This lesson comes from long-time Faction Family Member Adam Willis. He co-owns and operates the U.K.-based, online training business, Lean Body Performance. Over the years Adam has consistently produced on social media and we’ve watched his efforts grow his company, so we had to get him to share some of what he does with you. Here goes:

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It’s almost impossible these days to go 24 hours without coming into contact with the influence that social media has had on the World. Like the Newspaper and TV before it, Social Media has its positives and negatives but there’s no denying its impact.

 

As a Coach or a Training Facility will a social media presence make or break your business, I’d love to say no with 100% conviction but knowing people who’ve been refused employment due to having less than 2000 Instagram followers and potential clients now searching the fore-mentioned platform to check out a coach or gym as readily as they would Google, it can certainly impact your business.

 

Personally, my business is all online, so Social Media content is part of my bread and butter. If you’re Coaching online or looking to dip your toe into online coaching Social Media content is a must.

 

A lot of gym owners or local coaches often don’t see the value in Social Media content but in the same way you assume a potential client will Google your gym or look at your website they’re now also going to review you on Social Media as well, often with their trust, and business, being given to the one with the greatest Social Media presence.

 

So just how can Social Media help you and your business?

• It can help you build trust with potential clients.
• It allows you to showcase your skillset and unique talent.
• It gives you a popular platform to educate and address people’s pain points.
• It can help increase your credibility and let your followers see you as an authority in your field.

 

But before you rush off and get posting content lets really focus in on how to maximise your Social Media presence.

 

Start with the end in mind

 

You’ll have often heard the analogy of random training equals random results, well guess what, Social Media is exactly the same. Sure, you’ll have some success posting randomly but why not take a more strategic and planned direction with your content.

 

Much like mapping out someone’s training program, we first need to know their training goal(s). Social media is no different.

What do you want to achieve with your Social Media platform?

What’s your long-term vision for it?

 

Again, like training, if you don’t identify this how do you know the direction you have to head in and how will you know when we’ve arrived. This is your Point B or end destination.

 

Once you’ve identified your Point B you have to identify a few other key things before you start off on your Journey.

• What’s your Point A?
• What type of Sherpa are you on this journey?
• What type of person are you guiding on this journey?

 

Let’s start with the easiest of the above to answer, what type of Sherpa you are.

 

To do this we need to identify what your or your business’ unique talent is.

 

If you’ve read Content Inc, you’ll be familiar with these 3 concepts to identifying your unique talent.

 

Skill Set & Passion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skill Set & The Ability to solve Client’s pain points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Top Trump: Skill Set, Passion & The ability to solve Client’s pain points

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you’ve identified your role as the Sherpa next up is identifying who you’re guiding on this journey.

 

We have to start with the question “do you actually know who you’re speaking to right now with your Content?”

 

If you’re not sure, don’t worry it’s very simple to get the answer to this question.

 

You’ll first off need to ensure you have an Instagram business profile. This is just fancy talk for saying it is linked to a Facebook group page. If you don’t have a business profile at the moment you can just set this up through the Instagram app (the Facebook group page doesn’t even need to be live to unlock all of Instagram’s secret treasures).

 

Once your business profile is set up you want to head for the insights function where you’ll be able to open the Instagram Treasure Chest and find out exactly;

• Who your content is currently reaching?
• Where your followers live

If you’re a Gym facility or coaching in-person you’re ideally going to want this to show the town you’re located in, if you’re coaching online the World is your oyster.

• What the predominant age demographic is that follows you.
• The percentage split of Men VS Women who follow you.

You know, all of the information a stalker would want, but for business purposes.

 

Once you have all the juicy details on your following you can start to build your Social Media Avatar. This is the person who is coming on the journey with you.

 

Here’s mine:

• My followers predominately live in the UK (London is highest ranking city)
• The majority of my followers are Female (78% to be exact)
• The majority of my followers are aged between 25-34 years old.

 

Other information I have on my Avatar based on post traction, comments and DMs:

• This Female has on average 18 months of training experience.
• Knowledge even of the basics is low.
• Current exercise habits are HiiT and some weight lifting.
• They’re heavily influenced via social media when it comes to their current training regime.
• They want to get stronger, leaner and achieve things like chin up and push-ups.

 

How does knowing this information actually help?

If you know your avatar or the person who’s on the journey with you, you can identify their specific wants and pain points easier. This allows you to create content that speaks to them directly showing that your unique talent is the solution they’re looking for.

 

So, you’ve now identified who you’re guiding on this journey but there’s still some big questions to answer in regard to this person.

• Is this the person you want to work with? If not, how do you get the right person?

Nothing worse than being on a journey with poor company.

 

• Does this person match your long-term vision?

If this person doesn’t fit your point B you probably want to start making some changes before setting off for your long-term destination with the wrong person in tow.

 

• Can this person afford you?

If you offer a high-end product but your social media avatar is 18-25 years old you may have highlighted why perhaps social media isn’t helping increase your revenue, your followers simply can’t afford what you do.

