Today, we have a guest post from Chris Brown, owner of the Fitness Camp Academy (http://www.fitnesscampacademy.com)

Chris was with me in LA this last weekend at the James Malinchak event, and his latest BLOG post tells you a little bit about that event as well as why too many trainers are running a huge risk relying on Facebook as their sole channel for marketing…

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Hey,

So incase you didn’t know I’ve been inLA for the last 7 days studying with one of the smartest guys I’ve come across and the leading speaking business coach in the world!

I’m going to challenge you today with a few thought provoking questions to take your business to new levels and invite you to join me in a journey to raising the bar and taking yourself to new heights!

This post is straight talking and may piss a few people off, but hey I’m just commenting on what I see EVERY single day on Facebook (actually one of the reasons your business sucks right now)!

I’m going to take these 7 reasons and break them up into daily short articles over the next 7 days so that not only can you learn from them but have a ariel view of what you’re doing every single day and actually take some action on some shit!

So here are 7 reasons your fitness business sucks right now!

1. Facebook is your only form of marketing
2. You’re diluting your message
3. You have no positioning in your local area
4. Thinking about expanding before you’re ready
5. You have no marketing strategy
6.Pissing about with things that make you NO money
7. You try to be somebody you’re not

1. Facebook is your only form of Marketing

I’ve been guilty of this in the past, I’ve relied far too heavily on Facebook to market my business and sat within a HUGE comfort zone and not got out there and actually connected with people.

Now don’t get me wrong, Facebook is a GREAT tool for relationship building with people, it definitely SHOULDN’T be your ONLY focus on getting new clients.

Facebook can actually be hugely counterproductive and actually stop you from getting to the fastest way to the cash!

This is what I see each and every week on Facebook from other trainers. “My bootcamp starts monday go here to sign up”

This message then gets repeated every 4 weeks and becomes just noise!

Let me tell you right now, Facebook is not about SELLING, it’s not a place to push your business each and every day!

I use Facebook for these reasons ONLY.

1. Connection – I connect with my current customers, I build relationships with people who are prospects and I serve people through articles and videos to provide VALUE to those that are on my Facebook, to move them closer to the ‘Buying Line’.

Quickest way to burn that relationship that you have is to try and SELL, people LOVE to buy but HATE to be sold too, remember that!

You may have heard this a million times but people love to buy from those that they ‘KNOW, LIKE and TRUST’.

Interact and build relationships with people and help people through the content that you provide. It’s really that simple, when people are ready to buy, they will, with a gentle nudge to a taster week, or a seminar.

2. Social Proof – This is a huge part of Facebook, it is a social platform, think of it as an online coffee shop, people go there to socialise with friends, they go to Facebook to browse, NOT to be sold too!

Facebook marketing is a form of ‘Pattern Interrupt’ Marketing. You are basically catching their attention through the media you are providing through your Facebook profile.

The only way you can do this effectively is through ‘Social Proof’ in the form of before and afters, video testimonials, interviews with clients etc.

So if you’re using Facebook but DON’T have any of that then I’m sorry thats the quickest way to turning your clients off. Simply putting a status up saying “I have this starting here” is just noise, it’s bullshit and nobody wants to hear that shit!

What would happen to your business is Facebook was taken away from you tomorrow. I mean imagine the Facebook servers crashed for 14 days, what would you do, if Facebook is your ONLY form of marketing how would you grow your business?

What would you do?

I can tell you now MOST people would be stuck, BIG TIME!

Most trainers wouldn’t actually know what to do, most trainers have no marketing plan, don’t know where their clients come from, don’t know how much a new client is worth to them, nor do they know why their business isn’t growing.

People ask me all of the time how do you fill a bootcamp with 30 + plus, well I don’t know 1 way to get 30+ people to a Bootcamp, but I know 10 ways I could get 3! In fact I have about 30 ways I could get 10.

Why would you ignore another 29 ways of pulling 10 new people into your Bootcamp?

That’s just plain f*cking silly, right?

Building a business is EASY…

Skillset + Mindset + Get OFF YOUR ASSET – James Malinchak

You need to understand you’re a local business, whilst most businesses are depersonalising their message with customers you need to turn up the personalisation a not or two.

Build real connections. Marketing in a Local area is TOTALLY different to mass media marketing across the country.

I picked this up from Dan Kennedy which was really cool. “National elections are WON by the work done to win local elections, your business should be ran as though you’re running for Mayor”

Especially with the work that we do, you need to become such a pillar of the community, pull people together, be accessible. Sitting behind the computer screen will make people less likely to do business with you.

Whilst companies in your local area do exactly the opposite you play on this fact, people actually still like face to face relationships. Technology has turned us into a bunch of unsociable people that simple rely on using phones, Facebook to communicate.

I could go on for another 3 pages on why Facebook is actually holding your business back, and that goes for any social media really, but I won’t.

I will ask you this question though. Would you be prepared to close down your Facebook profile for a month and actually get out there and do some real life meeting and relationship building?

Would you be prepared to start playing a more active role in your community offline and become the leading authority in fitness in particular your niche market?

