Proven Martial Arts Marketing Ideas for Martial Arts Business Owners
I’ve started writing a lot about social media lately (4 Popular Social Media Websites to help Grow Your Martial Arts School and Should your Martial Arts School be using Social Media? with more coming soon).
And it got me wondering….
Are you using social media to promote your martial arts school?
Take the survey below and let me know!
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You’ve probably heard all the buzz about social media.
In fact, you may be considering doing it for your martial arts school after reading about my last post on social media for martial arts school owners.
But should your martial arts school even use it?
For starters, lets look at what social media is so we’re all on the same page.
What is Social Media?
Social media is word of mouth on digital steroids.
Social media describes content that is posted by users on various online platforms. Examples of social media include forums, blogs, microblogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, photo sharing sites and more. Social media applications include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr.
Social Media Statistics
Watch this video to get an idea of the importance of social media and why you should pay attention to it:
So, um….yeeeaah… you need to pay attention to it.
Thoughts on Social Media for Your Martial Arts Business
With social media you can publicly resolve unsolved issues… address bad customer experiences… thank people for praise and ideas… promote a special offer… run a contest… and more.
Taking your first step into social media will also help you to connect with existing students and potential students in a way your competitors might not be; which can help you build a competitive advantage.
How do you use social media at your martial arts school?
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Here are the top 5 posts for Marketing Martial Arts in June 2010; according to how many times they were uniquely viewed by our visitors:
As always, thanks for reading Marketing Martial Arts!
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If you haven’t yet started down the road of social media yet for your martial arts school, it’s not too late to get your feet wet.
This post will give you a basic introduction to four of the most well known social media websites to help dip your toe into the subject. I am also going to provide examples of martial arts school owners who are using each social media tool to help give you an idea where this can all go.
Let’s get started and begin by exploring Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and FLICKR.
Facebook.com
Facebook is a social networking site that was created in 2004 and started at Harvard University as a social networking site for students. However, it’s grown from a college based site to one with over 400,000,000 people from all over the world who use it.
Facebook allows you to create a personal profile, add and search for friends, send and receive private messages, share interests, upload photos and videos, share links and more. It also allows your friends to leave comments and creates ways of interacting that are far more robust than email.
Further, martial arts school owners can create a Facebook Fan Page that allow them to connect with their students and potential students from within Facebooks site. Once a fan “likes” a page, they receive updates in their Facebook stream whenever there is an update.
Common things to do on your Facebook Fan page is to create events and then invite people to them, upload and share photos and videos, congratulate students on promotions, ask questions and get feedback, announce special offers and promotions, and more.
Here are some good examples of Martial Arts schools using Facebook fan pages:
Ready to get started? Create an account on Facebook here.
Twitter.com
Twitter.com is a social networking site that allows its users to create text based updates called “tweets.”
Tweets are like mini blog posts or short messages that are all written within 140 characters (Twitter’s maximum limit for each tweet). Obviously it is very important to work on being very succinct and to the point with each Tweet.
Other people with a Twitter account can follow your “tweets” by becoming a “follower.”
Twitter allows you to create and distribute timely and relevant information quickly to students and potential students who follow your tweets. The key is in getting people to follow you and in turn, you can follow other people. Common Twitter etiquette is to follow those who follow you so it’s a solid way to help build an audience.
If you’re worried this is a time consuming task that will require you to sit in front of your computer all day, don’t sweat it. There are tons of mobile applications (apps) that allow you to plug into your Twitter account making it easy to update from your cell phone wherever you have an Internet connection.
Martial arts school owners can use this to alert your followers of special offers, answer student questions, share links to consumer awareness content on your website and more.
Here are some good examples of Martial Arts Schools using Twitter:
Ready to get started? Create an account on Twitter.com here.
YouTube.com
YouTube is a social video sharing website where users can easily upload, share and watch online videos. Youtube was founded in 2005 as a way to make video sharing more simple.
You create an account and viewers interested in your videos can subscribe to them; sending them alerts whenever you post new videos. YouTube.com also makes it easy to embed movies into your website with little knowledge of HTML and share them via links.
Martial arts school owners can upload and share videos from karate tournaments, martial arts school tours, interviews, student reviews, martial arts commercials and more.
Here are some martial arts schools using YouTube.com:
Ready to get started? Create an account on YouTube.com here.
Flickr.com
Flickr is a social photo sharing and hosting site that was founded in 2004 and is said to have 4 billion images hosted on its website. They make it easy to upload, search, share and comment on digital photos.
If you’ve got a digital camera and are a shutter bug, uploading photos from your martial arts school and events is a great way to help promote your school. Your students can view their photos and also easily share them with family and friends.
Here are some martial arts schools using FLICKR.com:
Ready to get started? Create an account on Flickr.com here.
How does do you use social media to grow and stay connected with students at your martial arts school?
Share your ideas in the form of a comment!
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I'm Ryan Wheaton and I work with martial arts school owners to help them attract more students. Many martial arts school owners are confused at how to best market their business and feel awkward in selling situations. I help them overcome those challenges to become confident and competent in marketing and selling their services - helping them become more profitable so they can live the lifestyle they want to live. 
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