Instagram has displayed the most phenomenal growth of any social media network. In fact, many experts have said that the growth of Instagram has surprised them with the network having over 1 billion active monthly users.
So what is the drawcard of Instagram?
Simply put, it’s the pictures that people post. Individuals the world over as suffering from information overload thanks to the millions of emails people receive on a daily basis. They don’t have time to read anything. In actual fact, they don’t want to read anything because they’re tired of reading. They want to switch off, relax their minds, and have content delivered to them.
This drawcard of Instagram is that the pictures that people post are the star of the show. So if these don’t arrest the attention of a person who is aimlessly scrolling through their feed, they’ll carry on going. However, if they sit up and notice your photography, they’ll sit up and will delve further into the captions that you’ve posted.
So what is the relevance to a fitness business?
People who own fitness businesses don’t sell tangible products, such as furniture or kitchen appliances. They sell the promise of helping people sculpt their bodies into what they want to look like.
As Instagram is a visually based network, this lends itself to personal trainers posting a number of images to show potential customers what they can do. For example:
- Personal trainers can post pictures of their well-toned physiques – if they can get results for themselves, they can definitely repeat these results for others.
- Another great idea is for personal trainers to post motivational quotes. This is to show people what they believe in and how they provide clients with the much-needed motivation that they need.
- The introduction of IGTV on Instagram has given YouTube a run for their money and has approximately 500 million monthly users. So in order to get their share of this audience, personal trainers can post short clips of them performing various exercises so that people can get an idea of their teaching style.
Be careful of what you post
A word of caution must be presented about what you should be posting on Instagram. Your photos and images must be of the highest quality. So if you have a blurry photo or your image is cut off, toss it away.
A bad picture is 100 times worse than not having a picture at all. This is because it won’t get the attention of Instagram users and, worse still, it may have the effect of causing people to start unfollowing you because you produce such bad quality work.
Have a plan
Every single marketing channel – Instagram included – needs a plan. Just think about it in physical terms: if you don’t have a roadmap of where you want to end up, how are you going to know when you’ve gotten to your destination?
So before you embark on Instagram marketing for your fitness business, be very clear about why you’re choosing to market yourself on the platform and what you’re hoping to achieve. When your efforts are directed, you’ll have a bigger chance of success.
Instagram is indeed a phenomenal platform for personal trainers and fitness professionals to market their businesses. It’s so popular that Facebook even purchased it a number of years ago and now provides seamless integration between the two. With its massive user base you are sure to find your target market here.
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