The average person has 5 social media accounts and spends 1 hour and 40 minutes on them daily. This is important for your coaching business because people on social media are not just sharing funny cat videos.
Research shows that 43% of people are more likely to purchase a new product they have learned about through social channels. But how can you use social media to get new clients? Well, there is good news. Creating a social media framework will ensure you have a winning plan and you're posting in the right place at the right time.
Social Media Overview
Most people when thinking about social media, think of Facebook - but there are thousands of options when it comes to social media channels. Just look at the image below from FredCavazza.net.
Don't just think about the traditional channels, to get ahead of your competition you can also think about channels like TikTok, and utilizing video
New social media channels pop up every day and current ones are always changing their algorithms. Many think social media is about going viral, or it's only a good social campaign if it’s seen by millions. This is not the case. With a solid strategy, you can get regular new clients through social media without getting lucky on a viral post.
Social media channels are hugely valuable to Personal Trainers and Coaches, primarily because they allow you to find a niche audience, build relationships with your customers, and get live, instant feedback from them. They are also very cost-effective.
If you have a marketing budget you can pay to target specific, niche audiences. But in this post, we're going to concentrate on how to use social media channels for free.
Social Media Framework
There are two popular frameworks within social media which are POST, and TALKING. Below we look at each and explain how it can help your online coaching business.The POST Framework
POST is a methodology for social media success created by market research firm Forrester. Their process explains the four steps, objectives, strategy, and technologyPeople - Never start your social strategy until you are 100% certain of what your customers need to know and the content they are interested in.
Objectives - How do you want to communicate with your audience. Do you just want to listen to them, or do you want to interact with them? Decide on your objective before you choose which channel.
Strategy - Once you have your objective, plan your strategy and decide how you're going to communicate with your audience (long video, short video, blog, social post)
Technology - Once you know your people, objectives, and strategy you can then choose which social channel.
This methodology is basic, but it helps you ask fundamental questions about what kind of people will use your Personal Training, or Coaching service. How do they behave online? What are your marketing objectives?
Thinking through these questions helps you choose which channels make the most sense for you and help determine how to use them best.
The TALKING Framework
TALKING is a social media framework for building your social media strategy and tactics that were inspired by Jill Quick. This framework uses a systematic approach to creating a social media plan.Tribes - Define and build your ideal customer segments and personas
Activities - Understanding their social activities and footprints.
Listening - Take the time to understand the conversation landscape. This will help you understand how and where your ideal customer uses social media.
KPI - Key Performance Indicators will help you define and measure your social media plan.
Investment - Now it is time to identify resources, technology, and the time you’ll need to implement your social media plan.
Network - Using what you have discovered in the Tribe, and Listening stage now it is time to discover and engage with influencers.
Goals - Be sure to link your efforts back to your business and marketing objectives.
Many online personal trainers make the mistake of posting to social media channels in an unorganized way, with no real plan. As we've discussed you need a plan before you start using social media, and that plan should tie back to your marketing objective. Without one, you’ll waste a lot of time, and effort.
These frameworks can help you focus on crucial questions when putting your plan together.
With your social media plan nailed down using one of the frameworks, the process of using social media is pretty straightforward, so choose the framework that best suits you and get moving!
