Social Media Tips from Industry Leader

In this month's Health Club Management (Issue 3, 2017, pg.61-62), the social media manager at Xercise4Less discussed what lead them to win our Social Media Fitness Index Q2, Q3 & Q4 2016 reports. 

 
Xercise4Less consistently posts about the success of its members on its various social media channels...

Xercise4Less consistently posts about the success of its members on its various social media channels...

 

Joe Hall writes...

"We live in an era where people can turn themselves into a squeaky talking fox on Snapchat, or hit an ‘angry’ button at a piece of news content on Facebook. In fact, the nature of what you can do has become so varied that the whole concept of ‘social media’ – what exactly this now is – becomes quite hard to define.

I’d consider social media to be a mass get-together which no longer takes place in the park or in the pub, but in a Millennial third space: online. There might not be a see-saw or a pint of Tetley’s Smooth Flow in sight, but humans interact in this digital social media space in much the same way as they do offline in the local park or pub. That’s a result of psychological traits and human instinct.

But social media goes one step further: it amplifies human behaviour. It cuts out the routine, unexciting, dreary, monotonous matters that happen in the real world and just gives us the more dramatic, action-packed, high-end pleasure or high-end pain experiences.

As marketing decision-makers, we need to respect that the end consumer on social media is out for the thrills and spills. They’re certainly not scrolling through Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat to bask in any dullness or absorb meaningless promotional waffle.

At Xercise4Less, it’s my duty to ensure our social media appeals to our audience’s wants and needs. I’ve outlined four ways in which we do this.

  1. Deliver emotional conten
  2. Contests and gift
  3. A sense of belongin
  4. Post for your audience

Even when Xercise4Less was nominated for the Best Use of Social Media by the Leisure Database Company, we ensured the announcement was very much all about our members.

What lies ahead for the world of social media?
...Human behaviour and psychological traits should always be at the heart of any social media and marketing strategy". 

Original source: Health Club Management

SOCIAL MEDIA FITNESS INDEX Q4 2016 REPORT - PRESS RELEASE

1.07m Facebook likes, 76k Instagram followers, 285k Twitter followers, 13k YouTube subscribers* 

Xercise4Less ranks 1st in social media stakes

The number of YouTube views declined by 13% from Q3 2016

*Across the top 20 private brands in Q4 2016

 

In LeisureDB’s Q4 2016 edition of the Social Media Fitness Index, 12 brands have increased their Social Media Fitness score since Q1 2016. The top ranking brands from Q2 and Q3 2016 have remained the same, with Xercise4Less taking 1st place, Pure Gym in 2nd and Virgin Active 3rd.

Despite only achieving 3% growth, compared to 4% in Q3 2016, the number of Facebook likes has increased by 31k likes resulting in a total of 1.07m across the top 20 private brands.  8 of the 17 brands gained over 1k Facebook likes across the quarter with The Gym Group gaining the most with over 8k. Vital Health & Wellbeing saw an impressive 56% increase in their number of Facebook likes across the quarter.

The top 20 private brands achieved a 12% increase in the number of Instagram followers from Q3 2016. The brands also maintained the high Instagram activity levels seen in Q3 2016 with also 900 images and videos being posted during Q4 2016.

Against the backdrop of declining revenue and user growth throughout 2016, Twitter remained the second most popular platform for fitness brands. The average number of Twitter followers per brand was 22k, an increase of 1k on Q3 2016.

Surprisingly, the total number of YouTube views declined by 13% in Q4 2016 with The Gym Group losing 1.5m from their channel, however the total number of subscribers did increase by 10%.

David Minton, Director of LeisureDB, believes that the fitness industry should not underestimate the power of digital including that of social media. Minton says “Mobile has become a vital accessory to sports and fitness member’s and so operators across the public and private sectors need to reassure themselves they are thinking mobile first.

Social media has grown rapidly on the back of mobile and advertising spend is now bigger on mobile than any other platform. With technology racing ahead, social media platforms roll out new advertising offerings constantly. Digital isn’t a destination but a new way of thinking”. 

