Danajill Bee Fit

Jason McLaurin Zumba™ Fitness Instructor and Owner of Muevelo DMV, LLC on Building A Fitness Brand

When The Z Beat asked me to share tips and tricks on “Social media and Building a brand" related topics, I said “Sounds good “.  Then I asked myself, "What the heck does that mean”? 

Thinking more about it, the real question is what would a person want to know? I’m not an expert but as a ZumbaⓇ Fitness instructor and studio owner, I’ve had to heartily use social media for promotion which required working hard on branding our studio. Being a ZumbaⓇ Fitness instructor is rewarding, but it will disappoint you if you are not honest with yourself and your decision to be public about your passion. 

I think with these ZBeat segments I’ll first task the readers to ask themselves some questions:

• Who is your target audience? 
• What makes you unique? 
• What are your known limitations? 
• Do you want to mix your “real” life with “ZumbaⓇ Fitness life”? 
• Do you want to be "ZumbaⓇ Fitness" famous? 
• Do you want to be locally "ZumbaⓇ Fitness" famous? 
• Do you want to be an individual, a brand or a movement? 
• What time do you have to devote to it? 

And answer these question regarding branding: 

• Who inspires you? 
• Where do you want to be in five years? 
• Who do you want to be your core base ? 
• Is the brand you want to be already taken? 
• Would you be better off just being yourself? 
• What tolerance do you have for rejection and failure? 
• What are your insecurities? 
• Can you handle dealing with the insecurity of others? 

The answer to these question dictates your social media need. Your actions over time will reveal your true answers so please be honest with yourself from day one. 

Regardless of your answers I’ll give you social media lesson one: You should begin with creating social media pages for your "ZumbaⓇ Fitness” brand. For Facebook, create a page not a separate account, and for Instagram create a separate account and merge them. Decide whether you want to pick a nickname or your real name. Once you post a picture in a class or at an event you will receive 30 friend requests in 1 day, so choosing the right strategy from the start will help you navigate through your social media options.

Social media is a gift and a curse. Putting yourself “out there” will bring both positive and negative aspects to your ZumbaⓇ Fitness world. There will be people who only know you by your “ZumbaⓇ self” on stage and not know the real you, but will complain and judge anyway. On the plus side, and most importantly, you will add excitement to the local community, find and inspire people who will follow your pages, join your classes and be lifetime friends. 

The main takeaway to consider is how you handle social media and building a brand, and whether or not the exposure is worth it depends on how you truthfully answer the questions above.

Until next time...

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