 

So, all that is left for you to do now is to answer the question “Where is your Point A?”

 

To do this you need to dive back into Instagram’s treasure trove of information.

 

We know point A is where you’re at right now and starting your journey from, but you need some more specifics than that to really set off on the right foot.

 

This is where the content section of your insights becomes useful.

 

The insights section is going to reveal to you your current content patterns, trends and traction allowing you to see what content gets the highest interaction and on what days your content is consumed the most.

 

The value of this insight is that you can clearly identify what content is currently working and what isn’t allowing you to double down on the content type and days that get you the most traction.

 

When it comes to traction however people become fixated on likes but saves are the real star of the show when it comes to telling you what content is working and getting the most traction from your audience.

 

Likes are great but they only tell you that you caught someone’s attention for a brief moment.

 

Saves are a better indicator of impactful content. They tell you that you resonated with the person and that your content was possibly the solution to their problem, so they saved it.

 

Reviewing what content is getting the most traction is key for several other reasons as well, not just what is getting the most likes and saves.

It can also help you:

• Identify what works better, videos or pictures
• Identify what days and times your followers are most receptive to your content and what content does best at different times of day.

My followers are more receptive to longer posts in the AM and shorter posts in the PM.

• Identify what fonts, text, banners etc get the most attention and traction.
• Identify what content creates the most click-throughs to your profile, website, email and Linktr.ee (more on this gem later).

This kind of traction is important to highlight as it means the post caused the follower to look into you further or contact you based on that specific content.

• Build out your avatar in greater detail highlighting in more depth their wants and pain points based on what they’re saving or interacting with.

 

You’ve now identified your journey’s start and end point. You’ve highlighted what type of Sherpa you are and who you’re guiding on this journey.

 

It’s finally time to start your journey.

 

As you take steps on your social media journey it’s important however to remember some key points when creating content.

 

• You want to ensure you’re consistently add value with your content showing how your unique talent is the solution to your followers wants and pain points. Through this you’ll build trust and show yourself to be an authority.

 

• You want to ensure you have a clear and specific message that is both authentic and relatable when posting and that you actual speak to someone with your content.

 

• Where possible try to simplify what is perceived to be complex by your followers.

 

Always remember though, people outside of the fitness industry don’t really understand your qualifications or what great coaching or programming is (they also don’t really care). They want someone they can relate to, trust and who they believe can solve their problem(s).

 

This is the very reason Weight Watchers are still in business?

 

Are they the smartest or most qualified company – No

Do they offer the most up to date and thorough program – No

Do a lot of their clients lose weight and then put it all back on – Yes

 

Yet they stay busy, why?

 

People believe they can solve their weight-loss problem, even those who put the weight back on believe this. They’re trusted and those who go know they’ll be supported.

 

This shows you just how powerful relatability, trust and a person’s belief in your ability to solve their problem(s) really is. Build this power through your social media content.

 

Now when pursuing your training goals, you have a training program to guide your daily, weekly and monthly efforts. Social Media is should be no different. You need a guide or a program to remove the guess work and provide you with a structured schedule to achieve your content goals.

 

Enter the content calendar.

 

This is your simple solution to keep you to task and give your content clear and structured direction.

 

I like simplicity so I print off a calendar month from www.free-printable-calendar.comand then enter what my content will be on specific days of that month. This allows me to see ahead of time what content I need to create, what videos need to be filmed and what information I need to script out to accompany the post.

 

When it comes to content approaches for your monthly structure here are some of the simplest ways to create great and valuable content.

• Technique/Movement Videos
• Exercise Regression/Progression Videos
• Programming methods and structures
• Exercises/methods/drills to solve “X” problem
• Client Testimonials
• Myth busting posts

Basically, show your unique skill set in as many simple ways as possible that answer your followers wants and pain points.

 

Now when I’m packing for my journey, I don’t just pack my Content Calendar. I do have a few other Go-To tools to really help my content pop on my page and peacock my way to more traction and engagement.

 

For Photos/Quotes/Infographics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use Canva for pretty much everything that isn’t video content. It can take a bit of playing with at first to find some great templates or to create your own ones but once set up it’s easy to use and most of the content is free.

 

For Videos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just use my phone for recording, but I do recommend a purchasing a tripod to just tighten up the quality of the video.

 

 

For Video editing, adding text, emojis, headers and footers to my videos I use InShot. InShot is super simple to use and creates the content sized ready for Instagram use.

 

Linktr.ee

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linktr.ee is awesome. It allows you a free platform to house all links that you wish to share with your following and provides you with one link “to rule them all” for your Social Media Bio.

 

If you are somebody who needs to share your website, recent articles you’ve written, a cool product or two, maybe you have a podcast as well then Linktr.ee will be a life-saver for you as it allows you to get all your awesome shit to your followers in one easy to navigate place.

 

So that’s it you’re all set for your big social media journey. It’s time to share your unique talent with the world, impact as many people as possible on your journey and enhance your business at the same time.