With so many social networks available to health clubs to advertise their services, we wanted to talk to club managers and owners to see which ones they are having the most success with. Here's what 13 club managers and owners answered to the question "What social network do you get the most engagement on and why do you think that is?":

1. Elise Chretien from Vida Fitness says:

"The individuals that make up the DC fitness community are incredibly engaged on social media, especially Instagram. The Instagram platform allows for VIDA members and employees to easily share photos of their workouts with their friends, discover new classes and programs in their neighborhoods, and document their progress as they work towards their fitness goals. Instagram provides a fun way to build relationships with people and businesses all working towards the same goal – keeping DC healthy and fit!"

2. Jessica Rubin from Point Loma Sports Clubs says:

“We get the most engagement on Facebook because the demographic of our members is mainly an older crowd so many are not on Instagram. We see that we get more likes on Instagram, but when it comes to engagement and turning these social media followers into leads/prospects, Facebook is the most successful.”

3. Amy Tully from US Fitness Holdings (Onelife Fitness) says:

"Our brands tend to get the most engagement on Facebook with Instagram as a close second. Both platforms provide an easy place for our clients to create communities outside of our clubs, show their progress, chronicle their journeys in health and fitness and celebrate their successes. As a business we use these platforms to connect with members, offer customer service solutions, inform them of club happenings, thank them for being our members and congratulate them on their hard work."

4. Tara Strickwerda from HealthSPORT says:

"At HealthSPORT we find the best social platform to connect with our members and prospects is through Facebook. We’ve done some experiments with content we post and find that bottom of the funnel “Sign Up Now” promotions are mostly viewed but not optimal in getting prospects to move forward with some action. People are on Facebook to talk and share - not to buy. Facebook is amazing when it comes to connecting with people but it’s not a great platform for quick sale promotions.

We find that what works for us is focusing on being helpful. Middle of the funnel content such as helpful workouts, blog articles, informative free downloads work the best to help us grow our prospect database and continuously have new people to market to. Even though we do our due diligence to announce our latest offers on Facebook we do it knowing it’ll have high engagement but very little action. What works better is leading people to a helpful blog article on your website that contains a call-to-action to your offer. In doing this, you’re allowing your interested prospects to have a better experience than an impersonal offer to join your club. Even though articles get slightly less engagement, they tend to result in more prospects taking advantage of our offers."

5. Ashley Kester from Island Gym & Fitness says:

"YouTube or Facebook would be our most popular social media sites. It allows us to show people the realness behind our training and the fun that our clients have while getting into shape. We are able to provide specials and sales to clients and future clients based off our of posts and it allows us to show the world what we're really about and how genuine and true our program truly is."

6. Jay Witte from Select Fitness says:

"We definitely get the most engagement out of Facebook. I believe it is the most engaging. It is very user friendly and great for marketing."

7. Kindal Boyle from This Time Fitness says:

"We definitely get more engagement from Facebook. I think it's because it's also our marketing method so people are more familiar with seeing us on Facebook than other platforms. Where you put yourself the most is where you'll get the most engagement. We're currently focused on growing other areas like Instagram, but our Facebook trumps it!"

8. John Bonica from Global Fitness Centers says:

"We see the most engagement currently on Facebook as it seems to focus on our largest demographic population. Facebook Live videos seem to get the best responses from the people that follow us as they see real members at the club doing a variety of activities that we offer.

If they see a person 'like them' doing something they didn't think they could do, it creates more interest in those activities. Simple photos or videos from trainers showing exercises don't seem to get the same level of interest no matter how good the information is.

We are looking to improve our performance on Instagram and will begin using Snapchat over the next several months."

9. Nicole Balmaine from West Wood Clubs says:

“We get the most follower engagement from our Instagram account. Not to toot our own horn but our clubs are very visually engaging from the high quality equipment to the futuristic training studios. Also, have you even worked out if you’re not uploading a snap to Instagram about it? Our members love a gym selfie, and we love to turn that into great, visual content. “

10. Josh Raphael from OmniSport: Fitness and Performance says:

"I've seen that our most consistent engagement comes from IG at this time because we're able to # various keywords or phrases. It allows us to reach more targeted audiences, over a larger geographical area, attracting new followers and connecting us with other like minded individuals."

11. Monica Hilton from KAHA says:

"Facebook is where we get the best local engagement, despite Instagram's growth patterns. We get lots some attention from around the world on our Instagram posts but the relevant connections (meaning engagement that can translate to new members of our community) really come from Facebook."

12. Shilpi Goyal Sullivan from Eos Fitness says:

"We are pretty active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I would say that Facebook has been the most successful for us because we take part in their ad campaigns, boost our posts and engage with our members."

13. Todd Beattie from Fire Eye Fitness says:

"[We get the most engagement on] Instagram and Facebook. We post a lot of 10-15 second videos and this seems to be where they get the most views."

In summary, it appears from these 13 clubs, Facebook comes in first in terms of engagement, with Instagram as a close second. It will be interesting going forward to see if these trends change or if Facebook will continue to stay at the top for gyms.