Followers and Students: how to attract them
Finding Clarity and defining your yoga career, Part 2
As a devoted yoga teacher, you want to increase your following, both online and offline. You want to create your online community and have people follow you on Social Media, but you also want to have students that fill your classes and come to your workshops and your retreats. Thankfully, the two go hand in hand, so here you will find some useful tips as to what you can do to increase your followers and attract more students.
Followers: be active on social media
The first thing you need to do—no surprise here—is to be active on Social Media. You can find some handy information on how to use Social Media to increase your following [link to the previous article].
Popular Social Media
You can be active on any or all of the above and connect with your audience, build trust, and nurture deep relationships. Be careful with your time commitment if you decide to engage in more than one or two!
Social Media provide an excellent platform for you to publish content that is unique to you, and can help you become an established figure in your niche.
Create content for your favorite yoga student
When you start posting content it is imperative that you have clarity in your vision and that you know who your favorite student is. Start by reading this helpful workbook about Finding Clarity, with tips on how to identify the right students how to talk to them!
Picture your favorite student in your head, figure out their age, gender, education, hobbies and interests, relationship status, income level, fears, and desires. The more specific you are, the better! You can even give them a name. Make sure you keep them in your mind when you post on your Social Media feed. Identify where your values align and address those shared principles and beliefs.
When you find your favorite students among your followers:
Follow them
It’s nice to return the gesture and follow them back. It is polite, and it shows that you respect them and care for them, and you want to know what matters in their lives.
Comment on their posts
Engaging and commenting on their posts is really important. Just following them is not really going to be enough. Commenting on your favorite students’ posts also shows that you see them, that you truly care. When you make supportive and positive comments, many people will read them and some will check your profile and decide to follow you. You can show your favorite students some support and perhaps gain some additional followers at the same time.
Make social media social
Remember that social media are all about being social—about forming connections, being polite, keeping up conversations, responding to questions, offering help. Be present!
Say yes to being social but avoid private messages
If you think that a person just wants to chat and will never book a class with you, ask them for their email address and permission to put them on your list. This way, you can see if they are serious about your offerings and if they qualify for your attention.
Let them know what you are offering
When you connect with your followers, make sure to post on Social Media all the details about what you are offering. Publish your schedule for your classes and, of course, communicate all the details about workshops and retreats you might be organizing. It’s an excellent way to let them know and, perhaps, even get some feedback on your offerings.
Provide tons of useful information
As with your blog, provide tons of helpful information with everything you post. People always engage with content that offers value to them. It can be information about yoga teaching, practical information about yoga gear, inspiration, and ideas that are relevant and reflect your shared values and interests. You can even link your blog posts and social media, and repost the same content in a more condensed version. If you write a useful blog post, you can then post a short outline on your feed along with a link to your website.
Wrapping up
Social Media are all about being social. Reach out, make connections, and nurture your relationship with your followers and your students. Help them reach you by reaching out to them first. Once you find clarity and paint the profile of your favorite students, things will take their natural course. You can download, for free, a workbook that can help you Find Clarity and live your Dharma.
Send me a reply if you would like to bounce ideas off me about how to find more followers and students. I’d love to share your thoughts!
Love, Patricia
