#JTInTheRaw Show 63: 13 Tips To Get Your Fitness Business Facebook Page Humming

The cold hard facts of Facebook are:  

“If people are not engaging with your posts, then there is a very high chance they are not even seeing them on their feed.  This is because of the Facebook algorithm.” 

BuzzSumo identified the 8 best practices: 

  1. The best time to post is between 10 PM and midnight of your audience’s local time 
  2. Posts with questions and images get the most engagement 
  3. The best day to post is Sunday 
  4. Posts that link to articles between 1,000-3,000 words get the most interaction 
  5. Short post descriptions get by far the most interaction 
  6. Directly embedded videos get over 6x the interaction of YouTube videos 
  7. Images posted through Instagram get a 23% boost in engagement 
  8. Posts with hashtags get less interaction than posts without hashtags 

Today, I’ve got a few tips, tricks and hacks to get people seeing and engaging on your Facebook page. 

Welcome to JTInTheRaw show 63 where I chew thin on business.  I was an early adopter of social media – one of the first Aussies to venture onto Twitter; nearing 10,000 connections on LinkedIn, and I would suggest one of the first & definitely the most regular Facebook Livers in the fitness industry.  So today’s topic is close to my heart! 

What about you . . . how savvy are you are on social media?  Give yourself a rating out of 10 – where 1 is not very and 10 is very savvy!  And if want feel free to add what you want to know about social media?  But first rate yourself on your savviness on social media? 

Shout Outs 

I want to say a massive shout out to my friends on Facebook who engaged with my post on Tuesday.  I shared – maybe over shared – my journey – geez I hate that word – my journey from a fatty unfit bom-bar to someone who now embraces exercise and sees exercise as a gift. 

I don’t want anyone to think I shared that post to boast or be narcissistic. My goal was to show that many people think fitness industry people are blessed with a love of exercise, always look good or have all day to train.  And yes some industry people do but I am not one of them.  I am like every other Aussie who fits working out in around life.  It’s just now I make it a priority. 

I am grateful for the 240+ people who liked, loved or wowed my post.  I am very grateful for some beautiful comments. And I’d be even happier if together we can get more people moving & moving more often. 

If you missed my post, pop JT in the comments and I’ll send you a link to the post. 

So let’s talk Facebook. 

Be honest, it just you and me talking now.  Do you even know why you post on Facebook?  Is it for sales?  Is it for retention? Do you actually have a strategy of what goes up when and why?  

More importantly do you know what resonates and what doesn’t for your fans.  And do you know if your fans are even seeing your posts! 

My confession is that on the Active Management Facebook page we have over 3,100 ‘fans’ and nearly 3,000 follow my page.  On The Fitness Business Podcast we have 1200 ‘fans’ and the same follows.  But in all reality we have very low engagement on our posts.  Which makes me wonder if based on the Facebook algorithim are people even seeing what we are posting. 

In The Membership Economy by Robbie Kellman Baxter she says in an online community: 

  • 90% are lurkers 
  • 9% are contribute occasionally 
  • 1% are regular contributors 

This means for the Active Management Facebook with 3000 fans, we can expect 270 people to occasionally engage with us and 30 to be regular.  We are still aren’t even close. 

So this week I set about understanding HOW I can increase engagement from our fans with an organic reach and not having to pay to boost – although 9 out of 10 Facebook consultants will tell you organic reach is dead, you have to pay!   

And that maybe true but here are some tips to get you refining your posts . .   

Tip #1 – The Type of Post On Facebook 

There are 6 main types of posts you can create on your business page: 

  1. Questions 
  2. Image posts 
  3. Videos 
  4. Links 
  5. Giveaways 
  6. Coupons/Discounts 

The BuzzSumo team have dug into different types of question posts and found: question postscombinedwith images resulted in a 4 times more engagement post. 

Tip #2 – Time Of Day To Post On Facebook Boosts Viewing 

There are some common trends regardless of your time zone: 

  • The highest average click-through rate is between 1 & 4 pm, peaking on Wednesdays at 3 pm.  
  • The worst time for posting appears to be weekends before 8 am and after 8 pm. 
  • BuzzSumo compared the number of posts with the average engagement of all posts and found the best time to post in the US is between 9 and 11pm. 

