Six steps for leisure facilities to engage professionals on LinkedIn

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Simon Beer

We find that LinkedIn is often overlooked by leisure facilities as a tool that can be used to engage their customer base. It is often thought that the social media platform is only for business to business. However, this could be an ideal platform for those leisure facilities looking to target business professionals for the lunchtime market or to encourage them to pop in before or after work. There are over five million LinkedIn members in the UK. Here are six steps that can help your leisure facilitiy really make an impact.

  1. Complete Your Personal Profile – LinkedIn is all about the individual on behalf of the business. Ensure your profile and the profiles of other key team members have photos. This helps others recognise you when they want to connect with you, especially if you have a common name. It also looks more professional. Update the summary and specialities using industry keywords. This will help your profile appear in keyword searches undertaken by LinkedIn members and in Google too. Mention your website (and up to two others such as your company Facebook or Twitter page/profile) in your profile.
  2. Create a Company Profile – although the focus of LinkedIn is the individual on behalf of the business, you can also have a company profile. This tends to appear in search results when LinkedIn members undertake Company searches. When updating the description and specialities again use industry keywords so the profile appears in LinkedIn search results and also in Google search results. Visit the Big Wave Media LinkedIn profile.

    Big Wave Media LinkedIn

    Big Wave Media LinkedIn profile

  3. Post Status Updates – post messages to both profiles providing useful advice (tips) on how to escape the stresses and pressures of work and keep fit and healthy. If you are using Twitter as well, we would suggets that you control the message you post to your personal profile. Many people on Twitter have their tweets auto update their LinkedIn status. The problem is that if they are mid-conversation on Twitter, their update on LinkedIn will make no sense. The personal profile tends to get seen most when it appears in search results or when someone you have met offline is looking you up online. So really you want a message that makes sense on your profile and something relevant to that week.
  4. Get recommendations – LinkedIn makes it easy to request recommendations from those connections you have worked with. Here for example the fitness instructors working with business professionals could request recommendations. A recommendation from a trusted source can be a powerful endorsement, especially when trying to attract others from within the same organisation. The recommendations can also be re-used on the website and in other marketing material.
  5. Build & Message Connections – through connecting with people on LinkedIn, you are effectively building a second database of contacts to message (email). If you use this channel, we suggest you not to bombard your connections with lots of messages.  Make sure what you do send is targeted and of interest to your contacts.
  6. Participate in Groups – this we feel is the key to getting the most out of LinkedIn and reaching out to a much wider audience online. The key to social media is sharing information and being helpful to others. Remember not everyone using social media will buy, only those looking for specific help. So make it easy for these people to find you by participating in relevant group discussions. There are often location based groups by city and or county with local business professionals participating in them. Here new discussions could be kicked off about how to escape the stresses and pressures of work and to keep fit and healthy, which others will benefit from.

Undertaking these activities in LinkedIn will help with building connections with existing members who could become ideal advocates for your facilities. This can help spread the message to their colleagues and other business connections within LinkedIn.

We hope you find this info useful. For more top social media and marketing info follow us on Twitter at @bigwavemedia  or visits our LinkedIn profile.

Posted in Leisure, LinkedIn, Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Seven steps leisure facilities can take to engage with customers using Twitter

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Simon Beer

Just like Facebook, Twitter provides an ideal channel for leisure facilities to engage their current and potential customer base. Twitter is a micro message instant chat network that is growing fast. It has over 200 million users – 50 million log in every day. Twitter has so many possibilities, it can be difficult to know where to start. So to help you get started, here are eight steps that can help your leisure facility really make an impact.

Big Wave Media Twitter

Big Wave Media Twitter Profile

  1. Setup a Twitter Profile – this allows other people on Twitter to follow your updates in their Twitter stream. This provides another way for people to keep in touch online and for your leisure facility to be found. Tweets (messages) can spread virally (spread fast) across the web beyond Twitter. It is reported 80% of tweets are accessed outside of Twitter.com; through search engine results, websites, blog sites and social media apps for browsers, desktops, mobiles and tablet devices.
  2. Setup Hootsuite – a social media dashboard application that allows you to plug in Twitter. Here you can manage your Twitter account much more effectively than on Twitter.com. You can also plug in other social media platforms like Facebook. This allows you to post a message on more than one platform at a time – saving you time! With Hootsuite, you can quickly see when your Twitter profile has been mentioned by others in their tweets. You can also easily see if there is a direct message that needs a response. Hootsuite manages Twitter data into columns that you can easily view on a single page on your screen.
  3. Tweet useful info – post news about new classes, for example zumba, timetable changes and new facilities. Also post other local area news to help to draw people to the profile. Twitter is also potentially a great place to interact with your members, helping you to provide better customer service. It is easy for followers to share content (retweet) that is of interest with their friends and family, which will quickly spread your news much further.
  4. Provide top tips on how to keep fit and healthy, manage diet and improve at particular sports etc. – this content is particularly likely to be retweeted by some of your followers to their friends. This will help you increase reach within your target audience. Top tips can be automated to go out on a recurring daily basis.
  5. Building a following from your target audience – follow people who follow local profiles, for example local newspaper profiles, as they are most likely to be local people. These people may choose to follow you back. This process can be automated to quickly build a following amongst a local target audience.
  6. Set up Twitter lists – assign Twitter profiles of particular interest to applicable Twitter lists. Filtering in this way will help you to engage with people of particular interest more often. This is particularly useful if you are following several hundred profiles. Otherwise, there will be too many tweets to keep up with in the main Twitter stream and not every tweet will be of interest. For example, you could have a list for members and a list for prospects. Additionally lists could be organised by different sports or activities.
  7. Setup Keyword Searches to track when certain leisure activities are mentioned for research or lead opportunities. Within Hootsuite you can set up a separate tab (a page within Hootsuite) and set up to 10 columns tracking keywords (the same goes for lists). This way you can quickly glance at the information and respond as appropriate.

