful social media strategies, particularly when it's from the consumer standpoint. Having your members co firm that you are doing a good job through their loyalty is a great testament to the way you engage them. Kudos to you - tell me more!