The task of building an epic Facebook page for your personal training business is often placed in the “don’t have time for that right now” basket.
Most of us understand that Facebook is a powerful beast and can do amazing things for our business but working out how is often the sticking point.
So today I want to talk you through 10 easy ways to build an awesome Facebook page, but before I do I think it is important that you take some time and think about who you are designing your page for (prospects, clients or both) and what outcome you are trying to achieve with these people.
Your FB page is a great place to develop the community within your business and make your clients or members feel a part of something special. But it is also a great place to new or prospective clients to see they value in what you do and how they could personally benefit by being part of your community.
Personally, I think it is good to direct some individual posts towards current clients and the others toward prospective clients who are fans of your page. That way, bases are covered and you are developing new leads while also building your current community.
So to get the ball rolling, here are ten easy ways to build an epic personal training Facebook page….
#1 Focus on them
I know, who would have thought?
Funnily enough, your Facebook page should provide valuable content to you audience. It is not a platform for you to explain to the world how rad you are (you can save that for your personal profile, if that’s your thing).
Your page is not the place to post up your personal workouts, lunch menu or the list of physical achievements that you managed to squeeze into one weekend. It IS the place to add value to your Facebook fans in order to help them achieve their health and fitness goals.
So before you press the “Share” button, just ask yourself two questions:
Is this valuable for my audience?
Is this helping to solve their problems?
If you get a “yes” on at least one of those, then you are good to go.
#2 Ask questions
By regularly asking questions to your Facebook fans, you achieve two very cool things…
- You open up a discussion which allows people to express their opinions about different topics.
- You receive valuable information about your audience around what their biggest struggles are.
Unlike a static website, Facebook has been designed to allow people to publicly discuss different topics in real time (it is basically online networking on steroids). So just like in any real world networking situation, it is always great to ask lots of questions and just sit back and enthusiastically listen.
Start with really simple questions just so you can have an opportunity to engage make sure that you ask for opinion regularly. Posts (especially questions asking opinion) with lots of comments tend to be read by a lot more people than a non-interactive post. I guess it is our voyeuristic tendency to want to know what others think, do or say.
#3 Get excited
Passion for what you do is not a skill that you develop in your certification course – it is just in you. As a personal trainer trainer, people will look to you for motivation, inspiration and accountability. This stuff we know.
But one thing that draws people to you like nothing else is enthusiasm…passion. People want to work with other people who absolutely love what they do, it is infectious. So if you are passionate and enthusiastic during your normal day, but your Facebook page is as exciting as research journal then it is time to change things up.
Get emotive, get excited and put the real you out there a bit more.
Boring is, well…..boring.
#4 Be regular
Human nature tip – people respond to regularity.
If your audience knows that you post something daily on your page and that something is generally of interest or value to them, then they are going to consistently head over to your page to check it out. So once you have established what is valuable to your crew, then commit to a minimum posting schedule.
You may start off with once or twice per week and then increase it as you get more of a feel for it. Whatever your strategy, just be consistent. The best way to lose your audience is to roll out an awesome, regular two weeks of posting daily and then get too busy and turn your page into a ghost town.
Not cool.
#5 Talk other local businesses up
No, this does not mean promoting your biggest competitor to your entire fan base. Instead this refers to other local businesses that you have inter-actions with in your local community that are not in competition but can provide value for your people.
A simple example is if you go a see a new physio and he fixes your injury. A quick post explaining why you loved their service and what they did for you (while tagging them at the same time) is a great way to not only expose your clients to other great services out there, but it also demonstrates that you are not solely focused on you and your business.
Result: clients appreciate the heads up and you have just made an unconditional step forward in building a strong local business alliance.
#6 Have others talk you up
In the middle of writing this post, I walked down the street from my office to get a coffee. On my way to the coffee shop, there was a shop owner standing out the front of her store handing out flyers. My first impression was to avoid her at all costs but I smiled at her and took her flyer.
