Does your gym have a YouTube marketing strategy?
If not, it really should.
Let’s face it, in the world of pictures, video, and instant communication, you need a way to stand out. Fortunately, YouTube and videos are a great way to engage and add value to your current community and reach out to potential new members.
As a fitness center or gym, how do you continue to harness the new technology and social platforms to your advantage? You’ve undoubtedly tried a Facebook page- which now requires you to boost your posts for a fee to reach all of the people that are fans of your page. Facebook, Twitter, and others are great (and recommended) methods for getting in touch with those that like you and want to know what you’re up to. Engaging on a deeper level with video is something specific to YouTube (not to mention the additional SEO benefits).
Marketing on YouTube is a little harder to practice than to preach. You have somewhat of an obligation to be entertaining and informative. Videos that are both low quality and boring will be little more than exercises in what not to do.
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Benefits of Video and YouTube Marketing
YouTube marketing for your gym provides the visual experience that photos and text updates won’t give people. Videos give us a better feel of your gym, box, or yoga studio. It allows prospective members the opportunity to “visit” your gym before actually setting foot inside of your building. Done properly, video marketing in this way should only encourage people to come in.
Additionally, YouTube marketing your gym can have benefits for your trainers or instructors. If you can incorporate all of your trainers into the videos, you’ll be able to give prospective members a sense of their personalities to see which is the best fit. Also, by having your trainers present information on a platform like YouTube, it can add value to your trainers in the eyes of both current and prospective members.
Assuming you’ve properly targeted your keyword, there can be a substantial impact on your SEO value. YouTube often has searched results that appear on the first page for certain terms where a video exists that matches the query. For example, the search “how to do a vinyasa” turns up three video results (2 from YouTube) within the first five results. Videos tend to get clicked on frequently so if your website is having trouble competing, try YouTube.
Types of Content for YouTube
When using YouTube to market your fitness center, there are some different types of content you can provide your viewers.
Regular Content
For regular content, you can provide how-to demonstrations of proper technique. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CrossFit gym or a yoga studio, form matters. If you only see members 1 – 2 times per week, correcting form can be hard. Providing videos with demonstrations on how to perfect the move will be something all current members find useful and all prospective members might appreciate.
Periodic Content
While regular content should be done at least once per week, periodic content can be done 1-2 times per month. Ideas for periodic content are interviews and reviews. You can interview your trainers on specific topics, members on their transformation and what they’ve managed to accomplish. You can even step it up and interview external experts such as nutritionists and cross domain experts (example: yoga instructor for a CrossFit gym).
Infrequent Content
This could also be called “home run” content because with it, you’re trying to get shares and aim for “viral.” Some gyms provide these in the form of skits that can be highly entertaining. These aren’t meant to provide value in the typical terms; they are made to tickle your funny bone. These can be effective when combined with a good regular content strategy. They tend to be highly shared which can increase the size of your audience and prospective member pool.
5 Tips for a Good YouTube Marketing Strategy
For a complete guide to YouTube, check out our YouTube marketing guide. Here is just a short list of 5 Gym YouTube Marketing Tips:
- Focus on quality content. If your video isn’t worth viewing, people won’t watch. Subscribe to your channel, or believe anything you say.
- Once you have quality content, focus on quality audio. People will sit through so-so video as long as the content is good, and they can hear what you’re saying.
- Smartphones can provide high enough audio and video quality. You don’t need a fancy camera to make a YouTube strategy work.
- Stabilize your video. If you can, use a tripod. Shaky video is another reason people won’t watch.
- Focus around a keyword and your gym name. Be sure to include both in the title of your YouTube video.
Final Thoughts
Gym marketing on YouTube can be an untapped source of new members for you. It provides SEO benefits that your website can’t. Focusing on value will make sure that you are getting the most out of your videos regardless of your budget.
Have you tried marketing your gym on YouTube? Let us know in the comments how it worked out for you.
