Instructor Newsletter 23 October

 

 

Passion and Authenticity on Social Media

You know how much I love social media. I love connecting with people, friends, customers, clients and anyone and everyone, and I feel it’s been such a gift for us fitness professionals and group X Instructors.

Generally speaking, we all love people. We enjoy helping, inspiring, supporting and teaching health and  fitness, which is why we got into this job in the first place.

And now, as social media has become such an integral part of life, it’s another fantastic medium for us to reach out and help more people with our messages and skills.

So, why are some Fitpro’s social media buzzing
away with lots of interaction, comments, which ultimately turn into super successful marketing for their services and getting people into classes, and other’s
not making it happen on social media?

It comes down to passion, energy and authenticity.

Every single Tweet and Facebook and message that you post has energy behind it that the reader can feel.

If someone is down or they are just posting stuff
for the sake of it, you can feel that downbeat energy and no one responds.
It’s a lifeless post that goes nowhere. Whereas, on the other hand, you can feel the heightened energy when you read a post that the author is literally typing as fast as possible to share a message that they are so passionate about.

Maybe you experience that when you read an article or even this newsletter (Hopefully!)

When you post about something you are super stoked about, you can literally “feel” that positive energy and that’s what draws people in to interact with you…Don’t you agree?

Here are some tips to maximise your social media exposure and interaction:

Post when you are feel positive, happy, upbeat and energetic –

This energy is felt by everyone who reads it and compels them to get involved. If you post when you are feeling bad or negative that energy is also felt, so make sure you are in a good place when you are posting. It really shows.

1.Authentic -Be YOU on social media. Be authentic and post from the heart, know exactly what your brand is all about and who your  audience exactly is.

YOU KNOW  YOU – people come to your classes because they love you! Make sure that every single facebook post or tweet is an authentic extension of YOU, that will be picked up by your audience and it will grow and grow. People buy from people and your audience really wants to get to know you, so always be authentic at all times.

2.Identify your Audience –

Do you REALLY know who your audience is?  Who are you talking to? Do you have a clear vision of who is connecting with you on Facebook? Well, if you have a page you can see the insights. Facebook is very good at telling you exactly who is reading and interactive with you.  You get all of the stats eg Facebook tells me 97% of my audience on my KSFL page is women and 44% are aged between 33 – 45 with 32% 46 – 57, which is a really useful set of statistics to have. This helps me create the right messages for my audience and get more interaction.

3.What is Your Story?

People LOVE to know how YOU got to where you are today.  Use story telling on social media and tell your audience how  and why you created your business. We all have a great stories of how we got into fitness, what motivates us, probably loads of obstacles we have had to overcome to get to where we are today, so use story telling to build your brand identity. Your audience will love this and really respond to it.

4.Clarity – Once you have worked out who your audience is then enjoy helping and passing your great knowledge on via social media. This clarity and authenticity on who you are speaking to will really get more and more people to engage and interact with you and ultimately buy your products and come to your classes.

5.Entertaining – Be entertaining on Social Media, let your personality and humor really come though.

6.Check your energy and pay attention to how you are feeling before you post.

Promoting your classes and services on social media needs to come from the heart.

Be authentic and passionate and have energy and feeling behind everything you write.

I put my theory to test this week and I’ve examined (not that hard when I use FACEBOOK hourly/daily) celebrities, popular bloggers I follow, media people and, of course, Fitpros to see who is getting all the attention, interaction and engagement and whose comments  and status updates appear to be falling on deaf ears.

And it’s true….. the posts, blogs, tweets and messages that have got big style oomph, feeling and energy, where the words are literally jumping off the screen at you.

You can really feel it when you see something that has been driven by passion and enthusiasm, and the people who have loads of followers and engagement and are building rapport, a community and a platform, really are the ones who post with passion. Their posts  are funny, exciting, interesting and you really can FEEL the emotion behind the text.  Inevitably, this enthusiasm leads to more people buying into those services, brands and products. It doesn’t matter what the industry is or who the person is – it’s all in the authenticity, energy and passion behind everything that person writes on social media.

Are you getting the results you want for your business from your social media?

Wherever we go people are talking about weightloss, fitness, classes, Bootcamps, the latest new diet, a celeb that has lost a drastic or put on a drastic amount of weight. Racks of women’s magazine discuss the latest or the next fitness trend. We, my friends, are definitely in THE industry to be in. PLUS, it’s growing bigger every year, so if you are not getting bums on seats then let’s identify how you can really use PR and Social media to put you on the map.

The reason you may not be getting the audience your business needs is that you are not being CLEAR for whom your classes/PT /Bootcamps/Services are actually aimed at. You MUST get clear and precise and know, who you are targeting, who is your core audience, you have to clarify exactly what you do. When you get really clear vision of who is consuming your information, attending your classes, it’s easy to think about that audience whenever you post.

Find out exactly who is your core audience by asking. This week I’ve been asking in all of my online groups their ages, occupations, magazines they read, fashion they like, role models, celebs they follow, trying to glean as much information about who is reading and consuming my information and I’ve been able to put together a very clear picture of who this is. Going forward this helps me precisely understand the health and fitness needs of my core audience and be able to service that group with the right products and services.

