Your brand is one of the most important assets you own – it is more than just your logo and name. Think of it as a promise to your members and clients. It tells people what they can expect from you and what makes you special. It is who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.
No matter what type of fitness business you manage, there are number of brand strategies you should be doing. Read my top 10 branding strategies to super charge your social media.
1. Are you on the right networks for your audience?
When deciding what social media channel to be on, don’t think which one you like the best or which one you personally use the most. Think about which networks your members, leads or target audience are the most active on.
Facebook still rules as the most popular social media network so I always suggest to be on this channel.
Instagram demographics have skewed towards younger generations since its inception but research shows that older generations are starting to embrace the app a bit more.
Twitter is very effective for social media customer service. LinkedIn is for professionals. Snapchat is for your younger generation.
Don’t feel you have to be on every single channel. Every social network might not be the right fit for your business so find the networks that align with your brand’s image and goals.
2. Looks are everything
Visuals play an important part in social media branding. If each of your profiles looks like they’re owned by a different fitness business, it creates a disconnect for your audience. You want your branding to be consistent across all channels. This will help people immediately recognise your business and strengthens your branding.
So choose similar colours, logo, images and the pictures that look professional, eye catching and reflect your brand.
3. What is your voice?
Your brand’s personality should be reflected in your social media posts. That means developing a social media voice. This is the way your brand communicates in Tweets, Facebook posts and Snaps.
To find your social media voice, consider
- What your business stands for and what makes you special
- Your audience – speak in a way that your target audience can connect and relate to
- Be authentic – make sure you sound real and honest
4. Use the Right Hashtags
Your content may be brilliant, but what if it doesn’t reach the right audience? That’s exactly where you may be losing out to your competitors. To reach the right audiences, you need to make hashtags an integral part of your social media branding strategies.
Hashtags are a great way to improve your visibility if you use them effectively. Hashtags help your content get discovered via search so you can reach more of your ideal audience.
To create an impact, you need to research your hashtags well. Instead of loading your posts up with tons of hashtags, use only the right ones. Use hashtags that your target audiences are likely to search for. Also, keep a tab on the search volumes of those hashtags. If they run into the millions, that implies extremely high competition which may not benefit you.
After a few posts, see which hashtags are getting more visibility and engagement for your brand. Use them more often, but avoid going overboard with them.
5. Keep the info coming
Nothing will spoil your social media branding efforts more than irregular posting. If you only post once every few days or upload one new Instagram picture a month, you’re going to be soon forgotten. Shortened attention spans combined with rapidly growing social networks have made regular publishing more important than ever.
How frequently you post depends on your audience. It may take some trial and error to find out what works best for your brand.
6. Connect With Influencers
If you’re just starting out or don’t have a huge audience, your content won’t get a lot of attention since you’re relatively unknown.
A good way to achieve faster results and amplify your social media branding efforts is to build relationships with influencers. Influencer marketing allows you to piggyback off the audience that established people in your industry have already built. Since the influencer has already earned the trust and respect of their followers, getting a mention from them carries a lot of weight.
Keep in mind that having a lot of followers doesn’t qualify someone as an influencer. They should be authentic, active, engaging, be an expert and can get topics trending.
7. Maximise Your Bio/Profile
Far too many people make the mistake of letting their bio or profile section go to waste on social media. When you’re in the process of building your brand, letting people know who you are and what your business does is vital.
Don’t fill your profile up with random hashtags or motivational quotes. Treat your bio like an elevator pitch. If you had to describe what your business does in one or two sentences at the most, what would you say?
8. Promote Your Profiles
One challenge people have with social media branding is building initial traction. Getting your first few followers can seem impossible when you don’t even know where to start. However, if you’ve been in business for a while or have other Web properties (website, blog or other social media accounts) then you should start there.
Tell your current customers, colleagues and network that you have a Snapchat or Instagram account – never assume everyone knows about all your social media channels.
Many fitness businesses take a passive approach to social media branding and wait for the results to happen. It simply doesn’t work that way. Promote your social media profiles whenever and wherever possible. Print it on your flyers and brochures, link to them from your website and cross-promote on your other social media channels. Get the word out.
9. Take a Stance on Social Causes
Show your customers that your brand truly cares about a social cause – something that is in-sync with your brand’s values. By resonating your voice with it, you’re likely to attract more people who share similar ideals.
Many brands evade taking a bold stance for the risk of losing some followers. They fear that their brand may be labelled in a certain way. But you can use the same reason to support a cause as well. It can be a big advantage.
When you support a relevant social cause, you can showcase your brand’s personality. You send the message that your brand is socially conscious. You’re not just promoting your products or trying to drive more sales. This may not be for everyone, but it could be worth considering.
10. Nail Your Customer Service
It’s a universally accepted truth that the “customer is king.” But while all of us accept it, only a select few create strong systems and processes around it.
Customer feedback is turning into one of the most effective social media branding strategies there is. No matter how big or small your business is, customer service plays a major role in retaining and gaining new customers.
User feedback and polls are a great way to learn more about yourself and your competitors.
You can create a survey and send out emails to your clients for feedback. Regularly talk to your clients and see what they are thinking. This could give you a few clues as to how to improve your services as well as showing your members you care about their thoughts and ideas.