How To Become A Fitness Influencer: Step-By-Step Guide

In this step-by-step guide, we'll teach you how to become a fitness influencer, as well as how to become a fitness ambassador, teaching you how to share your passion and knowledge with others. 

Before we get started, start your journey to becoming a fitness influencer by taking a L3 PT Diploma With OriGym! Enquire today, or download a free course prospectus to learn more.

Step #1- Get Qualified To Become A Fitness Influencer 

If you want to know how to become a fitness influencer, the first step is to get qualified.

Technically, anyone can become a fitness influencer. After all, all you need to do is start a fitness Instagram account!

But in reality, having the right qualifications will give your account a sense of authenticity and authority. In other words, qualifications enable you to provide trustworthy and accurate advice on health and fitness, from a place of knowledge and expertise. 

Without the right qualifications, users are unlikely to trust what you say or engage in your account, reducing your success as a fitness influencer!

If you are really wanting to know how to be a successful fitness influencer, you should become a L3 personal trainer.

This will give you an in-depth knowledge of health and fitness, meaning that you will be better equipped to give trustworthy and correct advice to your followers. Again, this will increase your engagement and success! 

We’d also recommend gaining a qualification that is relevant to a fitness niche. For example, if you want your account to focus on vegan weight training, completing an online nutrition course with OriGym will provide you with the knowledge to be able to create valuable content for your followers.

Of course, you'd have to choose a niche first before getting qualified in the relevant area, which we'll touch on in the next section!

Step #2- Find A Niche for Your Influencer Account 

Before we get into the practicalities of being a fitness influencer, you will first have to decide on your niche.

The fitness market is a crowded space, especially on visual social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. You will therefore need to do all you can to stand out!

We have a whole article here on finding your personal training niche. But in summary, here are some examples of the kinds of fitness niche’s you could choose as a fitness influencer:

• Weight loss
• Yoga
• CrossFit
• Powerlifting
• Bodybuilding
• Running

Whichever niche you choose, it needs to be something that you are knowledgeable and passionate about, as this will encourage users  to engage with your content. 

You may want to narrow down your niche even further, as this will allow you to begin building a trusted following of people specifically interested in that area.

For example, say you choose running as your niche. You could then narrow this down further to something like cross-country running. 

You can then provide informative, helpful content on this niche, which will attract engagement specifically from cross-country runners. You will then become a trusted voice in that particular field! 

Then, once you have established yourself as a trusted fitness influencer, you can expand the reach of your topics.

If you’re wondering how to become a successful fitness influencer, take a look at the example below for some inspiration. 

As you can see, Zoe’s niche is providing low calorie, high protein meals that her followers can implement to support their fitness routine.

She shares ‘What I Eat in a Day’ posts and reels to provide inspiration, as well as working with food brands such as JD Seasonings, which matches her niche.

It’s also important to consider the audience that you’d like to consume your content.

You should be familiar with your audience and what they want to get from the content that they view online, so that you’ll know how to help them with their fitness journeys.

For example, if your niche is weight loss, you could focus on posts based around topics such as:

• Motivation for staying on track
• Tips on staying in a calorie deficit
• Calorie-smart food swaps
• Healthy recipes

It is also a good idea to have a personal connection to your niche. For instance, you may have lost a lot of weight yourself, which has inspired you to become a fitness influencer in this niche.

Step #3- Join An Influencer Marketing Platform To Help You Become A Fitness Ambassador

If you’re wondering how to become a fitness ambassador on Instagram or any other social media platform you should join an influencer marketing platform. 

Research has found that 84% of people have made a purchase based on an influencer’s recommendation. Furthermore, 81% of consumers trust the recommendations of influencers more than those made by celebrities.

This highlights the importance of influencers to brands when they’re looking for ways to promote their products and services.

To ensure that you are discoverable to brands and marketers, you should therefore join an influencer marketing platform if you’re wondering how to become a fitness brand ambassador.

Although social media platforms such as TikTok have their own Creator Marketplace, platforms such as Upfluence offer a much more comprehensive service for brands and influencers.

