Do you feel confident in your Instagram usage? If not, keep reading for a few basic tips…
Continuing with this month’s Hub theme of Content Marketing and Social Media, we want to unpack Instagram a little bit. In this blog post, we’ll focus on hashtags and how to use them to benefit your Instagram strategy and growth.
First of all, if you don’t yet have an Instagram account for your gym, go ahead and set one up today. In this day and age, most of your target market will be on Instagram so it’s a great way to keep up with your members and reach more people.
Now that you’ve got your business account set up, here are some tips to follow when posting to Instagram:
- Always write a fun, but brief caption. Include just enough info to make them want to read, and if you can make them smile or laugh when reading, even better.
- Use hashtags, but use them sparingly. Instagram allows you to add up to 30. It’s best if you keep it between 3-7 but do your best to not use more than 10 in any post. You don’t want your posts to be perceived as spam, so research says less than 7 hashtags is optimal.
- Create a custom hashtag for your gym. Make it something fun that conveys the vibe of your culture, and then use it on all your posts.
- Use your hashtags creatively in your caption. E.g. we drove through #chicago to check out a #crossfit gym on the #westside.
- Save your list of frequently used hashtags in the notes app of your phone so you can just copy and paste any time you need it.
- Make use of throwback hashtags. Kick it back in time by using the hashtags #tbt and #latergram.
- Use #regram. Follow your members and then repost their content by using hashtag #regram and then their @accountname. Download the app Repost to make your reposting a breeze.
- Always tag people in your photos. Tag them in your caption, and tag them as well on the photo.
- Encourage your members to tag you on all their posts. This will be a great way to increase awareness of your gym, but will also allow you to keep up with things they’ve got going on.
- If you’re hosting an event, make a unique hashtag for that event, and encourage anyone connected to the event to use that hashtag.
- Use Instagram Stories. This is a great way to reach a broader audience, showcase your gym’s culture and personality and promote your services. Check out this great article for tips on using Instagram Stories effectively.
Using these 11 tips will help you get the most from your Instagram account.
Our focus this month in Hub is all about Social Media & Content Marketing. We’ve got video courses in Hub that teach you how to maximize your content creation efforts so that you’re continuing to establish your expertise in your corner of this world. Check out a month of Hub for only $10!
Also… if you haven’t registered yet for the 1st Annual Gym Owner’s Growth Summit, do so today!! There are already 1,600 gym owners registered! It’s FREE and it’s 3 days of content from some of the greatest minds in our industry!!