Undertaking these activities in Twitter will help retain existing customers and encourage more people to use the leisure centre. This is particularly the case as tweets can so easily go viral within and beyond Twitter.

We hope you find this info useful. For more top social media and marketing info follow us on Twitter at @bigwavemedia.

Posted in Facebook, Leisure, Social Media, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Eight steps leisure providers can take to engage with customers using Facebook

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Simon Beer

Facebook provides an ideal channel where leisure providers can engage with current and potential members. However, Facebook offers so many options, it can seem a bit daunting to know where to start. We thought we would help by narrowing it down to eight steps that could really make an impact for your leisure facilities.

  1. Setup a Facebook Page for your leisure centre/facility – a Facebook Page offers existing members (that are Facebook members) the opportunity to “like” the page and follow it for updates. These updates will then appear on their Personal Profile, where their friends and family may also see them. A Page differs from a Personal Profile. Facebook rules dictate that businesses must setup a Page as Personal Profiles are for individuals only. Pages have Likes (fans), whilst Personal Profiles have friends. You do require a Personal Profile to be able to set up a Facebook Page; however you can choose not to use the Personal Profile and just bypass this when accessing the Page. You can also keep the Personal Profile anonymous from the Page. Here is an example of our Facebook Page.
  2. Post useful info onto the Facebook Timeline (also known as Wall) on a regular basis – this includes news, class timetables, availability of facilities and new forthcoming events. This will allow your members to easily access the information they are interested in on the platform that they are most likely to be using. This will encourage people to sign-up for activities and book facilities. Be careful not to over bombard your fan base with posts as each one goes across to the news feeds of the fans’ Personal Profile. This is the same place where they receive updates from their friends and family, which is likely to be their primary purpose for using Facebook. Too many posts and you are likely to put them off. They may then unlike your Page. We recommend two to four posts a week should suffice. Only send more if the information is of vital importance.
  3. Create Photo Albums – be visual – ideal content to share via social media platforms to engage your customer base. For example, you could provide shots of your facilities and activities. Each time a new album is created, it is automatically posted onto the Timeline. Fans will then receive this in their news feed and they can easily share it with their friends and family. It is advisable to create one album on a regular basis (for example every week or month), rather than posting all of your photos in one go.
  4. Use the Facebook Notes App to provide top tips on how to keep fit and healthy, manage diet and improve at particular sports etc. Just like Photo Albums, each new Note you post goes automatically across to the Timeline and to fans’ news feeds, where they can share it. Each Note has a unique link that can also be tweeted and emailed to your member base, helping to drive traffic to the Facebook Page.
  5. Promote key events via the Facebook Events App – this will help your event to potentially go viral (spread fast) within Facebook. Like Photos/Notes, once an event is created it automatically goes across to the Timeline and to fans’ news feeds. This makes it easy for them to share with their friends and family, helping you to gain further reach beyond your immediate fan base.
  6. Post messages on location based Facebook Pages – many cities, large towns and counties have Facebook Pages with thousands of fans. Lots of individuals and businesses are contributing posts to them. By doing this too, you will be reaching out to a much wider audience online.
  7. Mention your Facebook Page in traditional marketing activities – encourage your target market to become fans of the Page.  Mention the Page in any advertising, flyers, leaflets etc. that you produce. If someone then becomes a fan, you will be able to regularly send them messages instead of contacting them just once.
  8. Run a Facebook Ad campaign – if you are serious about using Facebook as a marketing tool for your leisure facility, you should run an advertising campaign on Facebook to let your target audience know about the Page. You can precisely target your customer base by location, leisure activities, age group, gender etc. You’ll find this a very cost effective way to quickly grow a fan base.