Upfluence is widely used by brands looking to improve their online marketing strategy, as it simplifies the process of finding influencers who can create relevant content for their audience.

For instance, brands can use the platform’s advanced search function to filter their search by keyword and demographics.

This allows them to find influencers who fit with the goals of their marketing campaign, as well as those who will appeal to their target audience.

By specifying your niche on Upfluence, you will therefore find it much easier to connect with brands who share the same vision and goals as you and your target audience.

They are then more likely to approach you to become a fitness ambassador for their brand. 

Another advantage of using Upfluence is that it allows influencers to create an account and analyse their performance metrics on Instagram and TikTok, which includes:

• Engagement rates
• Average comments and likes
• Average views
• Audience demographics

As well as allowing you to see where you can make improvements, brands can also see these statistics and make data-based decisions on whether you are the right fit to represent their products or services.

You will also be able to begin building up a portfolio of positive feedback from previous brand collaborations to display on the platform. 

This will prove to brands that you are reliable, and they are therefore more likely to want to collaborate with you. Using influencer platforms such as this is therefore one of the best fitness marketing strategies and an essential step in how to become a fitness Instagram influencer.

Enjoying this article so far? Here’s 3 more that we think you’ll love:

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Step #4- Develop A Content Strategy for Your Influencer Page

If you're wondering, ‘how do I become a fitness influencer?’, you should know that influencer marketing on social media is a highly competitive and saturated market. 

Your content therefore needs to stand out from the crowd, and developing a unique content strategy is the best way to ensure this!

Content strategies provide a plan for the creation, delivery, and management of your content on Instagram and TikTok, resulting in a high quality content roadmap for you to follow rather than just improvising with mediocre content. 

Developing an effective content strategy is also important from an SEO (search engine optimisation) perspective too.

We have a whole article here explaining the importance of SEO for fitness professionals. But in summary, SEO refers to the process of optimising your content to allow yourself to become more visible both on Google and on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. 

As well as using relevant hashtags and keywords, one of the most important factors for increasing content visibility and engagement is the quality of your content.

This requires planning your content ahead of time, to ensure that it will be engaging to your target audience.

You’ll also need to research the algorithms for the specific platforms that you’re planning on using. For example, a strategy that works well on Instagram may not necessarily work well on TikTok. 

Studies suggest that posts with 20 to 30 hashtags on Instagram receive the highest average reach rate. In contrast, the TikTok algorithm responds better to posts that have 3 to 4 hashtags, which should be a mixture of trending and more specific hashtags that are relevant to your content.

When developing your content strategy, there are some rules that you should consider to ensure that your content successfully reaches and engages your target audience. 

Here are some things to consider: 

Use High Quality Images and Graphics 

Visual platforms such as Instagram and TikTok rely heavily on using eye-catching images to make users stop scrolling and engage with your content.

So if you’re wondering how to become an Instagram fitness influencer, you will need to ensure that your images and videos are of a high quality to attract users to your page.

If your images are of a low quality, then users are more likely to keep scrolling past your posts. This is because low quality images are harder for the brain to process. Plus, it gives the impression that you are unprofessional and not a reputable fitness influencer. 

Using high quality images is also important if you want to know how to become a fitness brand ambassador, as it can help attract brands to your page. 

Your profile ultimately acts as your portfolio, and so high-quality images also show brands that you are committed to your work, and they are more likely to want to work with you as a result.

Post Content Regularly

Another thing to ensure when creating your content strategy is to post regularly. 

Posting regularly makes your content more memorable to followers, which allows you to build a relationship with your target audience.

Your audience will begin to expect to see your content if you continually post on the same day every week, or at the same time each day, and so will begin to build loyalty towards you.

This is also better for SEO purposes, as it gives more opportunities for the algorithm to pick up on your account and make your posts visible to those searching for relevant content.

Posting consistently gives the Instagram and TikTok algorithms a chance to learn what you and your content are about.

This makes it easier to categorise your content and means that it is more likely to appear on the feeds of your target users.

