Why Your Private Club Should Use Social Media
Social media can be used in multiple ways for the benefit of your club. Clubs can connect and engage with current members as well as engage with the public or potential members. There are no charges to post text, images or videos on your social media channels. Your cost is time to create the content.
You can show your members and the public the daily and weekly activities at your club. Social media used wisely, should be your second most valuable marketing tool, right behind your website. And, IT’S FREE!
What Social Platforms are Best for Private Clubs?
It could be argued that all social platforms have value. But I recommend that you first focus on channels that will cast the largest net towards your targeted audience or members persona.
Demographics may vary in some regions, but the most common persona of a private club member is a 50+ year old—middle/upper class—male. Your future members persona will be a double income family aged between 30-45 years old with young children.
While your existing members most likely frequent Facebook and Youtube, your potential new younger members will also use Instagram, Snapchat and most recently TikTok. Twitter is also popular among more affluent individuals.
Every business should have a Linkedin account. The content you share on Linkedin should not be the same you would on other social platforms. Keep your posts related to business. Post jobs or job fairs at your club. Focus on the staff and how it is a fun and rewarding place to work. Create posts about your facility being great for conferences, meetings or tournaments.
Use Tools to Help
To efficiently manage posting on multiple channels, consider using services like Hootsuite or Loomly. If you want to stay focused, start out building your Facebook and Instagram community.
What Kind of Content Should I Share or Not Share on Social Media?
First of all, you should start by creating a members only channel (Facebook Group). Here you can manage who sees and participates within the group. Since it’s a member’s only area, you can share information about upcoming events, results from competitions, instruction, restaurant menus, and whatever else you believe your members may want to see. The public does not need to see what time Karaoke Night starts, or what’s the date of the AGM.
Showcase Your Club
For your public Facebook and Instagram channels, you should show the world what it is like to be a member at your club. Pictures of happy members participating in sports, classes, social activities, or the latest culinary creations from your chef. Don’t only post photos, but also post videos which viewers will find more engaging. Take videos of members sharing their stories on how they love being part of your club. These same videos can also be on your website and YouTube channel.
As a prestigious private club, keep advertising to a minimum. Try not to come across as just trying to sell memberships, but focus on sharing the experience of being a member.
How Often Should I Post?
Creating content for social media takes time, and posting content on social media takes minutes.
Make a Plan
Put together a content plan and a schedule. Start off by creating an eight week plan. Commit to posting four day/times a week, with different types of content each day. One day could be a post showing an active member, another day a tip from a golf pro or tennis instructor. Then add a post featuring a popular restaurant item, and finally an image from a special social event or family activity at your club. Just try to keep the content fresh and have a balanced approach to what messages you are showing.
It’s alright to share the same content on various social media channels as not everyone is engaged on the same platform.
Be Consistent
After your initial eight weeks of sharing, evaluate if you should grow your reach further. If you have the resources, post more quality content, more often, on more channels. Expand your plan to post on additional days and additional times of a day. But don’t post just for the sake of posting. Be true to your brand and be consistent.