Tip #3 Post Yourself On Facebook 

Scheduling posts to Facebook yourself instead of using a service like Buffer or Hootsuite is probably the most important factor in getting your content seen organically.  Facebook’s algorithm favours posts uploaded by you and it is easy to do. 

Tip #4 Focus on positive and fun content on Facebook. 

A much-maligned experiment run by Facebook found that users who saw happy posts were more likely to share. The company has incorporated that experiment into its algorithm and currently makes posts that are overtly negative less visible.  

Tip #5 Responding to Facebook Comments Is A Must 

As we know the key to your posts being seen is engagement.  If you encourage your fans to comments, like or share then you need to acknowledge them.  This means: 

  • Responding to their comments; and 
  • Thanking them for sharing. 

This will show a two-communication channel and set an example for other fans. 

Tip #6 Load Your Videos Directly On To Facebook 

According to Hubspot “43% of people want to see more video content from marketers.” 

There are options to loading videos. You can: 

  • Embed a YouTube video: 
  • Directly upload/embed a video on Facebook: 

According BuzzSumo, a video directly uploaded has 6 times more interactions than an embedded YouTube video. 

Further data suggests that Facebook Live videos are viewed 3 times more than recorded videos. 

Tip #7 Cut The Jargon In Your Facebook Posts 

The number 1 turn off is using complex, technical language or jargon that only fitness professionals use!  The people reading your posts are normal people, so use the language they use. 

Tip #8 Avoid Begging For Engagement  

If you think the easiest way to have people like, share or comment on you post is to ask them, think again! 

An algorithm change Facebook made will now automatically lower those that beg for likes and shares.  

At this point including a call to engage in a Facebook Live video does work.  So if you know anyone who could learn from this list to get their posts seen more, then tag them in the comments below. 

Tip #9 Facebook Seem To Love Frequent Posting  

When you post often, you give different fans more chances to engage with your posts and remember the more engagement, the more Facebook like you – showing future posts to a greater portion of your audience because the algorithm has more data on what your audience wants to see from you.  

Tip #10 The Hasthtag Effect on Facebook  

You know hashtags rock Instagram, impact Twitter but what about Facebook? 

The report from BuzzSumo, which analyzed more than a billion Facebook posts from over 30 million brand Pages, came to this conclusion – posts without hashtags generated more reach than those with tags added. 

Tip #11 Facebook Users Aren’t Really Readers 

A stunning picture will stop the scrolling action & say a lot more than a text post. Facebook posts with images see more than double the engagement of basic text posts. 

Tip #12 Facebook Allows Your Fans To Control Their Timeline 

Did you know that you as a Facebook user can decide yourself how the updates of a page appear in your timeline?  

This is a powerful insight, as it means that you can encourage your fans to give your page a higher priority on their own timeline – never missing one of your posts. 

BIG TIP – Here are the steps to have them add you to their ‘See First List’ – which tells Facebook they want to see your posts a priority.: 

  • Go to your Facebook page 
  • Click on Follow 
  • Move the curser down to ‘See First’ 

Tip #13 What To Avoid On Your Facebook Posts  

Click baiting is defined as “content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.”   

Click baiting intentionally over-promises or misrepresents in order to pull users to a website. More often than not click baiting on Facebook is a disaster waiting to happen – closing your page by Facebook.  

It is also advised that you avoid CAPITALIZING one words and don’t use multiple exclamation (!!!!) points. 

I thought I was a smarty pants with Facebook but researching this week, I think you can see I learned heaps!  And perhaps my greatest lesson was being consistent on all of the above points!  

As they say, we are either green and growing or ripe no rotting! 

If you know anyone whom you think could benefit from just one of these tips, I’d love you to tag them in the comments.  And don’t forget I will publish the full list of these on the Active Management website next Thursday. 

This Week 

I am prep’ing for my trip to Mexico.  I’m delivering two presentations and my key note is Fitness Business Leadership in 2017.  So I’m planning on talking about tech, generational leadership, and trend spotting.  So it’s a week of researching and writing for me. 

