How to optimize your gym's social media accounts to recruit fans from your location

Surely your gym has at least one social media account where you promote its offers and services. These channels are very efficient, particularly when you want to forge a community around your fitness club and reach out to as many fans as possible, even if they don't have a membership at your gym (yet!).

No matter how impressive your gym's social media updates are and how many likes you get, your entire effort should focus on a single goal - recruiting new members.

That is why all your gym's social media pages must target individuals based in your city or area that would be more likely to join your gym.

When a potential client researches gyms in your city, your business should be among the first results.

Most social media platforms suggest content based on user preferences, and their location is an essential factor in this.

Optimizing your social media accounts doesn't require a great effort, but the benefits will be long term since your interesting posts will reach people genuinely interested in your gym.

What is social media optimization, and why should you bother with it

Optimizing content means changing the copy to add keywords that signal search engines that content is about a particular subject. More precisely, when someone googles "gyms Bucharest," if the text you posted contain keywords similar to "gyms Bucharest," search engines (i.e., Google) will know that your text is useful for people searching this.

Though usually, we talk about optimizing the copy of a webpage, for Google searches, it's just as important to optimize your social media accounts. That way, your pages will be deemed relevant for users in your area interested in fitness.

People think that as long as you have an impressive number of likes, it doesn't matter who are those likes form. But, if you want to transform those likes into paying members, then who they are is very important. Because someone on the other side of the country will be doubtful to purchase a membership at your gym, no matter how much they enjoy your posts.

Add your location on all your accounts

The first step you should take when optimizing your accounts is to add your gym's correct location. This feature is available for all social media channels, not just Facebook. This setting is made once for each channel and is crucial.

Set your location on your Facebook page

Facebook has loads of useful features connected to the location of your business. Once you set it correctly, your address will be displayed in the About section of your page, alongside a detailed map. In the mobile app, users can open it using Google Maps or Apple Maps and set a GPS course for your gym if they are not familiar with your area. That means Facebook can literally bring new members to your doorstep.

What is more, when someone is searching for a particular service on Facebook, the first results will be those connected to the user's location.

To add your gym's exact address, access the About section of your page and click on the Edit page info button. Fill in your address in the Location section.

Set your location on your Instagram account

Instagram is part of Facebook, which means they both have similar features. The first thing you must do is to make sure that your gym has a business profile and not a personal account.

You can then set your address using the mobile app - in your account, press the Edit profile button, and fill in your full address in the Contact options section.

Ideally, for your Instagram account, you should add your city’s name in your account’s official name, displayed under the logo, like this:” Panther Fit Gym | Bucharest”.

Set your location on your YouTube channel

On a YouTube channel, you can only set your country, not your full address.

If you haven't done this yet, access your gym's channel, click on the Customize channel button, and select your country in the Location field.

You could also include the name of your city in the name of the channel.

Use hashtags about your city

Hashtags are the easiest way to access content about a particular subject. Though they are used on both Facebook and Instagram, the most useful ones are on Instagram.

This channel lets you follow a specific hashtag, so your posts can reach even more users. So take some time and come up with several hashtags related to your gym and your city.

Instead of using general hashtags like #fitness, where there are millions of posts worldwide, for #fitnessbucharest, for instance, you will find less competition, and most people checking this hashtag will probably be interested in your gym.

Add keywords about your city in your copy

When you post a description for your gym, in the About section, on any channel, don't forget to mention the city you are based in. YouTube is the second most used search channel after Google, and Facebook is similarly widespread. Therefore, when someone is searching for a gym in your city, your social media pages should always be amongst the first results.

Include keywords in your posts as well.

You don't have to do this every time. Once in a while, it's good to check the most popular keywords about your gym and include them in your posts. You can use tools like Moz, Keyword Magic Tool, or Google Trends to identify the right keywords.

When you post on Instagram, especially on Stories, don't forget to add your city in the location field, not just the exact address of your gym. General locations like that of a city usually have many followers, and you can reach new potential clients that way.

Create separate accounts for gyms in different cities

If you have a chain of fitness clubs based in several cities, it would be good to set up a different page for each city. This works best on Facebook pages because they can also be connected. That way, each page will easily reach the right audience, and you can provide useful content to your followers.

Supposed you post about a special offer available in one or more gyms in one city. Followers who are in different cities will likely not be interested in that offer. By creating vague content, you will not engage any fans, and your content will be useless. However, each city can have its own page with dedicated posts, and you can use general ones across all pages through Crossposting.

A quick catch up...

Social media pages are excellent if you want to work on your gym's brand awareness. However, if you're going to transform your followers into paying customers, then you must ensure those followers are people who can actually join your gym.

The first step is to engage a large audience from your city. If your followers don't live in the same town as you, surely they won't be able to join your gym, no matter how much they enjoy your posts.

To recruit followers that can become paying customers, you must optimize your gym's social media accounts.t This is a simple task, and most changes are made only once.

Ensure you have set up your gym's address on all your social media accounts.

The identify the hashtags that contain your city's name. Don't use general hashtags because you will compete with millions of posts everywhere. However, using a hashtag like #fitnessbucharest, you will easily reach people interested in fitness and based in Bucharest. And if your gym is in that city, you just reached loads of potential members.

Identify several keywords related to your gym that are most searched for and include them in your posts' description. You don't have to do this every time you post something, only once in a while, when you can include them organically. Many people use YouTube and Facebook to find information, and by having these keywords, your gym's posts will reach their intended target easier.

For a chain of fitness clubs with gyms in several cities, it would be a great idea to set up different pages for each city. That way, you can reach the right audience easier, with posts created especially for people in a particular town, not just general posts.

It will only take you little time to make these changes, but their benefits will be long-lasting.