Keep Your Branding Consistent

When it comes to becoming a fitness influencer on Instagram, as well as posting regularly, you should also keep the actual content and branding of your posts consistent. 

Keeping your brand aesthetic consistent is also much more visually appealing to users, making it more likely that they will engage with your page. 

For example, the fitness influencer below has kept a visually consistent feed on her Instagram.

As you can see, the style and font that she uses to label her posts remains consistent throughout her feed. This helps her profile appear sleek and stylish, so more users are likely to engage with her posts.

Consistency also helps you to appear more professional, as you’ll come across as more trustworthy and reliable if you keep your theme consistent throughout your profile.

Include Video Content

If you’re wondering ‘what does a fitness influencer do?’, one of the key components of their role is creating video content.

According to a survey, 91% of users watch videos on Instagram every week. So, if you fail to post video content, you’re likely to be missing out on reaching a large proportion of your potential audience!

Video content also gives you the chance to show your personality, whilst allowing your followers to put a face or voice to your name.

This gives your account some authenticity and allows followers to build a more emotional connection with you.

Videos are also appealing to brands looking for influencers to work with. Research has shown that 88% of video marketers reported a positive return on investment from their video marketing campaigns. So creating video content is vital if you want to know how to be a fitness ambassador. 

Check out our guide to personal trainer video marketing for more information on how to create engaging video content.

Prioritise Engagement Over Followers

When wondering ‘what does a fitness influencer do?’, you may think that it is all about getting as many followers as possible. Whilst this is of course useful, increasing your engagement is actually more beneficial! 

Engagement is about how much users interact with your content, such as likes, shares and comments. 

Engagement is a key metric on both Instagram and TikTok if you’re wondering how to be a fitness influencer, as it has a huge impact on how visible your content is to users.

This is because if users fail to like, comment, or share your posts, social media algorithms will assume that your content isn’t relevant to them. The algorithm is therefore less likely to display this content to others.

To prevent this, it’s important to remember that the work doesn’t stop once you’ve developed and uploaded your content.

Spending time in the comments section will show your followers that you appreciate their engagement with your content.

This also gives you a chance to respond to questions, shown in the example post below. As you can see, this fitness influencer has replied to comments on her post, which has given her a chance to promote her brand partnership with Gymshark.

So, if you are wondering how to become a fitness influencer on Instagram, you should be willing to spend time engaging with your followers!

Step #5- Build A Media Kit to Succeed as a Fitness Influencer

So, once you have developed your content strategy, the next step in how to become a fitness influencer is to build a media kit. 

A media kit is essentially a portfolio of your work, showing your achievements, past partnerships, and future career goals.

They are designed to represent you, your brand, and the type of content that you create, to show brands looking to collaborate with an influencer why they should choose you.

It’s essential to have a media kit if you’re wondering how to become a fitness brand ambassador, as many brands will request to see one from influencers before drawing up a contract. 

So, if you don’t have a media kit ready to go when brands enquire, you may actually miss out on gaining work!

Even fitness influencers with smaller followings- known as micro-influencers, should have a media kit, as some brands are becoming increasingly interested in working with those who have a niche, yet highly engaged audience.

A good, well thought-out media kit is also essential to:

• Establish some pricing options for brands
• Show that your followers are engaged with your content
• Demonstrate the value that you can bring to brands

When creating your media kit, you should include:

• An introduction to who you are
• A headshot of you
• Key information about your brand
• Samples of your posts
• Key metrics, such as followers, likes per post, and average post engagement rate
• Your niche and target audience
• The types of content that you offer 
• A portfolio of your previous partnerships, including engagement statistics
• Pricing
• Contact information

So, if you’re wanting to know how to be a fitness influencer on Instagram, you should start creating your media kit so that you are ready for the next step- which we discuss below! 

Step #6- Reach Out and Pitch to Fitness Brands

If you want to know how to become a fitness ambassador, once you have created your media kit, you can then start reaching out to brands yourself. 

Although influencer marketing platforms are a great way of making yourself visible to brands and sponsors, you shouldn’t waste time waiting for brands to approach you.

Instead, you should be proactive and use Instagram and TikTok to find relevant brands that you’d like to work with.

