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101 fulfils the purpose of targeting the gym chain’s customer segment with marketing communications and additionally helps the brand to manage and maintain existing customer-brand relationships.
Moreover, it is found that the main focus of a gym chain’s social media marketing strategies lies on creating brand awareness with the use of influencer marketing. Thereby, social media influencers with a high brand fit are essential for gym chains in their total marketing efforts as they extend the reach and create brand awareness among their wide social networks. As such, gym chains do not perceive local influencers as a threat but rather as a key component within the overall social media marketing strategy.
6.2. Sub Question 2
SQ 2: What are the underlying motivations for consumers to engage with gym chains on social media?
Fitness related content is found to be omnipresent in the consumers’ social media experience as they are exposed to fitness content of companies and peers on a daily basis. Despite general interest of consumers in fitness related content on social media, the overall consumer engagement with gym chains’ content is found to be low and passive. In fact, the creation of UGC is rare. According to the analysis it occurs only unconsciously by the consumers through tagging the gym’s location in their Instagram stories. A reason for the low consumer engagement with gym chains is that the shared content is mostly perceived as generic and too similar among different gym chains. Additionally, consumers are only motivated to engage with a gym chain if the content is perceived as authentic and credible. Here, integration of influencers into the social media marketing of gym chains is discovered to increase the transparency of the brand and the likelihood of consumer engagement. This is because influencers are not just perceived as more authentic but also as a source of inspiration.
Although the fitness online community on Instagram is well known to the consumers, being a member of online communities does not further support consumer engagement with brands. However, consumers have distinct values concerning fitness and they are willing to engage more with gym chains on social media when these values are displayed. The most important fitness value is defined as true health. It
102 implies not only that fitness has a positive influence that goes beyond the physical health but also that achieving true health is an individual process for each consumer. Consequently, consumers affirm to engage more with gym chains on social media if they are convinced of the shared value that fitness and working out has a farther-reaching purpose than gaining muscles or losing weight. Consumers have imaginations of their ideal selves in mind, which they are striving to become. Therefore, consumers have a higher motivation to engage with gym chains on Instagram if the content motivates and supports them in reaching their goals.
Apart from shared values, information search represents another motivation of consumers to engage with gym chains on social media. Which online channel consumers consult for their information search depends on the nature of the desired information. For specific information with short-term validity, such as upcoming events, as well as for broad unspecified inspiration, Instagram is preferred because of its high visuality. For information on the gym chain’s functional conditions such as the price list or opening hours, consumers consult the corporate website instead. This is reasoned through a higher credibility as well as clearer structure of information shared on the website than on Instagram.
It can be summarized that there are two main underlying motivations for consumer engagement with gym chains on social media. Firstly, the desire for fitness related inspiration that is visually appealing.
For the consumer to be inspired, fitness related content must be authentic in a way that it is perceived as believable and in line with potential offline experiences. Additionally, content must be attainable, which is achieved when consumers can identify with the customers and employees that are showcased on the gym chain’s profile. Secondly, consumers engage with gym chains because of the desire for motivation.
Gym chains transmit motivation by sharing fitness values and by supporting the consumers to become closer to the ideal version of themselves.
103 6.3. Sub Question 3
SQ 3: How do social media marketing efforts of gym chains lead to potential CBBE?
Brand awareness and brand associations are the only brand assets of CBBE that can be created purely through social media marketing. These brand assets can be enforced unintentionally as well as intentionally by gym chains.
Regarding the former, social media can act as a valuable initiative for gym chains to create CBBE, even if is not directly intended. As such, customers create CBBE in form of brand awareness and brand associations through voluntary UGC, which is not incentivized by the gym chain’s social media marketing but intrinsically motivated. However, gym chains are bound to their functionality and thus dependent on their functional values. These are more difficult to transmit on social media than emotional values and hence impede the creation of potential CBBE.
If social media marketing efforts to create CBBE are applied intentionally by gym chains, this cannot happen without the premise that the customers, as the creators of CBBE, are following the social media profile of the brand. Therefore, it is necessary to convince customers of the continuous added value of social media content shared by the gym chain. This is best done by first identifying the customers’ most important values and second aligning the brand’s social media communication towards these values.
Only if current customers follow the gym chain on Instagram, their engagement with the brand can be expanded intentionally. This, in turn, would increase the likelihood of created CBBE through intended social media marketing efforts as other social media users within the customer’s network become aware of the brand.