 

Notes:

The reporting period is the 3 months from 1st October 2016 to 31st December 2016. LeisureDB who has been monitoring performance of the fitness industry for over 30 years compiled the analysis and resulting figures.

 

Further Information:

LeisureDB is a leading independent database specialist who provides key market intelligence and analysis across the industry. Established over 30 years ago, the company works with a wide range of fitness operators providing customer profiling reports, new site analysis and latent demand estimates. 

PRESS RELEASE: Social Media Fitness Index Q2 2016 Report

PRESS RELEASE - SOCIAL MEDIA FITNESS INDEX Q2 2016 REPORT

 

1st August 2016 

993k Facebook likes, 55k Instagram followers, 262k Twitter followers, 10.6k YouTube subscribers*

Xercise4Less ranks 1st in social media stakes

One brand tops three social media platform rankings

*Across the top 20 private brands in Q2 2016

 

LeisureDB’s Social Media Fitness Index Q2 2016 report reveals that low cost private brands continue to be excelling on social media. Xercise4Less have topped the overall ranking this quarter ahead of second placed Pure Gym.

Following a storming performance in Q2 2016, Xercise4Less have overtaken all other brands in 3 of the 4 social media platforms. Meanwhile, 7 of the top 15 fitness brands have dropped between 1-10% in the overall scoring.

Despite the number of likes, followers, subscribers and views across all channels growing in Q2 2016 from Q1, there has still been less activity and engagement. Could this be a result of more social media activity taking place during the new year fitness boom? And why are brands still failing to provoke responses to their posts?

Commenting on the report findings, David Minton, Director of LeisureDB said: “Fitness industry brands could grow quickly if they took advantage of the opportunities to connect with the consumers…We will be looking out for improvements in Q3 2016”.

 

Notes:

The reporting period is the 3 months from 1st April 2016 to 30th June 2016. LeisureDB who has been monitoring performance of the fitness industry for over 30 years compiled the analysis and resulting figures.

 

Further Information:

LeisureDB is a leading independent database specialist who provides key market intelligence and analysis across the industry. Established over 30 years ago, the company works with a wide range of fitness operators providing customer profiling reports, new site analysis and latent demand estimates. 2016 sees the launch of 2 new services: LeisureDB Mobile Apps and the LeisureDB Social Media Fitness Index.

 

www.leisuredb.com

enquiries@leisuredb.com

Tel: 020 3735 8491

Who Needs Twitter?

 
 

Twitter is live. Twitter is real-time. Twitter is about who and what you follow.

Twitter is an ideal platform for brands but the fitness industry has a lot of catching up to do. The industry has 9.2 million fitness members (according to The Leisure Database Company’s 2016 State of the UK Fitness Industry Report) but across the top 20 private fitness brands it can only boast 248k followers on Twitter.

So who needs Twitter? The fitness industry!

See how the top 20 private operators performed on Twitter in Q1 2016 in our brand new Social Media Fitness Index. 

A week at LeisureDB HQ

Article in The i Paper

Article in The i Paper

On Monday 16th we released our 2016 State of the UK Fitness Industry Report and we’re thrilled to say it’s been another year of success…the fitness industry is thriving! Thank you to everyone who’s mentioned or quoted us!

Last Thursday, David visited the Retention Convention in Birmingham and the line-up of speakers was pretty special. Dr Paul Bedford, or Guru Paul as he’s also known, discussed ‘Big Data, AI and its impact on Retention’. With the number of UK Fitness members exceeding 9 million for the first time ever, it’s vital we identify the best strategies for retention.

Tomorrow and Thursday takes Natalie to the Midlands for this year’s SIBEC UK event, another great opportunity to network within the fitness industry. Be sure to say hello!

Back at HQ, Charlotte and Abi are both working hard on LeisureDB’s next publications. Coming soon will be the 2016 State of the UK Swimming Industry Report and we can’t wait to let you know if the industry has changed. We’re also very excited to announce our brand new Social Media Fitness Index (Q1 2016). For the first time ever, we’ve ranked the top 20 private operators according to their best use of social media. Who will be number 1? 

