Your guide to creating the best online workout videos | Steppen
Want to create the best online workouts? Find out how in our creator-focused guide to making the best online workout videos.
We get it. You’re looking to create the best online workout videos possible, but the information online is geared toward brands with an already-large audience.
Whilst the online world is filled with opportunity, it can be tough for smaller creators to break through and make their mark.
But sometimes (nearly all the time) smaller creators are more dedicated and knowledgeable than bigger brands. So how do they find their voice in a saturated online world?
Well, today’s fitness creators need to find unique ways to distinguish themselves, and luckily, we’re here to help you through this journey.
This is your ultimate guide to establishing a solid social media presence and creating online workouts that your audience will love.
How to establish your online presence as a fitness creator
If you want to create the best online workout videos possible, you’re going to need to establish your online presence.
Here’s how to find and engage your audience:
1) Define your niche
When it comes to creating the best online workouts, the first and arguably the most important step is defining your niche, or what makes you unique as a creator.
Questions to ask to identify your niche:
- What do I have to offer as a fitness creator?
- What makes my workouts different from other creators?
- Do I specialise in a particular area of fitness?
- Am I a pilates guru, a yoga instructor, or a HIIT enthusiast? What do I bring to the table?
- What specific audience can I target?
- Do I have a unique story or background that people can resonate with?
Defining your value proposition, and who you are as a public figure, is super important when it comes to branding yourself and creating the best online workout videos.
2) Identify your target audience
Great content needs an audience, not just a following.
Whilst it may be tempting to target all fitness lovers and grow a big following, targeting a smaller, more specific audience will help you become a better creator.
If you know exactly who you want to reach, you can tailor all of your marketing and workout videos to this exact audience, which will make you more likely to reach who you want to reach, and amass a strong following.
The best online workout videos grow because they have an audience of evangelists who share the content amongst like-minded friends. If you try to target too many people without a strong audience in mind, you’ll miss out on these people who can make or break your brand.
Questions to ask to identify a target audience:
- What can my workouts achieve for my audience?
- What health and fitness goals can my workouts help my audience achieve?
- What problems can my workouts solve?
- How can my workouts supplement the lives of my audience?
- What can I offer to grab their attention, and earn their loyalty?
Having a particular target audience also helps you create good workout videos, as you have a group in mind that you want to satisfy. For example, it’s easier to create videos for ‘20–30 year old women who are new to pilates but want to grow stronger, than it is to target ‘all women’.
Additionally, a defined target audience will help with your marketing strategies. You’ll know exactly where to reach them, what they’re looking for, and how to address their problems and help them achieve their health and fitness goals. If you use paid ads, this will become especially helpful.
Having a specific audience identified will help you stay on brand, and ensure that you create the best online workout videos for a specific group of people.
3) Work on your brand personality
As a fitness creator, it’s important that your personality shines through all of your content.
Don’t be afraid to inject a bit of fun into your online presence. You may choose to be funny, adopt the big sibling role, or even role-play as a stern personal trainer that wants to whip your audience into shape.
Remember, your audience is all human. Connect with your audience, entertain them and motivate them. A little bit of personality goes a long way.
Questions to ask to build your brand personality:
- What is your brand voice like?
- What do/ don’t you post about?
- What kind of personality does your brand have?
- How do you make your clients feel?
- What would/ wouldn’t you say?
- What kinds of clients would you love to work with?
How to create good online workouts
Now that you’ve mastered your online presence, it’s time to create engaging workouts that meet your audience’s needs.
Firstly, ask yourself: What will my workouts achieve?
Decide on an overall goal you want your workouts to achieve. Are your workouts designed to increase muscle mass, flexibility, and aerobic capacity? What problems are your workouts solving for your audience?
It’s important to be cautious when it comes to creating content around “looking good”, as research has shown that Millenials and Gen Z’s prefer workouts that make them feel good, rather than look good. Since this audience makes up a large percentage of gym-goers and exercisers, it’s important to focus on the ‘feel good’ aspect of exercising.
Consider how you’ll be delivering your workouts
Decide which formats you’ll be using for your online workouts. There are many great formats to take advantage of, including:
- Videos on a hosting platform or marketplace like Steppen
- Longer, full-length workout classes on YouTube
- TikTok videos with demos and instructions
- Instagram posts, videos and reels with demos and instructions
- Downloadable PDF workout routines
- Live-streamed workout classes
- App content
- Longform ebooks and guides
When it comes to the best online workout videos, video performs the best. That said, you should consider taking advantage of multiple content formats, as this will ensure that your content suits a range of different scenarios.
For example, if your audience is at the gym, they may prefer a quick demo on TikTok, so they can complete their workout without being glued to their screens. Or, if they’re at home, they may prefer a full class on YouTube. Mixing up the format is also a great way to keep your audience engaged.
Create high-quality content
For your content to be successful, it must be high quality. Nobody’s going to want to read a pixelated workout guide or watch a blurry video with poor audio.
Here are some tips to help you create quality content:
- Make sure all of your videos and photos are shot in high-resolution either on your mobile phone or camera.
- Keep the audio clear. You may choose to wear a clip-on microphone or record a voiceover to ensure that the audio quality isn’t compromised.
- If you’re using a mix of background music and voiceovers, make sure the music volume doesn’t overpower the voiceover.
- Use royalty-free music. There’s nothing worse than having an awkwardly silent video because your audio got deleted.
- If you’re filming a workout class, positioning is key. Make sure the camera can pick up the moves you’re demonstrating.
- Especially if you’re targeting beginners, make sure there are sufficient instructions. Both verbal cues for technique and written descriptions are great.
- Use captions, alt tags and text-to-speech support to be inclusive of all users.
Use in-built Creator Tools on platforms like Steppen to develop the highest quality fitness content.
Make sure your workouts are well explained and easy to follow
When it comes to creating good online workouts, it’s important to remember that fitness content should have the intention of helping, educating and instructing.
It’s all too easy to injure yourself with the wrong information, so remember that your content needs to keep people safe first and foremost.
With any workout, maintaining good form is the only way to achieve results. So, keep education at the forefront of your content creation strategy to formulate the best online workout videos possible.
You want to become the most trusted resource when it comes to fitness, and to do this, you must create high-quality, informative content.
Create challenges that foster friendly competition among your fitness community
Challenges are a great way to engage with your audience and encourage them to move.
If you’re stuck for ideas, try creating:
- Daily workout challenges: e.g., a daily squat challenge
- Weekly or monthly challenges: e.g., 1 week of pilates, where your audience has to follow along with your pilates workouts every day for a week.
- A challenge that your audience must work towards incrementally, like doing the splits, or holding a headstand for 10 seconds.
Use your platform to encourage your audience to participate in challenges. You may even choose to ask your audience to share their progress or results in the comments to foster a sense of community.
Challenges help your audience reach their fitness goals, whilst also boosting engagement and shareability.
Motivate your audience. Be their number one fan.
As their trusted resource, you want to be there to help your fans through their fitness journey. It’s one thing to create good workout videos, but it’s another to actually be there for your audience as a mentor.
As a fitness creator, you want people to see results from your workouts. You want them to regularly refer to your content, and recommend it to others.
The best way to boost your credibility and presence is to play the mentor figure. Answer your audience’s questions, and let them know you’re there for them.
Having the ability to really care about your audience distinguishes the good creators from the great creators, so make sure that you’re showing up for your audience.
Do you have what it takes to create great exercise content? Contact us or become a Steppen creator to begin building your fitness community today
