Gyms In London Need The Twitterati

It is often said that a satisfied customer will tell one friend about their positive experience, but an unhappy customer will tell 20 people. Well that analogy has reached a whole new, digitally enhanced level with the unstoppable rise of social networking. In just 140 characters an angry customer now has the ability to tell thousands of people in a split second about a bad experience. Gyms in London need to wake up to this new reality and realise that if they want to be successful they need to keep the Twitterati happy!

For years gyms in London have relied on advertising campaigns in local newspapers, posters on the London Underground and local teams giving out flyers to attract customers. But times are changing and people are less and less influenced by ‘traditional’ advertising and are instead being influenced by the thoughts and comments of their peers. This means that cost and effectiveness of such marketing is going through the roof and is no longer sustainable for many gyms in London.

Peer recommendation is now one of the most valued sources of information for people making buying decisions, especially for expensive products like gym membership. As well as Facebook and Twitter there has been a rise in the number of web comparison sites and it is surely only a matter of time before this applies to gyms in London as well. With such transparency in the industry there seems little point in a gym investing in new equipment and expensive marketing if it can all be undone by a casual comment from an angry customer.

So where should gyms in London focus their energies if it is no longer worth pursuing traditional marketing channels? Well firstly they need to become experts in social networking, learn where their customers meet online to discuss gyms in London and find a way to join the debate. It is no longer good enough to be a fitness and nutrition expert, to be successful in the fitness industry a gym operator absolutely has to effectively manage their digital presence.

It starts with excellent customer service at gym level so that wherever possible an angry customer can be placated before they vent their frustrations to hundreds of people online. Where that fails a gym has to be proactive in responding to complaints. This means responding to forums in a measured and professional manner, monitoring search engines like Google by setting up alerts on specific search terms, and proactively engaging customers in social networking.

A Facebook and Twitter account is a start, but it needs to be an engaging place for customers otherwise they will simply ignore it. Gyms in London should dedicate time every week to managing their online presence, talk about the latest social events at the gym, run competition, offer advice and add some kind of personal touch that allows customers to engage in a positive way.

If gyms in London can do this effectively they may actually save huge amounts of money that they would previously have spent on an ineffective marketing campaign. One thing is for certain, if a gym does not take the time to engage its digital audience proactively then the can be sure it is only a matter of time before this control is taken out of their hands.

By: Jenna Bush

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Jamie Ward, Neil Harmsworth and Michael Blake came up with the idea for payasUgym.com after discussing the difficulties in finding decent gyms in London that you can just go to on a one-off basis.