Gym owners and trainers: you’ve gotta post.
We only say it ‘cause we care, and we know social media isn’t easy. Coming up with content ideas while you’re doing personal training, creating nutrition plans and tracking everyone’s progress isn’t easy. But we all know that social media is where athletes go to discover new trainers and gyms, and how you show up online will shape your success.
At ABC Glofox, we’re creating the next wave in gym management software, so we’re tapped into exactly how to market a gym on social media. In this article, we’ll look at why fitness businesses actually need social media, before diving into a comprehensive list of fitness social post ideas—and all the best practices. So come on, let’s go!
Why do gyms need social media marketing?
Gyms and trainers can’t attract clientele in a media vacuum. Well-executed social media marketing helps you build community, show off your results, and showcase your training to people in your community. Helpful and value-driven posts can help you attract training clients, remind existing ones you’re awesome, and stand out in the hyper-competitive fitness market.
Think of social as your online storefront. Instead of walking by IRL, potential gym-goers watch your TikToks and flip through your Instagram posts to see if you actually know what’s what. Most gyms are boring, but an engaging social media strategy can set your gym right apart from the competition. Creating content gives you a platform to share what makes your gym unique—whether it’s state-of-the-art equipment, specialized trainers, niche fitness programs, or a cohesive health and fitness community.
Who wouldn’t want that?
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9 fitness social media post ideas
Okay, let’s dive in. Here’s a shortlist of gym social media post ideas geared specifically towards fitness creators:
- How-to guides
Position your gym as fitness experts by posting step-by-step tutorials. Create short videos or carousel posts that coach athletes in everything from workout techniques to essential gym equipment usage—and because they’re useful, they’ll get seen.
- Diet and nutrition tips
Fitness results are made in the kitchen. Share videos or carousels featuring nutritious recipes, post-workout snack ideas, or weight-loss tips. This will show you’ve got all the healthy eating tips clients need to smash their fitness goals.
- Fitness challenges
Call your community to action on social media with a fitness challenge. This could be anything from a 30-day pushup challenge to weekly cardio competitions. Re-share everything you’re tagged in on the brand accounts, ‘cause user-generated content (UGC) is gold.
- Upcoming events and promos
You should always encourage people to come to upcoming events and workshops on your social media pages—whether you’ve got a lil’ poster card or a full-on launch video. People want to know what’s going on, so make sure you share.
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- Member or client stories
Highlighting one of your members’ fitness journeys or success stories to show your community focus. The shout-out will help keep all your clients motivated and coming back for more training.
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Raw, behind-the-scenes content is always a winner. Give folks on social a peek into the inner workings of your gym—whether that’s a cheeky video about your equipment sanitization process or a meet-and-greet with a popular trainer.
- Fitness and inspirational quotes
Keep your community inspired with motivational fitness quotes. These can be placed on single-image social cards, so they’re bone-easy to design—and the affirmations can keep people centered on their fitness journeys.
- Workout playlists
Share a curated workout playlist to add some energy to everyones’ next training session. Music makes hitting the gym more enjoyable and helps members keep their momentum up (even during legs day).
- Q&As
Go live, my friend. Host a Q&A with a fitness trainer on your social channels. This type of interactive content makes it easy to address members’ fitness questions and build tighter bonds with your community.
How to maximize your success on social media
Let’s discuss strategies you can use to make sure your content stands out on the feed—instead of getting buried. Here’s some crucial ones:
Use high-quality visuals
Don’t shoot photos on a potato—use high-quality photos and visuals. Sharing eye-catching, high-res shots of your gym, workout sessions, and member community gives folks on social a memorable glance into your studio, and will help you boost engagement.
Get real, get personal
Corporate-sounding posts don’t make anyone want to hit the gym, so make your content personal. Share fitness success stories, candid moments, or user-generated content people tag you in and you’ll close the online gap between you and your members.
Stay consistent
Maintaining a rock-solid content calendar keeps your gym on your followers’ radar all the time. But don’t share the same thing all the time—make sure to offer a mix of engaging, valuable, and educational fitness content. People love that.
Talk to your audience
Engagements on your gym’s social media posts should go both ways. Talk to your followers through comments and DMs and you’ll foster a real sense of community and connection with them. (And it’ll translate into real life, too.)
Fitness social media FAQs
Let’s explore some questions we get on the regular about gym social media campaigns.
How often should I post?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer here. It really depends on the scale of your gym—small gyms should be active weekly, but large ones need to be active daily. No matter your size though, consistency is critical. If you’re hitting one post per day, you’re winning.
What social channels should I use?
You don’t need to be everywhere—focus on platforms that align with your target audience, and how they use social media. For a lifestyle industry like fitness, we’d suggest Instagram and Facebook, as well as TikTok. However, if you’re looking for professional networking or B2B marketing around fitness, LinkedIn can be just as effective.
Should I use paid ads?
Paid ads can significantly boost your gym’s online visibility, but they’re more important for growth-stage gyms. Smaller gyms may want to focus on operations before doing paid advertising, and that’s okay—everything comes in good time.
When you do start running paid ads, you’ll need a carefully-crafted conversion funnel to see the full ROI, too. Build a sign-up page, then create targeted ads to drive people from your area to join your gym.
How do I track the ROI of social media?
Good question. ROI-tracking on social involves to measuring changes in your engagement, reach, and follower growth on social. If you’re really advanced (or at a massive corporate gym), try tracking your share-of-voice and your cost-per-conversion on paid campaigns. Every piece of data you gather will help you fine-tune your social media strategy and make sure you stay winning.
So, what’s next?
Now you know how to build a stand-out content calendar for your fitness business, you’re probably looking for a gym management tool that can integrate with your whole marketing stack. And if you’re looking at fitness management software tools, it doesn’t get any better than ABC Glofox. Our simple dashboard will tie together your fitness club’s digital operations and services, help you generate more leads, and get paying customers in the door. That’s how you turn a solid social presence into a solid business.
