Let’s face it. Our Pilates industry, while full of very talented humans, isn’t as savvy with the social media game. A quick perusal through Instagram and youtube and you can see tons of yogis and the cult that is soul-cycle killing it on social media. As a result they get a following, engagement and ultimately conversions (translation: $$).
At Core Pilates NYC, we’ve attempted to figure out why that is? Is it that our industry is chock full of incredible artistic dancers and artists who would rather be doing Pilates than on their phones posting about Pilates? One can only assume. As a company we have had pretty good success with engagement and followers thanks to soliciting the pros at times and making it a priority with our front desk staff to capture vibes in the studio everyday. (check out our Insta)
But knowledge is power as they say. So we took a crack at providing our instructors with a cheat sheet of sorts to help them on their way toward a more active social media presence. Their activity can only help boost their visibility and the more visibility, the more potential clients might book with that teacher (and ultimately at your studio.) Here’s a handy breakdown for Instagram best practices that you can share with your staff.
Some background first
Holy Users:
Has over 100 million users. Passed Twitter in terms of daily active users on mobile devices
The pace of user adoption is staggering. In a single six-month period, Instagram went from 887,000 daily active users to 7.3 million.
Mobile only:
Instagram is mobile native meaning it was created for mobile use first and only. Whereas Twitter or Facebook or Pinterest were born on the web and then adapted to mobile. Even now you can go to Instagram on your computer but can’t post, like, comment or engage.
It’s about images. Only. Period.
How does it differ from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest?
Instagram compared with Facebook:
Because Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012, it is a good bet that Facebook will continue to offer integration and support options to boost the Instagram platform, so that’s great. But there are a few key differences:
Time and energy required: Instagram is much less labor intensive than Facebook. Fb is conversation intensive, while Instagram infrequently includes conversations. Fb is a general social media took, while Instagram is much more targeted, which in my view allows for much more targeted marketing efforts. That being said, if there is one social media platform everyone should be on, it is Facebook.
Follower expectations: Followers on Instagram expect you to publish a few pictures a day – that’s it. They appreciate it when you like their photos, and they are blown away when you leave a comment Facebook followers, on the other hand, expect you to show up, say something, and be generally conversational with them. They expect real-time participation.
Half-life of the content: Instagram images have a longer life expectancy than a status update on Facebook. They also have a better chance of attracting follower engagement than photos added on Facebook.
What the hell do I post to represent myself as a cool experienced pro?
Be true to your personality and “brand”:
Ensure that your imagery expresses a clearly defined personality and voice.
Share experiences:
Offer a view into the world or lifestyle that you are part of. Food you love. Shoes you love. Sights along your walk to the subway. Other fitness you do etc…
Find beauty everywhere:
Show how you see the world and make it meaningful to people.
Inspire action:
Start a movement around your brand, whether that means inspiring people to capture photos while doing Pilates, working out, running, being outdoors in NYC, celebrating a delicious healthy food concoction, energy source, stretch, pose, fitness, and use a unique hashtag for it, with their post. A few ideas are:
#haveawonderfulday
#healthyliving
#pilateshealth
#pilatesfun
#pilatesrules
#pilatesforlife
*These are just a few examples
If you can motivate your fans to submit photos of their own, like pictures of them working out with you, doing a particular exercise, participating in a one of your classes, then you can addthem to your Instagram stream.
Follow your target audience. Where are they? Find your competitors and follow their
followers. If it’s the correct audience, they’ll be interested in your posts and follow you back.
People hunt for ‘how to’ do things.
8 –15 second video format is a great length for that. Show me how an exercise works, how you get ready for a class, someone sweating hard during a class, you engaging with a student, things like this go a long way.
Give your Instagram followers something they can’t find anywhere else – something different from what you offer on Facebook, or Twitter. Use Instagram to show off what you love about your business location and the surrounding community. Show your followers some behind-the-scenes shots to help them know and love your life, studio (core yayyy!!), events etc.. Show the pride you have in your brand and your community.
Post at the right time. Before you post your photo to Instagram, there are two things to keep in mind: your audience’s time zone and what time your audience checks Instagram.
Post when you assume your followers have down time and can check their accounts.
Being in NYC and having most followers in NYC maybe – think about posting during rush hour when you know folks are stuck on trains or busses and have nothing to do but check their phones.
Ask questions in photo captions. One of the best ways to get more likes on your photos is to ask a question in your photo’s caption. This is a great way to drive not only likes, but also comments and engage with followers.
Host a contest. But do this once the profile is set up and it has started to get populated with content. Hosting a contest is often the most effective way to boost engagement and get new followers on any social network.
Post daily quotes to inspire people. Posts should be about lifestyle, adventure, travel, dreams, art, fitness, wellness, and beautiful things. These are very popular.
How can I fill my shifts, get more clients and get more income through Instagram?
Run a promotion on Instagram: For instance, post a great photo with text above it that says “If you want your first free class free like this picture.” It’s a great way to get some new clients privately or even at the studio if you are willing to come in during off-shift times.
Another example would be: Take a Pilates Selfie and use hashtag #ilovepilates. Then you randomly select one of the followers that liked the photos and announce it on your Instagram profile. You would give away a freebie or a prize. Doesn’t have to be grand.
Your Checklist of To Do’s to get up and running?
Goes without saying but download the app on your phone.
Add Instagram social icon on your websites, newsletter, blog…everywhere. Let people know you have an Instragram profile.
Use a clean, short written profile. Not a generic one but an insightful, fun one. Don’t just leave it blank. “Pilates and fit pro in New York City. My next career will be as the coach of the NY Giants (dream!!) and I would rather sleep in a bowl of chocolate than a bed.” Says 1) you are a trainer in NYC 2) you are a huge fan of the NY Giants (sports) 3) you love chocolate (foodie)
Include hashtag of your name #michellefama in the description and link to your website.
