How To Engage Followers So They Become Loyal Customers?

You may have successfully built a social media following, but how do you convert these followers into loyal customers?

Well, it all starts with creating a relationship with your audience. Loyalty takes time, but luckily, it relies on utilising the tools you already have.

This guide will help you engage your followers to transform them into lifelong customers.

How to foster relationships with your followers

Influencers are called influencers for a reason.

It’s been found that people who feel close to influencers are more likely to purchase any products and services they endorse. This is why you may often find yourself purchasing items that are sold by your favourite creators.

But how do influencers create these feelings of closeness?

Well, through relationship building.

To turn your followers into loyal customers, you must create a close knit community with your audience. People who feel connected to you are more likely to purchase your fitness programs, or become your personal training clients, so it’s important to create these bonds.

There are many ways to foster relationships with your followers, including:

• Interacting with their comments on your posts
• Creating any content that your followers ask for
• Engaging with your followers’ content, whether it be sharing their stories or commenting on their posts
• Asking questions
• Running giveaways
• Responding to DM’s and starting conversations
• Competitions (we’ll touch more on this later)
• Hosting both virtual and in-person events
• Running livestreams

These tips will help you build relationships with your followers, which will make them see you more as a friend or mentor than a content creator. This adds a human element to your brand, touching your followers on a more personal level.

Nurturing a sense of closeness will create customer loyalty, as you’ve already established a connection with your audience. This will keep your brand top of mind when your followers decide to purchase any fitness related goods or services.

Give your followers exclusive deals and offerings

Another great way to build loyalty and nurture relationships is through offering incentives and promotions. These gifts will make your audience feel like you care about them, which will make them more likely to convert, and convert again.

You may choose to give your followers 10% off your personal training services for a month, or you may give them discounted merch or fitness programs.

Alternatively, you could create follower only exclusive content. This exclusivity will motivate your followers to become loyal customers, as they’ll feel like they’re part of something special.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. If your fitness coach delivers quality services that make you feel appreciated, why wouldn’t you stay loyal?

So, if you’re looking for ways to motivate your followers to become loyal customers, make them feel special by gifting them with exclusive offers.

Create focused spaces for your most aligned clients

The internet is full of corners and cubby-holes where you can share content.

Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are usually the first port of call for any aspiring fitness creator. However, there is a lot of room to expand your audience beyond the standard platforms.

Placing content in unique places (perhaps where it sits behind a paywall or password protected mechanism) is an ideal way to build a pool of your most aligned clients.

In these spaces, you can offer your most engaged clients and followers a secret content offering that feels slightly more elevated than the stuff you might post on social media.

With a platform like Steppen, you can build your community, and reward your most loyal fans with premium content.

Share your clients’ content

Sharing your clients’ content is a great way to make them feel appreciated and seen.

Always be on the lookout for any posts or stories about your fitness products and services.

If your followers post anything positive about you and your brand, be sure to share it. Not only will this show your customers that you care about them, but it’ll also increase their loyalty.

People are more likely to go back to a fitness coach who celebrates their success on social media, so uplift your followers, and display their content on your profile.

Sharing your customers’ content also works as free marketing. This is because it’s been found that customers trust user generated content more than any other product information. So make sure you’re sharing your customers’ posts, as this will impact the actions of others.

Run fitness challenges

If you’re looking for a way to really engage your followers, look no further than challenges.

As a fitness creator, this should be easy, as you can create fitness challenges that your followers can get involved in.

To create an incentive for people to participate, reward your followers with a prize or an offer.

You should also share and repost any of your followers’ content relating to your fitness challenges, as this will motivate them and show them that you care.

By creating challenges and engaging with your audience, you’ll be able to foster a sense of closeness, which will increase your followers’ loyalty, as well as the likelihood that they’ll make a purchase.

Strengthen the bond with your audience

When transforming your followers into loyal customers, it all comes down to strengthening bonds.

If you can foster relationships with your followers, you’ll stay on their mind, especially when it’s time for them to make a fitness based purchase.

So, if you’re ready to increase your customer loyalty, nail your social media strategy. Engaging with your audience will unlock a world of real-life success, so take the time to really connect with your followers.

Do you want to build deep connections with your followers? Join the Steppen creator platform to take your relationship to the next level.