Undertaking these activities within Facebook will help to retain existing members and draw in new ones. As your content goes viral, others will become aware of the services you provide.

We hope you find this info useful. For more top social media and marketing info follow us on Twitter at @bigwavemedia.

Posted in Facebook, Leisure, Social Media | Leave a comment

7 simple ways leisure facilities can engage with customers using social media

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Simon Beer

Social media provides an ideal channel for leisure facilities  to use to engage with their current and potential member base. However, there are so many things you can do using social media, knowing where to start can seem a bit daunting. We thought we’d help by narrowing it down to seven easy steps that could help really make an impact for your leisure facility.

  1. Provide useful info on a regular basis – this includes news, class timetables, availability of facilities and new/forthcoming events. This will allow your members and non-members to easily access the information they are interested in on the platform that they are most likely to be using. This will encourage them to sign-up for activities and book facilities.
  2. Provide top tips on how to keep fit and healthy, manage diet and improve at particular sports etc – this content is likely to be shared by your followers/fans with their friends via tweets, Facebook Notes or blogs. This will help you increase reach within your target audience.
  3. On Twitter follow local profiles and assign those of particular interest to applicable Twitter lists – filtering in this way will help you to closely follow those of particular interest in order to engage with them more often. For example, you could have a list for members and a list for prospects. Alternatively lists could be organised by different sports or activities.
  4. On Facebook post messages on location based Facebook Pages – many cities, large towns and counties have Facebook Pages with thousands of fans. Lots of individuals and businesses are contributing posts to them. By doing this too, you will be reaching out to a much wider audience online.
  5. On LinkedIn engage with local business professional groups by providing advice on how to escape work, relieve stress and pressure etc.
  6. Be visual – post photos and videos – ideal content to share via social media platforms to engage your customer base. For example, you could provide a virtual tour of your facilities or post photos of events.
  7. Encourage your member base to engage with and recommend your leisure facility via social media – have a leaflet you can give out with your profiles on it and put posters up around the site. This will help them to easily find you on the platforms they like to use.

We hope you find this info useful. For more social media and marketing info follow us on Twitter at @bigwavemedia.

Posted in Facebook, Leisure, Social Media, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are you ready for the layout changes to Facebook Business Pages?

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Simon Beer

Facebook business pages will automatically switch to a new page layout tomorrow (30 March 2012).

What this means for your page is that you’ll need to adjust the size of some of your existing images and add some new ones.

The new layout brings the business pages in line with the personal profile timelines – effectively creating timelines for businesses.

Here’s a short guide to the new features and a list of sizes for your deisgns (in pixels):

Cover photo: 851 x 315
You can now add a large image as the header to your Facebook page – check out our Space Invaders inspired design. Note: Facebook specify that this space is not meant for promotions, coupons, or advertisements. Your cover photo should not be primarily text-based or infringe on anyone else’s copyright.

Facebook Big Wave Media

Big Wave Media Cover Deisgn

Profile picture: 180 x 180
The icon people see against your posts remains the same but check out our page as you can try and incorporate the logo into the cover photo.

Thumbnail image for apps: 111 x 74
Apps are the new name for tab pages. These are now displayed across the top horizontal area of your page. You can no longer chose for non-fans to land on a dedicated one (like a welcome page) – they will always land on the wall. App thumbnails can be updated though, so if you use a third party app you can now brand the link to suit your page. Four apps are visible (although you can have extra ones – bear in mind that people may not click to view the ones that not visible).

Highlighted & milestone images: 843 x 403
Milestones sit within your timeline and allow you to add a visual representation of significant events/dates in your company’s history.

Images within wall posts display as 404 x 404.
Use this size if you are going to include an image in your post.

Pin a post
One of the big boosts to pages is that you can now pin a particular post to the top of your Facebook page – it could be a link to your blog or your latest promotion. This gives you the chance to highlight something to new or returning visitors. Just remember that pinned posts will only stay inplace for 7 days – you’ll then need to repin them or choose a new one.

If you haven’t prepared your page for the switch over you needn’t worry too much – the content will remain intact but you will find that some images and icons no longer fill the space they should take up.

Big Wave Media offers Facebook page setup or full page branding from £150 + VAT.

For social media advice or services please contact us via our Facebook contact form or call 0845 643 2385.

Posted in Branding, Creative Design, Facebook, Social Media | Leave a comment

Why leisure facilities should use Social Media to engage with members

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Simon Beer

There are many reasons why leisure facilities could be using social media to engage with  member bases online. The first is the sheer volume of present and potential members that use this form of communication. Over half the UK population are on social media? It is currently ranked the fourth most popular activity on the internet (above email). So why not go and talk to your potential members where they are, to encourage them to come and visit you?

There are a large number of social media platforms you could utilise. We think four of the most well known ones offer leisure facilities the best opportunity to reach the people you want to use your facilities.

