While the ancient art of yoga can be traced back some 10,000 years, it still remains a popular practice – with some 300 million active yogis worldwide.
Today, the main principles of yoga – well-being, self-love and mental health – are more esteemed than ever before. Social media provides a platform for the masses to connect and discuss these topics. For the many yogis and yoga studio owners amongst us, Instagram is one such platform that has transformed the industry.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro or you’re just getting started in the field, here are some helpful tips to propel your brand’s Instagram feed, grow followers, showcase your yoga brand and drive sales.
Have a strategy
Similar to a business plan, a social media strategy is all about knowing your target audience and adding value to their needs. The main question you should be asking yourself is: ‘who is my tribe?’ Your’s likely includes:
- Yoga enthusiasts
- Well-being followers
- Exercise fans
- Lifestyle followers
Pro tip: Think about the people and brands that you follow on Instagram. What do you like about their content? What makes you want to engage with their content? Focus on these points as you brainstorm.
The next step to consider is what type of content you’d like to create.
Content is king
Great content is the heart of every stellar social media strategy. As a yoga specialist, you have many content possibilities to choose from. Here are 7 ideas to get you started:
- Well-being quotes
- Photos and descriptions of yoga poses
- How-to yoga guides
- Remote yoga sessions
- Inspiring lifestyle images
- Competitions and giveaways
- Relevant popular events and trends, such as #fitnessfriday or National Yoga Day
- Video templates – Our Boosted video maker app has great, free yoga video templates you can customize for your brand:
Pick your favorite ideas and then get creating! For further inspiration, check out our 50 Engaging Instagram Story Ideas.
Outreach
Now you have a content schedule, the next step is understanding when the best time to post on Instagram is (yes, there is some science behind it!) With one billion active users on Instagram, you’ll want to ensure that your content breaks through the noise. Follow this guide to ensure that your Instagram feed content is posted at the optimal times for engagement.
It’s also a good practice to delve into your account’s Insights to understand when your audience is most active. For instance, are yogis morning people and therefore up and scrolling earlier in the day? Do they generally look at their phones less over the weekend?
To check your Insights, make sure you’re using an Instagram Business Account (which we highly recommend utilizing for your brand!). Tap Insights > Audience > Followers. There, you can analyze both Hours (the average times your followers are on Instagram on a typical day) & Days (the days of the week when your followers are the most active).
Assess the competition
Finally, assess what your yogi competitors are doing on Instagram. This will provide you with content ideas for your own feed and stories. To get started, here are 3 yoga accounts to follow:
Best for yogis in training
Wife, mother, and yoga teacher @laurasykora has amassed over 1.2 million followers with her flexible poses and can-do attitude. She often features her young daughter in her content, which sends her audience the message that yoga is a sport that anyone can get involved in! Her feed features compelling and empowering images.
Best for growing yoga studios
Proving that you don’t need to have a massive following to rock Instagram, @sweatysoulstudio is the perfect embodiment of a rising yoga social star. The account has all the right ingredients – from relatable posts to lifestyle images and mind-bending poses shot in great locations. With easy to access click-throughs to classes, @sweatysoulstudio is also a great place to glean inspiration for how to drive sales.
Best for modern lifestyles
Bucking the trend that yoga is a female-dominated industry, @dade2shelby is redefining people’s perspectives of the industry. With glossy posts and strong images, he cleverly shows that yoga is a way of life. His comments offer a coach-like approach to yoga that the industry has been missing up until now.