Are you square fit?

David recently attended IHRSA 2016 in Orlando as a roving reporter for the Leisure Review. Here's his article from the event:

Almost two years to the day from when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook had purchased the virtual reality (VR) start-up Oculus Rift for around $2 billion, the VR units appeared at IHRSA and Mark’s sister, Randi Zuckerberg, was a keynote speaker.

Sponsored by Matrix Fitness, Randi’s Keynote was titled It’s Dot Complicated and was the first IHRSA keynote to use social media channels to broadcast her inspirational session live. For those who missed it (and in advance of the Leisure Database Social Media Index Report), these are the top five social media channels for fitness professionals.

Number one: YouTube. Video is the way to engage with your audience but few in the UK have this as their priority so far. Six of the top ten public sector brands do not have a channel and only five private brands have over 200,000 views. Number two is Facebook; no surprises there. Facebook is the most common social media platform among UK fitness sites. Number three is LinkedIn. As professionals you can target influencers and expand your network. Four is Instagram. I’ve already banged on about how many public and private fitness brands are neglecting this highly engaging and superior indexing platform. Five is Twitter, the second most popular platform in the UK. Lots of trade suppliers, including MyZone and Precor, used Periscope on Twitter to share their IHRSA showcase live.

On the IHRSA show floor it was like CES (Consumer Electronics Show) meets Fitness. MyZone, Polar, Microsoft, Intel, Reebok, NEO and Garmin were among the main companies who made the move from Vegas in January to Orlando in March, while new technology was evident among almost all companies exhibiting. It seemed like there was an app for everything. Seminars, such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Impact on the Fitness Industry, came from Technogym daily. Precor had a separate section on ‘the future’ and were showing real-time configuration in use in the UK at EasyGym, where you can pay reception for screen access. MyZone moved centre stage with the new app, a sports bra (launched CES 2016), a new integrated T-shirt, group display and a host of online platforms.

As a cyclist I liked the Recon Jet smart eyewear from Intel, also launched at CES. The performance eyewear frame and lenses set wakes up using glance detection to provide live metrics such as heart rate, speed, cadence and power. The point-of-view-camera enables you to capture the moment and the GPS maps can be used to show location of other riders, which is useful when doing endurance rides. Microsoft Health is a good example of a tech company looking for a cause and the Band with continuous optical heart rate monitor, GPS, guided workouts and the usual calls and texts, email and calendar looks and feels too much like the now-defunct Nike Fuel Band. 

Wearables and trackers have now been joined by alternate- and mixed-reality technologies that are poised to invade the fitness space. Although the early target market for Oculus Rift are gamers, fitness suppliers such as UK-based Pulse Fitness have introduced gamification for added motivation. Pulse Interactive Fitness combines facial recognition and augmented reality (AR) using Oculus Rift. With a tilt of the head the game starts and the Trixter bike takes you on an AR ride. Linked live to multiplayers worldwide, the results are shown on the bike, in the headset and on a big screen for the local audience. Zumba have developed a 360-degree VR dance class using Oculus Rift. For those who have always dreamed of dancing with Beto Perez, stop dreaming: do it via VR.

Besides Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive is coming, Sony’s PlayStation VR will be with us soon, along with Microsoft HoloLens; and Google is looking to expand Cardboard. The Samsung Gear VR headset, which Oculus also powers, enables you to select the Samsung smartphone to snap into the headset, a combination was used by Zumba. We are at the beginning of a VR and AR journey and, as a result of the billions been spent on this technology, we will all know about this cool, engaging and immersive experience very soon.    

As I walked through the event I was struck how the square photograph has become the norm. Square images fill our Twitter streams, Facebook dashboards and of course Instagram. Many of the suppliers know this and have adopted it as standard. Many consumers swipe the phone so photos are square on, permanently. Square is another example of how social media has changed the way consumers experience and report on the world around them. Are you square-on fit?