The new year is here and all around you people are making a real effort to affect positive change in their lives. This tradition, which has gone on since the days of Ancient Rome has people all over the world motivated to make better lifestyle choices, improve their fitness and make a real investment in their own health and wellbeing. And while you may be too humble and self-effacing to admit it, you can’t help but notice how many people are turning to you for advice and guidance. You’ve begun to notice work colleagues asking you what you think of a celebrity diet du jour. Or perhaps conversation over the photocopier might turn to which food groups should be avoided as your colleagues start to repair the damage done by the Christmas indulge-a-thon. Even people at the gym have begun to casually ask you for workout tips.
Again, you may be far too modest to truly understand or appreciate the influence you have over others… but that influence could become extremely rewarding and even financially lucrative if you turn it to the world of fitness, health and lifestyle vlogging.
Here we’ll take a step by step journey on the path to becoming a fitness vlogger. A challenging and infinitely rewarding side-hustle that can actually become surprisingly lucrative if you build enough of a following to monetize your channel. Heck, you might even be able to quit your day job and join the annals of successful health and fitness influencers.
Choose a niche or a target audience
Before you start forking out money for a good quality camera, ring light and microphone (all essential equipment investments BTW) you need to think clearly about who you’re making videos for. You might think that you face an embarrassment of riches in a time when everyone seems to want to get in better shape… and while that’s true to a certain extent, you stand a much better chance of gaining a loyal following when you choose a specific niche or target audience.
Are you trying to target senior executives in their 50s and 60s who spend most of their time behind a desk and are slowly realizing that if they don’t get in shape today they’re in for potential health trouble tomorrow? Are you targeting new Moms who are struggling to ditch their baby weight and feel like their old selves again? Are you setting your sights on busy young Dads for whom there just never seem to be enough hours in the day? As you can imagine, you’ll have to use a significantly different approach to content, language and branding depending on whom you’re trying to appeal to.
Get to know their common failures and frustrations and identify their barriers to progress. This will be imperative when it comes to our next step…
Plan a content strategy that brings value to your target audience
Everyone has a great idea for a vlog post. Most people have a handful. But to come up with a content schedule that’s full of consistently high-value content is a real challenge, especially given that you’ll need to post regularly if you’re to make yourself seen by capricious search algorithms and give your followers a reason to keep coming back to your channel.
When it comes to planning content, it’s important to start from a position of knowledge, authority and passion so be sure to use your vlog to showcase your knowledge of fitness and nutrition. At the same time, however, you also need to think in terms of what your audience wants to see and what they’ll derive the most value from.
Not sure what kind of content your viewers want to see? Ask them. Vlogging is all about community, interactivity and building the trust of your audience. Your interactions with them on social platforms will help you to keep your finger on the pulse and give them more of what they want.
When your content is tailored to the specific needs and pain points of your target audience your brand is far more likely to resonate with them. Which brings us to…
Start building your brand… and be consistent
You’ll need to approach vlogging as a business (because if you hope to make money from it, that’s exactly what it is). And one thing that every business needs is a brand. Your branding is more than just a logo and a color scheme… it’s the promise you make to your subscribers, your values and your content’s sense of identity.
Do you want to be warm, reassuring and sympathetic? A gruff drill sergeant type? A positive and enthusiastic go-getter? Cheeky and irreverent? It’s entirely up to you, but you should certainly factor in your target audience when making branding decisions.
Remember… You can’t build a following on vlogging alone!
Your vlog is only a part of your platform. You should also be looking for opportunities to engage with and bring value to your audience on whatever social channels they use the most. Whether you build relationships with your audience on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, be sure to make sure that their voice is heard.
Don’t just use platforms to post links to new videos and ignore anyone who tries to engage with you. Yes, social platforms are partly for self-promotion… but they’re also there to help you to form strong links with your community of followers.
Think about accessibility in your post production process
Health and fitness are for everyone, so you’ll need to think about ways in which you can make your videos more accessible for those who are hearing / visually impaired. For example, you might want to add audio description, especially when demonstrating exercises and fitness routines. You may also want to add captions and subtitles for viewers with hearing impairments or those who are watching in spaces where it’s not appropriate to listen to the audio.
Embrace collaboration
Vlogging doesn’t take place in a vacuum. You’ll be sharing a platform with many other health, fitness and lifestyle vloggers who are all catering to the same target audience. But don’t look at these people as potential competitors… look at them as potential collaborators.
Collaborating with other channels can be great for your visibility and introduce your brand to a whole new following. It can also allow you to pool your knowledge with other fitness-crazed vloggers and learn new ways to improve your channel and bring value to your followers.
Hold yourself to account
As Spider-Man’s uncle used to say, “with great power comes great responsibility!”. And when you have the power to influence people and help them affect positive change that’s real power that’s not to be taken lightly. As important as it is to give people good quality, well researched advice which can only result in positive outcomes, it’s also essential that you hold yourself to account. You need to be seen to practice what you preach. That doesn’t mean that you can’t treat yourself to the odd cheeseburger or craft beer. It doesn’t even mean that you can’t gain a little weight now and then. Just own it and explain to your audience the dietary and lifestyle changes you make as you make the climb back to peak fitness.
Authenticity counts for a lot in the world of vlogging, and when you show that you’re willing to hold yourself to account and call out your own mistakes it helps viewers to form a more genuine sense of connection to you as a person.
