Facebook has a mind-boggling 2.74 billion monthly active users, giving the network the greatest reach of any social platform, particularly among people ages 18 to 34, who account for 55.4% of Facebook users.  

Considering 30.9% of gym members are ages 18 to 34, according to IHRSA, the chances of your potential members being active on Facebook are astronomical. But how do you reach them without coming across as spammy or invading their personal space? In this article, we’ve got three tips for leveraging Facebook to gain and keep more members. 

1. Put User-Generated Content to Work for Your Gym

Your club members are already posting about your business — and raving about how much they love it — and you can leverage those videos, blog articles, testimonials, and images. User-generated content (UGC) shows authentic experiences, making it one of the most effective and easiest ways to engage current members and gain new members. Here are some of the benefits of user-generated content on Facebook:  

• It humanizes your business by putting your club members in front of people unfamiliar with your brand. 
• It delivers powerful social proof, which is as powerful as word of mouth (if not more so). 
• It’s practically free and helps fill up your Facebook page with valuable content without your team having to do a ton of planning or work. 
• Content generated by fans and current members is seen as more authentic, with 79% of people saying that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. 

Encourage members to post pictures of themselves working out at your club and to tag your business on Facebook. Then, share that content to your Facebook page. You can even run a giveaway or selfie contest this way, killing three birds with one stone: You’ll receive a ton of UGC to fill up your Facebook page, show current members that they’re valuable members of your club, and entice prospects to become new members.  

Here are some things to remember: 

• Always ask for permission before reposting someone else’s content (even for public content this is a good idea). 
• Consider offering an incentive for people to post (e.g., swag or a discount). 
• Don’t forget to credit the creator every time you share UGC. 

2. Use Facebook Ads and Landing Pages 

There are many reasons why Facebook is a great for generating leads and converting prospects into gym members. Facebook manages to reach 2.14 billion users with advertising, according to Hootsuite. In fact, the average Facebook user clicks on 12 ads per month — or one every 2.5 days — which means that potential members are ready and willing to engage with your ads.  

Facebook offers many different types of ads to entice users to click through to a landing page to take a specific action. For example, if you want prospects to sign up for a free guest pass, create a Facebook ad with a video, testimonial, or engaging image, and when they click the call to action, they’ll hit a landing page on your website. It’s important for your landing page to clearly connect back to the ad using the same language, imagery, and call to action.  

And don’t forget to add a Facebook pixel! Designed to boost ad performance, pixel lets you target audiences similar to those who’ve interacted with your ad in the past. For example, if a 30-year-old man in a suburban area clicks on your ad to your landing page, the Facebook pixel will automatically feed the ad to profiles with that demographic to reach more relevant, high-quality leads. 

3. Share High-Impact Video Content

Sixteen years after YouTube launched, it’s estimated that the average person will consume more than 100 minutes of online video, or the equivalent of 25 videos, per day this year. Considering health club and gym member demographics, video is one of the best ways to reach your current and prospective members, with 85 percent of millennials said they made a purchase after watching a video. 

Whether you use your iPhone to create, edit, and share videos to Facebook or hire a third party to create some videos, here are some ideas for high-performing video content to engage your members and grow your gym:  

• New classes: Create short videos to share new classes or services at your club or gym.  
• Behind the scenes: Give potential members a transparent, all-access pass to your business, whether introducing staffers, trainers, or going live for Q&A.  
• Trending topics: Stay ahead of the competition and on top of trends by creating relevant videos that your members and prospects will love. For example, keep an eye on wellness challenges trending on social and make a video of your employees or members tackling the trend.  
• Special events: Whether your event is virtual or in-person (in the “after times” of the pandemic), you can promote it with video and livestream it as it happens. In fact, 95 percent of event creators said that video was an effective event promotion strategy for an upcoming event. 

It’s important to note that 79.9% of Facebook users only access the social platform on a mobile device — only 1.7% access Facebook solely on a computer — so be sure your videos are short, sweet, and optimized for a mobile audience. 

Get Started: Gain and Retain More Club Members with Club OS 

With user-generated content, targeted ads, and authentic videos, you can reach more of your current members and potential members on Facebook. But to sell more memberships and keep more members, you need a powerful marketing automation and sales engagement software partner. Schedule a demo of Club OS today and ensure that you never lose another social media lead again!