Today, we're joined by Alex Cartmill, head of product here at the Personal Trainer Development Center. Here, Alex shares his tips for leveraging your social media profile to help you position your online personal training business for success.
An important note: You may need to tweak these tips to fit your preferred social media platforms.
1. Look at your social media through the eyes of your target prospects
Think about your bio—does it really make the most sense to list your credentials and sponsorships, or does it make more sense to talk about the services you can offer your clients? Remember, you aren't trying to impress other professionals. You're trying to appeal to your clients. Forget the acronyms and spell out (literally) exactly how you help people.
Think about your target audience. What would prompt them to send you a message? Seeing yourself through the lens of your target market is a vital part of setting up a social media profile that drives your business. Keep in mind, you have about three seconds before a potential client moves on to someone else. You need to make what you do and how you can help your potential client super clear, otherwise, you're going to lose them to someone else.
2. Consider the language around your ask
Think both about what someone new to your profile might think, and also consider how you're nurturing your current followers. Your bio needs to be clear, telling potential clients who you help, how you help them, and how they can get in touch to work with you. Forget the clinical-sounding résumé—you want to appeal to emotion and make it super clear that you can help your target market reach their goals.
Don't just have a link in your bio that says "Click here for coaching." People don't know what that means. Get specific and create a visual. "Click here to get your revenge body" sounds much more convincing than "Click to learn more."
You might want to let go of Linktree—when your user has too many options, it's easy for them to get confused and move on. While Linktree makes things easy for you, it doesn't simplify the process for your potential client. If you absolutely must have a Linktree, don't provide more than two options. Be super clear, and make it obvious that the clients are responding to your call to action.
3. Consider your content
There are so many things that you'll want to consider when developing your social media content: Highlight who you are and what you do. Highlight your work—show clients what it's actually like to work with a personal trainer. Celebrate your clients. Share your knowledge with your audience. Utilize your social media to help you understand your clients' problems and provide the solutions they need.
All of the above matter largely in building a successful social media following, but what's most important is that you create your content through the lens of your personal life. All the information a person can learn about eating well and working out is already available online—your personality is what makes you stand out. You need to pull back the curtain on who you are and what you do. When you get vulnerable and share your real life with your audience, you give them permission to trust you with their own vulnerabilities and insecurities.
When you showcase your personality on your social media, you'll create unique content that appeals to your niche. This doesn't require any special training or education—it simply requires that you're honest and vulnerable with your audience. You'll continue to provide value, but rather than providing textbook explanations, speak from your own experience. Get away from an educational tone, and take a conversational tone instead.
4. Make sure you have a call to action from time to time
You need to let your clients know that you're open for business and can help them, and give them reasons why they should work with you. The formula is simple:
If you're an X person who wants to learn more about Y, click the link in my bio.
Asking for comments, letting people know that your DMs are open, and polls that invite people to explain further in a message all allow you to open up the conversation with potential clients without having to come off money-hungry.
To recap:
- See your social media through the lens of your target market.
- Create a user-friendly bio that provides a direct way to learn more about your services.
- Develop content that showcases your personality while also sharing information and opening conversations.
- Use calls to action to encourage people to reach out to you and engage with your content.
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