The first 6 months of marketing of your personal training business are the most crucial, period. It's when most personal trainer spend all of their time looking for a magic solution instead of beginning to build their audience and get more traffic to their personal trainer website through real fitness marketing strategies.
But some personal trainer seem to get so lucky and go viral. That's how it happens, right? They get lucky?
The truth is that most viral marketing campaigns were intentional. People planned for them to grow big and popular. But how can you achieve this, especially if you're still in the starting stages of your marketing?
There's no specific formula to become viral. There's no method you can set in stone to succeed. However, there are a few tips and tricks to help you boost the effectiveness of your fitness marketing.
1. Make Use of Paid Ads
If you want your personal training marketing to go viral and generate traffic, you need to invest in it. This means putting in plenty of time, some cash for paid ads or a combination of both.
Paid ads aren't only relevant to Google. You can invest a hefty amount on social media too. Platforms like Facebook allow you to boost posts so they appear more often and to let other people, living within a targeted area, to see them.
According to data from The Manifest, published by Marketing Charts, the majority of small businesses are still using Facebook and Youtube as their main advertising source. With t Instagram tied with Youtube for second place!
Paid ads aren't only relevant to Google. You can invest a hefty amount on social media too. Platforms like Facebook allow you to boost posts so they appear more often and to let other people, living within a targeted area, to see them.
According to data from The Manifest, published by Marketing Charts, the majority of small businesses are still using Facebook and Youtube as their main advertising source. With t Instagram tied with Youtube for second place!
Using paid ads like this can help marketing posts become viral. You can target a few hundred or a few thousand, all depending on your allotted budget. You can also adjust your campaign to only appear for people who are Facebook friends of your returning customers.
Instagram and YouTube also have their own paid ad programs. YouTube, in particular, is the most powerful asset when going viral. It utilizes the same AdSense system of its parent company, Google.
You can adjust the settings so that your video ads will play before a video. You can set it up so it only plays for videos with related content, ensuring the ad only plays for your targeted audience.
2. Stay Creative with Hashtags
If you want to master how to go viral, you have to develop a catchy hashtag strategy.
A hashtag is a word or phrase (without spaces) preceded by a hash/pound sign. They got their first step to prominence on Twitter but are now available on about every platform, like Facebook and Instagram.
Hashtags are a means of collecting marketing data. Whenever someone uses a hashtag, marketers can track it and later on count how trendy that hashtag was. They can see who posted content using that hashtag and what kind of content it was.
So get creative with your hashtags!
You want to use hashtags that people can remember or relate to. #tbt is popular because everyone loves throwback posts catering to their nostalgia.
You can also use apps like Keyhole to search for and track hashtags to see how popular they are.
A hashtag is a word or phrase (without spaces) preceded by a hash/pound sign. They got their first step to prominence on Twitter but are now available on about every platform, like Facebook and Instagram.
Hashtags are a means of collecting marketing data. Whenever someone uses a hashtag, marketers can track it and later on count how trendy that hashtag was. They can see who posted content using that hashtag and what kind of content it was.
So get creative with your hashtags!
You want to use hashtags that people can remember or relate to. #tbt is popular because everyone loves throwback posts catering to their nostalgia.
You can also use apps like Keyhole to search for and track hashtags to see how popular they are.
The #ShareaCoke hashtag campaign was not only trendy but it also helped propel Coca-Cola's marketing ahead of their competition. With a single hashtag, the Coca-Cola company created a campaign that had a call-to-action, marketing gimmick, and slogan all rolled into one package.
You can also use hashtags that have a deeper meaning that can penetrate through your audience's emotions. Hosting personal training sessions that focus on weight loss? Why not a motivational hashtag like #imfittoo?
3. Concentrate on User-Generated Content
Nothing gets more attention than user-generated content. The #ShareaCoke campaign became as popular because it focused on photos and videos made by consumers, not by the company. People loved sharing their own little videos and they used the hashtag so people could easily find their content.
Not sure how you can start something as trendy and viral?
Marketers on Instagram and Pinterest were among the first to figure out how to succeed. Let's look into Instagram since it's a great platform to emphasize user-generated content.
Create a new post on Instagram promoting your "I'm Fit Too" campaign.
Now run a contest for consumers who already tried your services or bought your fitness products. Tell them to take before-and-after photos to showcase their progress and then use the #imfittoo hashtag on the photo. They then have to tag you, use your I'm Fit Too hashtag and share it with three friends.
This simple contest shows people several things at once.
First, it shows potential customers that there are people who found success with your services or products. Second, it's free viral marketing that you don't have to spend on, except for the prizes. Third, people can share their pins on other social media platforms, like Facebook, guaranteeing this contest can reach your audience outside of Pinterest.