Quote of the Week 

It is not about page likes.  It’s engagement, then trust and then sales.  This is all built on content that adds value. 

Do you want to work one on one with JT?

Check out all previous shows here: http://www.activemgmt.com.au/category/jt-in-the-raw/

73 Comments

  1. Jordan Cowen on September 22, 2017 at 08:08

    Education, light entertainment and lead generation..?¿



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:14

      Good mix of reasons to be on FB Jordan – at least you’re clear! #kudos! Hope the tips were useful.



    • Jordan Cowen on September 22, 2017 at 14:18

      Justin Tamsett yes they were useful ??



    • Jordan Cowen on September 22, 2017 at 15:18

      Justin Tamsett yes they were useful ??



  2. Gavin Aquilina on September 22, 2017 at 08:11

    JT do you see difference between pages and groups. Closed versus open groups



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:28

      Massive difference between pages & groups in relationship to access of information. ? In my groups I give more details. On my page I wet the appetite. ? In my groups I have a stronger relationship with people, so can be more specific on calling on people to comment. ? Im not sure why you’d have an open group and not a page – seems too limiting an open group. ? I never throw someone out of a closed group, hopefully this has them buying from in the future – when the time is right. ? Does this help Gavin?



    • Gavin Aquilina on September 22, 2017 at 11:32

      It was more about do you see a different level of organic reach and then engagement between group and page. Where do you place more of your time. And you have answered most.



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:48

      Engagement on a closed group is exactly the same % – 90;9;1. I always try to quietly (off line) encourage one or two people to boost conversations on topics in the group.



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 12:28

      Massive difference between pages & groups in relationship to access of information. ? In my groups I give more details. On my page I wet the appetite. ? In my groups I have a stronger relationship with people, so can be more specific on calling on people to comment. ? Im not sure why you’d have an open group and not a page – seems too limiting an open group. ? I never throw someone out of a closed group, hopefully this has them buying from in the future – when the time is right. ? Does this help Gavin?



  3. Hayes Carter on September 22, 2017 at 08:16

    Yes sir!



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:29

      Hope it was a great conference!



    • Hayes Carter on September 22, 2017 at 12:15

      Justin Tamsett it was a great time!



  4. Leah Rock on September 22, 2017 at 08:20

    Big Tip ?



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:16

      Here is the big tip Leah



    • Leah Rock on September 22, 2017 at 14:13

      Thanks Justin?



  5. Gavin Aquilina on September 22, 2017 at 08:22

    Great tips JT



  6. Matt Fletcher on September 22, 2017 at 08:23

    Jenny Kay



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:19

      Thanks for sharing Matt . . . hope it helps Jenny.



  7. Matthew Wright on September 22, 2017 at 08:23

    Those quads need no more growth!



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:14

      Quads n calves . . . LOL



  8. Jamie Hayes on September 22, 2017 at 08:24

    You assumed we know how to tag someone!



  9. Jamie Hayes on September 22, 2017 at 08:25

    Ellen Hayes Great JT



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:20

      Thanks for sharing with Ellen



  10. Paul Kelly on September 22, 2017 at 08:45

    Love it… inspired me to contact a PT as gift to myself!!!



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:13

      That is bloody awesome PK! #kudos mate!



  11. Susan McGregor on September 22, 2017 at 09:07

    Morning JT ?



  12. Leah Rock on September 22, 2017 at 09:20

    Big Tip ?



    • Leah Rock on September 22, 2017 at 15:13

      Thanks Justin?



  13. Jordan Cowen on September 22, 2017 at 09:22

    ??????



  14. Cindy Kempton on September 22, 2017 at 09:35

    Michelle Warren Thomas Cobern Frances Maher Karlee Orr Jenny McConnell- Muscat Shelley Snellin



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:19

      WOWZERS! Thanks for sharing Cindy as always!



    • Karlee Orr on September 22, 2017 at 13:28

      ????????



    • Karlee Orr on September 22, 2017 at 14:28

      ????????



