Instagram Reels can be an effective marketing strategy for your fitness business, whether you’re a yoga instructor, Pilates professional or an online personal trainer using the latest fitness software.
You’ve seen Reels all over your Instagram feed, but here’s a little background: Instagram launched Reels in August 2020 in response to the growing popularity of TikTok. Reels are vertically oriented videos that range from anywhere between 15 and 60 seconds long. You can add music and text overlays, plus effects like time lapse to show longer workouts in less time, all within Instagram itself. (Interested in TikTok, too? Here's the fitness professional's guide to using TikTok as a marketing tool.)
Why use Instagram Reels to promote your business
Reels are perfect for quickly creating exercise tutorials, workout videos and transformation stories. Before TikTok and Instagram Reels, this type of content required other video editing apps or software. Now, gyms, studios and living rooms are production sets, too. (Read more: How to shoot a video like a professional producer)
Reels have another advantage as a marketing strategy: You’ll get more eyeballs on your Reel compared to other Instagram content because Instagram serves Reels to people viewing the Reels section of the app, not just to your existing followers.
How to create a fitness Reel for Instagram
As you’ll see from the fitness professionals below, there’s no limit to your creativity. Some accounts do well with simple overlay text, such as the workout name followed by the exercises, whereas others like to be more dynamic and expressive with different camera angles, transitions and pop-ups.
Without stifling creativity or forcing yourself into too much of a box, create Reels that have a similar look and feel to your gym or studio, following any brand guidelines you may have (colors, tone of voice and so on).
From there, planning is key. Once you’re ready to start producing Reels, think about how you're going to create them and be consistent in your delivery. Commit to one Reel per month to start, then you can increase to once per week or more depending on your ability to generate ideas and create them efficiently. Think about what clips you need to tell the story, create a shot list and capture what you need. Then, compile all the clips and make any creative edits before posting.
Whenever you’re producing content, you always want to think about how you’re going to convert viewers into clients or members. In addition to including CTAs (call to actions) in your videos and captions, like “Sign Up Today,” make sure your website is in your bio. If you think you might scare potential new members away with a CTA to buy something, you can always point them to sign up for your fitness newsletter if you have one. This will keep them engaged with your offerings for future purchases.
Use these fitness Reels for inspiration
The best place for inspiration is Instagram itself, but here are a few of our favorites from Wix Fit users and industry experts to get you started.
Make a statement. Stax Cycle Club, a Wix Fit user and spinning studio in Canada, often adds text to a studio image to make a statement that’s both visual and inspiring. Take a look at this one for International Women’s Day or this approach featuring a motivational quote.
Give a gym tour. Sweat FXBG, a Wix Fit user and gym in Virginia, often uses Reels to show off their space and classes, whether it’s barre, rowing or cycling. If your goal is to get more members into your physical gym, this is a great way to give locals a low-pressure tour from behind a screen.
Drop knowledge. Dr. Joel Seedman is the owner of Advanced Human Performance. Dr. Seedman uses Instagram Reels to share professional athletes performing unique and unconventional exercises that he backs up with science and research. For example, in this post, Dr. Seedman explains and illustrates with overlay text how 90-degrees may be the optimal range of motion when performing many exercises.
Play with the speed. Yogi Josh Kramer speeds up a session for a quick glimpse at a full flow. Note how the location is beautiful and zen, so the overall effect of the video is still more calming than jarring.