New Age Fitness Gym Public Relations 2019-2020 Plan

Listening

Organizational structure 

According to its members the New Age Fitness Gym is a premier fitness and training club with a strong commitment towards personalized service and individual attention for those seeking to achieve a healthier lifestyle. The members believe that physical fitness is an essential element to being healthy and that is why the fitness gym is committed to achieving members’ physical fitness. However, not all members are aware of the mission statement or how it was developed. Therefore, the organization intends to brainstorm on an all-inclusive mission that will involve everybody. 

The gym’s social media marketing is a responsibility of the social media marketing director who should be contacted in case a post is to be made or used. In case the members want to post anything on social media, they are supposed to contact her on Intagram through Scww2322 or telephone number #7016589750. The only challenge is that, not all trainers are aware of what is expected of them since there is no list for the same. It is therefore important to have them learn on the aspects of client’s communication, punctuality, enthusiasm, when serving a client. The trainers have to avail themselves for the training and show willingness to learn. 

Social media/website

At the moment, New Age Fitness Gym only used Facebook and Instagram where the trainers post pictures on themselves at the gym. However, the camera work does not look so good. Besides, they do not have a lot of followers. New Age Fitness Gym plans to ask its trainers to conduct campaign to increase the number of followers. A reward will be launched for a trainer who will turn out to have the highest number of followers. Posters will be put in the gym to There is also a plan to address the camera work to ensure that the posted photos are in create the needed impression. 

Furthermore, the personal trainers will be encouraged to post more about themselves. They will be asked to make some short videos about their training on social media. A video on the owner of the gym will also be shot, talking about the gym, tips and supplements as he sells the gym. 

New Age Fitness Gym has a Twitter accounts. While trainers’ Facebook and Instagram account are an important social media platforms, it would be better if New Age Fitness Gym would have a YouTube channel. This would supplement the current social media in posting videos. Besides, having a broad category of social media account will broaden its market reach- with just one video, the gym could reach a bigger audience. A Twitter account is needed to accomplish the intention of the summer hashtag and hashtalk. The social media are important due to the targeted age bracket of 30 years and above. Most of them are on either one or all of the mentioned social media. 

New Age Fitness Gym has a website for posting its events and progress periodically. The most important thing that the gym need to do take advantage of the internet is to approach the market as an institution instead of using its trainers’ accounts. A website is a good platform for posting the training program and any seasonal events. Its website is 

https://www.newagefitnessoffers.co.uk/

Competitors 

Track is the main competitor for New Age Fitness Gym. Because Track is tax based and can charge whatever price they want and because it offers such a wide range of options, sauna, pool, etc., he is forced to lower his price to match theirs otherwise he would not get new business. This is not the intention of New Age Fitness Gym. Besides, the gym has ability to invest in expensive social media campaigns; which is challenging to New Age Fitness Gym. 

Current public relations and needs 

As stated above, New Age Fitness Gym relates with its clients mostly through social media, for instance Instagram, Twitter, website and Facebook. The club relies on the social media created by its trainers to keep in touch with its clients. The trainers’ followers are considered the gym’s followers. Besides. The gym has a website that clients can visit and get an update on upcoming events and the nature of the gym. 

However, in an effort to improve the public relation, the gym may try the following ideas to make the gym better. New Age Fitness Gym could increase the number of its followers by improving its public image as communicated via the social media. Besides, New Age Fitness Gym may start the sale of swipe cards in hotels. It may also try to post flyers in students mail boxes an around high schools. It may also start sending mass emails about itself in addition to putting posters within the gym. It may also take better photos and make demonstrations on available equipment. This may be done by the owner or the trainers. 

In addition, the gym may organize a party and take videos of the owner talking about the gym, tips and supplements sold in the gym. New Age Fitness Gym may also make efforts to print brand t-shits with its name and mission statement on them. May also organize monthly or weekend workouts with a prominent personnel to use on Twitter. Besides, New Age Fitness Gym may talk to Jamestown sun/radio about the new renovation- has recently expanded its areas with a 1000sq. ft. it may also talk to the radio about summer hashtags (Force 40 and Friday nights). Improving all these areas will improve the image of the organization and reach more audience while attracting attention. 

SWOT analysis

This is concerned on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for New Age Fitness Gym ( Ashley & Tuten, 2015 ). At the moment, the New Age Fitness Gym’s communication is an area that the organization prides itself in. the gym has attracted a group of employees (trainers) with good interpersonal and training skills. This makes the clients want to come back for more sessions after the first visit. The gym is also equipped with modern equipment which facilitate service delivery to the clients. At the same time, it is strategically located and its accessibility is easier. It also has room for accommodating as many members as possible- especially due to the recent expansion. 

