A look at how gyms in the US, UK and Ireland use social media to promote their businesses.

1. International Gym Review:
Survival of the Fittest
Peer Review

2. Equinox
= 15,705 likes
= 58.8 K followers
= 32.5K followers
= 4,418
followers

3. Equinox Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Equinox
• Likes: 157,505
• PTAT score: 2.6%
• Excellent Avatar – very sharable, better than a
logo. A nod to Nike’s classic tagline?

4. Frequent Posting Schedule
• Average: 1 post every
day, or every second day
• Lots of inspirational
images with calls to
action
• Good use of video
• Behind-the-scenes
images
• Predominantly own content
• Pushing brand values –
glamour, style, youth,
strength
• Lots of original content,

5. Equinox Facebook:
Good Engagement
• Posts that link or
share content tend
to get better
engagement than
others
• E.g. This blog post
got almost double
scores than just
image posts

6. Equinox Facebook:
Promotions
• Rewarding
Facebook fans with
a discount
• Image is also nicely
done, displaying
product in a
interesting way

7. Equinox Facebook:
Link to Own Content
• Good effort put in
the blog
• Interesting
relevant content,
not just pushing
sales

8. Equinox Twitter:
https://twitter.com/equinox

9. Equinox Twitter:
Activity
• Average 1-2 tweets
per day
• Plus a varying
amount of replies to
customer queries

10. Equinox Twitter:
Engagement
• Some posts post
the same blog links
as Facebook
• Use of hashtags
and humorous
banter make them
entertaining

11. Equinox Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/qbyequinox/
• Pinterest account credited to its sub brand – Q
by Equinox (an online magazine)

12. Equinox Pinterest:
Boards
• Titles are bland and unoriginal
• Considering the imagination and
personality used on the other social media
platforms this is surprising

13. Equinox Pinterest:
Content
• Boards are varied
• More female-
driven, focus on
yoga and
women’s gym
wear

14. Equinox Instagram:
http://instagram.com/equinox

15. Equinox Instagram:
Content
• Posts very regularly
– up to 10/12 times
a month
• Mix of promotional
images and gym
shots

16. Equinox Results
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Other
Good
Ok
Bad
• It has a unifying personality around everything it does
but adapt it slightly to suit the audience
• Strong blog and video content is the basis of success

17. NRG Cork
= 4,855 likes
= 374 followers

18. NRG Website:
http://www.nrgfitness.ie/
• Easy to navigate site but brochure only, can’t
book classes/membership online

19. NRG Site Content
• Poor quality images
• Brochure content
– Boring
– No call to action
– It doesn’t promote
its unique selling
points

20. NRG Blog
• Erratic posting
schedule
• Nice titles, relevant
topics
• Not very image
driven

21. NRG Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NRGHealthandFitness
• Likes: 4,855
• PTAT Score: 1.3%

22. NRG Facebook:
Content
• Posts 2-3 times a
week
• Mixture of
promotional, images of
gym/events, and
shared articles
• Low engagement,
usually 10-25 likes
and rarely any
comments or shares

23. NRG Facebook:
Content
• Testimonials are a
nice touch
• But could carry
better design

24. NRG Facebook:
Content
• Posting in 1st
person?
• Too personal,
undermines the
page profile

25. NRG Facebook:
Content
• Tried Facebook
Offers in the
summer, 141
redemptions.

26. NRG Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NRGHealth

27. NRG Twitter:
Content
• Tweet every 1-2
days, sometimes
more than once a
day
• No design, and links
to Facebook (no no)

28. NRG Twitter:
Content
• Engages with
other users only
when directly
mentioned
• No attempts to
start
conversation
themselves

29. NRG Results
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Other
Good
Ok
Bad
• Understanding tone is important here, as the
Facebook page in particular struggles to have a
coherent voice

30. Gymbox
= 11,887 likes
= 9,994 followers
= 3,864 followers
= 80 followers

31. Gymbox Site:
http://gymbox.com/about
• Offers classes that have a fresh take on traditional
exercise
• Plays on nightclub theme with images and colours

32. Gymbox Classes Page
• Instagram-style feed of classes with large
lettering
• Hover over an image to get more description

33. Gymbox Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GymboxOfficial
• Cover photo plays on urban/young fashion image of the
gym
• PTAT score: 3.9%

34. Gymbox Facebook:
Content• Promotes the gym
through its blog,
photos and videos
taken at classes
• Posts 2-3 times on
weekdays, 1-2 times
over the weekend
• Good, interesting
content but little
conversation

35. Gymbox Facebook:
Content
• Shares content,
including viral/funny
images and video
• Adds own comment
to personalise
• Some of this shared
content gets better
engagement than
blog posts

36. Gymbox Facebook:
Instagram Icons
• Shares the best
Instagram pictures
taken at classes and in
gyms every week
• Reinforces image of
gym as young and
trendy
• Shows people who are
achieving
results/having good
time. Subtle sales
message.

