5 Advanced Instagram Marketing Strategies For Your Fitness Business: #5 Is a Game-Changer

By Colin Harris

Share on Facebook
Tweet on Twitter

Can you take a wild guess how many people use Instagram right now?

Roughly 9 million.

That means you have a MASSIVE opportunity as a fitness professional to leverage Instagram as part of your business’s social media marketing strategy.

…If you understand how.

That also means it’s not easy to post a photo and stand out.

In this article, you will learn five advanced Instagram marketing strategies for your fitness business that will forever change your social media marketing game.

If you implement these five steps, you will be a stand-out on Instagram. 

You’ll get more views, likes, and comments on your content. 

You’ll grow your base of followers. 

And you’ll be on your way to generating leads, prospects, and new clients for your fitness business.

Before we begin, we would like to invite you to follow us @npefitness https://www.instagram.com/npefitness/ where you can check out our journey. 

Please give us a follow and send a DM to introduce yourself. We would love to connect and follow your journey as well!

If you are interested in joining our private Facebook page, you will find plenty of people to connect with that are on a similar journey. 

We talk about “choosing yourself,” and when you sign up, we ask you to post a little about your background and include the hashtag #imnewhere.

Assessment to check your marketing skills

And if you’re following The Ultimate Guide to Fitness Marketing Strategies, you will see that Instagram Marketing falls under Step 2 of the NPE Perfect Client Journey.

NPE Perfect Client Journey 9 Steps

The tips we share in this article are for fitness professionals and business owners who need a solid plan to generate leads.

Social media marketing is continually changing and shifting, and it’s hard to keep up with the best strategies that actually work!

We get it.

So along with these concrete strategies, we would first like to address some of the common questions that often arise regarding marketing on Instagram.

Common Instagram Marketing Questions

Question:  What’s the difference between a brand account and a personal account? Do I need both?

Answer: The first thing you should do is start with a personal account. Your personal account should not be private; it should be public. Here is where you begin to develop your social personality and deliver useful content education. 

As your business grows beyond you and you have a team in place, you need to create a brand account. At this stage, you have multiple people supporting the brand account, like trainers and other staff members who contribute content.

If this is you, it may be time to move from having your face as the brand to a logo.

That leads us to the next question.

Question: Should I be the face of my brand? 

Answer: If people know you, but are not as familiar with your brand, the answer is yes.

Typically, in the beginning, you will have your face as the brand. But as the brand grows, you will begin to build more brand equity by building at the brand level instead of it just being tied to you. That way, the business has a life cycle and evolution beyond your face and name, giving it more longevity and ultimately more worth in the long run.

The photos below show being the face of the brand vs. using a logo.

Question: Should I set up my account as Personal, Creator, or Business? What’s the difference?

Answer: We recommend, if you have a personal account, you immediately upgrade to a Business or Creator account. The Business account is best if you have a brick-and-mortar location because you can add your physical address to your profile’s bio section. You cannot add a physical address to the Creator account. 

Without a brick-and-mortar location, you can use either type of account. Business ultimately gives you the biggest bang for your buck, and you can change these at any time. 

The two accounts are similar. The Creator account was initially designed for artists and influencers. When Instagram tests new products or features, they go to the Creator account first.

Question: If I’m a brick-and-mortar business, what type of image should I use for my profile pic?

Answer: Most of you, as fit pros, are a personal brand and should be showcased as such with a headshot, shoulders up – we’ll cover that in more detail below. If you’re a service-based business such as a gym, yoga studio, or CrossFit box, your favicon (your shortcut icon/website icon/tab icon) should be used as your profile picture. This is part of your branding and adds consistency.

Question: Will it cost anything to upgrade my account?

Answer: Here’s the best part about Instagram, it’s a free app. So no matter what profile you choose, there is no cost to you. As a fitness business owner, that is a free marketing tool at its best!

If you are interested in discussing your Instagram Marketing Strategy with us here at NPE, please schedule a Strategy Session where we will be happy to talk to you about creating a winning fitness marketing plan.

Our comprehensive Instagram Marketing Course on leveraging the Instagram marketing platform to generate more leads, prospects, and clients for your business is currently included with all of our NPE Coaching Programs. 

If you don’t have a plan in place for Instagram Marketing, it’s time.

Let’s get started.