  15. Cindy Kempton on September 22, 2017 at 09:36

    Michelle Warren times of postings??



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:20

      Super interesting times . . . it all comes down to competition on the newsfeed for when people will see you.



    • Michelle Warren on September 22, 2017 at 14:45

      Agreed very interesting.



  16. Frances Michaelson on September 22, 2017 at 09:56

    Tips are good and you also great….. lean and fit ! So awesome to see !



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:29

      Thanks Frances . . . you are super kind! TY!



  17. Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:14

    Thanks for swinging by this morning as always Susan!



  18. Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:16

    Thanks for shining by this morning Gav . . . was this your first ‘live’ #JTInTheRaw?



  19. Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:16

    I love your posts!



  20. Gavin Aquilina on September 22, 2017 at 11:25

    Have watched a replay before.



  21. Gavin Aquilina on September 22, 2017 at 11:32

    Thanks mate



  22. Amanda Chesterton on September 22, 2017 at 11:47

    Desiree, interesting video, with heaps of FB tips on engagement



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:49

      Thanks for sharing with Desiree Amanda … hope these tips help!



  23. Yvonne Cameron on September 22, 2017 at 13:51

    Kristy Torrisi Tori O’Brien FYI



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 17:23

      Thanks Yvonne for sharing with Kristy & Tori … ?… hope you get some tips Kristy & Tori!



    • Kristy Torrisi on September 22, 2017 at 17:31

      Justin Tamsett thanks Justin was good ?



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 17:33

      Kristy … glad it helps! TY for watching



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 18:23

      Thanks Yvonne for sharing with Kristy & Tori … ?… hope you get some tips Kristy & Tori!



    • Kristy Camilleri on September 22, 2017 at 18:31

      Justin Tamsett thanks Justin was good ?



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 19:46

      FYI – Kristy & Tori if you want me #JTInTheRaw there is a You Tube channel with all previous shows – http://bit.ly/2hsI4vB



  24. Ellen Hayes on September 22, 2017 at 16:33

    Great way to finish Friday. Thanks Justin Tamsett



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 16:35

      A great way to finish! TY Mrs Hayes. Enjoy the week end!



  25. Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 17:23

    That’s a harsh score on yourself



  26. Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 19:48

    If you want to binge this week end on #JTInTheRaw all 62 shows are on You Tube http://bit.ly/2hsI4vB. Shows are broken into: shows 1-26; 26-52; 52-62. The title of each show will tell you what its about or check out the show description.



  27. Kellie Trenchard-Simmons on September 26, 2017 at 08:15

    Ok. Got 10 to sit down and watch



  28. Kellie Trenchard-Simmons on September 26, 2017 at 08:15

    5



  29. Kellie Trenchard-Simmons on September 26, 2017 at 08:22

    Lead gen & communications



  30. Kellie Trenchard-Simmons on September 26, 2017 at 08:31

    Big tip



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:15

      Here is the Big Tip . . .



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:17

      Here is the big tip Cindy . . . super simple . . .



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:18

      Here is your big tip Matt



    • Cindy Kempton on September 22, 2017 at 11:18

      Justin Tamsett Thks!
      Michelle Warren Thomas Cobern



    • Justin Tamsett on September 22, 2017 at 11:20

      And your Big Tip Jamie



    • Hayes Carter on September 22, 2017 at 12:16

      Justin Tamsett thank you



  31. Matt Fletcher on September 26, 2017 at 08:37

    Anita Savasana. Listen to JT on this one. Some great stuff on your social media



    • Justin Tamsett on September 26, 2017 at 08:49

      Thanks Matt for sharing! Anita . . . hope you get some value.



  32. Andrew Simmons on September 30, 2017 at 10:41

    Great show JT. The 3 years I spent working on the gym floor before becoming a PT was invaluable for me. Nothing beats getting real life experience and guidance from those already doing it. Hence the reason we employ trainers and provide such an extensive mentor program at Vision. Most Trainers being sold the dream of running their own businesses straight after their fitness course without prior business experience are being set up for failure. I strongly believe that many trainers can be a great business owners once they acquire the skills. It just takes time!