Tell Your Martial Art Story with Social Media

A Facebook post reads:

Look familiar? Nearly all of us have been guilty of posting an offer on our social media martial arts school page without context.

While it may not always a bad idea to post a direct offer - a quick line or two to pitch your classes and hope it will bring in just a few more new students – know that it’s not always the best idea either. Social media asks for more from our businesses. It’s not enough to just sell a product, we need to also tell our story in the process as well.

Consider that the audience you are speaking to likely has no idea what martial arts is or what the term means to them directly. As far as they know, “martial arts” means just a bunch of black belts dazzling them on the big screen in the next summer action movie. Chances are they can’t even visualize themselves donning a uniform or joining a class.

So how on earth do you get them to relate to something they have never imagined before? Or even better, how do you convince them that their own child should be doing martial arts? How do you market martial arts on social media?

You tell a story. The story of why you started martial arts,  why martial arts works for your students, why a parent chose martial arts to improve their child’s life, and yes,  their story of why the audience needs martial arts for themselves.

It’s not enough to just offer a class; you need to use social media tools and platforms to creatively educate the importance of martial arts first. Consider your characters, their back story, the issue they face, and how martial arts (or even better: how your school) resolved their issue.

Here is a brief example of the direct offer versus a storytelling post. See how you too can re-shape your posts to inspire action, rather than just tell them to ‘do it.’

 Click Here to View Examples

Example A is a direct offer to attend a class. It has the offer plainly laid out and a direct link to claim the offer. Though the image is strong, the image is all the audience has to draw any storytelling from. This would be perfect for those who already have the question “Why Martial Arts?” answered.

Example B is more indirect. It paints the story of “Why Martial Arts?” by illustrating the perspective of a mother looking to gain fitness and self-confidence by attending a martial arts class. It encourages the audience to support her and engage with the post. Indirectly it suggests the audience relate to her position and join her by taking a class too.  It even helps the audience prepare for their first class with the hope they will see a familiar face in the crowd when they decide to join too.

Hopefully these two examples help to explain the importance of knowing your audience and providing them the right story or context when posting. Stories can be accomplished by text, pictures and videos too! Test your storytelling capabilities today and remember to always speak in the voice of your brand.