However, New Age Fitness Gym has a number of weaknesses. Firstly, the social media has been posting photos of poor quality on the social media since the camera quality is not appealing. The people taking photos are not experienced in the field and this is not attracting the needed attention from the public- a breakdown in public relation. The social marketing efforts are not exploiting social media potential and this makes it impossible to reach a wide range of audience. 

Despite the weaknesses, the gym has an opportunity of improving its use of social media for instance, it may hire experienced and professional cameramen who would take quality photos for use in the social media platforms. Besides, the owner and trainers may take videos while talking about the gym as well as the available equipment- this may attract potential clients. There is no limit to the number of social media followers that an organization can have. The trainers too have an opportunity to push up the number of followers to reach a larger audience. The photos and video taken can also be used to improve the organization’s website. There is also the opportunity to make use of broadcasting stations, for instance, a radio station, to reach a bigger audience (stations may be used in broadcasting events and parties as well as workout programs). The University of Jamestown having terrible summer lifting hours will also be a huge opportunity for New Age to get clients. The main threat to New Age Fitness Gym is its competitors: Track. It has the ability to undertake major campaigns compared to New Age Fitness Gym. 

Conclusion

Generally, New Age Fitness Gym is doing fairly well on social media and in public relation. It has already taken efforts to engage its clients through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and a website. Besides, it is making use of the trainers’ relationship with the clients to improve its image. The only issue is that, there still remains a lot of untapped potential in improving the public image using social media. For instance, the number of followers needs to be increased, image quality ought to be made more attractive, and more strategies need to be put in place to improve the image of the organization.

Design and Engagement Phase

Objectives and visions 

A good objective should be SMART ( Ashley & Tuten, 2015 ). By being SMART, it should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely ( Ashley & Tuten, 2015 ). New Age Fitness Gym could set an objective of getting 3 new followers for the trainers and 4 for the gym’s Facebook accounts. The gym may also set the objective of targeting new audience on social media based on groups. For instance, target getting about 30% of the students who will be affected by summer lifting hours at University of Jamestown. 

A vision is a “brief strategic description of what the organization aspires to become” ( Castronovo & Huang, 2012 ). Visions are future oriented. It helps an organization to position itself in the market by standing out among competitors. New Age Fitness Gym may come up with a number of visions with respect to social media needs and objectives. For instance, it may envision helping all aged couples alleviate the problem brought by lack of exercise. They may help them in attending the gym and giving them tips on healthy living via Twitter or Facebook. 

Message map

A message map “ is a framework used to create compelling, relevant messages for various audience segments ” ( Kotler & Zaltman, 2018). It is an alignment tool for an organization. As far as social media campaigns are concerned, the message should be tailored depending on the target audience and the social media platform in use. For instance, New Age Fitness Gym may decide to use Facebook posts to target people between 18 years to 40 years. They may also decide to use the Twitter posts to target people aged 30 years and above. The message should also be tailored depending on the audience: the way you communicate to millennial is different from how you communicate to baby boomers. Millennial are more internet oriented and get attracted to a communication that make them happier- they need more attention. 

Strategic plans 

To better engage with the public, New Age Fitness Gym may make use of some strategies applied on the social media campaign. Some of the strategies include: making more use of existing social media, improving the website and conduct a campaign for the university student. 

Making more use of existing social media

The social media platforms have a lot of untapped potential that can be used by an organization to better its public relation. However, many organizations only make use of the common features. For example, while Facebook posts are excellent platforms for .likes and followers, they are a good platform for event organization. Therefore, New Age Fitness Gym could make use of the ‘events’ option to plan and organize workshops. These are important since an organization is able to get a clear picture of how the event will be depending on attendance confirmation. 

On the other hand, while Twitter may be used as a marketing tool, it should be treated as a social media as well. Therefore, a tweet should be engaging but not over-saturating to the company followers. A good tweet should take cognizance of current news. For instance, New Age Fitness Gym may tweet: “while we are happy it is national fitness day, there can be a hidden secret in taking part in fitness exercise. Try the New Age Fitness Gym!”

You Tube videos should be clear and direct to the point. Unless a video advert is captivating and short, many You Tubers quickly skips the ad. However, an advert that captivated the audience by making them a part of the program is good. It should not be critical or judgmental. Other social media platforms may also be improved depending on the nature of message and target audience. 

Improving the website

A good website should have “ mobile compatibility, should be accessible to all users, well planned information architecture, well-formatted content that is easy to scan, fast load times, browser consistency, effective navigation and good error handling” ( Castronovo & Huang, 2012 ) . Failure on one of these attributes makes engagement difficult. Specifically, a good website should be appealing to the eye. For instance, New Age Fitness Gym may should post photos and videos that are clear and well captured with HD technology. Poor quality photos may not create the needed engagement with the public. Remember, a website is the face of the organization. Therefore, it should be accurate. 

