Facebook is by far the world’s largest social network with over 1 Billion users. It has morphed from its humble beginnings in a college dorm room to a worldwide phenomenon connecting individuals from all walks of life.
It is also a great place for personal trainers to build their business and to provide current clients with support, education, and accountability. With the right Facebook strategy, you can use this great online tool to your advantage.
Personal Page
In the business of personal training, you are your brand. Your personal Facebook page is one of the first places a potential client would most likely look to learn about you. It should showcase you as a health and fitness professional.
It should not have pictures of you drinking with your buddies or doing anything questionable or illegal. It is also a good idea to refrain from getting into religious or political debates if you have clients or potential clients on your page.
Some people keep their personal page very private and only allow close friends and relatives to view their page. If you choose to go this route that’s fine, you would simply need to create a Fan Page.
Fan Page
A Fan Page is like your personal page except for your business. You have all of the same functions of the personal page, like postings statuses, photos, articles, and commenting as your page. This is a great way to gain new clients and keep in touch with your current clients by educating and motivating them. Your Fan Page can build enormous value for your brand through your posts and interactions.
6 Types of Recommended Posts
- Recipes – Post a healthy recipe, people like trying new things and they’ll think about you when they enjoy their healthy meal.
- Fit Facts – Random fun facts about health or fitness to educate and entertain your clients.
- Workout Wednesdays – Every Wednesday post a different workout to engage and challenge your followers. Give them some sort of incentive to post a pic or video of them doing the workout, creating more engagement.
- Exercise Videos – Shoot a quick video with your phone of you demonstrating the proper form of an exercise and upload it to Facebook to educate your followers.
- Nutrition Facts – Nutrition is the key to living a healthy life. Teaching your followers something different each day about nutrition will really add value to their lives.
- Q&A – People have questions, lots of them. Holding a Q&A session will not only provide your followers with valuable information it will position you as the authority on all things health and fitness. This raises your value as a trainer.
Facebook Groups
A group would be a good place to add all your clients. You can do things like create a special transformation challenge and discuss ideas with other trainers. I belong to a few fitness professionals groups and they have given me a variety of ideas and helpful suggestions.
Facebook Ads
There is so much information out there about Facebook marketing. But to keep it simple–Facebook ads can help you reach your target market by using a variety of parameters. For example, you can choose to reach potential followers by location, age, gender and income. You can also target people who have certain interests like fitness, weight loss, nutrition, etc. You can promote your Facebook Fan Page, your website, or a lead capture page with your ads.
With the entire world just a click away, it’s easier than ever to connect with new clients, build your brand and help people change their lives! If you really want to dig in, there are a lot of great resources out there that provide more detail on how to maximize any of these areas of Facebook.
Read more on Facebook Basics for PT’s
Mike Kneuer is a professional health and fitness coach and retired pro physique athlete in Boca Raton, FL. He is passionate about health and fitness and helping others make positive life changes. Mike holds numerous advanced training certifications included 2 nutrition certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the International Sports Sciences Association. He has helped thousands of people around the world change the way they think about eating healthy foods and helped them reach their health and fitness goals by posting every meal he's eaten since 2012 on www.WhatMikeEats.com. (@WhatMikeEats)
