Make Social Media Work For Your Fitness Business - The Super Influencers

Ben Straley had a great article in mashables the other day titled How to activate your brands “Super Influencers”. Fitness industry participants who are starting to leverage social media marketing need to pay close attention to this concept.

Ben's comments are based on a very important notion: the 1% rule : just 1% of businesses social media followers are responsible for the majority of sharing. They share social media campaigns with their larger social network, passing on links to your contests, promotions, deals, and other marketing campaigns. These important influencers are more than just fans — they’re brand ambassadors. Fitness businesses need to identify who these people are, particularly members, and act accordingly to insure their social media efforts have greater impact for the reasons set out below.

Businesses that track and quantify word-of-mouth impact know that these important influencers drive from 20% to as many as 70% of all visits to campaign pages, beating most other advertising as the most efficient driver of traffic to their sites. That’s critical, considering social campaigns require no media buys and cost next to nothing to implement. The “Super influencers” drive an even higher share of conversion — on average influencing 30% or more of all conversions on marketers’ sites just by recommending a brand’s products, content, or promotions to their online communities.

When you understand this dynamic, you realize quickly that these super influencers are really important. If you can reach out to this 1% directly by offering them special promotions, thanking them for their influence, and rewarding them for loyalty, they will be motivated to share early and share often.

Identifying these people is fairly straightforward. As Ben points out, there are many social media measurement tools that enable folks to find the people who are talking most about their brand, see what type of content they’re sharing and with whom, and how they are sharing it (e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and their own blogs). Once you find these influencers, the trick is activating them to share even more.

What are your experiences with social media in the fitness industry ? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, and share your stories about social media in fitness. I've included three tips Ben suggested you use to help you activate your top influencers. For the complete article visit here. Thanks again Ben for some great content.

1. Reserve Your Best Content for Influencers Only

Influencers love to be an inside source of information for their friends and followers by sharing contests, information, or deals with their social networks before other people have heard about them. Create exclusive content you share only with your key influencers, and let them know they were one of a select few to receive this special offer. This makes your brand advocates feel appreciated and provides them with exclusive information they can use to boost their reputation as a source of inside deals.

One of my company’s clients decided to engage its most ardent fans when planning a large industry event. The company reached out to these key influencers, inviting them to post a “register now” button on their blogs and websites, and offering them lower-cost VIP passes if they shared the event with friends. The result was a huge uptick in sharing that significantly influenced registrations for the event. People who found out about the conference from an influencer were 37% more likely to register than direct visitors, and influencers ended up driving more than $1 million in total registrations.

2. Mine the Blogs and Forums

When you’re looking for super influencers, chances are you’ve already determined who shares the most on Facebook and Twitter. But, in many cases, the people who really influence traffic and conversion on your site are the bloggers. One of our clients launched a social media contest and found that one blogger alone shared the contest with thousands of people and directly drove 42% of all traffic to the contest page.
To find and activate the people who are truly passionate about your products, services, or sector, you’ve got to carefully monitor the blogosphere, message boards, and forums. Once you’ve used analytics tools to find exactly which individuals are driving the most traffic to your campaign sites, you need to reach out to these people individually. Treat them like the real VIPs they are. Let them know you appreciate their loyalty and interest in your products. We’ve found influencers appreciate your attention and kind words even more than exclusive promotions.

3. Differentiate the Influencers from the Super Influencers

Your top fans are so valuable they are worth the extra effort of some special attention. But, not all influencers are alike. When you plot the influence of individuals, you’ll see a curve that looks a lot like the long tail distribution of search terms. Influence follows a “power law,” where a relatively small number of individuals influence the lion’s share of referrals. Those at the peak of this curve are the super influencers, and those in the tail are regular influencers.  Super influencers have large, loyal followings and audiences who trust their insights. The latter are people who pass along info to friends and family from time to time via e-mail and Facebook.

Understanding these differences is key to crafting your influencer activation strategy. You need to interact with super influencers on a one-to-one basis, but you could target the rest of your influencers a bit more broadly. For example, you will want to reach out directly to all your influencers by commenting on their blogs and syndicating their content via Twitter, Facebook, and your own blog. Thank them for their loyalty, and generally praise them. But, make sure to go the extra mile with your super influencers. Offer super influencers the opportunity to obtain and review your products before they hit the market, for example. Offer them after-hours shopping at your stores, a few free hours of your services, or invite them to a special VIP party. Be creative, and have fun. Remember, your super influencers, when treated right, can drive a huge percentage of your site’s overall traffic. Isn’t that worth throwing a party?

