Marketing Tips for Yoga Teachers: Social Media

There are almost endless social media platforms to choose from these days, but this blog focuses on the two that are likely to be most useful for yoga teachers. Instagram and Facebook. It's best to focus on the platforms that provide the best return on investment for your business. However, if you think you can't properly maintain more than one platform, don't do it. It's that simple. An inactive social media account or only a few posts per year can potentially do more harm than good to your brand.

Instagram for yoga teachers:

It's pretty impossible to ignore how popular Instagram is in the yoga community. Social media is primarily about engaging and connecting with others (hence the name “social”), and Instagram mixes that with inspiration through creative images. Keep in mind that if you're planning what content to post as a constant sales news release, it's probably not what your followers are interested in. This doesn't mean you can't include sales messages. Just try to include them as part of a broader content strategy.

It seems like an obvious point, but I'll manage anyway; Always write a caption to go under the copy. The platform allows you to make connections with others and here you can make it even more personal. To encourage comments and engagement, you can try asking questions under your posts. And while we're on this topic, take time to interact with other people's posts. This is one of the most valuable ways to attract people to your account and get them to follow you. The more you comment on popular posts and accounts, the more people will see your account and be curious to know what you're about.

Don't post too often on Instagram as people may feel like you're spammy and stop following your account. I recommend a maximum of once a day if you really have something interesting and relevant to say. Instagram Stories are a great tool to showcase more content if you want to be more active on the platform. Stories allow you to have a little more fun and be less specific about what you publish. Use them to bring out more of your personal brand and personality.

If you have no idea what you want to post, use relevant days that are popular in your community, such as: B. International Yoga Day. It's very likely that your target market posts and searches under this hashtag, so it's highly relevant content.

Using videos on Instagram is also a great idea, especially as a yoga teacher. This provides many opportunities to demonstrate your skills to your followers and potentially find new students. Offer free meditation sessions or 10-minute yoga flows to give back to your current students or entice potential students to try your classes.

Use of hashtags:

Hashtags can be incredibly helpful. They allow more people to see your posts when they group content together like a type of search function. In addition to following other users, Instagram users can also follow hashtags. Do your own research and use the search function to find out which hashtags are popular in the yoga community. For example, broad hashtags like #yogapractice receive a large number of posts (9.4 million) and are therefore extremely popular. The hashtag #yogamum is a little more specific and has a smaller number of posts (194KB), but is probably much more useful to you if you are a mom teaching postnatal yoga!

Broad hashtags are great for increasing the reach of your posts. Will they help potential students find you? Probably not, unless you focus solely on teaching yoga online. Far more local and specific hashtags are key. For example, a quick search using the hashtag #salisburyyoga will reveal more than 100 posts from local yogis, as well as a range of events and classes in the area. Find relevant hashtags for your classroom and start implementing the best ones into your posts.

Scheduling posts on Instagram:

You became a yoga teacher to teach yoga and not spend every day on social media - I get that. There are some free tools you can use to make your life a little easier. Companies like PLAN Offer a free basic membership that allows up to 30 posts per month as well as scheduling tools on Instagram. This means you can plan your time better and potentially dedicate one day a week to creating and scheduling your posts.

The beauty of this work means you can also see what your Instagram profile feed will look like in advance, making it easier to choose images with colors that work well together as a set. Generally, this will create a far more polished and professional profile (if that's what you're looking for).

Facebook for yoga teachers:

Facebook is another good option for yoga teachers. Some people may even prefer Facebook over Instagram and others use both. For those who do the latter, it's best not to constantly post your Instagram content to your Facebook profile. You can post less frequently on Facebook without appearing too inactive. Therefore, I recommend about 3 posts with interesting and relevant content per week. It's much easier to find content to post on Facebook because it doesn't always have to be image-driven. For example, your audience may find it interesting to share relevant online articles from the yoga community, magazines, or even your own blog.

Use the event listing feature to highlight your courses or workshops that you can invite your Facebook contacts and followers to. There are also many local community groups on Facebook where you can potentially tell people about your classes. Make sure you check the group's rules before posting it. Some only allow business marketing posts on certain days of the week.

Finally, you can also collect reviews of your company or services on Facebook. This is another way to prove how good you are to your students and potential students. Reviews are very popular and trusted by many. A recent one Opinion poll found that consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before they feel able to trust a local business. In short, they will help you convert your followers into your future students.

More help

If you found this blog series useful but would like more tailored support for your business, please visit my Marketing Consultancy website.