Even though Social Media platforms started out as a way to connect people, in recent years, they’ve transformed into successful marketing channels that businesses use to connect with their target audiences. So, it’s no coincidence that more and more businesses turn to Social Media to communicate with their clients. And also, attract new leads, in the hope of turning them into loyal clients. With this in mind, we’ve compiled some easy-to-implement Social Media tips for you, fellow coach, to help you grow your endurance coaching business, online.
Why does an endurance coach need Social Media?
Before we go on with our Social Media tips guide, we need to examine why you, as a coach, need them, in the first place. As mentioned, having an active presence on Social Media allows you to interact with your target audience, as an endurance coach, and build a loyal client base. But since Social Media are versatile, they can also help you to:
- Create a network of clients — and clients-to-be — where they can share their experiences; and, to feel they belong to a supportive community of endurance athletes.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends in your niche.
- Get reviews on your page.
- Share updates, news, accomplishments, etc.
- Connect with other professionals to share knowledge; and, why not, join forces to offer premium services.
- Establish yourself as a go-to expert, and become a thought leader in the endurance coaching market.
The pros and cons of Social Media
The list of pros and cons of Social Media is almost inexhaustible. Nonetheless, we’ve managed to encapsulate the most important aspects of both, to offer you a perspective.
Pros
The most tangible benefits that Social Media can offer you, as an endurance coach, include:
- Social Media can help you understand your potential clients.
- You can make the most of their features to increase brand awareness and generate leads.
- They help build your clientele.
- You can tap into communities; even build a community yourself, as we previously mentioned.
- You can study your competitors — their mistakes, what works for them, what makes them stand out.
- They can work as business development channels, in the long run.
Cons
However, it’s not all sunshine and roses with Social Media. There are a few drawbacks you need to keep in mind, like:
- Social Media may require a lot of your time.
- You might need to hire a Social Media Manager; but, if you have the budget for them, finding the right one for you will be an asset for your business, in the long haul.
- Dealing with negative comments or “trolls” is not a rare occasion.
- You can’t always rely on the validity of the information you find.
- Your competitors can study your strategy and come up with a stronger one to get ahead of the game.
- Social Media often contains low-quality content; but, you can turn that into an advantage, by creating content that stands out 😉.
10+1 Social Media tips for the endurance coach
If you want to master the art of Social Media for your coaching business, you need the right mix of Social Media tips to take you in the right direction. That’s what we’re here for! 🙌
Are you ready? Let’s get down to business.
1. Create an editorial calendar and be consistent about it
An editorial content calendar requires some time to set up; yet, in the end, it will save you time. Especially when you get the hang of it. Apart from that, it will also help you look at the bigger picture regarding your post types, overall content, and calls to action. In other words, it will help ensure you have a great mix planned ahead. Whatever you decide on your content mix and posting cadence, though, remember to be consistent about it.
Below, we share two Social Media tips that will help you keep your editorial calendar streamlined.
Use schedulers to preserve cadence
Using publishing schedulers that you can find in Social Media Management tools will allow you to establish and maintain cadence. Yes, cadence is important here, too 🙂. What’s more, they’ll help keep your audience coming back, stay on top of trends, and optimize for Social Media algorithms.
Use hashtags to increase visibility
Hashtags don’t only bring people together in thematic communities, but also help businesses attract prospective clients to their feeds. It’s important to include hashtags in your posts, as they will help increase both visibility and brand awareness.
Use themes to create posting opportunities
Using recurring themes will make it easier for you to create posting opportunities. To put it another way, themes help you come up with relevant content for your Social Media pages. Moreover, they also create consistency and increase engagement. To give you an idea, here are some examples of widely-used themes for specific days of the week:
- Transformation Tuesday (#tft)
- Throwback Thursday (#tbt)
- Flashback Friday (#fbf)
2. Create better-quality content
Our list of Social Media tips wouldn’t be complete without this one. That’s because, in the already saturated Social Media landscape, coaches are fighting a hard battle for their audiences’ attention. And, to win, among other things, a coach needs better quality content. How do you create such content? In short, here’s how:
- Know your target audience
- Bring value to your audience; give them what they need
- Diversify your content; keep it interesting and original
- Personalize your Social Media pages — and your content, of course — with your coaching brand
Create better content than what you can find there
It goes without saying, better-quality content is, ideally, of better quality, compared to what you can find on Social Media. If you want to create first-rate content you need to:
- Research competition: What kind of content do they create? How is their audience responding to it?
- Be creative; think out of the box
- Always keep your target audience in mind; their challenges and needs
Make sure people can relate to it
If your audience can’t relate to the content you share, well, then, you’ll be shooting in the dark. You need to get your audience engaged to strengthen your relationship with them. And, the best way to do that, is by sharing relevant content; that is, content that your audience finds interesting and useful.
Make it real and show your human side
One of the best things about Social Media is that they offer a great opportunity to show your unique personality, and what you stand for. Your audience won’t stick around if they can’t relate to you on a human level. Therefore, be authentic, show your human side, and your audience will engage with you and your content.
Share quick tips
Everybody loves a free tip. Don’t you like the Social Media tips we share in this article? (We sure hope you do 😁). Sharing quick tips, every now and then, is a simple and smart tactic to score more likes, shares and engage followers; while teaching something useful to your audience that can easily be implemented in their training.