The Takeaway

Just identifying your key influencers is not enough in today’s market. Instead, you’ve got to find them and then motivate them to share. Over the long term, your goal as a marketer is to increase the size of your influencer base. By finding and engaging in a direct dialogue with your super influencers, you’ll get a clear idea of what motivates these brand ambassadors to share. Then, armed with that knowledge, you can begin reaching out to your influencers — and even your fans who never share — to offer the right kind of content and rewards to turn more “followers” into “sharers.”

Nutrition & Our Obese World - The McRib

I don't know about you, but I've had about enough of McDonald's McRib Sandwich commercials - You know the one that shows a young man and a young woman appearing as though they'll be engaging in a lip lock that turns out to be their each biting into this awful sandwich all while hearing Matt White's song "Love". Are you kidding me ?

Having worked for years in the fast food industry while watching rates of obesity soar, when I see the amount of commerical promotion around a product like the McRib, given its ingredients, it makes me sad. Recently a new Harvard study showed that obesity rates will not level off until 2050 and people actually wonder why. Below are the nutritional facts and ingredients for McRib as well as rising obesity rates for the U.S. I didn't even post cancer rates, but I am certain there is some connection between the fumaric acids, fungal protease and ammonium chloride (yes its in there) among other lucious ingredients, in the wonderful McRib. Would so many people "Love" it if they only read the ingredients ?

McRib Nutritional Info: 490 calories, 220 calories from fat, 25 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 1040 mb sodium, 44 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 24 g protein, 11 g sugars.

McRib Ingredients McRib Patty: Boneless pork (Pork, water, salt, dextrose, citric acid, BHA, TBHQ).
McRib Bun: Flour (wheat flour bleached and enriched with thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron, folic acid, malted barley flour), water, high fructose corn syrup, yeast, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, cottonseed oil). Contains 2 percent or less of dextrose, fumaric acid, calcium sulphate, salt, acetic acid, soy flour, monocalcium phosphate, ammonium sulphate, cornstarch, fungal protease, natural culture, ammonium chloride, ascorbic acid, azodicarbomide, mono- and diglycerides, propionic acid, phosphoric acid, corn flour, calcium peroxide, calcium propionate, dicetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides. McRib Sauce: Water, high fructose corn syrup, tomato paste, distilled vinegar, molasses, natural smoke flavor, modified food starch, salt, sugar, soybean oil, spices, onion*, mustard flour, garlic *, xanthan gum, caramel color, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural flavor (vegetable source), corn oil. *Dehydrated Pickle Slices Cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, natural flavorings (vegetable source), polysorbate 80, turmeric (color).

What do you think about rates of obesity and our cultural obsession with food that is so bad for you ? Contact me Bryan O'Rourke and let me know your thoughts.

Education & Fitness Professionals - A Dilemma That Requires An Answer

I am reading The 2011 ACSM Fitness Trend Survey this morning, which identifies the top 20 fitness trends. Interestingly, for the past 3 years the number 1 trend in the survey is "educated and experienced fitness professionals". Dr. Walter Thompson, author of the article on the survey, makes 2 important observations about this trend:

"According to the AKA, the kinesiology major grew by more than 50% from 2003 - 2008....and means that kinesiology is the fastest growing major in the U.S., as the market for fitness professionals becomes even more crowded and more competitive, the need for regulation, wether from within the industry or from external sources, is growing."

Thompson also alludes to the work of the NSF in establishing standardized facility practices.

During the past few months I've had the pleasure, with my partner Robert Dyer, to visit with leaders in fitness education including people from ACE, IDEA, Fitpro and many others. We all discussed the need for education and standards. Of course we talk with our over 600 fitness facility customers routinely as well and as a result I wonder; How will fitness professionals be able to pay more money for education requirements when their wages are actually stagnant or falling? I know a lot of trainers and group instructors and its hard for them to survive in the industry. IHRSA openly lobbies to prevent government regulation of personal training primarily to prevent the cost of government standards being passed on to facility owners. They do this because its getting more challenging to make a buck in the health club business. Yet, many in the fitness industry agree that better education is necessary to promote and progress the business. But who is going to pay for all of this when health club dues have declined on an inflation adjusted basis ? Do we believe that more educated professionals will result in consumers agreeing to pay more for services ? This is the dilemma that requires an answer.