++++

Step One: Have a Good Instagram Profile Pic

OK, let’s discuss one of the biggest mistakes people make on their Instagram account.

…Not having a good profile photo.

Your goal as a business owner is to build trust with your followers, so they feel comfortable becoming customers. 

Your profile photo needs to represent you in a way that feels trustworthy. 

Sometimes, it is uncomfortable to choose a photo and put yourself out there. 

I often hear from fitness business owners within NPE; they don’t like to post on Instagram because they’re worried about getting likes or wonder what people will say about their content. 

Here’s your pro tip: Please stop thinking.

Just start doing! 

And we can tell you all day the things that you need to do.

But here’s the thing: You must look at your account with objectivity and self-audit your account in order to make big changes.

The results come from action – not from thought.

So it’s time to take control and get your account some action.

Everything you want is on the other side of consistency and action. 

What do I mean by that?   

Quit talking about it. Quit thinking about it.

GO. DO. IT.  

There are three things you can do to create a profile picture representative of the professional you are.

But before I share those with you, take a look at these 4 Instagram profiles (all of whom are clients). 

Which photos make the business owner look more professional, trustworthy, and experienced to you?

four Instagram profile pics

OK, hopefully, you chose photos #2 and #3 as the best photos. Let’s take a look at some of their mistakes, and see what works better.

Instagram profile pic rubear87

This is NPE Member Rui Saravia’s account BEFORE we helped him do a makeover.

Can you identify what can be improved here?

You’ll notice the photo #4 is very dark. You can’t see his eyes or face.  

Sure he is ripped, but the dark shadows make this image come across as intimidating.

This photo could be talking about fitness…or it could be the photo of a motorcycle gang member. Which is it? We don’t know! 🙂 

It’s also worth mentioning that Rui is a massage therapist. He’s not selling bodybuilding coaching. 

So, this image really doesn’t build trust and likeability for engaging his professional services. Most consumers don’t want to get beaten up by their massage therapist flexing big muscles.

He agreed, and he has since successfully updated his photo.

Photo #1 has a selfie shot. 

Instagram profile pic Erik

As a fitness professional trying to build trust and engagement (that’s positive) with an audience, It’s essential that your photo represents who you are and does it professionally. 

Selfies typically aren’t professional. 

Again we can’t see his eyes (he’s looking down at his phone). He’s not smiling. This photo doesn’t do its job.

On the other hand, photos #2 and #3 are professional, and each represents the trainer very well. 

Photo #2 shows the trainer in her element. 

The water in the background tells us she’s at the lake, which allows us to look into her active lifestyle as a championship wake surfer. 

Profile pic ashley

Her smile is sincere, and even though she has sunglasses on, it makes sense and looks professional.

So the last photo, #3, was, without a doubt, taken by a professional. 

The lighting is great. The image is crystal clear. 

He made an effort to do it right, and people will respond to that.

Profile pic nick topel

Your profile photo needs these three elements:

  1. A great smile! Build that layer of trust in a short amount of time.
  2. Light! You should have good lighting. It will make or break your photo’s effectiveness.    
  3. A Close Up View. Your followers need to be able to see your face.

So, for inspiration…here some before and after Instagram profile photos that work.

In their original photos, the images are far away. You can’t see their eyes, they aren’t smiling, and the background is distracting.

Don’t make these common mistakes with your profile photo.

Now, look at the after photos.

They are well lit, close up, and they all have genuine smiles.

You’ll notice with @workout.with.gina she’s also brought in a solid color background behind her image. Doing this can really help your photo pop.

Here are some other NPE members that have similar style profile pics.

This is NPE PRO Mastermind Member Tim Frey, owner of Helix Gym in Perth, Australia. 

Tim’s profile is crystal clear, focused, and extremely professional.

This last example comes from NPE PRO Mastermind Member, Lachy Rowston, owner of Creature Fitness, Locker Room Fitness, and the #1 Fitness podcast in Australia, The Mind Muscle Project. 

Talk about personality! He found a way to let who he is shine through in his profile, and he did it without sacrificing any professionalism. 

You can’t help but feel compelled to click on that profile.

Now take a look at your profile pic.

Do you see opportunities to improve it following these guidelines?

Great! Do it!

This is the first step in getting more followers, more engagement, and more clients.

