Social media for Judo Clubs

Social Media Advice/Findings For Judo Clubs

Overview

Before I started the Dojo Mats business, I knew little about social media and how it works. Over time, however, I've read up on how Facebook works and have gathered quite an understanding of the platform and how it can be used to gain traction for your Facebook page. I currently have about 4000 followers within 1.7years on Facebook and can humbly say that they are quite an engaged audience. I have had posts that were shared 1000+times, and some (at the start) which had about a measly 7 likes.


A more popular Facebook page = more attention = more likelihood of visitors for your Judo club.
This would mean that a less popular Judo Facebook page definitely struggles in its early stages. Fortunately, it gets easier as the page gains popularity
In this blog post I will be posting advice/findings for pure Judo clubs and their mistakes, and the reasoning behind it. As a mixed Judo page (MMA+JUDO+BJJ) have a mixed audience, the rules change slightly. 


2010 - 2019 has been a fairly socially connected decade, and it is portrayed by the amount of social media applications available used by millions. Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook etc allows people to look up in seconds what the person has been up to without even talking to them. Gone are the days where you'd have to send an email/letter and ask the person directly. What this means for clubs trying to gain followers, is that you need to be smart about what you post as it can be easily accessed/seen.
The points below do not follow any order of any kind and should be used as a general guideline. Facebook changes its algorithm often to suit the needs of its users, but your attempts at gaining organic (unpaid) followers boils down to a few things.

Mistake 1: Posting/sharing content which is unrelated to Judo

Facebook needs to learn about your target audience. When someone reacts/engages with your post, the more likelihood they are associated with your page.
Tagging, mentioning, "checking" into places are all things  you can do to improve facebook's ability to organically target people interested in your page 
Uninteresting, unrelated posts drive potential likers/followers that would otherwise provide your page with social proof. Generally, interesting facts about Judo are pretty popular.

Sharing content can be tricky. You can get up to 1% reach of audience depending on how much the post relates to the audience! Facebook is a business, and if they detect you're trying to share a promotion, they'd mark it down so you'd need to "boost" it.

Mistake 2: Not posting consistently on your Judo page

Posting frequently drives more traffic to your page when posts are commented on, reacted to, and have a great sharing/comment/reaction ratio

 

Mistake 3: Posting at the wrong time on your Judo page

People cant see your posts if they arent awake, or are busy at work

 

Mistake 4: Begging/pleading for shares/likes/comments for your Judo post

Facebook marks down posts like that, as posts like that arent great experiences for the viewer. Facebook generally favors posts that invoke engagement from the user.

I have seen some posts complaining about the lack of attendance, which isnt a great sight for potential customers!

Mistake 5: Bad user experiences

Language that invoke a negative light. Language like "oh you're fat? need to work off the excess?" is generally frowned upon. 
Fuzzy pictures generate little interest. Nice, well shot pictures of Judoka are great
Posts that dont fall in line with viewers values. For example, If i'm following your Judo page, why is there a video of a dog in it? is it Judo related? Do I like your Judo page enough to care about it?Videos that are unrelated to your page harm public interest.
It might be worth the money to hire someone to do the graphics design for promotions, or events. If not, don't expect that there'll be a lot of attention if your post doesnt line up with Facebook's terms and conditions!

Mistake 6: Purchasing likes/followers not related to Judo

"Screw it! lets go to F*v*rr and just purchase likers! They seem fairly cost effective and seem to know what they're doing. 1000likes for $5? great!"
Likers who are purchase might contribute to social value, i.e wow this page has 50,000 likers, but when every post has 2 likes, its a bad look and represents the page poorly. No one really believes that 3598 people have checked into a business which has just started 1 year ago.

Mistake 7: Boosting

If you're unsure on what to boost, you might be wasting your money. Targeting the "Judo" interest might seem like its the most obvious choice, but if you're looking for cold customers for your Judo page, the "Judo" interest might not be the audience you would be targeting for

 

General Social Media Etiquette

Tagging visitors of your Dojo (or from other clubs) is a great way to gain attention from your page.

Have an overseas Judoka visiting? Take a group photo and tag them in it. Chances are that their friends will see and react to the page too. Their overseas friends might even visit you one day for travelling. I feel that the clubs with the not-so-technologically-sound owner/Sensei might forget about doing so, but building a network on people interested in your page isnt done in a day, it takes some effort.

Sharing posts (not copying and making it look like its yours - thats stealing) not only helps define the audience that you are related to, it helps characterize the post as a quality/worthy post. Sharing a popular post already contains information that it is a value post and Facebook tends to leave it around for longer. Copying and pasting would reset the "interest" count and might not give you the same exposure as sharing.

Next time, tag your Judo friends and check in when you visit a tournament by checking into the tournament area.

There's a lot to do! But do it bit by bit, starting from posting consistently.

Summary

What do you think? Have you been making any of these mistakes?

Check out our comments left on the facebook post for any interesting tips left from other people. here

If you'd like me to share your event or post, do get in touch! I am happy to do so if it lines up with my values, and if I feel like it contributes to the interest of the page followers. As mentioned above, it might not be worth doing so if the post is unrelated/designed too casually. Generally, If you agree to share an agreed post of mine, and we both have something to gain from it, I'd be more than happy to do so!

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