I think a key problem is the business model of how exercise expertise is delivered to customer members. The prevalent one on one, face to face, modality is inefficient and can be augmented and improved with technology and new delivery systems that will enable exercise professionals to reach more members more effectively.

What do you think ? Contact me Bryan O'Rourke, and share your views about the fitness industry and educational requirements for professionals. What should happen to improve the professional prospects for fitness professionals and why, given that it is the number 1 fitness trend in 2011 according to the ACSM survey.

The Fitness Industry's Digital Divide - Leadership Should Embrace The Future

I visited with a well respected health club owner and fitness industry leader recently.  During our meeting the person commented that IHRSA "wants to remain a bricks and mortar association"; this in response to my many calls for the extant fitness industry to open its eyes to the opportunity new business models and technologies will offer, enabling it to reach its promise.

In this person's defense, the facility orientation of the industry is not uncommon; I speak with many health club owners and leaders who share this view. Change is hard and I know of many good people with good intentions who work hard at IHRSA and in the fitness business in general to forward the cause of prevention and wellness. However, this "bricks and mortar" emphasis is the same view many leaders in other industries had, before the future happened to them - think clothing and entertainment to name a few. It is the reason, I worry, that some existing business models in fitness are going to have increasing difficulty surviving.

To illustrate my point, think of the retail industry by comparison. From 2000 until 2007, online retail sales grew at an annual 20% clip. From now until 2014 sales will grow at a slower 10% rate, still well exceeding the "bricks and mortar" counter part. However the important thing to note is that by 2014 53% OF ALL "RETAIL" SALES WILL BE DELIVERED VIA THE INTERNET according to Forrester Research. You see it isn't about bricks and mortar; its about delivering things customers need the way they want them and doing it in a sustainable fashion.

Reading the WSJ article today, on my IPad none the less, I came across Eileen Gunn's article titled, "A Personal Trainer in the Palm Of Your Hand." By my estimation, now over 3 million people in the U.S. alone are using mobile technologies to guide them as personal trainers could or used to. Similarly, consider the explosion of wellness platforms and devices that provide low cost means of enabling people to improve their health. Point is: there is a lot changing and the customer is at the center of it - not bricks and mortar.

As with all businesses, leaders need to open their eyes to what is happening and prepare by driving innovation and evangelizing the benefits of an unavoidable future. The fitness industry is no exception - less we fail to reach the promise of making a real impact on health via prevention.

What are your thoughts on the fitness industry ? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, or share your views here and tell me what you believe about the bricks and mortar, IHRSA and the orientation of the fitness industry.

Where Is Bally Total Fitness Headed ? CBI Offers Clues

I read with great interest Patricia Amend's cover article on Michael Sheehan and Bally Total Fitness included in the November 2010 edition of Club Business International. The title, "A 21st Century Brand" is interesting. Certain operational moves made at Bally Total Fitness speak volumes about an organization that, I have a hunch, has an understanding of where the fitness industry is headed. Although as Michael Sheehan himself points out, "We'd prefer to be judged on the basis of our progress...".

As you know I've been writing and speaking about what the future of the fitness industry holds and therefore I don't think it a coincidence that the new management team at Bally Total Fitness is made up of 1) a former CMO from United Airlines, 2) a former CFO of the web travel giant Orbitz and 3) the former head of HR from The Home Depot. Not one of their new "C" level executives has deep roots in fitness, with the exception of Michael Sheehan himself. I think there is a reason for that. Growing a national fitness brand and designing and executing new consumer centric models that leverage technology are but one, but a significant component, of what I think the future is about. These skills are uncommon in the extant fitness industry so one should be paying close attention to Bally given their personnel moves. We've seen bringing in industry outsiders fail before with other national brands, but time will tell.

What do you think about Bally Total Fitness ? With their under performing clubs shuttered, debt eliminated and a vibrant new management team, will they rise from the ashes of 2 bankruptcy filings ? Contact me, Bryan O'Rourke, or share your views here and tell me what you think about the CBI article. Kudos to Patricia for her great article.