Make your content immersive; Use storytelling
It’s no accident that storytelling has been dominating the Social Media world these past few years. Indeed, unique and meaningful storytelling communicates your brand’s personality, if used in the right manner. Also, it has the power to make your content stimulating, thus, immersive. Stimulating and immersive content means an engaged audience.
But, how can you become a storyteller? Simply start by using your content — articles you share from your industry, your own photos, videos, etc. — to tell a short story that your audience can connect with. Don’t just share content for the sake of sharing something. Instead, offer a context, describe the photo you share, for example; make your posts matter. Explain what this post is all about; share your perspective and experience.
Include a call to action
A call to action — or CTA — is important because it makes your posts much more actionable. For instance, you can use CTAs in your posts to direct your audience to:
- Tap the link in your bio
- Like, comment, and share you post
- Visit your website (or any other page that you want to direct them to)
- Tag friends in the comments
- Buy a service or product you’re selling
Be careful not to overdo it with CTAs — not all your posts can support one. Your CTAs need to naturally follow the flow of your content.
3. Hire a Social Media manager, if needed
The bitter truth about Social Media is that you need to dedicate a lot of time, if you want to make things happen there. That’s why hiring a Social Media Manager may be a good idea. An experienced Social Media Manager can bring a lot to the table, but it’s more essential to hire the right one. The right one, as in someone who understands your philosophy and your business needs. Someone who can help you achieve your Social Media goals.
4. Help your audience and keep them engaged and educated
It should be clear by now that to keep your Social Media engine going, you need to bring value to your audience, and help them address the challenges they face. And, there’s no better way to do this, than sharing your knowledge and experience to educate and empower them. If you manage to do that, it will be only a matter of time before your followers (target audience) become loyal clients.
5. Follow the 60/20/20 rule in what you share
What is the 60/20/20 rule about? It’s about keeping a nice balance, content-wise. To break it down for you:
- 60% of your content should be educational; how-tos, updates, news, insights — posts that inform or help your audience.
- 20% should be about your values, mission, culture, and accomplishments.
- 20% should be direct promotions, and coupons; in other words, sales.
Make sure everything aligns with your mission and values
Suffice it to say, your Social Media presence needs to be imbued with your mission and values. Otherwise, your content strategy will be vague. In fact, your entire Social Media plan will be weak; and, there will be no Social Media tips we could share to save the day, if things get to that point 😬.
6. Develop and follow a solid privacy policy
We can’t stress enough the importance of being transparent about the ways you gather, and manage your followers’ data. Developing and following a solid privacy policy ensures that there are no misunderstandings. No to mention that, this way, you show respect to your audience.
7. Always ask for permission to use something from your follower base
When reposting user-generated content (UGC) in your feed, it’s important to understand the unwritten rules of how to do this the right way. To that end, keep these in mind:
- Ask for the creator’s permission, first.
- If they give you the green light to repost or use their content, always give them credit for it. Just tagging them will not do; you’ll also want to refer to the creator in the caption.
8. Always answer comments and questions
The comments and questions your followers make in your posts provide a great opportunity to connect with them, receive feedback and build trust. Also, by replying to their comments and answers, you’re showing them that you care and that their feedback matters. All of this helps you build a strong relationship with them. At the same time, it allows you to stand out from your not-so-responsive competitors.
9. Handle negative comments with grace
Not all followers will write positive comments on your posts. If you get these comments personally and respond harshly, it will be a mistake. Why? Because, if anything, it will seem tactless and embarrassing to the rest of your followers. Whether you like it or not, how you handle negative comments, speaks volumes about you and the way you do business.
The good news is that you can prepare yourself mentally, so that it doesn’t hit you like a thunderbolt, when it happens. Because it will happen, sooner or later, dear coach, you can’t avoid it. By no means should you take these negative comments personally; but rather, take them as a form of constructive feedback. If you do, it will be easier to handle them with grace; and even disarm them with kindness, as they say.
10. Connect with influencers
The best way for you to connect with influencers is to simply follow them on Social Media, and keep up with what they post. Then, you can like, share, and comment on posts that you find interesting, and slowly build rapport with them. Although this process may take some time, once you connect with them, they can help you step up the pace toward Social Media success.
11. Watch your analytics and build on what works
Without a doubt, Social Media analytics is critical to determine whether what you’re doing on Social Media works, or not. For one thing, the data and insights you get from your analytics report can help you measure the performance of your Social Media strategy. This alone can make a world of difference in your efforts to excel on Social Media, as an endurance coach.
Eventually, use only the channels that work
With so many Social Media platforms out there how can you choose the ones that work for your business? To be honest, finding the proper channels is a marketing strategy on its own. Be that as it may, you need to carefully choose your channels, as they will be a big part of succeeding in Social Media.
Now, to find the channels that work, you need to do a little research to determine which ones are more suitable for your niche; and, which ones your competitors use. Overall, it’s good to choose a few — maybe two or three channels — to keep your post quality high. Focusing on just a couple of channels will also allow you to dedicate time to interact in conversations and connect with your audience.
TL;DR – Don’t give up
Social Media can be a powerful tool for endurance coaches, but also a very challenging one to manage. So, if some days Social Media seems like a handful, don’t give up; keep looking at the positive side. Think of all the great things you can achieve through your Social Media pages.
To recap on a few important Social Media tips that we shared today: Keep your focus on quality content, offer value to your audience; and, if you have to hire out, make sure you find a Social Media Manager who understands what your business needs.