The rise in fitness influencers is visible when scrolling through Instagram and TikTok in markets across the globe. The reason for this rise - influencer marketing has shown direct increases in sales. As such, the fruitful role of becoming an influencer is on the radar of many. If this is you, wanting to become a fitness influencer in your respective domain, you’re in the right place. We discuss the how-to’s in starting out and becoming successful.
Step 1: Decide your Niche:
What’s a niche you might ask? Finding your niche refers to pinpointing your specialised market segment. Are you going to be a fitness content creator? Are you going to be the workout guru with attitude? Are you going to be brave and tell people to stop thrusting on the hip abductor machine, and stop doing glute push-downs on the assisted pull-up? Or worse, correct those doing glute bridges on the leg extension. Know what differentiates you from the rest of the influencers out there. There's no point in choosing something that you're not interested in. To be successful on social media, you need to be consistent, so think about what you’re truly interested in and have knowledge in.
Step 2: Your Social Media Profiles
Now that you’ve decided on your niche, you need to create an online presence on your preferred social media platform(s). We live in a technology-driven world, so you're not stuck with just one option here. You may prefer Instagram over Facebook, or TikTok over YouTube or you may want to get out there on them all and see which one hits it off. Once one or two of your channels start to drum up the highest engagement, it may be easier (and simpler) to focus your energy and efforts on those.
- Creator account - most social media platforms now allow you to swap to a creator account. This will allow you to view an insight into your followers such as age and demographic, and make it easier to compare your popular and least popular posts.
- Bio - creating an interesting Bio and including your interests is an easy way for social media scrollers to identify you as someone they want to follow. Simply adding fitness related emojis or a hashtag such as #fitnessfanatic will allow users to get an idea of what your account content will be about
- Profile Picture - Your profile picture is usually the first look of you that your followers will see. Relating this to your interest is a great way to entice new followers from your market segment. For example,you may be wearing gym gear or it could be an action shot.
Step 3: Content
What you post needs to be relevant to your niche. Whether you opt to post something useful and knowledgeable (such as tips for correct form), or something your followers can simply just relate to is up to you. The goal is to be relatable to your followers, as over time this will increase the likelihood of them being influenced by your recommendations.
It’s important to remain true to yourself. Only post products that you truly believe in and don't post things that could bring harm to your followers. If your posting exercises that can tone different parts of your body, ensure these are demonstrated in a safe manner using correct form. Your followers will listen to you, so don't break their trust.
Step 4: Consistency
Creating a schedule for what days/times you want to post is an easy way to stay consistent with content. The algorithms on most social platforms usually give preference to profiles that regularly post. This means, to get high visibility you will need to be posting as often as you can. This may depend on which social media platform you are focusing on. For example, YouTube uploads can be long and therefore take a longer time to film and edit compared to taking a picture to post on Instagram.
Step 5: Stay Connected
You’ve got yourself into a routine of posting, now is the time to ensure that you remain engaged with your audience. This may be something as simple as ‘liking’ their comments, or answering questions followers have. The ‘LIVE’ feature on apps such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is an easy way to dedicate time to engage with your followers. It is these interactions that build connections between you and your followers and solidify your influencer status. You may opt to search for fitness related hash tags to find like-minded online users.
Step 6: Reach out to brands
Not everyone is interested in brand collaborations, so it is important for businesses to know that you are. A simple way to do this is by adding in your bio that you’re interested in collaborations and the best contact details to get in touch for this. You may also need to reach out to brands directly and provide a pitch on what you can offer. Once you start to get sponsored posts, ensure these fit within your niche. If your content is fitness related and you start flogging teeth whitening products, you're likely to see the trust between you and your followers decline.
Ready to become a fitness influencer and make your mark on the world? Look no further! With us by your side, you can kickstart your journey as a Brand Ambassador by filling out the form at this link. Don't wait, let's make it happen!