While I waited for my coffee, I watched how other people reacted to the same lady over a 5 minute period. Most of the people who walked down the street during that time either crossed the road before they got to her or walked past with their head down.
What’s the moral of the story?
Blowing your own promotional horn (whether it be handing out flyers or on your Facebook page) is not as effective as others blowing the horn for you.
So on your Facebook page, regularly post real-world feedback that you get about your service, put up video testimonials and encourage your clients to post stuff on your wall. Social proof builds credibility and decreases peoples anxiety about purchasing when they see others (just like them) taking steps in the right direction.
Facebook has many features (like tagging and check-ins) that give you a range of creative ways to have an interactive page full of social proof that has a huge reach in your local area (and beyond).
#7 Be the “go-to” resource
Adding value to your Facebook audience can take many shapes and forms. One of those forms is to provide information and resources to your fans to make achieving their goals easier.
This may be a link to a helpful video, a blog post, your personal review of a commonly used product, a discount at your local sports store or pretty much anything that you think will be valuable to your peeps.
So above and beyond just talking about your business, providing valuable resources (especially if you use then yourself) is a great way to connect and ensure your fans regularly come back to your page.
#8 Post photos and videos
One of the coolest things about using a Facebook page for your business is that it allows prospects to get a much clearer view of what happens in your business. This allows them to make an informed decision as to whether your service is a the right fit for them.
So don’t hide.
Post up photos and videos of what happens in your business – make sure your get a good cross-section of your clients so that all different kinds of prospects have the opportunity to relate. You can also use these videos and photos as a form of public recognition for your crew (more about this in a sec).
Note: unfortunately you cannot tag an individual from a Facebook business page. So post the video or photo on your personal profile (with the tags) and then share that onto your Facebook page…win/win.
Just remember, visual is good.
#9: Acknowledge amazing efforts
It makes good sense to use your Facebook page as a public vehicle to acknowledge and reward your clients or members. These acknowledgments can be for efforts big or small, but it is important to show that you value every step forward that your clients are taking.
Acknowledging positive efforts is a great way to motivate and inspire other members of your business to achieve more. For example, you could structure the comment in an engaging way…
Congratulations to Dave for finally getting his 1km time under 6 minutes in this mornings training session. Following Dave’s example, what is the next “mini” goal you are personally aiming for?
Not only does this type of post encourage your community to support your other members and clients, it motivates then to think more about their own training.
#10 Lighten up
Life is funny, business is funny and personal training is definitely funny – so lets not be Caption Serious all the time.
Your Facebook page does not just have to be all about training, food and hard-core motivation. It can have a lighter side; a more personal side where you have the opportunity to show your fans that you are a person as well and not just some freaky fitness robot.
Make fun of yourself, share funny situations that arise with your clients and generally try to have a bit of a laugh with the fans on your Facebook page. Most of the time, people choose to use a personal trainer because they are not massive fans of exercise. So while you are making them do stuff that they don’t really like, it is always good to inject a heavy dose of fun into the mix.
Plus this simple act will differentiate you from all of the other 2 billion boring personal training Facebook pages.
Where to start?
In order to build an epic Facebook page for your fitness business, I want you to take three simple steps to get started:
1. Check out the FB pages of Aussie fitness businesses who are doing LOTS of things right on their page (Essential Health and Fitness, Power Mums and Krunchies Health and Fitness.)
2. Research the FB pages of the direct local competition to see what they have, what they don’t have and how you can be different.
3. Then using all of that information AND the ten steps that I have outlines today, get out there and create something amazing. Because if you are going to spend time on Facebook (average daily FB usage up to nearly 2 hours in Australia), you may as well build your business at the same time.
To wrap things up, Facebook is an unbelievably powerful networking tool – one that doesn’t cost you any money to use and allows you to connect with your audience (both current and future) better than ever before.
Developing an epic business page is time well spent – just do your best not to get sucked down the FB rabbit-hole of distraction while you are their 
Rick
P.S: If you would like to go deeper into this topic, check out The Facebook Experiment that I did last year.
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