Most clubs know that they should regularly post on Facebook, but the type of content that might work well for them can be more of a mystery. Here’s a look at how 13 health clubs use Facebook and what they focus on posting.
1. Catalyst Health & Fitness says:
“In short, our focus is to share content that motivates our members and shows prospective ones the type of culture we have at our facilities. Many people are intimidated by a health club even if they would like to participate, so sharing the milestone success stories of our existing members not only rewards them with recognition for their efforts, but it shows prospective customers the type of things we value as a health club. Beyond that point of course it can get very specific but this is the general idea.”
2. Taylor Nies from The Atlantic Club says:
“We typically always include a photo with our Facebook posts because it garners much more engagement than just your standard text post, and even moreso when there's a video included (we love Boomerangs!). We’re also making an effort to put together higher production video content in-house. Also, because we always have new programs & different events happening, I utilize organic Facebook posts for promotional use and find that typically the best user experience is to be able to provide our followers with a link out to more information, sign-up instructions, etc.”
3. Thorbeckes Fitlife Centers says:
“Photos always draw more reads, views and shares than text only in a FB post; so we always try to include a photo or graphic to draw more attention to our posts.”
4. Genesis Health Clubs says:
"We find that transformational stories with an emotional appeal are the best content for generating engagement. Before and after pictures are great. Facebook live from a motivated group exercise instructor also gets a lot of mileage. It's best to do a mixture of different types of content."
5. Lisa from Hockessin Athletic Club says:
“We find that posting photos and links either in real time of things happening at the club or of our members successes is the most engaging type of content. We like to think of our social media as our personality and way to maintain relationships first, followed by a source of information and company awareness second.”
6. Athlete Ready says:
“We use both [photos and videos], however videos give more a good feel and insight to what goes on at our facility.”
7. Kyle from Carmel Valley Athletic Club says:
"We post more photos than anything else. They are easier to shoot, edit, and post than videos and they have the highest response from our fans. All of our photos are actually taken at Carmel Valley Athletic Club and feature our members engaging in various activities around the club. When our fans (mainly members) like or comment, they are responding to a photo of their friend, a favorite class, or an activity they are interested in trying. We are starting to incorporate more videos into our posts, but I doubt they will overtake photos any time soon."
8. Varimax Fitness says:
“Most of our content consists of more "client focused" posts. Success, accomplishments, milestones (even non fitness related, like weddings and birthdays). With other pictures and videos, we like to just post we like to keep the attention on the clients. Bootcamps are always fun. Our goals are about not promoting who we are and our certs and education, but what we do, and how we impact our clients lives. I’ve always loved the quote "People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Our goal is to always put our clients first. We tend to see a lot more engagement on our personal posts then our generic informative, or promotional posts. People are more likely to share, like and comment.”
9. Chico Sports Club says:
“We primarily post pictures highlighting members, staff, and club activities. At least once a week it’s fun to post a video of a class too. That way a non-member or person who has never been can get a sneak peek into the class format and see what the instructor and environment is like!”
10. F45 Training San Diego Downtown says:
“The content we prefer to post on FB has everything to do with our customers. From videos of our members killing it in the studio to photos of our members celebrating the finish of a particularly hard workout, the majority of our posts highlight the successes at a very personal level.”
11. Janelle Dye from Saint Mary's Fitness Center says:
"Our Facebook post content consists of a mixture of photos, videos and links. The most frequent is photo, and that is simply due to ease and time constraints. We post at least one time each day, so creating a video for every day is just not within our capabilities at this time, but we are striving to use more video as we feel that video is the best content type. We also use links to our own blog often, and occasionally use a link for events or other resources. The most important thing we keep in mind when developing content is to make sure it is helpful and relevant."
12. Midlothian Athletic Club says:
“We post pictures and videos of our members participating in club activities so that others in our community can see all the cool things happening in our club. We also use FB as our primary means of quick communication with our members about upcoming events and programs, changes to schedules such as a sick instructor or inclement weather or other time sensitive information.”
13. Pismo Beach Athletic Club says:
“Facebook is an extension of our website, and we like to keep members up-to-date with current classes, modified club hours, and special events.”