The social media game has changed a lot over the years. I bet that some of you cannot even remember a time without social media. Well, I can remember a time without cell phones and easy access to the internet! Then, technology started to improve. Now you see 8 year old with tablets and their own personal cell phone. How old am I? Dial-Up: TIED UP THE HOUSE PHONE LINE FOR HOURS! Pager code: KNOW IT. Snake: PLAYED IT. Myspace: CUSTOMIZED MY PROFILE! School Research: LIBRARY! That old.

 

Whether you hate or love social media, it is a necessary evil to businesses, especially when you’re just starting out. Guess what, that importance doesn’t diminish over time either. Social media has a HUGE reach. If you do it properly you can reach people that you don’t know, from different states, different countries, that speak different languages but have the same interest base as your current followers. As a small 24/7 access gym that offers personal training, group fitness classes, and memberships, reaching people from all over the world is HUGE. These fitness-minded individuals are seeing what we are doing on a daily basis. They are following our client’s success stories. They are checking out our workouts. They are seeing our facility from wherever they happen to be.

 

Social media is allowing us to reach these people. One of the best things is knowing that we, in some small way, are encouraging them, or are a part of their fitness journey. That’s awesome when you think about it.

 

We’ve seen that social media has helped our small gym. We can see that people are beginning to follow us, or are seeing/interacting with what we post. We’ve had referrals from other local business owners that are NOT our clients. We’ve even had people come in to get a membership due to our social media. Do we always like it? No. Is it easy? No, it’s like another full-time job. Is it necessary? Yes.

 

Of course, I understand that there is a crap side to social media. There are always going to be social media trolls. There are always going to be people that react negatively but offer no solution to their issues. I’m talking to YOU, Keyboard Warriors…So far, we’ve been very lucky and our small, boutique-style gym has benefitted from Instagram, Facebook, etc. There will come a day when we need to deal with the dreaded trolls, but I think that we will be ready because it will mean that someone is taking the time out of their busy day to react to something that we are doing. Hopefully, we will still have the support from our members, friends, and family that will outweigh the bad.