Hashtags, those crazy little pound signs, are a big part of making social media work for your fitness studio. However, like every marketing tool, hashtags have their own list of do’s and don’ts. Read on to gain a better insight into the best practices of adding hashtags to your social media posts and how to make them work for your gym. 

What’s the purpose of hashtags?

Hashtags direct your post to a community of like-minded people and magnifies your social voice. Additionally, they grow reach organically. That means individuals discover your posts without searching specifically for you or by clicking on an advertisement. Hashtag posts are sorted based on popularity — the more followers, likes and other kudos a poster enjoys, the more likely theirs is among the first a viewer sees. It really makes all the hard work of building a social media following worth it!

How to choose hashtags for your gym posts?

Start by typing your chosen hashtag into the social media search bar. This will give you an idea of how competitive a particular phrase is. For example, #healthylife is found in more than 24 million Instagram posts! However, #gymwarrior shows about 24,000 posts. Try researching your initial hashtag ideas and then diving into the top populated posts for relevant — but less competitive — phrases. 

Don’t use spaces, punctuation or special characters in a hashtag.  

Squish the words together but try not to use more than three in a tag.

Set your account to public to share a hashtag. 

But remember, it works both ways: Anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Tweet, Instagram, or LinkedIn post. If you want to keep your hashtags out of a public search, keep your profile private.

Use no more than two or three hashtags.

Experts recommend no more than two hashtags per tweet. For Instagram, max out at two to three per post. LinkedIn says no more than five. However, there’s no law against stuffing. Just know — use more than 30 in an Instagram post and your comment won’t post. 

Do not repeat hashtags more than once.

Repeating the same hashtag in the same post is a bad idea. It makes your copy more difficult to read and it reduces the variety of hashtags in your post. 

Don’t #go #hashtag #crazy.

Place your hashtag in the copy.

Hashtags are found either inside your post or below the copy. Industry experts recommend embedding hashtags in the post’s description. Inline looks better, saves characters, and is easier to read. 

Brand your business name with a hashtag.

Called a “branded hashtag,” this little doozy, which includes your company name, should go into your Instagram bio as well as throughout your social media. It’s a shortcut for interested customers. All they have to do is click on #yourgym name to learn about your fitness center. Additionally, encouraging followers to add your branded hashtags in their own posts grows the number of people who love #yourgym. 

Manage hashtags by dividing them into lists.

Hashtags serve a variety of purposes. They can celebrate a local event, a new product or a seasonal promotion.  They can jump on trending memes or support an industry or cause. Gym owners frequently add the same hashtags daily to describe their company’s values or successes. 

To keep all these types of hashtags straight and save time, separate them into lists by topics for specific posts. Organizing this way creates consistency and stops you from having to dream up a new list for every post. 

Gym Insight 

At Gym Insight, our gym membership software provides a clear, transparent picture into your company’s financials, and offers a platform from which to run your business effectively. Our software is built in-house, by fitness club owners. There are no cumbersome third-party plug-ins or complicated protocols, and it’s available for a single, low monthly subscription price — no hidden fees, no links to your payment processor. Call us today for a free demonstration on how we can lower your software management costs and free up time and capital.