I’d love to get your feedback via Twitter @RachelHolmes or Facebook.com/Choreographytogo

Are you blogging? – Rachel

You know how important writing articles for your newsletters, blog posts and updates for your Facebook notes and social media is? I thought I would do a quick bullet point to keep you on track and focused.

Blogging/Writing/Publishing Articles

Writing article s and blogging regularly is a powerful way to build credibility and visibility. Your aim is to educate your prospective clients about your ability to apply what you know to their situation. Regular blogging sets you up quickly as an expert and it drives traffic to your website but you have to do it consistently.

Considerations

1. Titles and Topics – What is of most interest to your target audience?

2. Headlines – How can you get attention and interest and lead readers into reading the body of the article?

3.Where are you going to publish your article – Your blog, newsletter, social media, local press

4. . Leverage – How can you use the articles you’ve written to leverage your business?

Once you have taken the above points into consideration put finger to key board and start writing. It doesn’t have to be long.  If it’s your local paper you are hoping to get your article in then consider writing a series of short articles that can be included as a weekly series, maybe write a weekly FIT TIPs column covering a whole host of fitness issues.

If you can’t get in the local rag then do a weekly Fit Tips Column on your Facebook page…why not ?

Let the world see your knowledge and expertise. Remember there are over 1 billion people on FB now so create some great content to cut through the noise.

My top 10 FIT TIP Topics:

1.New Trends – Especially with 2015 fast approaching?
2. Healthy Eating/Fat Loss (Always a winner!)
3. Fitness books or DVDs that you can recommend (For Xmas present ideas)?
4. Review Home equipment (many people will want equipment for Christmas so review)?
5. Pilates information and exercises (Pilates session are constantly busy all year round)?
6. Personal Training / SGT?
7. Weight Training for Woman – Still so many myths and misconceptions?
8. Increasing muscle mass for men
9. Kids Fitness
10. Pre and Post Natal fitness

O r whatever is your niche.

Make each article snappy, informative and always conclude each article with your contact information, list of classes and a little picture.

Post your articles on your blog, social media and send to all local media outlets and do it CONSISTENTLY. Regular blogging will help you build fans and followers.

Tweet me@RachelHolmes

Valuable Lessons Learnt

Like all of us, I took some massive steps forward (and many back of course) in my business this year; here’s what really worked for me.

Here are 6 valuable fitness business lessons I’ve finally grasped:

Lesson 1: Multi-Leverage is key to getting big results from your time and energy.

It’s taken me 20 years to delegate small tasks and focus on driving my business forward. In the past I have always said “YES” to everything…Extra classes, Extra presentations, Freebie class/masterclass/presentation, in the hope it will lead to something else.

I am positive you do the same:

So when the  phone rings with an opportunity  consider these 2 steps

a) If an opportunity, task or project arises, ask yourself if the likely results are going to be worth the likely time and energy… if not, scrap it  or, added to a “some day” folder.

b) If you decide to do it, look for ways to get additional leverage…

For example, if someone wants you to present at their event or speak at meeting etc, a great way to get extra leverage with no extra effort, is to ask if you can film my presentation and use the content on social media.

Bingo, no extra effort, and now you have content, or even a product. At the worst case scenario you can use the footage on Social Media, your Blog etc and help build your brand.

If you are just getting one benefit from your time and energy, you may be missing out.

Lesson 2: Fitness Online Coaching is growing. FAST

Providing online coaching makes up a huge part of my business. I really love it and it fits well into my business mix. I cut down radically how many classes I teach about 4 years ago and I have replaced the income I lost with online ventures. You can reach so many more people doing weekly online coaching.

What can you offer coaching in?

Think about your expertise and what issues and problems you can help people with.

I predict more fitness professionals will be getting into coaching and mentoring in 2015. It could be Mind Set/ Body Image/ Weight loss/ Business / Pre & Post/meditation  whatever your niche or speciality is.

Lesson 3: “Information is a one-way street”

I got the above quote from Tim Ferriss (My hero)… “You are either creating or consuming”… both are essentially saying that trying to multi task is a productivity killer, if you have a product or service/class to create, don’t be reading emails or playing on Facebook… if you want to create a new training program or product, focus on that and get it done, just don’t try and build a website on the same day!

When Creating a new Product or Service:

1: Switch off email, Facebook, phone etc…….No flicking.

2: Break the project down into small, specific chunk, always focusing only on what the NEXT action item is…to get to far ahead of yourself.

3: Outsource the stuff you are rubbish at and totally focus on getting the task completed.

Finally get the project finished and launched.

As Tim Ferriss says, a task will expand in size to fit the time allocated to it…
if you give yourself 3 months, it will take 3 months.

Instead give yourself a week and get it done.

Lesson 4: Keep going on courses, have a mentor and keep learning from the best in the business.

You have got to keep learning. If you are looking for a coach or a mentor find someone who is doing what you want to do and ask if they do coaching. Sign up for as many courses as you can.

It could be books, podcasts, Youtube these are great places to get information & research

Lesson 5: The comfort zone is like a muscle.