Step Two: Upgrade Your Bio

It only takes a few seconds for someone to decide whether they’d like to follow you or not…and your Instagram bio is the main reason. 

This is your chance to immediately prime your audience for sales to happen the moment they land on your account.

Use your bio to position yourself as an expert who helps people solve problems and achieve goals.

Your words should be clear and speak of benefits that directly meet the needs of the client. 

Get rid of anything that doesn’t represent you as that fitness professional ready to help them achieve their goals.

But there’s one small catch; you only have 150 characters to accomplish this. 

So, here’s how you do it. 

A strong Instagram bio needs five key components.  

1. Your Title

Get focused with your title. 

Your followers and prospects want CLARITY.  

Your title should be clear and focused. How do you want people to describe you? 

If you’re a Pilates Instructor, don’t say, “I believe that reflexology leads to relaxation and strengthening core muscles.” 

What?

Call it what it is – Pilates.

If you’re a life coach, don’t tell us, “I’m like the essence of a full moon.”

Huh?                             

You’re a Life Coach, so say that.

If someone can’t figure out what you do, you’re going to have a lot of trouble making sales.

In this example, we know this account owner is a coach. Can we figure out who he coaches? No.

What does “NEW ACCOUNT” refer to? Not sure.

We talked in-depth about how to position yourself (your category) in Chapter 1 of The Ultimate Guide to Fitness Marketing Strategies. 

You may want to check that out if you are struggling with this. How are you going to represent yourself?

If you are unsure, think about how you want people to describe you.

If you are a yoga instructor, Pilates teacher, or an online coach, use the most basic terms possible.   

instagram bio needs clarification

This is an excellent place to represent your niche as well. 

Who do you work with?

You might specialize in nutrition, so you could use “nutrition coach.”

Just be sure you are clear, not vague when you choose

2. The Benefits

Why should people follow you? 

In the big wide world of social media, your bio has to be benefit-driven. 

Unless you have 2 million followers like @danalinnbailey and are already very well branded, you will need to be clear of the benefits you offer. 

Instagram benefits in bio danalinnbailey

What is the benefit of someone following or engaging with your account?

Your account isn’t about you, and your account isn’t about your business

Your account is everything your business does for your followers because, quite frankly, there are too many people doing what you do.

Instagram benefits in bio Unwind Holistic Health

You might be a weight loss specialist – a dime a dozen like a box of Krispy Kreme. 

Yoga instructor?     

A dime a dozen. 

Oh, you do CrossFit? So does everyone else. 

This is an example of an NPE client that has made significant improvements to her profile. She does a great job using her bio to showcase what she offers. 

For you to stick out in a sea of sameness, it’s going to be important to tell them why they should follow you.

Make sure your bio tells the problem that you solve and the benefit the client will enjoy.

Think about your “one-liner.”       

In one line, can you say what you do, who you do it for, and what’s in it for them?

Here’s an example.

New mom home workouts in under 20 minutes with one piece of equipment. 

That simple statement says that you work with new moms at home, they don’t need a lot to get started, and it’s not going to take but a fraction of their time.

It’s dripping with benefits. 

You don’t have to be the smartest, the best, the coolest, the richest, the skinniest, the biggest guy with the most ripped abs going, or the wittiest. 

You have to say my account is for you; this is what you get. 

Here are a few more examples of how you could lead with benefits in your Instagram bio: 

  • I save you time with my under 20-minute workout.
  • I help you get more flexible so you can enjoy that Yoga class…and getting out of bed every morning!
  • My ab routine will have you beach-ready in 15 workouts.

Obviously, only promise what you can deliver, but let them know WIIFT – What’s In It For Them.

Then people are going to be more excited to follow you.

3. Your Audience

Who is your account for?

Be specific as possible on Instagram because, as they say, ‘the riches are in the niches!’

It’s true.

Fitness is a massive category on Instagram with millions of accounts.

You will have a better chance connecting with the right people if you are specific with your niche. 

Instagram bio is for your audience Mat Muscle Activiation

Answer these questions as you develop your bio:

  • What is your offering? 
  • Who are you inspired to work with? 
  • Who gets you to your thrive zone?   

You are at your Thrive Zone when you are at the intersection of 

  • having clients you most love working with, 
  • solving the problems you love to solve, and 
  • implementing the business model that ensures you are making a profit month over month.

That is the THRIVE ZONE.

