Check-Up, Check-in, and Click Away: Three Reasons That You May Not Be Getting The Results You Want From Your Social Media Platforms

Get social, they said. Make all of the posts, they said. If your business has been on social media for a while and you aren’t getting the response that you are looking for, it’s frustrating. I’m talking hulksmash, damn intranets, computer boxing kind of frustrating. The good news, is that beyond edgerank and platform coding you may to be able to improve your interactions by giving your social media presence a lil check up. You know, just to make sure it’s healthy. You want the online version of your brand to be just as well oiled and awesome as the in person version. So without further ado, here I go with the lists:

1. Is your Content is Canned? We all love memes, but here’s the thing, we want to love your health and fitness brand. We want to love you. You content should be 80% original. In that other 20% of your social media content if you want to throw up some memes, promote some healthy local businesses, or link to a few articles that you find phenominal go for it. That 20% could actually help you to be more engaged and more connected with the content in your industry. Let’s go back to that 80% though. That’s your golden ticket. And you can’t be yourself hiding behind all of the other content out there. 
2. Do You Know What Platforms Your Tribe Is On? Posting to every social media network in existence is a time sink. It is a matrix style rabbit hole, and it may not be doing you any favors. On the flip side of that kettlebell, if you’re only posting to one social media platform, you need to make sure that’s where the bulk of your tribe resides. If you don’t you’re missing out on some huge opportunities. There are plenty of studies that show what demographics prefer which platforms. There are plenty of platforms that are better for public figures or gyms. All of those things are good to be aware of. The best way to go about finding out what platforms your membership is on (drumroll please), is to ask them in person. Conversational like. 
3. Are You Joining And Interacting With Social Media Groups? You don’t have to spend all of your time there, but a little bit of interaction goes a long way. Join the discussion on any social media platform. By establishing yourself as an industry expert and offering some helpful tips and topics for discussion you go a long way in the battle of brand promotion. Not all of the members will be in your area, but the ones that are will feel more personally connected to you and your brand after having discussed a topic or two in a group setting. 

So there you have it. Your online check-up. If you aced it and still have questions throw em in the comments and I’ll try to answer them blog style in the coming weeks. Social media can be a sassy beast and we all need moments where we check-in with what we’re doing and reevaluate the ways we can make it shine. Click Away, lift all of the things, and make that platform as awesome and as personable as you are.  

 

Fitness Nostalgia: Three shocking differences between staying active then and now.

Fitness just felt good when we were kids. Hey yeah, remember that? Boundless energy and we could run for sugar fueled miles without tiring. That was how it worked, right? We’re not just improving through the zippy little Segway that is nostalgia. Right? Nah, you and me? We were wild mustangs running free out on the plains. In my case the plains meant my parent’s driveway and running free meant maxing the shit out of my skip-it. But let’s not get tripped up in semantics. What in the ever loving tarnations happened to us?

Number #1 

Stress.

Stress happened. That’s right, more responsibility comes with a big fat heart attack side of anxiety. Somewhere in between bill paying and meeting obligations we’ve completely forgotten to go outside and play. There’s no responsible adult type of person to whine at as we’re kicked out of the house until it gets dark. In fact, having a responsible adult type person to whine at is one of the many reasons I workout with a trainer. Just saying.  

There are a lot of freaking expectations that come along with playing grown up. I mean, bills, seriously what is that shit? There is an inevitable point of no return in which we’re suddenly expected to no longer be searching for the answers to the magic of the universe and start providing them, like Zoltan, and look how active he is. We’ve got ideas, but let’s face it, we still don’t unequivocally know. It’s a lot of pressure, man. A lot of pressure. Ask most doctors how to deal with that horrific level of stress and they’ll tell you to go play outside.  

Number #2

The dear sweet introduction of Booze and Take Away

Advertising has done a really really fantastic job. Marketing ninjas creep right into our hearts and minds and make a drink, or twenty, at the end of the day, seem really warm and fuzzy. They gloss right over any drunk text fallout and the liquid death insomnia dry mouth moment, when your face-hole tastes like that seventeen year old freezer full of petrified cantaloupe soup on that last episode of Hoarders. Food porn makes that sizzling hot 5,000 calorie meal seem like the only viable option to counteracting a day spent battling the flying monkeys with a weapon the size of a toothpick. It’s not. But it feels like it.

If you told your kid self that sitting down to a nice big cup of old juice would was supposed to be an event, an actual activity, the response would be somewhere between incredulity and outright distain. Meal time used to be a chore when we were younger. When did that change? Best guess? When we stopped setting time aside to be active and have fun. Let’s face it, meal/drinking time is mandantory. No food = no survival, thus it’s the most acceptable excuse not to be studying, working, paying bills, and stressing. We need to backtrack to that middle ground where we’re finding the good times and allowing ourselves to be human on more than one front. 

Number #3

The vast availability of Unchallenging Distractions.

There are inumerable amounts of ways in which we can occupy ourselves while putting forth little to no effort. They don’t require a whole lot of engagement and it sure as heck doesn’t feel like it hurts. Only it doesn’t really feel good either. It’s just a thing. A thing that we do because we’re conscious. When we got kicked outside back in the day, activities required imagination and engagement to avoid face melting boredom. As kids no one told us we were supposed to think of ways to make it as horrible as possible. That doesn’t build character, it builds martyrs. 

Anyone else ever heard the phrase “Until you puke, faint, or die, keep going”? It’s most often applied to health and fitness and it sounds like loads of fun, am I right? Of course not. It sounds like it sucks. I’m all for feeling like a badass, but describing workouts the way we’d describe, say, food poisoning hardly boosts the appeal. Living a more health and fitness friendly lifestyle is going to be a shock to the system at first. We all notice extreme changes, the same way that we notice that the ocean is freaking cold the first time you jump in it. It doesn’t mean we won’t get used to it and it doesn’t meant that there isn’t a good time to be had. How about say, doing things we love, which happens to be both cathartic and fun. As a kid moderation was a parental dispensation. Now it just helps us all to avoid going bat-freaking balls crazy. That’s a technical term.