Also, keep in mind that people trust user-generated content more than the usual, traditional advertisement. When people see these posts, they'll know they're authentic and not staged photographs to grab their attention. They might give your personal training services a try and then post their own content too.
Not sure how you can start something as trendy and viral?
Marketers on Instagram and Pinterest were among the first to figure out how to succeed. Let's look into Instagram since it's a great platform to emphasize user-generated content.
Create a new post on Instagram promoting your "I'm Fit Too" campaign.
Now run a contest for consumers who already tried your services or bought your fitness products. Tell them to take before-and-after photos to showcase their progress and then use the #imfittoo hashtag on the photo. They then have to tag you, use your I'm Fit Too hashtag and share it with three friends.
This simple contest shows people several things at once.
First, it shows potential customers that there are people who found success with your services or products. Second, it's free viral marketing that you don't have to spend on, except for the prizes. Third, people can share their pins on other social media platforms, like Facebook, guaranteeing this contest can reach your audience outside of Pinterest.
Also, keep in mind that people trust user-generated content more than the usual, traditional advertisement. When people see these posts, they'll know they're authentic and not staged photographs to grab their attention. They might give your personal training services a try and then post their own content too.
4. Schedule Your Posts
Know when your target audience is active on social media.
Some people spend time on Facebook on the weekends, others during the afternoon, and some still only in the morning, before work or school. Take time to study your metrics and see when your audience is active because this can heavily influence your personal training marketing efforts.
This is where tools like HootSuite or Recurpost come in handy. These apps allow you to schedule posts ahead of time. You can spend a few days straight creating new videos, pictures, and marketing posts and then use the app to automatically post them when needed.
Are your potential customers online and active on Monday evenings? That could be the best time to post a marketing video showcasing your training services.
Do people share content more during weekend mornings? Make sure you to post something viral, like a picture or video with catchy hashtags, during those hours. Recurpost can even use your Facebook page metrics and decide the best time for your posts to go out based on engagement statistics if you turn that feature on when scheduling your posts.
Some people spend time on Facebook on the weekends, others during the afternoon, and some still only in the morning, before work or school. Take time to study your metrics and see when your audience is active because this can heavily influence your personal training marketing efforts.
This is where tools like HootSuite or Recurpost come in handy. These apps allow you to schedule posts ahead of time. You can spend a few days straight creating new videos, pictures, and marketing posts and then use the app to automatically post them when needed.
Are your potential customers online and active on Monday evenings? That could be the best time to post a marketing video showcasing your training services.
Do people share content more during weekend mornings? Make sure you to post something viral, like a picture or video with catchy hashtags, during those hours. Recurpost can even use your Facebook page metrics and decide the best time for your posts to go out based on engagement statistics if you turn that feature on when scheduling your posts.
5. Reach Out to Influencers
An influencer is someone on social media who is a recognized authority on a subject and has thousands of followers. They're called influencers because their followers are likely to buy products or try services that the influencer talked about on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.
If you want to go viral, reach out to an influencer.
You can start with something short and simple. If they post videos, you can financially sponsor their next post. In return, they'll do a little shout-out to advertise your service to their viewers and they'll include a link to your page in their video description or post caption.
Found an influencer who posts things related to your services? Do they focus on posting health and fitness guides? You can send them one of your guides for free and in return, they'll talk about it and showcase it to their audiences on social media.
This is a great way to get viral. The more influencers you reach out to, the more people will learn about your personal training services.
If you want to go viral, reach out to an influencer.
You can start with something short and simple. If they post videos, you can financially sponsor their next post. In return, they'll do a little shout-out to advertise your service to their viewers and they'll include a link to your page in their video description or post caption.
Found an influencer who posts things related to your services? Do they focus on posting health and fitness guides? You can send them one of your guides for free and in return, they'll talk about it and showcase it to their audiences on social media.
This is a great way to get viral. The more influencers you reach out to, the more people will learn about your personal training services.
6. Study and Use Social Signals
Social signals are metrics that focus on human engagement. These are metrics like how many likes a post gets or how many times people shared it. The total number of comments and how many times people viewed your post also count as social signals.
Going viral is all about understanding what clicks with your audience and taking advantage of that data. You should spend as much time studying the numbers and the meaning behind them as you do marketing.
Facebook has a great insights tool to check on which of your posts are doing well.
Going viral is all about understanding what clicks with your audience and taking advantage of that data. You should spend as much time studying the numbers and the meaning behind them as you do marketing.
Facebook has a great insights tool to check on which of your posts are doing well.