37. Gymbox Twitter:
https://twitter.com/GymBoxOfficial
• Klout Score: 56

38. Gymbox Twitter:
Content
• Posts up to 10
times per day
– Links to Instagram
and the blog
– Retweets all positive
mentions of the gym

39. Gymbox Twitter:
Customer Care
• Replies to customer
complaints and
queries
• Human voice,
varied message
• Aside from this, not
much conversation

40. Gymbox Instagram:
http://instagram.com/GymboxOfficial

41. Gymbox Instagram:
Content
• Mostly reposts other’s Instagram pictures tagged in Gymbox
• Rewarding fans by sharing their content, but could be posting
its own original images as well

42. Gymbox Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/gymboxofficial/?z=1

43. Gymbox Pinterest:
Content
• Mix of other’s
content and stuff
lifted from Google
(should be linking
these back to own
site)
• Not a huge amount
of content and
boards are
unoriginal

44. Gymbox Results
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Other
Good
Ok
Bad
• Site is great – fits the audience perfectly
• The social media (on the whole) doesn’t really mirror that
effort
o There are good attempts but on the whole it’s unoriginal

45. Fitness First
= 43,368 likes
= 3,209 followers

46. Fitness First Site:
http://www.fitnessfirst.com.au/

47. Fitness First Site
• Site lays out different types of training,
classes and facilities in a scroll-down format
• Good focus on imagery with smaller amount
of text, which moves to more detailed page
when clicked

48. Fitness First Site
• Main page doesn’t overwhelm visitors
• Detail page gives more detailed info

49. Fitness First Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FitnessFirstAustralia/timeline
• PTAT Score: 0.7%
• Cover photo merges with profile pic, doesn’t capture
attention

50. Fitness First Facebook:
Content
• Posts once a day
• Mix of conversation
and promo
• Good use of images
• Engagement is low
compared to fan
count: why is this?
– Unengaged fans?
– Bought fans?
– No ad spend?

51. Fitness First Facebook:
Competitions
• Are the comps too complicated?
• It’s hard to generate user content without big
numbers and loyal, engaged fans

52. Fitness First Facebook:
Content
• Images are good
• Attempting to talk to
fans
• But engagement is
still low
• Does this reflect the
audience?
– Do they like the page
then ignore it?
– Are they engaging
elsewhere?

53. Fitness First Twitter:
https://twitter.com/FitnessFirstAU

54. Fitness First Twitter:
Content
• Similar content structure to Facebook
• Posts regularly Mon-Thurs
• Mix of promotions, announcements and
conversation starters

55. Fitness First Twitter:
Customer Care
• It replies sometimes to queries and comments
• Could inject more humour or personality
• But consistent in replies

56. Fitness First Results
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Other
Good
Ok
Bad
• Despite good efforts to start conversation, Facebook is getting low
engagement
• Twitter could adopt a different tone of voice
• Perhaps engaging with gym-goer’s own content (images tagged in
gym, etc.) would interest people more for competitions

57. FLYEfit
= 19,602 likes
= 1,197 followers
= 5,893 followers

58. FLYEfit Site:
http://www.flyefit.ie/
• Colourful display
• Image focused
• Details on classes only available with login

59. FLYEfit:
Personal Training
• Most detail on site
goes to Personal
Trainer profiles
• Each one is written
by trainer, so they
vary in length and
content

60. FLYEfit Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/flyefit/timeline
• Humorous cover photo
• PTAT Score: 7%

61. FLYEfit Facebok:
Content
• Posts at least once
a day
• Branded humour
and fitness tips
• Notable: 12 Days of
Fitmas where each
day a new
tip/workout was
posted with
seasonal image

62. FLYEfit Facebook:
Content
• Some attempts to
start converations
and engage fans
• Response is good,
average ranging
between 50-150
likes

63. FLYEfit Facebook:
Top Posts
• Top posts are ones
that have branded
images and aim to
motivate

64. FLYEfit Facebook:
Customer Interaction
• Responds to
customer queries
• Inserts personality
into these
interactions

65. FLYEfit Twitter:
https://twitter.com/flyefit

66. FLYEfit Twitter:
Content
• Linking back to Facebook content – big NO!
• Rarel to see Twitter-only posts (aside from
replies)
• Sometimes share humorous videos

67. FLYEfit Twitter:
Customer Replies
• Engages with all mentions, often humorous and
helpful

68. FLYEfit Instagram:
http://instagram.com/flyefit

69. FLYEfit Instagram:
Content
• Posts frequently
• Mixture of
humorous pictures,
food
images/recipes,
reposts of pictures
taken in store and
promotions
• Good engagement
– average 50-150

70. FLYEfit Instagram:
Competition Example

71. Why FLYEfit:
Instagram Is A Hit
• Instagram is where
young gym goers
hang out and
FlyeFit joins them
there, posting
images of food, its
workouts and
humorous images

72. FLYEfit Results
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest Other
Good
Ok
Bad
• Good effort on Instagram and Facebook
• Need to learn to change its tone and put more
effort into Twitter

73. Key Takeaways (1)
• Images used on social media need to be
sharp, appealing and inspirational

74. Key Takeaways (2)
• Engage with gym-goers through
conversation, good content (own and
shared) and advice

75. Key Takeaways (3)
• It’s important to inject a personality into
posts, but it’s also good to vary the tone to
match the platform

76. Key Takeaways (4)
• Instagram and Pinterest are great platforms
for gyms as they target young customers
looking for inspiration and recognition