Facebook
The primary and most well known social media platform is Facebook. There are approximately 800 million members worldwide. 100 million of those are active on the site every day, keeping in touch with friends and family.

Leisure facilities can set up a Facebook Page where updates on the activities taking place at the centre can be posted. For example, class timetables, booking availability and special offers could all be added to the Page. Useful information such as top tips on how to keep fit could also be posted, as could information about upcoming events. A person can share content they particularly like with friends and family. Potentially this content could then go viral (spread fast) within Facebook.

A Facebook Page offers existing customers the opportunity to “like” the page and follow it for updates. These updates will then appear on their personal Facebook profiles where their friends and family may also see them. In addition, Facebook Ad campaigns (pay per click adverts) can be run that target particular age groups and locations. These will gain further likes for the Facebook Page. Over time, all these activities may draw new people to the leisure centre as they become aware of the range of services you provide.

Twitter
Twitter is a micro message instant chat network that has grow fast, with 0.5 million new users every day. It provides another way for people to keep in touch.  Leisure facilities can set up a Twitter profile and post updates for people to follow in their own Twitter stream. This means you can quickly send news about new classes, timetable changes and new facilities to a large number of people. It is also potentially a great place to interact with your customers, helping you to provide better customer service.

As with Facebook, it is easy for followers to share content that is of interest with their friends and family, which will quickly spread your news much further. Over time this should encourage more people to use the leisure centre.

YouTube
YouTube is a video channel network where people can easily share video content online. YouTube is owned by Google and is considered to be the second largest search engine (as you can search for videos on it) behind Google. Google currently owns approx. 90% of the search engine market in the UK and it likes social media because it shows you are continually active online. This means that your social media pages are likely to appear near the top of search results, making it easier for people to find you online.

YouTube is an ideal way to visually promote your leisure facilities as you can provide a series of videos showcasing activities and facilities. These videos can also be promoted on other social media platforms. You can also embed this video content into your website. This will help optimise the website for search engines, such as Google, that highly value video content on sites. This will push your website higher up search engine results.

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the business social networking equivalent of Facebook. It enables business professionals to keep in touch online. LinkedIn provides leisure facilities the opportunity to connect with existing customers and locally based discussion groups. Many business professionals go the gym or take up a class in their lunch hour or after work to escape the stresses/pressures of work and keep fit. These people could be ideal advocates for your facilities and help spread the message to their colleagues and other business connections within LinkedIn.

The latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey showed that 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations. These means that members of your leisure centre who mention and recommend you to their friends and family on social media platforms are powerful advocates.

We hope you find this info useful. For more top social media and marketing info follow us on Twitter at @bigwavemedia.

 

8X7NEGJJKWUK

Posted in Facebook, Leisure, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Target adult non-swimmers with free analysis of your market

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Simon Beer

Following recent news reports and with the launch of the Bigsplash campaign to get adults swimming Big Wave Media is offering ‘Big Solution‘ leisure clients free adult non-swimmer analysis of their market to determine the potential number of non-swimming adults in their community.

Swim imageOver one in five adults in the UK cannot swim and many more are still unaware of the various benefits and initiatives that are available to enjoy.

Big Wave Media wants to support the move to get adults more active by helping clients find this market. Using Experian Demographics we identify how many potential adult non swimmers live in the community.

You can read more about the story in the news here:
BBC Sport Relief Big Splash News page
BBC News Sport Swimfit article

This report is free to ‘Big Solution‘ clients. To obtain your free report please contact your Account Manager or Nick Masson .

Posted in Demographics, Leisure, Reporting, Swimming | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

eMail Campaigns Part 2

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Neil Parker

So here we are in 2012, Happy New Year! And so to follow up on my December post eMail Campaigns Part 1 here’s the next tip on creating email campaigns.

Avoid bad words in your subject lines

There are some words that you mustn’t put in your subject lines. Subject lines should be meaningful and mustn’t contain words that are likely to get blocked by SPAM filters. Avoid using the following words and word phrases as much as you can: Continue reading →

Posted in Email Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

LinkedIn Polls and the Wonder Lab

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Simon Beer

LinkedIn Group Polls rolls out this week and looks to be a great addition to the Group setup by allowing moderators the ability to ask members questions through a nifty app. For some groups this could be a great tool for testing new ideas and getting insightful feedback from customers or even staff. Continue reading →

Posted in Business Development, Social Media, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

eMail Campaigns Part 1

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Neil Parker

I’ve recently been sharing some pearls of wisdom on email campaign design with the designers here at Big Wave Media and thought it would be good to share this online too. So keep an eye out over the coming weeks as there’ll be a few tips on how to create email campaigns that are optimised to help improve your response rates. Continue reading →

Posted in Email Marketing | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments