Yoga Teacher Resources: How to Use Social Media to Grow Your Business
There is something I’ve been wanting to talk about forever that seems more relevant this year than ever before; how yoga teachers (or reallyany fitness instructor) should be using social media to strategically grow their businesses.
I’ve been teaching yoga and blogging since 2013 in Seattle which, if you’re not familiar, is an incredibly saturated market as far as wellness practitioners go. A huge aspect of how I’ve been able to stand out in as a yoga teacher (and stick around for so long in an industry that tends to have a lot of turnover) is my social media community. It’s been slow and steady growth, but Donuts + Down Dog is now over 25k strong on Instagram.
Since so much of fitness has turned virtual this year, I wanted to share my most helpful tips for using social media as a fitness instructor. I hope that these tips help you find clarity on your brand, what you should (and shouldn’t!) be doing, and how you can save time. You’ve got this!
Have a clear goal in mind. The most common question that I get from other instructors is How did you grow your account and can you help me get a bunch of followers, too?
This is usually the first question that I ask yoga teachers hoping to grow their social following - why? Why do you want to grow your social following? Or, perhaps more specifically, what’s your end goal? For example, some fitness professionals want to grow a large following on social so that they can be seen as an industry leader and secure things like sponsorships, free products, and corporate partnerships. On the other hand, if you only teach in physical studios and want to use social media to increase the number of people in your class, you’re going to have a completely different strategy than somebody who is working to get followers from all over the globe. If you live in Seattle and are trying to grow your in-person attendance numbers, it’s not going to do your class numbers much good if your followers are spread across the US instead of in Pacific Northwest. Sure, you might be able to boast about your follower count, but is that really helping your end goal?
Get clear on exactly what you want the end goal of your social media presence to be and then start planning out your content. It might not sound as exciting at first, but with a clear goal and a clear social media strategy, you’ll not only be able to track your results, you’ll be able to get results.
Pick a style. One of the most common mistakes that I see instructors making on social media (and in securing fitness jobs), is not having a clear style or client-type in mind. While it’s normal not to be super clear on this at first, after you have some time teaching under your belt it should be clear to you the kind of classes that do and do not like to teach. I don’t like teaching advanced classes in the post work time-slot because I don’t enjoy the stress that students bring in to class when they’ve rushed to the studio from work, combined with the mentality that they need to master an advanced posture for their class to somehow have been worth it. On the other hand, I love teaching beginners or all-levels friendly yoga because I really enjoy the act of creating a positive, welcoming space for new students that might be incredibly nervous about trying yoga for the first time.
This insight is incredibly important because I use it to guide my social media presence. Because my main focus isn’t to attract advanced students, I don’t post a ton of photos of me doing advanced poses. Instead, the yoga photos that I post tend to be accessible, beginner-friendly, and typically feature some sort of societal “imperfection” - like wearing a sports bra and letting my belly hang out. I work really hard to make it clear to prospective students from my yoga photos exactly what they can expect from me as an instructor. Rather than trying to get all the students, I try to get the right ones for me that I know I can help the most. You can’t be everything to everybody, gang!
As you post, think about what style you like to teach. If you mostly want to teach restorative, you probably shouldn’t be posting a ton of photos in handstand. If you want to teach advanced classes, you should showcase advanced, athletic photos on your feed. It is very easy to get caught up in what everybody else is posting on social media - I do it too! But before you try to emulate another instructors feed think about your goals (see my first point!) and the type of student you want to attract. Then let the answers to those questions guide your content. It will make planning out what you post SO much easier, and help you weed through the fluff.
Posts with a clear intention will preform the best. As we’ve discussed, it’s really easy to fall into the comparison trap on social media. You might see your favorite teacher (or a teacher who seems like they’ve got it figured out) post something and immediately think - umm, I need to do that exact same thing! I can’t tell you how many times early in my yoga career that I busted my ass to recreate somebody else’s yoga photos in the hopes it would get me the same results. It’s exhausting, it will suck all your energy, and it won’t really work.
Because here’s the thing - what purpose are those photos actually serving?
Posting beautiful photos of yourself doing challenging poses is empowering. It’s exciting. But beyond that, how are they helping your business? What response are you trying to get from the photos that you post? What action do you want people to take?
Look, I know that it’s tempting to go buy a bunch of matching yoga outfits, book a photographer, climb up a mountain, and take cool yoga pictures in nature. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to do that for fun or for your brand. But what purpose are those photos going to serve on your feed? Do you just want a lot of comments? Do you want more followers? Do you want compliments on how good your abs look (which, no shame if you do!)? While it might benefit your ego to post those photos, what benefit are they providing to your students? In what way are beautiful photos of you doing yoga contributing to somebody else’s wellbeing?
Think about your goals, think about the types of students that you want to attract, and then plan out your posts based on that information. Posting just to post in a waste of time.
My philosophy with content is to create things that are engaging and shareable. While I do post photos of myself doing yoga, I also post a lot of relatable wellness content that is shareable, because one of the goals of my brand is to connect with other millenial women who are over bullshit in the wellness world. By making shareable content, the women who follow me will repost my content to their stories or share with their friends, which helps me get my content in front of the right eyeballs and help more people. That’s my goal. Sharing yoga photos of myself is helpful to remind people that I’m a yogi, but if I am sharing something helpful (like a quote), I would rather do that by way of a quote graphic that I know will get shared hundreds of time, than with a photo of myself doing something cool with the quote in the caption. Make sense?
Bottom line: posting just to post is a waste of time, and might end up hurting your business. It’s better to post with a clear intention in mind that aligns with your goals and ideal students.
Make your schedule impossible to miss. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a fitness professional on social media that I’ve completely fallen in love with, but then when I go to sign up for one of their classes I can’t find their schedule anywhere! Usually I will look around for a minute and then give up. That’s it! Within 60 seconds I’ve gone from being completely obsessed with somebody to moving on, all because of a confusing experience. If you are promoting your talents as a fitness instructor on social media, you absolutely must make it abundantly clear how students can take class with you. For example, I have my classes listed in the top navigation bar of my website, and on the landing page linked in my Instagram.
It’s completely normal to take a break from teaching or to be in a situation where you aren’t currently taking on new students. If that’s the case, make it clear! If you want to go the extra distance, I would add something like “I am not currently teaching, but drop your email below to be notified when classes open back up!” That way you’re clearly communicating with your students and collecting their contact information. You’re an overachiever!
Stay in touch. You’ve probably heard this marketing advice 100 times before, but it’s popular for a reason. Make sure that you have a system in place to keep in touch with your students and prospective students outside of social media. The reasoning behind this is that social media platforms can dissappear at any moment -a threat we’ve witnessed firsthand with TikTok in 2020. without an alternate form of communication that you own, such as a website or email list, there’s little to no chance you’ll be able to stay connected with each follower. Social media is great for brand building, but go beyond that. I collect student emails via my email list and free products (like my 5 Day Journal), through signups for my online classes, and through ticket sales for events. I use these emails to let students know when something new is coming up, to share resources, and just to check in. Once somebody subscribes to a list they have a much greater chance of opening emails when you send them, reading all the way through, and keeping you top of mind.