Every business has customers. Well, not EVERY business. But MOST businesses that are, well, in business, have customers. Some very few, and some up in the hundreds of thousands to millions. 

For most of you running a small gym, studio or facility, your customers are local families. Families with lots of children, families with divorced parents, families with children who have special needs, families that are every size, shape, you name it, families that all have their own unique situation and unique circumstances in their day-to-day life. 

One thing is likely constant, they are all…. BUSY. As an owner, admin or coach for your business, you know busy better than anyone. But the thing about it is, with busy families, they become much more reliant on you and your staff for information ALL THE TIME, making your work pile up further and further. 

We want to share with you a couple of easy things to implement that will allow your parents to be more self-sufficient and be empowered with all of the information they need at all times right at their fingertips.

#1 Create an “Important Links” section on your website

This first one is a biggie. There are a lot of components to a studio, and sometimes, a lot of stuff to remember. Including, but certainly not limited to items such as: Links to specific parent portals, how to download a mobile app, how to make a payment, how to access zoom for our next session, links to FAQs + Policies, etc. An easy way to determine this list is by quickly jotting down the top 5-10 “links” that your families request from you all the time and add to your site so they know where to go when they are stuck. 

BONUS: most websites allow for private or hidden pages if you don’t want this on your public website. 

#2 Set-up Auto Reminders for your families

Please say goodbye to getting texts/phone calls about schedules, training, competitions, you name it. Almost all software allows you to set-up auto-reminders or auto-notifications in the form of texts, push notifications or email. We’d recommend anywhere between 24-48 hours prior to a scheduled event, have an auto-reminder set for your families so they know where to be and aren’t left searching for answers. 

PLUG: SportsEngine Motion has a very dynamic reminder system that you can customize based on your preferences (so can families). 

#3 Create an FAQs + Policy page on your website

Okay, this one goes a little bit hand in hand with #1 but it is more elaborate. Create an FAQ and/or policy page for your website. This is intended to answer families' questions that are more intricate and situational. “What happens if my daughter gets injured and can’t compete for the rest of the season- will I get a refund?” “How do I add my spouse onto your mobile app so he/she can access our child’s information?” These questions come up a lot and are important to establish answers to. The key here is educating your families on where to go for this information. 

#4 Establish a parent chat room

Don’t freak out, I’m NOT talking a casual, anonymous, out-of-control parent chat room (are those only in the movies?). I’m talking about a safe secure way for families to help one another out with questions about participation with your organization. There may be somewhere innate within your software for families to access and chat, but there are so many other free options as well. Smart Phone group chats, GroupMe, Slack, Facebook, etc. 

EXTRA: If you establish the chat room, and describe it as “a quick easy way to get all information” most people will feel comfortable asking it, especially when some can feel intimidated calling the owner of the business for “simple” questions. 

#5 Implement a regular “news segment”

I put “news segment” in quotes because there is no right or wrong way to have a regular news segment. Most would go straight to a weekly or monthly email newsletter, which can be a great route for many people to update families on news, upcoming events, or announcements. There are also several other ways, if you aren’t the most email savvy individual, to inform your families of news - have a weekly Facebook live segment, send out a text message, hire a volunteer to assist with it, post about it on your website. Regardless of which you choose, you will help your families feel in the know and on top of it with a regular touchpoint like this. 

Here’s the deal, everybody and their mom (especially their mom) is on Facebook these days. It has become the ultimate place for people to connect with friends, family, and businesses that they love. And Facebook has allowed all of us to “connect” in so many different ways when we’re logged in. 

The topic today is the famous Facebook post and how we can be effective at it. Many studio and gym owners have smartly taken to Facebook to connect with their families and fans and keep engaged no matter the time of year or what’s going on in the world. But could it be working better for you?

First and foremost 

Like the number of ways to skin a cat, there are hundreds of ways to make effective Facebook posts.

If you stick to one thing, let it be this:

post more of what your audience likes 

With the robust analytics that Facebook offers up to businesses, i.e., post clicks, likes, shares, etc., you should be able to tell in a couple of months exactly what your audience likes the most and when they are the most active. Channel those analytics and do more of what works, whatever that looks like for you, even against the “rules of good Facebook posting”.

If you want to take it a level deeper consider the following while you’re posting:

1. What is the goal of the post?

More often than not, it will fall into two buckets:

1. Engagement (I want my audience to watch this fun video, laugh, like it, and share it with their friends, so they have a good feeling about my business)

2. Conversion/Selling (I want my audience to click this specific link and sign-up for the class I am offering next week, so I get more business)

It’s a known rule of thumb that 80% of your posts should be in the engagement bucket, and 20% should be selling, so keep that in mind when planning out what you are posting. If you are only posting links trying to sell your audience something, they likely won’t respond how you want them to (although, some have argued that it doesn’t matter, as long as you follow the “first and foremost” section above).

2. Make your posts cut through the noise

Whether you are posting a video or an image, make it pretty. The amount of people and posts on Facebook account for a lot of scrolling and a lot of the same old content. Make sure your content cuts through the noise and makes a person stop scrolling. 

Easy ways to do this- use bright colors as well as photos and videos of people (especially with audio).

You also want your copy to cut through the noise. I’m not saying raising your voices with this many exclamation points !!!!!!!!!! will make your post worth reading, but using short, choppy, witty, and easy to understand copy, will help with engagement.

Love this idea but don’t have a designer on staff to help with post creation? Check out these free and easy tools to create in no time.

SportsEngine Design Center

Canva Free Design

3. Have a clear call to action or conversion point

Paralysis by analysis is a real thing, folks. Even in social media posts. Oftentimes, people will lose track of posting to social media, and then do one really, really, really, long post that has two questions, three mandatory steps someone needs to take, and an optional survey to boot. While it seems like an efficient way to get all of your information out there at once, make sure you have ONE single call to action on your posts. 

“Hi everyone, summer figure skating camp begins in two weeks, register your child today!”

It’s clear, easy to understand, and will drive people to your registration page. 

Other single call to action options are:

• Share this post for a chance to win
• Take my poll so I know which sport you like best
• Answer this survey so I can better assist you

All effective calls to action for your posts. (Not to mention, great engagement tactics) 

4. Tag and Hashtag 

Facebook's algorithm houses a very important metric that affects the success of your post…. Reach. The simplest way to increase your reach on Facebook is tagging and hashtagging. 

If you have athletes or families in your photos and videos make sure to tag them. If you have sponsors or partners that are helping you run an event, tag them. And of course, depending on the topic you are posting about search for relevant hashtags to add. 

These together will help more people see your posts, and ultimately engage with you. 

5. Remember the “first and foremost”

Find what works for YOU and stick with it :) 

Good luck!