As mentioned earlier, some fitness studios feel paid Facebook ads are a good supplemental strategy. You can choose “Sponsored Stories,” which will show up in a newsfeed. According to Facebook’s EdgeRank, organic posts on your wall will only reach 16 percent of your fans’ news feeds, since the feeds are continually updated. “Facebook Ads” target people with specific interests to maximize your reach. We use both methods for our studios.
- When creating a Facebook ad, you’ll want to decide where to send your prospects. Do you want them to sign up for an event or an offer? Do you want them to become a subscriber, download an e-book, or fill out a survey?
- Next you’ll want to define your target audience by age, location, interests and gender.
- You should decide who should view your ad – anyone, friends, or friends of your friends. For instance, you may want to make some offers available only to your current fans. For other offers you may want to cast a wider net.
You will want each ad or sponsored story to be…
- Relevant – By knowing the likes & interests of your target demographic
- Valuable – By providing something your prospects want
- Clear – By giving fans a clear call-to-action you want them to take
- Visual – By grabbing people’s attention with a provocative image
The Facebook Ads Manager will show you…
- Campaign Reach – How many people have seen your ad?
- Frequency – How many times have people seen your ad?
- Social Reach – How many friends of friends saw your ad?
- Clicks – How many people clicked on your ad to learn more?
- Action – What action did people take for the next 24 hours after viewing your ad?
Promote a mix of offers to get qualified leads, huge visibility, and engagement. Do some infotainment content and other product-related posts. Optimize your landing pages to educate visitors and ask important qualifying questions on the download form. Finally, monitor your analytics to see which leads become clients.
I always recommend A/B testing if you plan to do Facebook ads and landing pages. Try creating two different versions – with different copy, images and timing – and see which one yields the most sales leads.
Make sure your Facebook ad landing page is specific to your offer to avoid confusion. For example, if your ad says you’ll get 50% off a “Fat-Blaster Program,” you should send them to a sign-up form about that particular offer, rather than just your regular homepage.
You will also need to deliver top-notch customer service if you want to create relationships that yield sales and customer loyalty. Make sure you have a few additional people briefed and prepared to answer questions about your promotional offers. This is especially important if you’re doing a daily deal site ad; your phone could really start ringing off the hook!
If done correctly – and strategically – Facebook can be a real asset to your fitness business. If done incorrectly, it could feel like a useless chore or a totally futile effort. I’m available to help you get your Facebook strategy off the ground. I have a wealth of Facebook-related resources from auto-pilot programs to one-on-one mentoring.