I strongly believe that very little in life or business is done from within a comfort zone.
Think of your comfort zones as muscles, that if stretched, will grow and expand.
Do things that stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone.
Do scary things every day if you can.

Lesson 6: Webinars will be the new Presenting Events

I’ve been saying this for the last 3 years that you have to get into taking webinars for your clients. Start to practice holding small webinars. Grow your confidence and use webinars to reach more people, connect with your existing clients and create a secondary income to your physical teaching.

Another year passes by, and once again we wonder where the time went… we ponder and dream for the year ahead, we lick our wounds and tally up our achievements… we look to what can be done, and what could have been done better.
We thank those who helped us on our journey, and give thanks to those who made us love, laugh and even cry.
Fitness, Health & Wellness IS THE business to be in we just have to find the right marketing mix to  get in front of the right people.

MOBO Awards 2014
By Andrew Crawford

It was live, it was happening, it was A London thanq….!!!

2 words….

Jessie J…Bang Bang….!!

Oh ….and it was on ITV (for the first time I believe). So what? Too many breaks…..that’s what…!!!

My friend said on FB

“…I am watching the MOBO`S and trying my best to understand what these Rappers are talking about, can someone please translate. I think some sub titles are needed. I must be getting old, Bring back the eighties and Nineties… Lol….”

I actually didn’t know 90% of the groups or artists on the MOBO’s …I did see Mel B and Sarah Jane Crawford (No relation…..I think) change outfits about 4 times…!!!

Psst……

Why has America sent 4,000 heavily armed troops to West Africa? Shouldn’t they be sending medics?  I suppose since they are there they can ‘keep an eye on the diamond mines’ and the oil fields..and ensure they are ‘secure’…!!!

So Andrew……

What has the MOBO Awards on ITV,  the number of times Mel B and Sarah Jane Crawford  changed their designer dresses and the number of breaks got to do  with Accountancy & Tax?

Well….by being on ITV, this gives rise to Advertising revenue from companies wanting to buy slots in the breaks. It gives new and established Designers a stage to show off their designs by allowing Presenters to advertise their creations…..!!

This is the World of advertising and Sponsorship.

When I was teaching, I was sponsored by many different companies. They wanted to get their products in front of different audiences.

Just like you, your business and your products. You pay for different types of advertising, sponsorship or a marketing experience. You may also wish to sponsor an event or something advertising your cbusiness.

Here’s a few you can benefit from.

Sponsorship Agreement

Sponsorship is a way for businesses to obtain the commercial benefit of bringing their name, products or services to public attention.

Sponsorship is often a form of advertising. A business tries to obtain benefits for its products, goodwill or reputation and public image by association with a popular or successful event or person.

Having a sponsorship agreement means that you are able to benefit from exposure of  your product or service  in front of TV viewers or a captive audience.

Advertising Packages

These packages may include both advertising (for example in the event’s programme, on clothing, at the venue, through to the name of the event) and hospitality. The hospitality may simply be a certain number of tickets or it may include meals or access to hospitality boxes.

Product Placement

There is growing expenditure on ‘product placement’ – paying to ensure that a particular product or service features of yours is prominently placed in a successful television series or film.

Sports clubs and cultural venues offer a range of options for potential sponsors.
These include:
corporate sponsorship packages, often advertised on the club or venue website

sponsoring individual productions, players or races

long tem deals such as sponsoring a football club.

Sponsorship costs are subject to the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test as with any other expenditure. This means that if there is a non-business purpose to the sponsorship (even if there is also a business purpose) no allowance is due, otherwise, claim the whole MOBO……

The HMRC’s view
“….The following principles need to be taken into account in deciding whether the sponsorship was paid wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade.
To find out whether the payment was made for the purposes of the taxpayer’s trade it is necessary to discover the taxpayer’s object in making the payment.

The general rule is that establishing the object behind making the payment involves an inquiry into the taxpayer’s subjective intentions at the time of the payment.
The taxpayer’s subjective intentions are not limited to the conscious motives, which were in the taxpayer’s mind at the time of the payment.

The ‘purposes of the trade’ means ‘to serve the purposes of the trade’.

The ‘purposes of the trade’ are not the same as ‘the purposes of the taxpayer’.

The ‘purposes of the trade’ does not mean ‘for the benefit of the taxpayer’.

The purpose for making the payment is not the same as the effect of the payment
.
A payment may be made exclusively for the purposes of the trade even though it also secures a private benefit. This will be the case if the securing of the private benefit was not the object of the payment but merely a consequential and incidental effect of the payment.

Some consequences are so inevitably and inextricably involved in the payment that unless merely incidental they must be taken to be a purpose for which the payment was made……”

Finally

Lynda Bellingham, our Oxo lady, lost her battle from Cancer.

It’s a strange thing…. This thing we call life. She wanted to see one more Christmas and wanted to die around February.

Our Creator had other ideas…!!

Katie survives whilst 2 girlies are shown the door. How much would you pay Katie to subliminally advertise your business??

Andrew James Crawford

www.fitnessindustryaccountants.com
www.facebook.com/fitnessindustryaccountants
www.twitter.com/tax4fitness

Have a wonderful Thursday

Love Rachel xxx