Campaign for the university student

A company that takes advantage of any given opportunity prospers within a short while. For instance, if a competitor is hit by a disaster and may take time to recover that creates a good opportunity to win its clients and it takes even more responsibility to retain them. In social media marketing, potential clients may be identified and the social media tailored to suit them. For instance, The University of Jamestown having terrible summer lifting hours. This is a good opportunity to acquire and retain the affected students. Opportunity favors the prepared and nothing would integrate better with university students than a good social media. 

Implementation and Monitoring

Implementation

New Age Fitness Gym may implement the above strategies by creating engaging content with the members of the public. Social media should be ‘social’. As such, constant engagement is necessary for better and improved impacts. A good social content should be emotional. It should apply ethos, pathos and logos in appealing to the public. It should be captivating to the five senses of touch, sight, hearing, feeling and taste. 

As far as New Age Fitness Gym is concerned, its posts on Facebook should attract as much positive reactions as possible. Every follower should be proud of being a part of the gym. Therefore, the posts should attract likes and comments from all sought of people, especially positive comments. In addition to the posts, New Age Fitness Gym may use the Facebook to plan events. They should keep the followers updated on the plan for the event: how, where, when, attendance, etc. 

Tweets should be spontaneous. There should be no delay on tweeting a major event affecting the organization immediately as it happens. The company should show concern for the affairs of its followers. For instance, to ensure that it is social and not a branding tool, in case of a natural disaster affecting a portion of its followers, either directly or indirectly, the company should take the initiative of consoling the affected. This way, when in future the gym makes a branding tweet, 

It will elicit positive reactions from the same followers. A spontaneous tweet attracts the highest number of retweets. The videos should be changed periodically to integrate new changes in the gym and to break monotony created by just one video. Besides. 

The gym should have paid ads which play on YouTube. The ads should be aligned with the You Tube content that relate to physical fitness. This will ensure that it gets to potential clients. It is important to have a promotional campaign of a You Tube video on other social media. In addition, videos should be built around a given keyword. For instance, a video for an event invitation or workshop should be different from a video for a new fitness activity implemented in the gym. You Tube videos should engage the audience, for example, they should be intriguing about New Age Fitness Gym. 

Monitoring

The utmost step in the monitoring process is determination of social goals. Before engaging into the measuring and evaluation process on every Facebook post/photo, tweet, comment, You Tube view or a retweet about the gym’s brand it is important to think about the goals that had been set about social media. The other step involve a formulation of metrics for measuring the goals. For instance, the gym’s goal was to have 3 or more new Facebook followers for trainers and 4 or more followers for the organization’s Facebook account per week. This is can be objectively determined. Therefore, in the course of the week, the number of new followers should have joined the Facebook in both the trainers’ accounts and the gym’s account. Monitoring may be facilitated by some tools such as Tweet deck- to monitor a number of Twitter accounts and number of mentions. Also, Agropulse may be used to monitor social media for a growing business. 

Evaluation 

Analysis of completed campaign

The completed campaign may be evaluated on step by step basis. For instance, it may begin with evaluation of the preparation stage to determine whether the ones in charge of the public relations through social media had access to the needed information prior to commencement of the campaign. The design and engagement process may be evaluated to determine the responsiveness of the clients. If the response was positive, then the engagement was attracted the audience and hence the public relations methods through social media were effective. Another evaluation tool is to have a look at the objectives: were they SMART. If they were, then the social media campaign is successful. The vice versa is also true. 

Analyzing future campaigns

The above campaign may form a good ground for conducting better and improved social media campaigns in future. For example, after monitoring and evaluation, the gym may determine successful campaigns and unsuccessful ones. If the unsuccessful are important such that they cannot be abandoned, efforts should be made to improve them in future. However, if a campaign was good enough and yielded the expected results, changes should be made to match changing trends in future. In this case, an audit is necessary to determine the success rate of the social media campaigns. 

Recommendations 

The following are some recommendations that might be useful for New Age Fitness Gym:

It should make better use of the social media apps to tap the potential in the social media and reach more audience. 

Should conduct campaign itself and encourage its employees to conduct social media campaigns too to ensure that the number of followers grow rapidly. 

Should identify its strengths and use them on its website to attract the attention of new visitors. Facebook posts, photos, tweets and videos should be clear, intriguing and direct to the point. They should engage with the audience.

Social media campaign should be tailored depending on the target audience. 

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement.  Psychology & Marketing ,  32 (1), 15-27.

Castronovo, C., & Huang, L. (2012). Social media in an alternative marketing communication model.  Journal of marketing development and competitiveness ,  6 (1), 117-134.

Kotler, P., & Zaltman, G. (2018). Social marketing: an approach to planned social change.  Journal of marketing ,  35 (3), 3-12.