Instagram isn’t ‘just’ a photo-sharing app. It is actually one of the main reasons why so many businesses and creators/influencers have found a platform to showcase what they do best.
With the right marketing strategy, you can make sure to harness the maximum potential of your followers. As brands are getting smarter with their content and adjusting their content in the local Instagram feeds, getting your brand noticed is not as daunting as it seems.
As almost 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business, getting new users to follow yours is definitely possible.
Be it any industry, you’d find influencers in almost every single one of them. Out of all these industries, fitness influencers have the most settled market on Instagram.
With the top fitness influencers having 90 million+ followers, Instagram is one of the best places to get started as a fitness professional.
Why start a fitness Instagram page?
Ever wondered how businesses make it so big so soon on Instagram? Is it because of the interactive Instagram stories they post or the comprehensive tips they have to share? Or is it because of a personalized marketing strategy?
To make yourself visible through exceptional visual content, you can use the best Instagram video editor and create videos that tell your brand’s story in the most interactive way possible.
Fitness is one of the most rewarding niches on Instagram. From brands actively participating in health and wellness programs to regular sponsors, Instagram has solely become one of the first places for fitness professionals to get started.
On top of that, developing a personal brand is easier than ever when you have a good number of followers. A personal brand can also help a creator be more independent and have direct control over the content he/she puts out.
As appealing as starting a personal brand seems, the truth is that most of the times fitness pages fail on Instagram.
The most common reasons for this are:
- Wrong marketing strategies
- Content where people don’t engage
- Wrong niche
While there are a lot of reasons for failed Instagram marketing for fitness professionals, there are always some things you can take into consideration before starting your professional fitness journey.
We will be talking about all these points in this guide today.
How to market your Instagram profile as a fitness professionals
Instagram is one of the best places to find potential opportunities for your brand.
There are a variety of methods to grow organically and increase your following. And here’s what you need to take into consideration:
1. Build a Complete Instagram Profile
Having a complete Instagram profile is much more than just having a profile picture and a bio.
Being a fitness professional on Instagram means that you need to first of all have a creator account. Having a creator account differentiates what your profile is all about from the very first glance.
More than that, having vital information helps visitors on your profile understand what your personal brand is all about.
The next thing in making your profile complete is by inputting in all your personal details. This includes your email, phone number, and website (if any). It’s always a good idea to enter all these details so as to give your profile visitors multiple channels to communicate with you.
Another important detail you can’t afford to miss is to optimize your profile name. While your username is what helps people navigate to your profile, your profile Instagram name could help people organically find your profile.
Making the best use of your Instagram name improves your discoverability and helps people find your profile faster than by any other means.
2. Show that you are serious by producing top-notch content
You know you are serious about your work, your followers don’t!
Standing out on Instagram in 2022 demands exceptional quality of images and other content from you.
Your profile needs to be so compelling and diverse that anybody that visits your profile once should feel like sticking around.
The use of high-quality pictures and videos reflects your professionalism and tells your followers that you are serious about your fitness brand. To make videos the way you want, you can use the best Instagram video editor as well as to create exceptional brand videos every time.
More than pictures, you can also feature your own fitness quotes, people working out with you, and even the events you are a part of from time to time. When everything you post shows your association to your brand and profession, people are definitely going to take your brand seriously.
3. Try different ways of engaging your audience
A common mistake that every influencer/brand is guilty of committing is not engaging their audience.
Engaging your audience is not only preferred by Instagram itself but also your followers as well. You need to remember, at the end of the day, your followers are people that would want to be featured on your page from time to time.
As a fitness professional, the best way to engage your audience is by asking them to follow your exercises, share them on their profiles, and you will feature the best ones.
In this way, not only do you give your followers the spotlight, but also increase the chance of being discovered by a wider audience.
To increase audience engagement, you can also:
- Share video testimonials on your page
- Post Instagram Stories asking people to ask you questions
- Host contests and Instagram Live Sessions
More than that, you can always host giveaways and surprise your followers with your products to make them realize they are an integral part of this journey with you.
4. Use Relevant Hashtags
Hashtags have one main purpose – Making your content discoverable.
However before you choose any, you need to understand that hashtags vary from brand to brand, influencer to influencer.
To find relevant hashtags for your profile, start by finding what your competitors are using. This will help you get your profile adjusted in the fitness space and make your account discoverable with your competitors as well.
