As the COVID-19 pandemic caused shutdowns of health clubs and fitness centers worldwide, many businesses pivoted quickly to offer online and live-streamed workouts. The pandemic has made it clear that an online presence is increasingly important for keeping current members engaged and for attracting new members. While live workout options are a part of the online content strategy, having regular written website content provides another valuable layer for site visitors. According to the IHRSA 2021 Consumer Data & Industry Trends Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic report, demand for fitness showed growth during the pandemic with equipment sales up 130%. 

Providing valuable info without expecting anything in return (i.e. a sale) builds trust and loyalty with your customers. It distinguishes your company as an organization that cares about supporting your audience and will make them more likely to come back and buy in the future.

And just because “marketing” is in the term, doesn’t mean all your content should be selling something. Marketing and advertising are two different things. Content marketing should be focused on providing valuable information that solves problems for your readers.

Here are 4 keys to creating a content plan that will keep people coming back:

1. Post content regularly. If you are posting articles to a blog, schedule anywhere from 2-5 posts per week. This helps drive more traffic and keeps your brand front and center with your audience. Research done by HubSpot indicates that more frequent posting increases organic traffic. For smaller companies, frequent posting may be challenging so scheduling out several weeks at a time can help and having several contributors can ease the burden of content creation falling to only one person.
2. Create content campaigns. There’s nothing wrong with one-off articles and these can even spike traffic but building out a schedule of posts that relate to each other or to an event keeps people coming back. Nobody wants to miss the next installment in a themed series. You can create content campaigns around any number of topics, such as training for a 5k, how to prevent a variety of fitness injuries or the benefits of various super foods. Content should be useful and interactive. Compelling content will encourage conversation through commenting or re-sharing. A variety of blog posts can be planned in a short time by creating campaigns that revolve around holidays, special events hosted by your company or product launches.
3. Mix evergreen and time-sensitive content. Evergreen content is a smart long term strategy for your business. It keeps your library of content filled out on your site that people can keep coming back to and that can be found with keyword searches even years after it has been created. Time-sensitive content lets your audience know that you’re keeping up with what’s going on in your industry and the world. It shows that you’re staying relevant and current which helps build that trust we talked about earlier. Aim for a balance rather than all of one or the other.
4. Narrow your target. Broad-topic content can be useful, particularly in the evergreen category but narrowing your subject can help bring a more targeted audience to your site, even if its just for a specific campaign. For example, if you’re targeting triathletes because of an upcoming local event, general nutrition tips are less helpful than an article or post about how to fuel for a brick training day.