You can then get in touch with them directly with a personalised pitch, via direct message or through their brand’s PR email address. 

This is more effective if you reach out to a person working within their PR department rather than a team address, as they are much more likely to see your email this way. 

LinkedIn is a great platform for discovering who to address your pitch to. For example, the head of PR at Gymshark is Stephanie O’Neill.

If you’re wondering how to become a fitness ambassador on Instagram who reaches out to brands, we’d recommend sending them your media kit, using it to show them why and how you can add value to their marketing strategy.

It’s crucial to ensure that any pitches you make are personalised to the brand and not generic, as this shows that you understand the products and services that the brand offers to their target demographic.

When designing your pitch, look at the platforms that the brand uses influencer marketing on most often.

For instance, if they post most of their collaborations on Instagram rather than TikTok, you should focus your pitch on how you can help engage Instagram users primarily. 

You should also follow brands you’d like to work with on their social media accounts and pay attention to the types of partnerships they establish with other influencers. 

This can give you some idea of the type of content they produce, so that you know how to suit your pitch to their needs.

For example, if your dream collaboration is with Gymshark, then looking at their influencer collaborations on TikTok shows that one of the main types of content that they produce is hauls of their products.

Within your pitch you can then give them some ideas that you’d potentially use in your sponsored content.

However, be sure to leave the brand wanting more and don’t give away all of your ideas for free, as they may use them even if they don’t end up collaborating with you!

Step #7- Track The Progress of Your Influencer Account

So, you should have now implemented all the steps you need to become a fitness influencer.

However, your work doesn’t stop there! One of the most important behind the scenes duties of a fitness influencer that you’ll need to carry out is tracking how well your social media pages are performing.

This is one of the most important steps of starting a fitness Instagram, as it is the only way that you will keep growing and improving! 

To do this, you should regularly monitor engagement metrics such as:

• Likes
• Comments
• Shares
• Impressions made
• Post engagement rate- The number of engagements divided by impressions made
• Organic mentions - @mentions that aren’t part of a reply or are tagging you in an Instagram story without prompt

On Instagram, these metrics can be measured using the ‘Post Insights’ feature if you switch to a business account, which is available to view for each of your posts.

By tracking your engagement metrics, you can use these findings to see which type of content performs well.

For example, the two images below show @pinchofbecky’s two most recent posts on Instagram.

As you can see, the post on the left has significantly more likes than the food-related post, which is a recurring theme throughout Becky’s profile.

Along with the other engagement metrics we’ve mentioned above, if Becky takes this into account, then she’ll know which type of content performs best.

This is highly useful when learning how to become a fitness Instagram influencer, as it will highlight the types of posts that her audience are most likely to engage with, therefore informing her future content strategy.

You can also put these metrics into your media kit, so that brands can judge how highly engaged your audience are with your content. 

One of the most simple and effective ways of tracking the success of your content is through using software such as SproutSocial.

This social media analytics tool allows you to track and compare your performance across multiple networks, before placing the results all in one report.

For example, the Outbound Hashtags Performance Chart feature allows you to track the hashtags that you use the most, as well as their performance. 

This allows you to see the hashtags that are helping you to gain the most engagement, which you can then begin using more often.

Before You Go!

Whether you were wondering how to become a fitness influencer on TikTok, Instagram, or both platforms, you should now know the steps that you need to take to be successful online.

Feeling inspired? Take your first steps in becoming a fitness influencer today by taking OriGym’s PT diploma. Enquire today, or download our free prospectus to learn more.

References

• Immar Intelligence, ‘Immar Intelligence Survey Finds 84 Percent of Shoppers Have Made a Purchased Based on an Influencer’s Recommendation’, June 2021
• Monique Thomas, ‘The Number of Hashtags You Should Use on Instagram, According to 18M Posts’, Later Blog, November 2021/
• Instagram Business Team, ‘Instagram Business Insights: Push Your Brand’s Creativity’, September 2021
• Alicia Collins and Megan Conley, ‘The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing’, Hubspot, September 2022