There's no shortage of content marketing ideas out in the universe. So many in fact, that focusing on one can cause a paralysis by analysis of sorts unless you have a process to get started.
The commercial fitness equipment industry has an especially wide range of content marketing opportunities. Not only can you create content that's of value for the equipment buyer, but you can also use content to create interest and add value for the end-user. The later can even work to influence the former.
Facebook Live gives the impression that people have to be on live. That's a bit of a misnomer because there is a lot you can do with your newly-created video content.
Facebook Live boosted-posts filmed on-site at fitness facilities
Seeing customers face-to-face is part of the culture of the health club industry. Decades-old relationships drive many transactions. When one type of club is considering making a new equipment purchase, there is interest in seeing what a club just like theirs has done. One tried-and-true way to show how your product is performing for one type of customer is to produce a case study highlighting how awesome the club looks post-installation. Take what great work you've done and make it downloadable and you can start capturing important leads on your website.
2017 will be the year of video on social media, specifically Facebook/Instagram. Facebook Live is a great tool for outside sales reps to become your boots-on-the-ground content creators. My friend Lindsey Rainwater thought of this and shared it with me a few weeks back. I think its a perfect fit for outside sales teams, specifically commercial fitness equipment companies who rely on an outside sales team. Why?
Using Facebook Live is great for salespeople because:
- It helps a rep's social selling capabilities
- Gives the sales rep's company / brand a chance to amplify that content
- Barrier to create interesting, valuable content is greatly lowered
How can sales reps know if what they're creating is actually valuable? The one question everyone should ask themselves before going live is:
"Would another customer or prospect find value in learning what I'm about to share?"
If the answer is yes, and what you want to share is not someone's proprietary information, and you have your subject's permission, then go ahead! Remember, you didn't spend thousands to book a film crew to shoot this stuff. Your potential return on fixed cost is great.
Just because it's "Live" doesn't mean the content dissapears when you turn the camera off. Your new "Live" video is going to live on Facebook and can be repurposed later. If it is interesting and if people engage with it, you can count on Facebook showing it to more people. This is because popular content is essential to Facebook's revenue model. They need it to show to people to keep them on Facebook, so they can be exposed to more ads.
Trainers demonstrating how to perform single exercises equipment.
Trainers demonstrating how to perform single exercises or a series of exercises are the type of content marketing ideas worth booking a shoot for. This is a type of content you'll want to have in HD and in great lighting. It's also something you can do economically from a cost perspective. It may be painful to have to spend money, but the amount of content you can capture in a short time period makes the expenditure worthwhile. You can certainly shoot your own "how to do this" videos with your phone, or even live. If you're unsure, go with your phone first and see what people think
With a library of well-produced video content you have an arsenal of ways to create social content. But not just social media content for you, the OEM, but for your customers. If Jim's Gym just bought your new Seated Leg Curl machine, you can help Jim's Gym by providing simple, short videos for them to share on social media, email marketing, or on their website.
Content is great not only for attracting prospects and creating leads, but for generating value post-sale that extends your customer lifetime value. Keep that in mind for uses not only for your brand but for your customers who are putting your equipment out for members.
Go Facebook Live with specific circuits or workouts that can be done thanks to a particular fitness center floor plan.
What better way to demonstrate an exceptional new install? Have one of the clubs certified trainers run through how a club member might use a setup of machines to get through a workout.
If a floor plan has been optimized to suit a particular type of members' need, don't hide that! It's a point of differentiation for your commercial fitness equipment and for the health club you want to draw exposure to. Just as we mentioned above, creating this content on a routine visit to a customer's club is not hard. It just requires that the sales rep be opportunistic and be supported by their marketing team.
Not only can this be type of content be used by the OEM in social media marketing, but by the customer's social marketing as well.
Use Facebook Live to show a club's spin class or group X space in use.
It's no secret that the group exercise trend has forced clubs to reavaluate how they calculate the ROI of their floorspace. But if you're an OEM and you sell spin bikes, create a video of how a customer remodeled part of their club to begin offering this group exercise class.
Don't just focus on the bikes either. If your customer is smart, they will have invested in creating an "experience" within the group x classroom. Highlight their lighting, their sound system, or any other "small details" things that they invested in to create a great experience for members.
Do be sure and get approval from the members of the club and the instructor before filming. Not everyone is going to be cool with being filmed while sweating like they're climbing L'Alpe Duez in the Tour De France.
The best opportunity with highlighting club operator changes and adaptations to industry trends is to pair this content with downloadable "How-To" guides. This way, when the OEM shares the content created by the sales rep, viewers of the OEM's post can watch the video and then have an easy way to click and become a lead.
How can you actually execute this? It's pretty simple actually. The hardest part is creating the downloadable content. But that gets easier if you have a great content marketing agency creating your content putting all of this together for you.
I was able to create an example using the first post in my news feed upon logging into Facebook while writing this.
Step 1: Find relevant content you would want to share on your brand page.
In the example of a health club, a video of someone doing something in a health club would probably be more appropriate. In this instance, I'm a video from Jay Ferruggia's public page.
From here, all I would do is click "Share", then share again to open a window that allows me to type in my message and add the link to my content.
Step 2: Find relevant content you would want to share on your brand page.
Once I click "Share", I can add my own message and link in the the pop up window.
By sharing this post, I've endorsed the content as valuable. By including a URL where people can go to download more content, I'm able to generate leads for my business. (Note: I don't have this content but hopefully you can see how you can apply this in your own situation.)
Above all else, don't be afraid to try new things and fail. That's right, it's ok to fail at things. This can be really hard to learn for people who have started their careers in regimented corporate cultures. I'm speaking from my own experience.
If you create a Facebook Live video that doesn't work or you get bad feedback on, that's good! At least you tried it and learned your audience doesn't respond to the content. The only way to really make an impact is to move fast, learn, and improve.
