In recent years, the face of social media has changed to be less of a take-it- or-leave-it side project to an absolute must for any business trying to grow their platform. I read a segment recently by a marketing executive, claiming that a few years ago it was relatively easy to get a high volume of likes on a post, whereas nowadays, with the amount of content online, it’s become much more difficult to cut through the noise. So, how do we approach utilising the tool of social media to grow our studio, despite knowing that it’s tougher out there than ever to ‘stand out’? Let’s jump right in, and talk about my tips on how to change up your social media game for good.

What Is It You Want to Achieve? – Often, when we think about social media growth, it can be easy to dig no deeper than ‘I would like more followers’. Of course you do, why would you be posting if you didn’t have that goal? But ultimately, if you’re a studio or business, that doesn’t quite scratch the surface. Sure, having a respectably high follower count is useful – it can be a marker that your page is ‘good quality’ and people want to consume your content. But what use is several thousand followers if your classes are quiet?

It is important to consider when you’re creating your social media posts who it is you want to speak to. Let’s run with an example: you have created a few posts about your brand new pole beginners course. Ideally, you don’t need existing pole dancers to be reading that – not because you don’t care about them, but because they simply aren’t your target audience for that post. Don’t write your caption in a way that only a seasoned studio-goer would understand. Remember who you were before you started your aerial journey. What would you want to know, what would you want to hear? What would be the thing to coax you through the door? And if you’re not sure of that anymore, that’s okay – talk to one of your non-aerial friends and see what they think. In an age with so much content out there, something that really stands out is authenticity and relatability, and ensuring your post actually caters to the target audience is a great step towards hitting your social media goals.

Consistency is Key, But Not if It’s Meaningless – anyone who’s logged onto social media over the last few years knows there are countless ‘gurus’ out there offering up their golden rules of how to grow your account. Some say to post every day, others say not to. Some claim that posting just pictures is a waste of time, whilst a whole swathe of other social media buffs say to ignore this advice wholeheartedly. So what do you do? What is the golden rule?

Honestly, I don’t know what the best approach is to whip the algorithm into shape. I’ve tried playing around with my own pole dance account and following different posting formats, only posting certain times of day, making sure I post every single day, and ultimately, I’ve come to the conclusion that it really doesn’t matter all that much. What is worth considering, however, is consistency. And to me, consistency is not a simple concept. When calculating how we can remain consistent on social media, you need to consider how much of yourself you are able to commit. How often can you post, whilst also ensuring that the content you are posting holds some kind of value?

 

In my opinion, there’s no point posting an image of someone on some aerial equipment every single day without any real message in the post or caption. When I think about what drives me to like or comment on posts as I am scrolling through my phone, a lot of the time it isn’t the image or video itself, it’s the overriding message behind it. So don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you will achieve overnight social media success simply because you post a lot. And also, if you are going to try and post every single day, is that something you can genuinely keep up with in the long term? Creating content for every single day of the week is very time consuming, so you have to consider factoring in your own schedule around this too.

I can’t tell you what to do as we are all different, but I can share with you my strategy: my social media schedule is posting three times a week (often Monday, Tuesday and Friday). This works for me because I can actually create enough content regularly enough to have three posts worth of pole and aerial things three times a week. I have been posting three times a week for nearly a whole year now, because I actually set myself a goal that was achievable. If I was trying to post every single day, I would have failed, as I simply don’t have the time. In my opinion, the most valuable thing you can be online is realistically consistent – and if consistency for you is just a couple times a week, that is far better than seven days a week every now and then with large breaks in between because you aren’t able to keep up.

Celebrate Your Studio Community – One of the incredible things about our pole and aerial studios is that we have such a diverse range of people coming through those doors. At any given time, someone is doing something incredible that is worth shouting about. So do it on your social media! Don’t just use your feed for advertising constantly – people don’t like to feel they are just following your page to be sold to. Have you had a student get through to the final of a competition? Post about it. Got an aerial hoop class that all smashed out a tricky move in a class? Get a video and hype them up. Had some great feedback from a newcomer? Create a post and show off the compliments.

People often come to pole and aerial because they want to try something new. What makes people stay is how they are welcomed into a brand new community of people, and the wonderful social aspect of being a regular at a studio. Don’t underestimate the power of sharing your student base regularly on your feed as well – it may be the thing that makes someone finally book onto their first ever class.

Have Fun With It – If you were to ask most people what they look for on social media, a lot of people would respond with their favourite content incorporating humour and light-heartedness. Now, don’t worry, I don’t expect you to become a comedian overnight (being funny is actually really, really hard). But think about incorporating a sense of fun into what you post.