You might be a wellness coach for moms’ postpartum.

You might be using your gift of dance to give ballet-inspired workouts.

Maybe you specialize in kids’ athletics with a focus on Olympic Lifting.

Whatever it is that you do to serve, identify your audience with a language they will resonate with.

So right about now, you might be saying, “Listen, I know who my clients are, I’m a multi-pronged business, and I cater to everybody. 

And quite possibly, that’s true. 

But, that’s not going to lead to success in such a saturated market.

You must be clear WHO you are selling to by first identifying your audience and then telling them what you do. 

You might be doing face-to-face training or online coaching. Let your audience know.

Who do you serve? Be specific when you tell people who your account is for.

Then it feels tailor-made for them, and they are more likely to follow you. 

If you need more details of how to do this, we discussed how to find your ideal client in Chapter 1 of The Ultimate Guide to Fitness Marketing Strategies.

4. Contact Information

How can they contact you? 

This is a fundamental and crucial part of an Instagram bio that so many people neglect. 

Instagram contact button hypertrophycoach

Set up a contact button.

Use the contact buttons to make it easy for your followers to buy your product or service.

Instagram Contact number and email

So, for both Business and Instagram Creator accounts, you will have access to the message button. 

The business account offers the extra ability to add a physical address.

We recommend that if you are a brick-and-mortar facility that you upgrade to business and list your address.

You can have different types of contact like email or messaging. 

You can choose to list your phone number, website, or even a physical address in your bio that invites your audience to connect with you.

We recommend, if you still have a personal account – Instagram’s default account setting – that, you upgrade to the Instagram Creator account or the Business account.

Instagram bio with address

You can have different types of contact like email or messaging.  

You can choose to list your phone number, website, or even a physical address in your bio that invites your audience to connect with you. 

It’s no extra cost. 

You will get a little more functionality beyond the basics.

With the Business and Creator accounts, you’ll get your account’s performance insights and extra analytic data.

Just make sure that your call to action – your contact button is clear and quickly directs them to take the action you want them to take.

instagram analytics

How to set up your contact button on Instagram

Step 1. Go to your Instagram account. Click the three lines in the upper right corner.

Step 2. Go to Account Settings. 

Step 3. Click on Account. 

Step 4. Click Switch to Professional Account.

Step 5. Choose the category you want, like “Digital Creator.”

Instagram set up contact button step 5

When you follow these steps, Instagram becomes another marketing tool for your fitness business….a free, highly effective one.

5. Free Gift

What does your audience NEED? 

Lastly, leverage Instagram to be a list-building tool by giving a free gift, typically a discount or something actually free. 

This is your opportunity to capture email addresses. 

There is value in taking people from the platform, off the platform. 

Instagram offer discount

When you capture an email address, you have access to what is still the most valuable asset and communication tool we have in marketing and communication.

For most companies and brands, particularly in the e-commerce space, email is what gets the sales. So, if Instagram ever pulls this function, you still have access to your followers via those emails.

All sales happen with emails.

Do yourself a favor, and have a strategy to capture that email address.

Email gives you another channel to push information directly out to them.

Depending on your marketing strategy, you can email them once a week or once a month, whatever works for you.

Offer them something of value in exchange for their email, and you will begin to move them down the path that makes them a customer for you.

How do you inspire them to give you their email?  

Instagram offer discount

You offer them a gift.

Your gift can be anything that your ideal customer would find valuable:

  • E-book
  • PDF 
  • Checklist 
  • Video tutorial
  • Discount code

And if you don’t know, ask them via a quiz on Instagram Stories! 

Find out what they are interested in and what they want to learn more about.

Share information. 

Teach and educate them on the problems you love to solve.

You should be serving your dream customer before you ever ask them to buy from you. 

So begin to think about what you can give your ideal client in exchange for their email address that will build loyalty and trust with that person. 

Once they opt-in to receive the gift, you can continue serving them, which will eventually lead to the sale.

Building your email list in exchange for a freebie is a given! 

The day will most likely come when “click” Instagram won’t allow you to have an outside link or a linktree link. 

You need to take advantage of this opportunity now.

Until that day comes, you are here to serve your followers and clients. 

The more you give, the more you get. 

Quick Review

Instagram offer discount1. Audit your profile photo.

Are you smiling? Can you lighten up? Is your photo up close and personal with a smiling face?