The analyzed data shows that intended social media marketing efforts do not necessarily yield the desired outcomes concerning brand awareness and brand associations. As illustrated by John Reed, the communication of the brand’s USPs, the music aspect as well as the unique interior design, is in focus.
However, the consumer interviews reveal that the USPs were not identified on first sight without prior brand knowledge. This contradicts the intended social media marketing efforts to increase brand awareness, as consumers are incapable to become aware of the brand’s differentiating factors. Without
104 conveying the complete information on the gym chain’s USPs, social media marketing efforts can clearly not reach their full potential. Apart from the unclear communication of USPs, another example of social media marketing efforts that do not create the desired CBBE is the display of the gym chain’s target customer group on Instagram. This is because the people in the studio as well as the people who are displayed by gym chains on Instagram form a strong brand association in the consumers’ minds. If a potential customer does not see himself aligned with the customer group displayed by the gym chain, the Instagram profile can have an alienating effect for the customer and lessens the probability of becoming a customer.
For the brand assets of perceived quality and brand loyalty, consumers require more information outside of social media in order to form an opinion. Thus, the assets perceived quality and brand loyalty can only be created in interplay with offline touchpoints between the customer and the gym chain. Nevertheless, potential customers can get a grasp of the gym chain’s quality and the loyalty of its customers over social media, which is identified to have a high impact on the first impression of the brand. For potential customers, the first impression of both CBBE assets is positive if the gym chain’s equipment is displayed professionally and the Instagram presence transmits a feeling of community between the brand and its existing customers. In case of current customers, it is revealed that laying the focus on important quality attributes or loyalty values in their social media communication can also enhance their existing perceptions and thus can strengthen CBBE. For that effect to take place, however, it is crucial that the depiction of the gym chain’s quality or loyalty efforts on Instagram are justifiable with the customer’s offline experience, as it weakens the brand’s perceived authenticity otherwise.
6.4. Research Question
RQ: How do gym chains implement social media marketing strategies in order to remain successful in the fitness industry?
The analyzed consumer interviews and evaluated sub questions indicate a high importance of social media for gym chains. Consequently, a successful social media marketing strategy is a competitive
105 advantage to maintain a favorable industry position. Under consideration of the widespread online fitness community and omnipresent fitness related shared content, it is evident that a great part of the fitness industry’s marketing takes place on social media. Both results represent reasons why it is vital for gym chains to exploit the opportunities social media has to offer. These include the cheap and geographically unrestricted targeting of gym chain’s identified customer group and the opportunity to address the consumers’ emotions. It is identified as necessary for gym chains to root the social media marketing strategy within their total marketing efforts in order to guarantee alignment in their presence. Preventing this incoherence preserves the perceived authenticity by potential and existing customers.
Through a focus on the brand assets brand awareness and brand associations, gym chains can strengthen their CBBE on social media and thus contribute to their success and standing within the fitness industry.
Especially Instagram and the platform’s story format are effective for presenting the brand’s USPs and target consumer group on social media. Furthermore, Instagram is the platform on which consumers show the highest engagement with brands and the platform on which the fitness lifestyle movement is supported the most. To keep consumers interested in engaging with gym chains, it is necessary to support them in reaching their desired fitness level by being a daily source of inspiration as well as motivation.
Since consumers prefer Instagram over other social media platforms because of its high visuality, it is necessary to create professional and aesthetic content. This makes it more likely to elicit consumers’
emotions, especially regarding their ideal self-image and fitness goals.
As consumers mostly consult social media profiles of gym chains for evaluating different alternatives, gym chains can support their customer acquisition by presenting the brand’s USPs in a quickly recognizable and appealing way. This does not only enhance the perceived quality that existing customers have of the gym chain but also enables potential customers to form their own perception of the quality they expect when becoming a member. The gym chain’s CBBE is strengthened through consumers’
perceived quality as long it is positive and motivating to become a member. Instagram can further benefit gym chains’ CBBE through increasing the brand loyalty of consumers. When UGC is created on Instagram, gym chains have the opportunity to acknowledge this content by reposting it through their story format. This gives the consumer a feeling of loyalty towards the brand as he is assured of the mutuality of the customer-brand relationship.
106 All initiatives to support the creation of CBBE on social media require a strong customer focus and equally strong knowledge about the target consumers’ desires. As such, a customer focus in the social media marketing efforts is recommendable. It is, however, even more efficient if brands incorporate the CBBE framework as principal guidance in the planning for successful social media marketing strategies.