If that makes you squirm inside at the thought of doing it then thats a great indicator that you should.

I hope that has really hit home with you and made you just sit and THINK about how you’re A) portraying yourself and B) relying on Facebook far too heavily.

In the next article I will share my views and observations on how SO many Fit Pro’s are KILLING their business by diluting it so much it no loungers looks like what they want it to be!

PEAAAACE!!

Be sure to ask your questions and comment below!!

Chris

PS – If you haven’t already invested in yourself the Masterminding group I’m putting together I’m putting a 7 day deadline on it before I raise the price!

On June the 9th Paul Mort and Myself are holding an Short Jam packed ‘PURE’ Content event AS A BONUS to reward those that invest in themselves. This event alone will be worth the entire investment and more. You will walk away with several ‘plug and play’ strategies ready to roll on the Monday morning in your business.

Register here http://bootcampmarketingsystems.com/i-want-in

BTW – If this event doesn’t totally change your perspective on your business and blow it up I’ll give you ALL of the investment back and mentor you for free for a month!

Facebook recently changed its Fan Page structure to the timeline layout, which pretty much scuppered most peoples attempts at forced opt in’s on their pages. The new layout along with Facebook’s new guidelines (read RULES) pretty much stops you from tricking people to ‘like’ your page.

The rules also state your timeline ‘cover image’ cannot contain the following:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

This Cover violates the "call to action" rule.

Whilst some people are complaining bitterly about the changes, you can kinda see Facebooks point of view that they don’t want FB to become some great big billboard for everyone and their dog’s business.

As a Facebook ‘user’ (from a social media perspective), the last thing I want is yet another place to be bombarded with advertising and interruption style marketing… That’s why I turn the volume down on my TV during the adverts!

What does this mean for your business Facebook Fan Page?

OK, this may not seem like the popular opinion… but have a Fan Page to have real social engagement with people who want to engage with you and you business and product.

I want to show you an example of a small business that I have close ties with here in Portugal that “gets it right” with Facebook Fan Pages and has NOT had to do many changes to conform with the new layout and rules.

The company is a Mountain Biking guide. Go check out http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Mountain-Bike-Adventure/8562843001

• You’ll see that they have close to 1300 “fans” grown organically, not force fed or tricked in to being a fan
• Read many of the status updates, they are about clients that have enjoyed their experience, new trails that have been built, plans for the future and chat about what routes are being ridden that week.
• You’ll see the timeline is plastered with photos! Lots of photos of clients (recognition), the scenery and the weather!
• There are plenty of videos on the timeline too! Mostly showing what the experience will be like if you come riding with them.

Now the thing to note with this fan page is that it is NOT done with marketing in mind! All the interaction is genuine social engagement, not forced or done with any specific agenda.

Here’s the point…

People want GENUINE social engagement, not a marketing message.

People like RECOGNITION that they are part of an experience and they can relive that experience through the videos and photos, not some slick marketing video or brochure.

People actually want to INTERACT with others that have enjoyed the experience and encourage other bikers to come and give it a try! Not done so as part of an affiliate or referral scheme.

This small company probably not only has more Fans than your page, but a hell of a lot more activity than your page, which is way more valuable.

You can learn a lot from a business that does social media right! And not because they have read a book or bought a course, or hired an “expert”, they are just…

SOCIAL )

Was this a warning shot across your bow?

I mean did it suddenly make you break out in to a cold sweat at the thought of “what if?”

If you rely on this media for your business, then you should be really concerned.

FACEBOOK went down last night!

Whilst it only went down for a short time, it should be ringing major alarm bells for you if you rely on it for your business continuity.

What if Facebook did go down?

What if they lost ALL your “friends”

What if they deleted your account tomorrow?

What if they changed their policy on the usage of Fan pages?
(they did that already )

What if…

Would your business be hosed?

Last year I spoke at the FEB conference in the UK about business continuity because of my experience with being on the dark side of losing a chunk of my business through a 3rd party system no longer working.

I see more and more fitness professionals running their business through Facebook, and in my opinion it is a platform I would not stake my long term business continuity on.

You should OWN your own website, have a BLOG, have an email list, AS WELL AS having a social media platform.

Peoples Facebook accounts DO get deleted for not following the platforms terms of use, do you know what you can and can’t do on Facebook?

Pages also get deleted, again for not following the terms of use. This has recently changed? Have you made sure your page follows those terms of use?

Remember you are a GUEST on their platform, they don’t owe you anything.

With your own website, you have ownership, you set YOUR terms of service, you can take back ups, you have control and can control its development.

With your own list of emails, on a service such as Aweber, you own the list, you can communicate with that list, you can take a back up of that list. To me my list is my most valuable business asset, and I treat them with extreme care, and never abuse the trust my subscribers give me when they approve my emails.

A BLOG owned and controlled by you can contain your articles, show your videos, and be backed up, edited and displayed as you so desire. You are in control.

The Facebook downtime last night should be a warning shot across your bow. I suggest you invest some time in securing your business assets and take control!