At the start of every year, fitness brands—whether gyms, sportswear companies, or exercise equipment makers—can expect a rush of new signups and purchases from people whose New Year's resolutions revolve around wellness. 

But retaining those new customers is hard. Although around 9 in 10 resolutions each year involve improving health, 81% of people abandon their resolutions before the end of the year. 

Using Social Media to Uphold New Year's Resolutions

One way to prevent resolutions from fading from the mind is to build a community around your brand.

For health and fitness companies, the idea is that if people have a space to trade tips and inspiration to keep up their fitness goals, they will be more likely to engage with a brand throughout the entire year. 

Here are two notable cases:

• The exercise equipment maker Peloton has ~450,000 members on its Official Peloton Member Page on Facebook.
• Spartan Race—an obstacle race competition—has spawned several offshoots for its members, including Spartan Trail Runners, Spartan Singles, and Spartan Volunteers. 

How Brands in the Fitness Industry Can Bring Together Communities on Social Media

1.) Create a Group Around an Action or Hobby

Talking about a single product will get old quickly. There's only so much to say about a specific sportswear outfit.

Brands should make sure to fuel conversation around the hobby that ties in to their product. That gives them more reason to come back, more reason to post, and more reason to be part of a community in the first place.

A yoga pants brand, for instance, could frame their conversations as much around yoga as around the yoga pants themselves.

2.) Try Multiple Social Media Platforms

Brands shouldn't limit themselves to Facebook.

Consider creating a server on Discord. This decentralized chat app has increasingly tried to broaden its appeal beyond its core target audience of gamers.

Brands like the resale marketplace StockX and the sneaker company Nice Kicks already have active servers on Discord.

3.) Social Media Influencers Are Your Friends

Fitness influencers are great for sharing content and social media posts. They can encourage millions—of people to make purchasing decisions.

Brands are making $5.78 for every $1 they spend on this type of social media marketing, especially if the influencers match your target audience.

Ask the influencer to post different types of content like:

• Fitness challenges, which are a huge social media trend on Tiktok
• Workout videos with a branded hashtag to raise your brand awareness
• courage their followers to share user-generated content like their success stories and workout routines to achieve those results.

4.) Offer Exclusive Content and Giveaways

Customers should have a reason to check back in on a brand community on Facebook or Discord. Brands should consider hosting drops or giveaways in the community and otherwise notifying group members of new offers or sales to keep the group active.

Here are some examples:

• Personal trainers can show potential clients their value by giving free tips for strength training at home.
• Brands offering products in nutrition could give members of their community discounts for their favorite supplements.
• Fitness studios or health clubs can attract new clients by providing community members free access to fitness professionals for a certain amount of time.se Facebook's new Shops in Groups tool to sell branded merch. Members can also make purchases through the new feature without closing out the app.

5.) Support Your Group

Make sure you have a team monitoring the group. Product questions will pop up frequently in the comments. Customer service agents at Chatdesk Teams are ready to answer any questions that might come up.

They're Experts who are Superfans of your brand, and they also provide any group with 24/7 support. Schedule a demo here to see how Chatdesk can help grow your community on social media.