November 2008

Connections build loyalty

Have you ever moved to a new city? Sure, you missed your old house, but it wasn't that hard to find a new one. The hardest part was leaving your community behind - the people you knew, who cared about the same things you do.

Customer loyalty works the same way. When you enhance relationships among customers who share common interests, you enhance loyalty.

It wasn't hard to find a house in your new city - just as your members and students can easily find the trendiest gear or trainer certification.  So what sets you apart? The sense of community that customers associate with your business.

Social media tools make it easy to create customer connections

Online social media tools give you a variety of easy, fun, and affordable ways to encourage this sense of community among your customers. Unlike your website, which primarily contains content created by your business, these online tools empower customers to share their own user-generated content pertaining to your business.

In a nutshell, you choose the focus and social media tools that fit your business strategy best - and turn your customers loose!  For example, you might decide to create a customer community around an interest in a particular sport like basketball, a particular type of customer (working moms, for example), or around a common lifestyle interest like healthy cooking or stress-free living.

People quickly build a sense of attachment when they invest time and mental energy in contributing to a community. And they love sharing their own content and responding to what others have contributed.

Here's an example of a triathlon community on a social media site dedicated to sports, with around 100 videos and 7000+ photos contributed, reviewed and rated by members.

A blog is another example of social media in action. You post your thoughts on a particular topic. Readers can then agree or disagree with what you wrote, add their own ideas, and suggest related websites or other resources.

Remember: social media is not about overt promotion of your business. It's about introducing current and potential customers to each other and letting them shape the conversation and content. That's how relationships - and loyalty - grow.

Choose the jumpstart strategy that fits your wellness business best:

Blogs are one of the easiest starting points.  Tools like Blogger and WordPress are free and require no technical expertise.

The HungryGirl blog is a great example of tailoring your topic to your audience - in this case, weight-conscious women who want replacements for food cravings.

Look at the 10/27/08 posting on holiday recipes. Notice that a conversation among readers is taking place in the comments. Some folks oppose Splenda, others think cutting back on everything by 10% will do the trick. And other folks offer improvements on the original post's cooking technique.

It's exactly the kind of conversation a group of members might have in your locker room - if they all showed up at the same time and weren't always in a hurry.

Encourage customers to review your programs and services online, much like they might have gossiped over a fence fifty years ago.

For example, you might post excerpts of classes on YouTube or in your blog and encourage members to use the Text Comments field for feedback. Customers can also provide feedback via Google Maps. They simply search for your business and click "Write a review" under your listing. This approach offers the added benefit of potentially improving your website's search ranking.

Ning, MySpace, and Facebook are widely-used - and free - platforms that allows users to blog, post their own videos and images, post messages and exchange messages with other members, and more.

In our experience, Ning is best-suited to the needs of most health and wellness businesses.

For example, the recently-launched Sunrise Yoga community already offers a cartoon, member photos, updates on new studio construction and lots of client pictures. And the Dancer Wellness community illustrates how quickly interest can build in a niche.  This holistic wellness community includes a hook to Facebook plus user-generated video, blog posts and comments, horoscopes and more.

Say your health club targets boomers. You've probably got lots of women members who are interested in using Weight Watchers points to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Start a Yahoo Group or Google Group for them focused just on this topic. Publicize this peer support resource at your club and in your marketing presentations. Assign one of your staffers to participate on an ongoing basis. Even better, network to a nutrition practice that can chime in with professional insights.

Build your group around a specific interest that your customers share, like these examples: North Carolina triathlon moms, racquetball fans at LA Fitness in Fort Washington, PA, Turbokick fanatics, the Austin, TX SheClimbs group, and this Winnipeg, Canada wellness center.

Post pictures that tell stories using your blog, a platform like Ning, or simply uploading them to your website.

For example, one of our clients has an online photo gallery where members share their fitness accomplishments, ranging from a single pushup to local event competition. The fitness center takes some pictures and encourages their members to post even more with various promotional techniques like photo contests and newsletter features on the most entertaining or dramatic pictures.

Start with YouTube for videos and Flickr for photographs.

Ross Training blends popular YouTube videos (notice the link to his site)with a very active forum , a blog that attracts frequent comments, and an active MySpace page. Again, notice the prominent site link on his MySpace page.

Want to explore more?

Other popular social media sites include Blogger, TypePad, Wordpress, Twitter, Orkut, StumbleUpon, Photobucket, Vimeo, and Ustream.

Related articles on marketing for health & wellness businesses:
Not Your Father's Internet: What's New & What's Next For Your Wellness Business
Email Marketing Clinic: AIPM's Get Well Card Deck
Local Search: The Missing Link To Your Website