Look at which posts got the most reach and dissect the variables that led to this success. Study social media trends as they continue to change and evolve over time.
Did the post get more likes because of its content, of the time you posted it, or because you paid to boost it and reach a wider audience? Did it get more likes thanks to more shares or was it the hashtag that caught people's attention? Do people engage with content on mobile devices more than on a desktop computer?
Answering these questions will help you keep your marketing efforts laser-focused.
7. Use Video Content
Did you know that 82% of all web traffic will come from video content before the year 2021? It's rather easy to see the power and influence of videos.
Other than Facebook, YouTube is becoming the biggest social media platform and people share videos on Facebook more than they do blog posts.
If you want your marketing efforts to go viral, use videos to your advantage.
Produce a video you trust will become trendy and eye-catching, post it on YouTube, and start sharing it on Instagram or Facebook. Promote it and people will quickly start sharing it. Live videos on Facebook are also great tools for viral marketing because they let you interact with your audience in real-time.
Of course, creating video content is not easy and neither is it cheap. You may have to hire a professional video production company to help you out. While this may sound expensive, it is worth it because this type of content gets viral faster than any other kind of marketing product.
You can also mix this method with some of the ones mentioned above. Got no money to invest in video production but you know you have a trendy hashtag waiting to launch into the world? Why not make a contest and ask your consumers to post their own amateur videos with the hashtag as a caption?
8. Red is a Powerful Color
Sometimes, viral marketing is all about playing with people's emotions and critical thinking. An effective way is to come up with a fitness marketing ploy that will make them stop and look at your ads, regardless of what kind of content it is.
A good trick is to use the color red.
Red has a strong captivating pull on the human psyche. People will stop to look at it. This is why stop signs, stop lights, and warning signs all use the color red.
It's a color that makes people hesitate from moving forward. No matter how fast someone is scrolling down their Facebook timeline, they will take a moment to pause and look at something drenched in red.
See what you think of LT's new website header. Do you think it'll grab attention?
A good trick is to use the color red.
Red has a strong captivating pull on the human psyche. People will stop to look at it. This is why stop signs, stop lights, and warning signs all use the color red.
It's a color that makes people hesitate from moving forward. No matter how fast someone is scrolling down their Facebook timeline, they will take a moment to pause and look at something drenched in red.
See what you think of LT's new website header. Do you think it'll grab attention?
The color also denotes a sense of excitement, boldness, and aggressiveness or dominance. This is why most banner ads carry a strong red color.
Not a big fan of using red for your marketing efforts? Take time to understand the psychology of colors in marketing and branding.
Remember that everybody has a certain perception regarding a color, like how most people associate green with environment-friendly companies or how yellow gets associated with fun.
9. Celebrity Endorsed
This is perhaps the most difficult method in boosting your marketing effectiveness but if you get the opportunity, grab it like there's no tomorrow.
Photos taken with celebrities, especially those known in fitness and health, can help boost the popularity of your site and business. Your consumers will get the idea that this celebrity supports your personal training services, giving you a major edge over the competition.
How does this get viral?
Keep in mind that celebrities are influencers too. If they post that photo, all of their fans will see it. People will share it, like it, comment on the photo and it may get featured on a news article or press release.
Photos taken with celebrities, especially those known in fitness and health, can help boost the popularity of your site and business. Your consumers will get the idea that this celebrity supports your personal training services, giving you a major edge over the competition.
How does this get viral?
Keep in mind that celebrities are influencers too. If they post that photo, all of their fans will see it. People will share it, like it, comment on the photo and it may get featured on a news article or press release.
10. Go Out and Get Involved
Last but not least, go out and get involved. This shows people that you're not stuck in an office or gym. You're out there, participating in the physical activities you tell them to take part in.
Is there a popular marathon happening in town this weekend? Go out and take a live video while you're there! Your posts will become viral because those events are currently trending and timely.
Is there a popular marathon happening in town this weekend? Go out and take a live video while you're there! Your posts will become viral because those events are currently trending and timely.
Discover More Ways to Promote Your Personal Training Business Today!
With these tips and tricks, your fitness marketing can go viral and generate more traffic to your fitness website in no time. You'll be able to penetrate the market, broaden your audience reach, and stay relevant in the eyes of the public.
Yet it doesn't stop there.
There are more challenges to overcome when it comes to digital marketing. You still have to deal with designing the perfect personal training website and how to conduct an SEO campaign, for example.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!
Yet it doesn't stop there.
There are more challenges to overcome when it comes to digital marketing. You still have to deal with designing the perfect personal training website and how to conduct an SEO campaign, for example.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!
