Building a Strong Community: Strategies to Engage Gym Members

To be a successful gym business, your clients or members must remain loyal and attend. Attracting ongoing business—although also important—is not enough. You have to keep them! To do that, you need continuing strategies to create a community. 

A strong community brings a sense of belonging that offers support in and out of the gym. Plus, it brings an extra level of fun to your day. It is a statement of ‘we are in this together’. To further engage your gym members, we suggest the following three ideas.

Inject Some Excitement & Competition 

Also known as gamification, doing help make fitness journeys more fun, engaging and enjoyable.

You can achieve this by adding gaming apps to your smart gym machines. Keep your members engaged by having them compete with each other and track their achievements. 

You can consider using,

A Points System – where gym members can earn points by,

• Completing workouts
• Attending classes
• Achieving a fitness goal or milestone

Fitness Challenges –  are where gym members can earn points by achieving specific fitness goals within a set period, for example, a 30-day abs challenge.

Achievement badges – award digital badges to members who reach a certain number of workouts, hit their weight loss goals, or master a specific exercise.

Leaderboard Competitions – showcases those members with the most points for attendance, or best progress, hitting a goal, completing a regime or attending a new class or social event.

Gym Loyalty Programme

Having a loyalty programme is a great way to foster and nurture relationships with your gym members. This kind of programme lets your clients know they are valued and recognised by rewarding them for loyalty and consistent attendance.

Reward programmes give members a reason to stay engaged. It is positive reinforcement, where members get tangible benefits for keeping up their fitness regime at your gym. You can also tie in any gamification to your loyalty programme.

Types of Rewards To Offer

These can vary weekly, season to season and apply to different members. Consider rewards like,

• Bring a friend reward  
• Discounts
• Membership upgrades
• Free sessions
• Complimentary personal trainer session
• Gym merchandise

Use Social Media

Showing an interest in your clients goes a long way in increasing their loyalty. You can do this via social media in several ways.

• Engaging with current members and potential clients through comments, messages, and interactive content creates a sense of connection and inclusivity.
• You can use media to let members get a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the gym. Set fun games like how well they know their instructor – would they recognise them from a baby photo?
• Reach out to members on their birthday, wedding, anniversary, or special event at the gym, like hitting their weight or fitness goal.
• Keep talking to clients and learn about key dates or events in their lives.
• Promote new events to reach new and engaged members.
• Offer loyalty rewards to those who tag the gym in their posts or check in on Facebook. Also, reward those who review your gym on Yelp or Google.