If not, fix it.

2. Audit your bio.

Is your title specific to how you want people to describe you?

Have you clearly defined the benefits of following you? Is it clear to your audience who you serve? 

Do you have a way for people to contact you? Are you offering a gift that meets the needs of your audience?

When you can say yes to all of those questions, move to step number three.

Step Three: Create Strategic Posts

You need to begin to create strategic content for your posts vs. reactive content.

It’s good to have a schedule as part of that strategy, so your followers can expect a regular cadence to your content.

There are three ways to audit your post and make sure you are creating content strategically, so it resonates with your audience:

  • Caption Categories
  • Photo Topics 
  • Test, Test, TEST

Caption Categories

So what are caption categories?

Let’s start by defining what a good Instagram caption is first.

A good Instagram caption should work as a tool to get people to stop, pay attention, and engage with your post. 


Good Instagram captions are your opportunity to continue to build trust and authority with your audience. 

Your caption should provide context for your post, add value, and inspire your followers to take action.

Categories are simply the topic that your caption falls under. If you share posts on supplements, you might have a “nutrition” category.

We recommended you develop seven caption categories (or topics) for your account.

To keep it simple, keep the categories consistent every month. 

Here are The Big Seven:

  • About Me
  • Behind the Scenes
  • My Why
  • Personal Insights
  • Inspiration/Encouragement/Motivation
  • Business Benefits
  • Showcase Service

These are here for you to reference and use as a guide as you plan your caption strategy.     

Instagram suggested caption topics

Modify them, so they best fit your business, brand, and personality.

About Me

This is how you bring a personal side to your business! This is your story about who you are.

Share a little bit about your background. Why are you here doing what you do?

Instagram caption guy holding birthday balloon 32 and not excited

Share things about you or your team that you know people will identify with, even feel a common bond with. (We all love getting older…right?)

Don’t be afraid to show your personality or be a little self-deprecating sometimes. 

People love that stuff!

This is why social media exists. People thrive on understanding other humans. 

Be genuine.

Behind the Scenes or Tutorial

Invite your audience to see the “real life” behind your business. 

Everyone loves this documentary style of seeing the life that other people are living. 

Keep it simple. What’s happening for you, right now, at this moment?

My Why

Instagram profile Lauren Burke NPE Member

By sharing your why, or the reason you’re in your line of work, your audience feels connected to you. 

As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” and when people talk about why they do what they do, it’s a game-changer on Instagram. 

By sharing your deeper purpose, you begin to build a stronger connection between you and your audience.

Here is one of NPE’s members Lauren Burke. 

She has Cerebral Palsy, is a NASM certified personal trainer, and helps the disabled population. 

Through her personal experience, she helps others. 

 

Personal Insights

Instagram personal insights post Nohlsen

Share tips and helpful advice with your audience. 

This insight helps set you apart from others in your industry because it’s unique to your perspective. 

These are those long copy posts that read like a micro-blog. 

Sharing thoughtful insights about things you are learning or have learned or even your views on life can be very inspirational to others.

Inspiration/Encouragement/Motivation

As fitness professionals, this is a huge part of what we do.

We inspire people, challenge people, keep them motivated, and hold them accountable.

This is your opportunity to spread the love and encourage your audience and keep them fired up. 

Pick a day to post regularly. You can choose Monday to start the week or Friday to celebrate the end of the week. TGIF!  

Just make it purposeful and meaningful and something your followers can look forward to.

Business Benefits

Instagram woman before and after weight loss results business benefits

List the benefits of doing business with you.

  • How do you help people? 
  • What problems do you solve? 
  • What does success look like for your clients?
  • What results will they achieve?     

Share the long-term, emotional or unexpected benefits of your product or service and direct your followers to your website. 

As you work with clients, document their results and celebrate their wins.

This sells your business without sounding “sales-y.” 

Showcase Product/Service

This final category allows you to introduce your audience (new and old) to a product or service you offer. 

Get creative…marketing is just repeating the same message in different ways!

Showcase yourself working with clients. You might share how you prepare for your week. Whatever it is that represents your journey and the work you are doing is all relevant.

Instagram business benefits woman doing dead lift

Categories are things that empower you to talk about your business without selling your business.

Remember: The key to social media is to be social on social media.

You want to make sure that you’re talking about your business without selling.

