You don’t need to be a social media hero to be successful among local realities. This is my story of Real World Instagram = how I became famous at my gym.
You know when you spend many hours thinking of a killer branding strategy and then you have no idea of what you did, but it worked?
That’s what happened to me a couple of days ago, when I posted this photo on Instagram – caption below the pic.
Yesterday I started a 21 day program, w00t! I tweaked it a little bit to fit the awesome classes I take @energie_forest_hill. I shot some pics to check any possible results in a 21 days time, @franzvitulli suggested to pick the ones where I really don’t like myself so here they are. Let’s see if something will change #challenge #fitspro #girlswholift
I just wanted to let people know that I was on a new program. Since I’m always very hard with myself, some friends suggested me to publish more photos about me – they reckon that it’s a good therapy. Meh.
Anyway, I needed a bunch of pics also to monitor the potential progressions after I finish the program, so I published it and quoted both my gym and my husband, for the reasons you can read above.
The following workout
Then something strange happened when I went to the gym the following afternoon. To be fair, I noticed it only on my way home after I left the gym.
People started greeting me at the gym, and talking to me for no reason.
I am normally not a person who likes to chat at the gym. If I’m working out, I do work out. I leave the jibber jabber when it’s shower time, if any chat occurs.
Yet, at least six people stopped me.
“How’s it going?”
“Hey, you’re right?”
“Lookin’ good!”
What is wrong with me? I thought. I have to admit I checked myself on the mirror at least a couple of times. Since I had a cold with a bad cough, I thought I didn’t look any good.
I didn’t feel too much annoyed by all this people checking in, so I didn’t care.
The miracle of the Real World Instagram
When I was on my way home, I checked my Instagram. 11 followers, 67 likes, 2 comments and 1 mention. Wat?
My last picture was reposted by my gym Instagram account. That generated all the leads, as all the followers etc came from the gym’s account.
Accidentally, I sold also a couple of copies of my mystery books.
So, now everybody at the gym knows me, somehow. Is it a good thing? I don’t know. I am normally a person who doesn’t like being on the spotlight, especially when it’s time to work out.
What I learnt
My gym fellows are not really the final target of my mystery books, however this little miracle taught me to not underestimate the power of the local and small communities. My gym is not a super massive corporate gym with 30k subscribers, but it managed to build a strong community of people who supports each other (according to the comments I gained, the praises and also the Facebook friend requests).
You don’t need to be a social media guru to build up a personal brand strategy and/or have some followers. Sometimes it’s just a matter of being themselves.