We hope right about now you’re working to build big awareness for your gym or fitness studio so that you’re top of mind when folks look for places to join during the standard new year resolution rush. Then, your important work begins to capitalize on all that new traffic and form strong relationships so that new members don’t filter out by Valentine’s Day due to lack of interest. 

Your biggest opportunities to do this are through loyalty-building, creating friendships and communities at your gym, and using social media. Try out our ideas below and see your member retention skyrocket after the new year. 

Reward Your Customers For Loyalty and Habit-Building

A gym experiences a January rush because people make goals for themselves to form new fitness habits in the new year. And unfortunately, gyms often see a decline after the initial January rush because it takes more than visiting the gym a few times in a month to form a solid habit. As a gym or fitness studio owner, you can help foster your new customer’s habits through fun challenges or loyalty programs with rewards at the end, that keep people coming back and forming that habit. 

Try some fun signage in the gym where folks can mark off their days participating so they have a visual reminder of their new habit forming before their eyes. 

Or maybe they can collect something like badges, stickers, ribbons, or something else that represents how far they’ve come in their habit. Think the belt system in karate, or we have a local gym that has a whole wall of stickers with big numbers on them and you get to add a sticker with your name on it when you’ve been to X number of classes. 

You could facilitate several mini-challenges, or a points system with rewards along the way so the reward system is more frequent, and members don’t have to wait until the very end to be rewarded. The rewards could be merch with your gym logo on it, supplements, equipment, or something else members might find valuable.

Don’t forget to shout-out members along the way to recognize their success! Peloton understands this principle as they reward members for milestones of classes taken, and have their trainers shout-out members for reaching those milestones during classes. Peloton members are known to attend classes where they know they’ll reach a milestone, so they can experience their shout-out in person. 

Turn Customers Into A Community

Community is an incredibly powerful tool to keep your fitness studio members coming back long after the initial January rush. People thrive off shared identities and a sense of belonging that being a part of a community can bring. 

Your classes themselves are opportunities to make friends and build a community. As the fitness studio owner, it’s your job to mingle, and greet members by name, and introduce them to other members when possible, so the gym experience doesn’t feel too anonymous for people. 

Celebrate member birthdays if you can, or gym anniversaries, or even major life events that are worth celebrating together. You can do this with signage in the gym, verbally with shout-outs, on social media, and even in email newsletters. 

Host events like toy drives, park clean-up days, 5K races for a cause, and even happy hours to bring your members together outside of the gym and help them build relationships with each other.

Turkey trots, bunny ears, teacher appreciation—there are so many opportunities for themed classes that will keep your fitness classes fun and members returning for more to enjoy the camaraderie. 

Social Media Connection and Shout-Outs

Don’t forget to use social media, as well, in your quest to build community. We’d recommend you ask your members first before you share anything about them to your social media, to be respectful of their privacy. But if they say yes, you’re creating an opportunity for other members to comment and congratulate them as well on all their hard work.

Advertise your fun events on your social pages so as many people are aware of them as possible.

And show some personality! Besides creating community, the primary reason why people use social media is to be informed and entertained. Social media trends are great ways to inform and entertain your community, and it’s fun for you too! 

Want help with some of that social media planning, or email marketing to promote your fun classes and events? Don’t hesitate to reach out, we’d love to help you make regulars out of your new members.