As a gym owner, your memberships are the lifeblood of your organization. Apart from being the main revenue source for your club, members also bring the culture, the excitement, and are the most organic and effective marketing machine you’re going to find — AKA, your members like you, they tell their friends…they don’t like you, they tell their friends. 

So how do proprietors of both boutique fitness studios and large behemoth gyms not only promote new memberships, but keep the members they have? 

In a word…Community. 

It doesn’t matter in what sphere of society you look, a sense of community is always sorely lacking. The past few years have taken their toll on our communities, our neighborhoods, and our relationships. And with social media continuing to isolate us even further, a sense of togetherness and belonging is something we’re all craving. 

And since all of us at Studio SWEAT onDemand are basically experts at fostering family through fitness (we’ve got the tightest member group you’re ever going to meet, from every corner of the Earth), we’ve got some useful and effective tips to help you establish a sense of community in your own fitness space. 

Encourage Class Attendance 

Sometimes we all need a little push to get us to do the stuff we know we need, and want to do. Encourage your members to participate in your group fitness classes, workout challenges, nutritional programs, and anything else your studio has to offer for their benefit. When you give your members that tiny nudge in the right direction, you may be surprised at how effective it is towards getting them involved. 

Schedule Virtual Group Workouts

A lot of times, that feeling of community gets hindered by members not being able to regularly attend your group fitness classes, due to scheduling conflicts and the like. But with our Sweat Parties feature, members can organize virtual fitness classes and work alongside each other, even from the comfort of home. For more information, click here. 

Utilize Social Media

Social media can be a powerful tool for creating a sense of community. You can take a video tour of your workout rooms, or record instructional videos on how to use SWEAT Pro in your gym. Send it out online and just wait as your classes start filling up!

Bring the Fun, Off the Mat

A great way to induce some camaraderie among your members is to hold fun events that are not just outside your gym, but outside of the fitness world! You can plan fun and challenging hikes, bike-riding events around town, or even host an evening of nutritious cooking to get those healthy wheels turning. Best of all — these events will bring your people closer than ever. 

Camp Out

Who doesn’t like camp, right? Organizing a workout camp can be a fun and effective way to engage your members. You can have your members sign up for a 4-week planned session, requiring them to come to your gym maybe 2 or 3 times per week with the same group of people, building connections while they’re breaking a sweat!

Open Up to Visitors

A great way to encourage more memberships is to offer free visitor passes to your in-person fitness classes. By encouraging your members to bring their friends and family members, you’re giving them a chance to broaden your offerings to even more people, who will then hopefully sign up themselves. 

Fitness Challenges

At Studio SWEAT onDemand, we love a good fitness challenge. And we should — after all, we offer tons of them to your members through our platform. Many of our fitness challenges involve members working out a few times a week, and you could even offer special prizes through a raffle for those who complete the challenges. 

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that every move you make to promote your fitness studio is rooted in promoting a sense of community in your gym. Not only will your members work out harder, they’ll stay with your club longer. 

At Studio SWEAT onDemand, we’ve built our reputation on offering the best virtual fitness platform on the market, featuring an endless library of classes like Kickboxing, TRX, Cycling, HIIT, Yoga, Body Sculpting, and many more. Plus, we’ve got a commercial program called SWEAT Pro. To learn more about us or to schedule a demo, click here.