Social media is a massive part of getting leads in your personal training business. You probably already have some form of social media presence with people that know, like and trust you and are following your content. The issue is leveraging this audience to create leads that want to buy personal training services from you.
What Is A "Lead" On Social Media?
When you post on social media, the people that interact with your content - from liking a post, leaving a comment or emoji, or sending you a direct message off the back of something you've said - they are potential leads.How ready that person is to buy personal training services from you is the thing which determines the quality of that lead. Some leads are "warmer" than others, meaning - they're more ready to buy from you than other people.
Where Do I Get Leads On Social Media?
The best social media platform to use for collecting leads depends on who your ideal customer is. Knowing with total clarity who you serve with your business, their demographic information and where they spend their time online should influence into which social media platform you put your time and efforts. If you’re not sure where your ideal customer hangs out online, you can check these demographics as a starting point.Facebook is the largest social media platform, and almost 2.5 billion people use it every month. But don't forget about the other platforms. Instagram is popular too. LinkedIn and Twitter are suitable for a more professional network.
Start with using the platforms you're already on rather than starting any new accounts. If you have several social media platforms, pick the one or two you like best and focus on learning how to use them effectively.
How to Start Building Relationships?
If someone landed on your social media page right now, would they know what services you provide and who you serve? If not, this is an excellent place to start. Posting consistently on your personal page about your personal training services and showcasing your clients' results can be a simple way to generate some inbound leads.That's when people reach out and ask you about your services. But you can also post consistently and follow up with the people that interact with your content as a means of generating some outbound lead generation too. Here are 5 basic principles to follow with your content schedule.
#1. Post content regularly.
This means having content posted daily in your main feed, which showcases your clients' results working with you as their personal trainer, builds relationships with your audience, and explains how you do things differently. It may seem simple, but consistently posting day in day out can be challenging. But like you'd tell your clients, their success will come from doing the basics really well day in and day out.
#2. Interact in stories
Stories are available on some platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and they last only 24 hours. This is a way to give your audience a glimpse into your life, and build rapport with potential prospects quickly. You can be yourself, and this authenticity is a way to fast track building relationships.
You might consider posting polls or inviting interaction from your viewers - the goal here is simply to start as many conversations as possible. Follow up with the people that vote in your polls and interact on your stories as sometimes people are too shy to reach out and make the first move.
#3. Use eye-catching images.
Although people spend on average well over an hour on social media each day (reports vary hugely on the actual duration), the average person spends just fractions of a second deciding if they want to read your post. You have less than a second to grab someone's attention, and using eye-catching images can help you to stand out on someone's feed. To make your own graphics, try Canva for free.
#4. Pay attention to formatting.
Spacing out your text and making it easy to read makes a massive difference to how much of it they will take in. Consider using no more than three or four sentences per paragraph before breaking it up. If you want to check that your post is easy to digest, consider running it through Hemingway or Grammarly.
#5. Include a call to action.
Calls to action are direct and specific instructions on what you'd like your reader to do next. It may include clicking a link to download your home workouts, leaving a comment expressing an opinion, or liking and sharing the post. To make the most of outbound lead generation, you then contact each of these people to continue the conversation.
About What Topics Should I Post?
If you're already working as a personal trainer, you can post content that would be useful for your ideal client. Keep a list in the notes app on your phone for the questions clients ask you regularly, or objections that you get on the phone during sales calls.Contemporary topics related to the fitness industry, which are in the news are always topical and often can generate some great talking points. Don't be afraid to show your genuine opinions on things. Taking a clear stance on some ideas will turn some people away from you - but this is fine. You aren't trying to appeal to everyone, and the more people you turn off your services, the more clearly you speak to your ideal customer.
Celebrate client wins from the week, including before and after pictures if you have them. Prior to posting, ensure you have consent from your client and remember to tag them to not only make your post visible to everyone on your friends' list but your client's feed too. This can generate some new friend requests, so be ready to drop them a message to say hello.
Sending people direct messages to thank them for interacting on your posts, to offer support and advice with their fitness goals, and to present yourself as friendly and approachable will build good relationships. Even if people don't buy from you right away, with every interaction, you're nurturing those relationships.
Wrapping Up
Marketing your personal training services is not as tricky in principle as you think. Still, it's challenging in the sense that you need to be just as consistent with your marketing efforts as you expect your clients to be consistent with their fitness efforts while working with you.Experienced trainers eventually will understand the parallel between the two. If you're just in the process of considering becoming a personal trainer, check out this lesson from the Institute of Personal Trainers toHow to Become a Personal Trainer. It will clarify what you can expect from both an income, commitment and career aspect.