Take these categories, and come up with a balanced strategy that hits all seven types.

Photo Topics

Apply categories to photos as well.

In addition to the seven caption categories, you need to map out photo categories for your account that showcase your life to pair with these captions. 

There is no “right or wrong,” but here are some photo topics as an example.

In this first image, the trainer uses the body part that he focuses on as his topic. 

“Legs for Days.”

His inspiration comes from men’s fitness magazines. 

He chooses titles that grab his attention and makes them work for his photo.

As people start to see your captions’ style in their feed regularly, they begin to associate you with this topic. 

Instagram Photo topics legs for days

It’s great for branding and giving visual insights into who you are as a person, what you do, and why you do it.

In this next photo,                

Again, this trainer recycled titles he found and made them work as his photo captions. 

Be creative, connect an idea to your photo, and use it to leverage your brand.

So now, your audience can expect to see a minimum of seven caption categories and seven photo topics.

And the next thing you need to do is test test test.

Step Four: Test Your Posts

As Fit Pro entrepreneurs, we have to TEST all aspects of our business, including social media posts.

The takeaway: we have to pay attention to what our audience wants: they speak to you…so listen and be receptive. It looks like people prefer to see Classique Mike work out more than hold supplements…big surprise. 

Instagram post results pics with 41 views vs 74 views

So many times, as business owners, we create content to deliver value and generate business.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time, we deliver what we think our audience should be consuming. 

It’s vital to pay attention to what your audience wants.

If a post doesn’t generate a lot of traffic or engagement…that tells you something. 

Use it as data, and understand that your audience didn’t connect with it.

You often have to be like a mad scientist running tests and experiments and recording results in our social media lab.

It pays off, though.

Deliver whatever “it” is to your audience and be ready to evaluate the results.

They may not always be what you expect, but if you go into the test with an open mind, ready to take action, you’re going to get the answers you’re looking for. 

Testing Action Steps

Run your test for a month.

Post a variety of content on different days at different times. 

Pay attention to what performs well and drives engagement from your audiences, and be open to changing what doesn’t.

It’s time to start being analytical and pay attention to what performs well and drives engagement from your audience.

Make adjustments. (This is the critical part.) As you begin to listen to your audience and understand what they want, you will start to quickly recognize what’s working or not and what to do more or less of. 

Just pay attention, and do the testing. 

It’s what will make you successful.  

Quick Review

  1. Be strategic with PLANNING your social media content rather than being reactive with it.
  1. Use the BIG Seven Categories to rotate your content through different topics. 
  • About Me
  • Behind the Scenes
  • My Why
  • Personal Insights
  • Inspiration/Encouragement/Motivation
  • Business Benefits
  • Showcase Service

This gives your followers a broad range of you, your brand, and your expertise. 

It builds relationships and engagement with your followers.

  1. Review your content metrics/analytics bi-weekly and monthly. 

Use that information to answer these three questions:

  • What’s working? 
  • What’s not? 
  • How can you improve?

Make adjustments and plan accordingly.

Step Five: Learn a Hashtag Strategy

Hashtags Are Mandatory

According to research by Agorapulse, posts with hashtags get 70% more likes and 392% more comments than those without. 

Where to Put Hashtags (Some intel that really works)

Do you have a hashtag strategy?

Hashtags shouldn’t be random. 

Having a hashtag strategy will build up viewership and get your content ranked, discovered, and viewed.

Here is something you might not know. According to Jon Youshaei, Marketing Executive at Instagram, “Where you put your hashtags has no bearing on how your post shows up.”

hashtag placement has no bearing on how instagram post shows up

Maybe you thought you should be putting them where it seems everyone else is putting them…right below your post. 

Where you should be putting your hashtags is in the comments!

Instagram Where tp put hastags

Yes, this is an extra step.

If you do ALL FIVE of these steps, you can bank on the fact that your Instagram post views will skyrocket…immediately!

Doing this will give you immediate results

We have plenty of NPE clients who have implemented this strategy and have proven it’s powerful. 

This is how it works. 

Because nobody wants to read through 28 different hashtags, or even 6 for that matter, just to get to the content, many brands opt to put their hashtags below the “See More” tag.

Instagram which caption would you rather read

Some may even add hashtags in a separate comment on the post.

Don’t do this. 

It will cause the hashtags to lose effectiveness. 