Now start using the #. What the hell is a hashtag?
How the hashtag came to be
In 2007 Twitter user Chris Messina created the concept of using the hashtag for social media conversations. He tweeted a suggestion to use the # sign as a method of categorizing conversations within the site. His innovation didn’t gain widespread acceptance immediately. People complained that the use of the # sign made the message difficult to read.
The system gained real social acceptance during the October 2007 San Diego wildfires. The hashtag #sandiegofire became the organizing phrase that enabled folks to communicate quickly. Twitter coined the name hashtag, and in July 2009, the company began hyperlinking the hashtagged words together in the search results making the function of using hashtags very convenient.
Hashtags: Organizing a Chaotic World
Hashtags provide a way to organize and sort information inside a social media website.
When you share a picture on Instagram and include a hashtag in the caption, then anyone looking at that hashtag via the Explore tab will see your image. The image feed in the Explore tab cascades with the newest content on top, so if you include a very popular hashtag with your image, it will likely be at the top of that hashtag’s feed for just a few seconds, but many people might still see it. If you include a less popular hashtag, it will stay on the first page of the feed for a longer period of time, but fewer people may ultimately see it.
When followers start liking and commenting, comment back always. Always include their @handles (their username) and give them love and props for what they are sharing or saying about you or your post.
If you post a 15 sec video of you – in the comments section below every post, link out to the appropriate complete video on your website.
Use up to 30 Hashtags for every post. To make it look good (not spammy), write a comment (that gets posted below the photo) to go along with the photo. This will push the hashtags down, allowing more people to find you, but they will only see your comment and the posted comments of your followers.
Make sure all Instagram photos and videos are shared automatically to FACEBOOK and TUMBLR (if you have a blog on tumblr). Instagram video is a big mover on Facebook. That is done in the configuration of the Instagram account.
Make a list of the 30 hashtags you will use or some of them that you will use. Here are some ideas:
#corepilatesnyc #health #fitness #wellness #fit #nycfit #nycworksout #funworkoutnyc #pilates #corepilates #pilatesnyc #train #trainhard #crossfit #eatclean #musclehustle #energy #training #behappy #fitfam #workout #personalpilates #keeppushing #strength #pilateseveryday #weightlifting #positiveattitude #workout #pilatesworkout
You can create your own hashtag. For instance we have started #scholarfit2014 contest and every entry must hashtag it. It’s a way of branding a movement. Kathryn Budig, a wildly popular yoga teacher has coined the hashtag #nostretchypants and uses it on posts that are about her going out and doing things outside of the studio. She also started #aimtrue.
So you’ve read the above and have a clearer idea of how Instagram works and can work for you. But…
Here is EXACTLY what you should do to get started. Step-by-Step!
Go to the explore tab and search the #pilates. Start liking photos. You want to begin engaging with people in the industry. Repeat liking like CRAZY with #fitness #fitlife and any other very popular hashtag. Like away!! For days…
Click on say lululemon, nike, Core Pilates NYC, Pilatesanytime, and other industry related profiles and begin following their followers. Logic here is to get those followers who are already following a Pilates related biz to follow you. If you follow them then hopefully they will follow back.
And Voila!!!!
But….
…. if this isn’t clear enough for you here is a sample week checklist day-to-day. Now that you are set up here’s how to go about building yourself and succeeding on Instagram:
Monday:
1) like 100 photos.
2) Comment on 40.
3) Follow 100.
4) Post a pic in the morn. Post a pic in the afternoon. Post a pic in the eve. Post a pic late eve. with as many hashtags (in the beginning)
5) It’s the L-C-F-P (like, comment, follow, post)
Tuesday:
1) like back posts on all those users who liked your posts
2) comment on posts of those who have rewarded you by following you. An instagram comment is like gold in this odd world.
3) follow 100 more. Again, pick a high profile user (popular brand or personality related to Pilates) and click on their followers and follow away.
4) On explore tab go down the list and like away
5) Post 4 pics throughout the day
5) Name of the game on Tuesday’s is ENGAGE!
Wednesday
1) pick another hashtag to search in the explore tab – #fitness #workout to find other potential pics/users to like or follow.
2) check Instafollow to see who has followed you, unfollowed you etc… Get familiar with this app.
3) Repeat Tuesday steps (post about hump day, #workoutwednesday etc…)
Thursday
1) follow Tuesday steps (post for #tbt – throwback Thursday)
2) make Thursday about commenting a lot. Comment on those following you to keep them engaged. Comment on those you are following who are not following you back (Use Instafollow for this) – you are giving them one more reminder to follow you.
Friday
1) follow Monday steps
2) Friday is also unfollow Friday. Go to Instafollow app and unfollow those who haven’t followed you back or seem to be dead or inactive accounts. It’s not the quantity but the quality of followers. Remember that!! You want to follow very relevant people to get good content, not the lady who posts pictures of her booty or close ups of her stretch marks and her boyfriend who has gold teeth… You’ll be able to tell who these folks are pretty easily.
You never want to be following more people than the number of followers you have. In the first month that won’t be the case but you want to even out pretty quickly. Your goal – is to get to 1,000 followers as soon as possible. Then you are considered an Insta force and you will begin getting more traction. Pretty amazing stuff!!! Remember too it’s quality over quantity. You want to capture followers who engage with your posts, like or comment. Dump those that are “dead” to you (you can see this in Instafollow).
Saturday
1) L-C-F-P (like, comment, follow, post 4 pics)
Sunday
1) L-C-F-P again