To build your personal brand, you can also use your very own hashtags and ask your clients to use them too. Since you are allowed to use only 30 hashtags, make sure you are using the best ones possible and the ones that are specific to your brand only.
5. Take advantage of different channels
Every single year, Instagram is changing for the better.
However, out of every single major change, Instagram Reels were one of the most important changes brought to the platform. In fact, Reels are the secret to viral growth on Instagram now.
With the introduction of Instagram Reels, a variety of creators started posting short-form content. And with time, they were awarded millions of followers and a serious boost in their brand growth.
Despite the number of guide for Instagram reels you look for, one thing you’ll find uniformly in these guides is a single fact – Create original content and make it compliment your brand.
When done right, not just fitness professionals, but Reels help influencers from any kind of industry grow at a rapid pace.
6. Post Instagram Stories, Consistently
One of the best ways to keep your audience engaged with your content is by posting Instagram stories.
With more than 500 million stories being posted every day, Instagram stories are a great way to keep yourself visible among your followers.
The more stories you post, the more they appear right at the top of the main feed. While stories increase your visibility, you also have to make sure that you are not posting all of them at once. Post stories through different times of the day so that you are always at the beginning of the stories section always for your followers.
Talking about the content of the stories, try to give more insights into your life. Whether you are going to the grocery store or meeting your friends, share it with your followers as stories.
Additionally, there are so many interesting features that are released every single month on Instagram stories. With emojis, stickers, polls, questions, and music, you have a wide array of options to choose from.
More than that, you can also have a Call-to-Action (CTA) with your stories where you ask your followers to ‘Swipe up’ in order to check out your favorite products.
7. Don’t forget Instagram Story Highlights
Instagram story highlights, as the name suggests, highlights the best stories you have shared to date.
The best part is that you are free to choose what Instagram stories to feature and categorize them any way you want.
Story highlights are practically the albums you share with your followers. Featuring videos and photos you have previously shared, you can use this feature on your Instagram to encourage follower engagement.
As a fitness professional, you can effectively categorize your story highlights as “Workouts, Routines, My diet, Workshops” and other things that are relevant to your business.
Highlighting specific photos and videos depict your journey, which makes it easier for the new visitors to keep up with you as well.
8. Tag people, get discovered
Getting traction on your posts is something you can achieve through multiple ways, one of them being tagging people.
Tagging people, locations and organizations relevant to your page is going to increase your discoverability.
Not only that but when you start putting location tags, your content is also going to show up locally, making it easier for the people around you to discover you.
Talking about tagging people, if you are sharing client testimonials, make sure to tag them as well. The same goes for the influencers that train with you. The more visible you are in your industry, the more easily people are going to find you.
9. Start Influencer Marketing
Increasing your followers is a process that’s a consequence of many factors.
While all the above factors we mentioned lend a heavy hand in increasing followers, there are some other factors that might help as well.
Engaging with your followers, visiting their profiles, viewing their stories, and liking their content is a great way to appreciate your followers.
Connecting your website and other information is also vital to help your followers navigate to important content you want them to see.
More importantly, using influencer marketing is also a great way to get yourself noticed. Find people with high engagement value, interact with their content and seek their responses on your brand.
10. Schedule Your Content
Scheduling content is one of the most vital things a brand or an influencer needs to do in order to be visible to their followers.
Despite the quality of content you produce, one thing that ensures discoverability is the rate at which you post the content.
Maintaining a consistent posting schedule is not only going to ensure that you’re consistently in the feed of your followers but also helps you plan your content way ahead of time.
If you have the most engagement from a particular audience type belonging to a different timezone, scheduling your content for their timezone is going to help get the most engagement.
Any kind of social media planner tool is enough to get you started with scheduling content easily.
Conclusion
When it comes to growing your fitness business, there are a lot of pieces that fit into the puzzle. Even though growing your brand seems like a daunting task, it’s never impossible.
With the creativity of your own, the right kinds of marketing approaches, and a lot of value to your community, you can start your very own personal fitness brand. Find something that benefits your community and gets people interested in your brand.
The fitness industry in itself has saturated a lot but adjusting your approaches and being creative with your marketing always goes a long way for your brand.
Our tips on the best Instagram marketing methods for fitness professionals are drawn from real-life experiences and aimed towards growing your fitness brand organically. We hope you find them helpful.