Biray Alsac, MS
Certification: ACE
Education provider for: ACE
Article Archive
Nothing is more rewarding than seeing clients smile—and not because they lost weight or improved their fitness, either. When clients exude confidence that comes from having adopted a healthier outlook on life, it is because their transformation was more than external—it came from within.
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During the holiday season, your clients need a defense against the temptations of devilish desserts and traditional feasts. After all, in the U.S. the 6 weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day cause, on average, 0.8–1.4 pounds of weight gain (five times more in those who are overweight or obese), accounting for 51% of the yearly weight gain in the typical American (NIH 2000; Hull et al. 2006).
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For almost 30 years, IDEA has held the belief that trained, certified fitness professionals are key to helping individuals get positive results, remain highly engaged and become “inspired to fitness.” The August 2010 launch of IDEA FitnessConnect, the free online fitness directory, made this philosophy more transparent.
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The term social media typically refers to popular online tools like Facebook and Twitter™. However, social media broadly includes any form of media used to communicate and interact with an audience. When fitness professionals leverage social media tools to engage clients, colleagues and fitness enthusiasts, the resulting increase in the pros’ online presence can further their career opportunities. This is why IDEA FitnessConnect offers a range of social media tools to assist fitness professionals in generating new business.
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IDEA FitnessConnect (IFC) is reaching greater audiences by syndicating its information to top health and fitness websites. Think of it as embedding the directory within a third-party site, making it easier for fitness professionals to reach potential clients in high-traffic areas. This also positions many fitness pros in front of new markets.
You can select which websites display your profile information. By clicking on “Privacy Settings” in your profile page, you can enable (or disable) your profile on each website.
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FFitness professionals often use success stories and client testimonials to strike an emotional chord with potential clients. Personal trainers who incorporate these elements into their pitches (often via “brag books”) may find them powerful during new-client interviews or business development meetings, according to Derrick Wilburn, MBA, IDEA presenter and director of education for Achieve Fitness USA (Wilburn 2010). But what if potential clients or business partners do their initial research about you over the Web?
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I“I want to take [my education] to the next level and do some type of study in fitness,” said the Facebook message from IDEA member Melissa Spraul, a group fitness instructor in Los Angeles. Her passion for fitness is clear from all the workshops and conventions she attends, but she wonders how to go about starting her academic career. “We have a lot of community colleges and universities out here, but I’m a little overwhelmed,” she wrote. “Can you provide any insight?”
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A list of current and prospective clients can be invaluable to fitness professionals promoting upcoming events, distributing newsletters and cultivating member relationships. IDEA FitnessConnect’s client management system makes it convenient for fitness professionals to manage and grow their clientele directly from their profile pages.
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Fitness professionals are not the only ones maintaining profiles on IDEA FitnessConnect. Program directors and club owners are also leveraging their clubs’ presence in this directory to feature staff, increase member leads and reinforce marketing efforts.
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“I want to take [my education] to the next level and do some type of study in fitness,” said the Facebook message from IDEA member Melissa Spraul, a group fitness instructor in Los Angeles. Her passion for fitness is clear from all the workshops and conventions she attends, but she wonders how to go about starting her academic career. “We have a lot of community colleges and universities out here, but I’m a little overwhelmed,” she wrote. “Can you provide any insight?”
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Given the sheer number of people using sites like Facebook and services like Groupon, fitness professionals are investing their advertising dollars in spaces where they can influence local groups and social networks. With better research into consumer insight (thanks to profile pages), personal trainers can identify their audiences and target their digital ad campaigns more effectively.
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Most personal trainers recognize the impact that social media investments can have on their business. By actively improving your online presence with blogs, Facebook pages, YouTube videos and/or Twitter updates, you can increase your opportunities to enhance client-trainer relationships, multiply promotional efforts and gain authority on a topic (Alsac 2010). But this article is not about creating a social media strategy. It is about course-correcting the one you already have—to ensure that you are being portrayed in a positive light.
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Fitness professionals use online videos to share training tips, demonstrate exercises and showcase their choreography. Since sites like YouTube revolutionized the way people view, create and share videos online, use of the medium has skyrocketed. Today hundreds of millions of videos are being watched daily via mobile devices and video players embedded across websites (YouTube 2011). And now, via IDEA FitnessConnect.
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Rarely do we see content displayed online without an assigned “share” button or “embed code.” With one click, you can instantly share content from a website and post it to your Facebook page or Twitter™ feed. Sharing digital content by means of an online social network is an increasingly efficient way to distribute information. No more cutting and pasting URLs into e-mails or printing out articles for reference.
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Wouldn’t it be nice to have an integrated system that helps you manage all the details of your job as a facility manager or program director? A dynamic platform that serves as a portfolio, staff management system, marketing tool and event registration software? IDEA FitnessConnect fills this bill, and since its launch at the IDEA World Fitness Convention™ last year, the online fitness directory has grown to include more than 130,000 fitness professionals and 25,000 facilities.
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What if someone wants to find information about boot camps in your area? A quick keyword search for boot camps on Google Maps returns a list of businesses and personal trainers who specialize in that service, from baby boot camps to bridal ones.
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We’ve all seen it. A club’s group fitness schedule posted on the facility’s website with former instructors still listed. A personal trainer’s blog with last session’s boot camp dates advertised. Even when your efforts have successfully led people to your schedule or site, outdated class or event information may discourage any further inquiry into your programs.
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Activating a profile on the IDEA FitnessConnect directory is one way to generate client leads and enhance business marketing. However, your “overview” page is only a first impression; to differentiate yourself from other fitness professionals listed in your area, you can do more. An active blog creates another opportunity for (future) clients to learn about your skills and services.
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Performance reviews are part of any job, and most fitness professionals have either had one or given one at some point. Effective staff evaluations provide personal trainers and group fitness instructors the valuable feedback they need to become confident communicators and refined professionals. Among managers, the best of the best have streamlined performance review systems that have been in place for years and contribute to the success of many instructors and trainers.
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Digital newsletters (or e-newsletters) can be an integral part of a marketing strategy, keeping fitness professionals in contact with clients and prospects via e-mail. In the 2009 Advertising Effectiveness Survey by Forbes, marketers identified e-newsletters as the second most effective online marketing tool for generating conversions (first was search engine optimization).
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