Facebook is an excellent resource for growing your business, but it can also be a potential minefield and can quickly drain precious funds. The very nature of Facebook’s targeting algorithm means that once you have posted a single paid advertisement on their site, you yourself will become inundated with promoted posts offering the secret solution to Facebook advertising and creating your “leads funnel”. The reality is, however, that these companies or success stories are channeling thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds into their Facebook campaigns in order to get the types of results they talk about, so what can you do right now, on a smaller budget to see some real results?
Here is the Fitness Industry Sales guide to getting started with Facebook for business
1) Know your brand
Before you even log in to FB, you need to know your own brand identity inside and out. This is crucial in every element of Sales and Marketing within the Fitness Industry, and the same applies online too. If you haven’t yet identified your own niche and personal brand, a simple branding exercise can do this for you. You need to be very clear about your own message and deliver it consistently in the look and feel, as well as the content that you will be adding to your Facebook for business page.
2) Install a Pixel
OK, you can log in to Facebook now, but the very first thing you should do when beginning to promote your brand and company online, is to install the Facebook pixel onto your site. This tracks visits and conversions to your main site. This is useful to measure the efficacy of any future Facebook conversion campaign (eg looking to promote an actual product/service via Facebook) but it also allows you to “re-target” visitors to your site. We’ve all seen those ads on websites we visit, where mysteriously the products or sites being advertised are ones that we have viewed previously, like a creepy shop attendant following you around the virtual shopping mall of the internet, cookies now mean that you can be re-targeted to promote products and services that you once considered, but didn’t yet complete the purchase of, its like in the movie Minority Report….but real!
3) Know your audience
Now, you’ve completed a branding exercise and installed your pixel but who is your target audience? You will have gained a good idea of your offline audience from your branding exercise, but on Facebook you are going to want to go even deeper! Not only do you have the opportunity to create very specific custom audiences on Facebook for who you want to view your campaigns, but Facebook will also reward you for hitting the mark more often. You will achieve a relevancy score for your ads and the more relevant and popular you are amongst a certain demographic, the more Facebook will reward your efforts by reducing your cost per post interaction. Facebook is a money making machine but it is also a Social Network and so the more often your content is shown to promote the Social aspects of the service – likes, shares, comments – the lower your future costs will be. Consider running some initial “like” campaigns to get this level of insight – effectively promoting something with a broad appeal to a broad audience, in order to analyse the results that then come back.
4) Create Evergreen content
Being at the cutting edge and posting fresh content should be an ongoing priority but when getting started, look to come up with a couple of pieces of very strong “evergreen” content. These are pieces that will never become out of date, and that you can put a few pounds behind every so often to grow your mailing list or promote interactions.
5) Gather data and create that funnel
Your initial strategy can simply be to gather likes in order to promote your page and to grow and measure your audience. Sending people through to your website is also a good idea as then you are able to re-target them with more expensive campaigns further down the line. Gathering their email addresses is step 2 – offering some additional content in exchange for signing up to the mailing list, you can automate this funnel quite simply by “boosting” a piece of your content on Facebook, which clicks through to a form on your website, which when completed, takes the visitor automatically through to the content offered. You can then re-market to these people via email and Facebook, potentially including some “trip-wire” marketing – a very low cost item or service to take them from being “prospects” to being “customers” – meaning they are then more pre-disposed to further purchases with you in the future!
So there you have it – our top 5 tips to getting started on a small budget! Coming up we will look at the key questions to ask yourself when creating content for Facebook and Social Media! Let us know in the comments sections what you think of the above and if you have any other starter tips for small businesses who aren’t yet looking to spend big on their Social Media Marketing
On – 30 May, 2017 By John McDermott
How to Choose a Golf Fitness Trainer
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question during my travels around the country and world on the golf circuit; “Sean, I am looking for a golf fitness trainer in my area, what do you suggest?”
Finding a golf fitness trainer for you, simply takes a little knowledge and time on your part.
Bottom line there are thousands of fitness experts, personal trainer, instructors, and conditioning coaches available to you. Some are more qualified than others to help you improve your golf game. Lets first off take a look at some general qualifications to look for in candidates.
The golf trainer’s education would be the first thing I would consider. In the world of personal training and fitness, there are no educational requirements, governing bodies, or state boards. Essentially, anyone can hang a sign on their front door and call themselves a “personal golf fitness trainer”. It’s unfortunate, but unqualified people are training people every day.
A highly qualified golf fitness trainer will likely have a college degree in the field of kinesiology, biomechanics, health sciences or a related field. There are many other organizations that accredit trainers too. These organizations provide intense educational programs providing the trainer with certifications. Accreditations from the National Strength and Conditioning Association, National Academy of Sports Medicine, and American Council of Exercise are highly regarded within the field. I would suggest looking for a golf fitness trainer with a degree in the field and at least one additional certification from the above organizations. This tells us that they have taken the time to become more specialized and better educated.
The Proof is in the Pudding
Experience within the field is absolutely critical. First look at the trainer’s general experience and dig deeper. In general, I am talking about how long they have been in the industry. Are they just starting out or are they a seasoned veteran in the field? What areas of the industry have they worked? Have they worked only in the health club setting, have they worked in a collegiate or professional athletic environment, or experience directly related to the golf industry?
I would look for a golf fitness trainer with some experience in athletics. A trainer with experience in competitive athletics understands the demands on your body under competition, whether it’s the weekend round with your friends, the club tournament, or the Masters for that matter.
Go to the Right Mechanic to Get Your Car Fixed
Now I don’t know about you, but if I had an engine problem with my car, I probably wouldn’t go to a motorcycle mechanic to get it fixed.
Would you look for a personal trainer that specialized in let’s say, youth football, to help your golf game?
Most trainers in the industry usually have a repeat client base. The client base can tell you a lot about the trainer’s area of expertise. The trainer’s cliental base could be very specific, for example working with elderly individuals or with athletes only. Other trainers may work with numerous types of individuals from young children, homemakers, to the budding collegiate star. More than anything a trainer’s client base gives you an idea if they have experience working with someone like you, and if they fit your individual needs.
I would suggest looking for a golf fitness trainer that has some experience working with someone like you. For example, if you are Nationwide Tour player, I would probably suggest looking for a golf fitness trainer who has experience working with professional athletes. The experience of working with professional athletes is only going to help with the interaction between the two of you.
Can’t We Just Get Along
Outside of education and experience, the final area to consider is the trainer’s personality. Some personalities will work well with you and others will not.
To get the best results for you, you must find a trainer that you are comfortable with on a professional and personal level. This will allow for the training sessions, development of your program, and the relationship to be a positive experience for both. Remember, you must trust the golf fitness trainer, and this requires a level of comfort with them.
Overall, I suggest taking some time on the front end and interviewing a series of trainers. This will allow you to compare and contrast all of the criteria we’ve discussed, and help you come to a decision you’ll feel good about.
Remember, choosing the right golf fitness trainer for you can mean the difference between reaching your goals on the golf course or not.
Source: Sean Cochran