Keep an eye on social media trends that you could do with your instructor team or student base, bring them in on the action. Most social media trends out there aren’t that difficult to replicate – you just need a couple of people to set it up. You may be surprised at how well your more light-hearted content does compared to your specific marketing posts. And that isn’t to say, ‘don’t market’. Of course you must advertise your pole and aerial classes as well, but just be mindful that there will be many people who follow your page who also are already a member of the studio. They don’t need to be sold to, they’re already on board – give them something to enjoy and interact with too.

There you have it, my tips on how to hone in on your social media prowess and take your game to the next level. Now, I know it seems like a lot, and wearing many different hats as a business owner can feel overwhelming, but remember: the best way to combat this is to have a robust, thought-out plan to follow. Look at your social media presence like you would any other aspect of your business, and you may surprise yourself with how streamlined you are able to get things.

There comes a time with a lot of pole dancers and aerialists where we can start to be a little more independent with our training. We still attend our classes and are closely mentored by our wonderful instructors and coaches, but we are able to make a few more training decisions for ourselves. We know what tricks we like, what flow we favour, and we have enough knowledge ready in our backpocket to be left to our own devices once in a while. That being said, transitioning from being told exactly what to do in class by an instructor, to structuring our own sessions can feel a little daunting. So, what do we do? Well, if you know anything about me by now, it’s that I love a good plan. Let’s get right to it – we’re going to talk about making yourself a training plan.

First Thing’s First – for me, creating a well-rounded plan starts right at the beginning, particularly when you are just starting out training more independently. At the start of class, your instructor will take you through a thorough, effective warmup, so you need to do the same thing. Make sure you factor that into your planning, note down everything you need to mobilise and consider recording specific timings to follow for your pulse-raisers. Eventually, your warm up will come second nature to you, but particularly when you are starting out we can easily cut corners for no other reason than we have forgotten – and the last thing you need is an injury to put a spanner in your pole and aerial progress.

Start Things Off Slow – once you are fully warmed up and ready for your training session, what are you going to do? Well, I for one, always start out with a couple of simpler moves. I can’t tell you particularly what this would be for you, as we are all different levels, but look at your core moves – the moves you might learn in a level one or beginners class. For example, my main equipment is pole, so I will look at doing some spins. Then build things up from there. Basically, don’t throw yourself in at the deep end. Pole and aerial is hard work, and you want to avoid using up all your energy and overworking yourself right at the start of your session. Ease into your training session and you will find you have more longevity – much like in a class run by one of your instructors.

Include Challenges But Don’t Sacrifice Joy – when you’re building your training plan, think about including a range of tricks, transitions and flow, and more importantly, within that range make sure you choose a blend of things that you’re good at as well as things that need work. In my experience, the quickest way to get demotivated within your training session is spending hours hammering the same trick you’re struggling with and getting – what appears to be anyway – nowhere with it. When we become demotivated and frustrated, we are more likely to just give up and not bother, and we absolutely don’t want that! So, if we’re making a list of five things you intend to train in your session, pick two difficult things, and three things that you don’t find quite so difficult – so things you can either already do but would like to brush up on, or are pretty close and just need perfecting. Cultivate balance within your plan.

Reflect as Well as Plan – One pretty cool thing about having a written plan is your ability to be able to continuously make notes on it. Did something you trained go particularly well, or not quite as well? Do you need to talk to your instructor about an element you don’t understand? Have you decided a particular trick needs to be rested for a while as you’re getting frustrated with it? The list could go on.

My point is, you can begin to use your plan to not only dictate what your solo training sessions will be, but also to reflect, and therefore further streamline your practice. After you’ve trained, take a moment or two to make some annotations with your schedule. Don’t overthink it, keep it simple, but these notes can be so valuable and enlightening moving forward as an aerialist.

How Does It End – Much like our discussion about warming up at the start of this, another key part of any training session is also your cool down. Make sure that your training plan ends with your notes on the comprehensive cool down you will do at the end of your session. By ensuring that there is a plan for your cool down within your notes, you will find it easier to be held accountable and ensure that you do it at the end of your pole and aerial practice.

Your Instructors Can Help – If all of this is still a little daunting, speak to your instructor at the studio. They will more than likely be able to organise a private lesson with you, or signpost you to another who will be able to, to help you create a bespoke training plan which will fulfil your needs and help you grow as a pole dancer or aerialist. After all, who knows you better than the instructor whom you’ve spent weeks, months, years sharing your skills with?

So there you have it – my guide to getting your independent training set off with your own training plan. And remember, progress isn’t linear, and it may take a little time to find exactly what works for you, but that’s okay – you’ve got your whole pole and aerial career ahead of you, enjoy the journey!