Here is an example of an opportunity to implement this strategy. 

hashtags in first comment

Post your content – image or video – with your caption, and then go back and copy and paste hashtags in those first comments.

It’s a good idea to have these saved ready to use.

In a moment, you will see precisely how to do this.

What Hashtags Should You Use?

OK, don’t freak out. 

You need a total of 28 hashtags per post:

  • 15 Niche
  • 10 Post-Specific
  • 3 Industry Related

This will increase your views quickly.

How to Find Hashtags

It all begins with a little research.

First, write down five topics related to your niche.

Then ask yourself, “What would someone searching for this topic be searching for?”

Let’s say your niche is Women’s Postpartum Health. These are women trying to get back into shape after having a baby.

Topics that make sense within that niche are (pick five):

  1. Postpartum Workouts
  2. Postpartum Nutrition
  3. Postpartum Mindset
  4. New Mom Tips
  5. New Mom Memes

Use the magnifying glass icon to search within one of those topics.

The hashtags need to be specifically related to your industry and used by peers and counterparts, and the hashtag posts you find in your search need to have 20k-500k posts.

That is your range.

Let’s look at topic #4. New Mom Tips. 

This image for #newmomtips has 22.8K posts. 

That fits within your target range (20k-500k), so it’s one of the three hashtags you could use for that topic.

Add it under the topic, New Mom Tips.

Example:

Topic: New Mom Tips

  1. #newmomtips

Next, find two more for this same topic that are within your target range.

Do this step for all five of your topics until you have three hashtags listed under each.      

Instagram hashtag newmomtips with 22.8 k posts

That will give you your 15 niche hashtags. 

Instagram miche hastags for postpartum moms

From here, you can gather your ten post-specific hashtags. 

So, if you post an image for a pelvic floor workout, for example, you could use hashtags associated with that post. 

Instagram post specific hastags pelvic floor exercises

Let’s bring it all together now.

Take your 15 niche hashtags, your ten post-specific hashtags, and finally, just pick three industry-related hashtags. 

Instagram final three hashtags postpartum, female fitness, workout tips

We are there! The goal is to ultimately create four groups of hashtags that you can use regularly and interchange.

The beautiful thing is you don’t have to do this work every time you do a post.

You would lose your mind.

You do this work one time, and you save them!

When it’s time to publish…just copy and paste.

Post, add a caption, and copy and paste your hashtags into the comments.

This is the GAME-CHANGER.

It even works with accounts that barely have 100 followers. 

We’ve seen views go from zero to thousands.

You connect the dots, and it works. 

Remember: The ultimate goal here, however, is not to be a famous Instagrammer (even though it’s possible).

The ultimate goal should be making sure you are clear on the output you want for your business and that the strategies and the things you implement here are focused on officially getting to that goal of clients and revenue.

If that’s not your goal, you are going to be lost forever to the Instagram ocean.

Quick Review

First, ask yourself if you are using a hashtag strategy. Remember, you need 15 niche hashtags, ten post-specific hashtags, and three industry hashtags for a total of 28 hashtags per post. 

Once you have those together, save them! Reuse them.

And, finally, make sure you put your hashtags in your comments.

In Summary…

We have discussed the very technical side of social media marketing. It takes time, but the return you get is worth it. 

Remember what we said at the beginning of this article?

Results come from action – not from thought.

Once you get this info–use it! 

Implement it-put it to work, focus and execute on your work. 

This is especially important when you are in the beginning stage. Do the steps, and you will experience success.

Remember, this is your business.

What’s stopping you from being successful?

Nothing.

So don’t get in your own way. 

If you need support creating your Instagram Marketing Strategy, register for our free webinar, “The 60-minute Instagram Marketing Guide for Fitness Business Owners in 2021.”

Share on Facebook
Tweet on Twitter

Related Posts

Subscribe to NPE Fitness Profits Weekly
and Get More Business #Gainz 💰

Give us 5 min each week and we’ll increase your power to drive fitness business results!

Get a free 60-min Fitness Business Game Plan Session (your questions answered)

Tell us a little more about your fitness business and then get the personalized support you need to win by scheduling a Game Planning Session now.

By signing up, you’ll get NPE’s exclusive updates with key fitness business growth strategies. Unsubscribe anytime. Contact Us. Privacy Policy.