Social Media and your PT business…

One of the biggest hurdles for a PT business owner to leap is realizing that people will be talking about their coaching and training whether they like it or not, or are even aware of it. Protecting the reputation of your brand within social media circles is extremely important if you want to continue to attract new clients.

This includes addressing good AND bad comments. Mistakes are bound to happen in any business, but when they do it’s quite possible that the story will wind up on the internet in mainstream social media sites, where anyone searching for your personal training business can find it. Brand management can be achieved by being online where your clients are.

If you’re not maintaining an effective presence on social media sites, you’re going to have two problems managing your brand if this happens:

The negative review could wind up ranking high in the search results, so whenever somebody searches for your business, this could be one of the first things they see. The review might be accurate if a mistake really was made, or it might be completely inaccurate, but that potential client has no way of knowing for sure (and is more than likely going to accept it as fact).
You won’t have a chance to explain the situation and fix it.

Be where your existing and future clients are…

The solution here is to be a part of the conversation. In other words, engage your personal training clients where they are engaged in social media, so you can try to correct any mistakes that were actually made, or explain your side if it’s completely inaccurate.

We’ve already discussed two of the social media sites that these kinds of discussions can happen – Facebook and Twitter. It’s important that you have a presence on both, if only as a point of contact for your PT clients who are already in those places.

Imagine this scenario…

One of your personal training coaching clients has not been achieving the results they were looking for. This can be for any number of reasons, including the PT client’s own behavior. But instead of coming to you and giving you the opportunity to fix the problem, they go to these websites and post about the problem and how unhappy they were with your company.

If you don’t have a presence on Twitter or Facebook, you might not know about it. But potential clients who are talking to their friends on social media for information about your company could quite likely find the negative comments when they search for you.

Now think about this…

If you are active in social media via Facebook or Twitter, on the other hand, you can jump in and try to correct the situation. This is not only going to give you a chance to turn an unhappy client into a happy one (who might also become one of your biggest raving fans at that point), it’s also going to add your response to the situation for future readers. And if the client has given you a compliment or made a positive comment about your PT training style, be sure to thank them and let them know you appreciate their support.

Now when someone searching for you finds that review/complaint, they’re also going to see your response, and the fact that you tried to correct the situation for that unhappy client. This becomes a win-win-win situation for you and the client and your brand will be protected.

Which scenario would you prefer?

How can you make sure any comments about your PT Business on social media is addressed quickly? Sign into your Google account set up a Google Alert for your company name. Follow the simple instructions illustrated below. Set up alerts for your PT business name and your name to be sure you capture any comments on any social media sites. Put your email address in the “Deliver To:” box for easy notification.

Social Media and your PT Business

If you do receive an alert for your business, address it right away. Make every effort to address the complaint in such a way that the client feels they have been fairly treated, don’t make matters worse. It may be necessary to call the client before trying to fix it within Facebook or Twitter to avoid further negative comments. Social media can be a great place to receive positive comments too – but also can be brand destroying if left unresolved.

We’ll be giving you more information about social media and your Personal Training business in the coming weeks. want to share more with us? Visit our Facebook page and share your thoughts or see what we have been up to lately!