Health & Leisure SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIONS
• Facebook – the most widely used social networking service • Twitter – microblogging and social networking based on ‘tweets’ • LinkedIn – business and professional social networking • Foursquare – Location-based mobile social network • Ning – Users create their own social websites and networks • Yammer – Internal social networking for work colleagues
The built-in self-regulation of social media then came into play, as untrustworthy contributions were vigorously challenged or simply ignored. In fact, many purchasing decisions
now have little input from the producers, as gym-goers rely more and more on online reviews and recommendations rather than a club’s own website. Your whole social media reputation is closely bound to the trust you generate through engaging with the community. Rather than being passive consumers,
the people in the community are often the most valuable part of the network. Their conversation is happening with or without you and no club, no matter how large, is able to control it. The bottom line is that, with social media, your members can sell your business for you better than you can sell it yourself, through ratings and recommendations. Success will ultimately be determined by the community, not the club.
let the party happen Remember, once you decide to launch
onto social networks, it’s important to keep at it, as results won’t happen overnight. From tracking posts to adding content and status updates, you will need to dedicate time and resources to keep everything current and interesting. Many operators I speak to say
that they don’t want their staff on computers; they want them on the gym
february 2011 © cybertrek 2011
Over 2 million of your customers use Gladstone, more than the competition combined
By integrating club management software with social media, clubs could ‘tweet’ the availability of slots on tennis or squash courts
fl oor. But do you want your staff to have meaningful communications with eight people in a day or 500?
the future Social media sites like Facebook will
continue to grow in importance, and in some cases overtake traditional websites, according to Kyle Zagrodzky, president of leisure software supplier iGo Figure. “We have found that our clients’ Facebook pages receive more traffic than their company websites,” he explains. “This happens through membership activity, referrals and inviting members to become fans.” It’s important to note that social
media is potentially a game-changing new paradigm for club operators; if you bring your old way of thinking and doing things, it won’t work. With Facebook and the like, you need to realise that the best chance of success comes from creating the conditions for a community to grow – and then moving into the background. You provide the room, but the party has to happen on its own.
Stuart Dyson is the founder and managing director of SDA Solutions, specialist in developing web-based member management solutions for health clubs around the world:
www.sdasolutions.com/blog
healthclub@leisuremedia.com stuart dyson
www.gladstonemrm.com 01491 201010
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