Instagram Yoga Marketing: 7 Expert Tips

Instagram is quickly becoming an increasingly popular and effective marketing tool for yoga businesses. Whether you’re an individual yoga teacher or own your own studio, it is an essential platform for attracting students and generating brand awareness.

But with so much to consider, it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to Instagram yoga marketing, covering 7 expert tips for how to market yourself as a yoga instructor on Instagram. 

Before we get started, why not take your yoga career to the next level and become a Level 4 yoga instructor with OriGym? Enquire today, or download our free yoga course prospectus to find out more about our industry-leading courses. 

Tip #1- Focus on Creating High-Quality Content

Our first tip for yoga Instagram marketing is to focus on creating high-quality content. 

This should be at the core of your marketing strategy. Without good quality content, you will struggle to increase your reach and engagement.

‘Reach’ refers to how many users view your content. 

‘Engagement’ refers to how many users interact with your content through actions such as likes, comments and shares. 

Both of these things are key to successfully marketing a yoga business on Instagram.

Whatever kind of content you post, you should keep in mind the 80/20 rule of marketing.

This is a marketing principle that says that 80% of the content you post should inform, educate and entertain your followers. The other 20% should be promotion of your products and services. 

This may seem surprising, as you may think that the main purpose of marketing is to promote your business and ultimately make money as a yoga teacher! However, this kind of ‘hard sell’ approach is not effective. 

This is because users are more likely to engage with content that adds value for them- such as the ideas we will outline below. Whilst this does not directly lead to a sale, it all serves to increase your brand identity, showing potential students the kind of thing they can expect from your classes or studio. 

If they like what they see, they are then more likely to enquire and become a paying student! 

To get you started, here are some ideas for the types of content you can post on your Instagram:

Images and Videos Of Asanas (Yoga Poses)

If you are wondering how to market yourself as a yoga instructor on Instagram, a good place to start is to post images and videos of you in various asanas (yoga poses).

Whilst asana practice is only one part of what makes up yoga, since Instagram is a predominantly visual platform, it is a highly valuable yoga marketing tool. 

So, why post asana photos and videos? This is a great yoga teaching strategy as it:

• Creates savable content
• Can be used as part of an advertsiement
• Allows you to show your ‘human side’

Let's discuss why these 3 things are important.

• Create ‘Savable’ Content 

One of the main reasons to post photos and video tutorials of asanas is that educational content is the most ‘savable’ type of content on Instagram. 

This means that users will ‘save’ the post, meaning that it will appear in their ‘Saved’ posts to revisit again at a later date. 

You may think that likes and comments are the most important metrics for measuring the success of an Instagram post. However, Instagram have recently changed their algorithm to place more value on saves, rather than likes and comments.

This is because when someone saves a post, it tells Instagram that it is valuable high-quality content that users want to keep coming back to. 

The more saves a post gets, the higher up Instagram will place it on your followers’ news feeds. 

It also makes it more likely for the post to appear on the ‘Explore’ page, increasing your reach to people who don’t necessarily follow you. This therefore increases your brand visibility and encourages users to look at your profile and ultimately become a paying student!

For example, the yoga teacher below has posted a series of videos demonstrating how to do a handstand. 

A tutorial like this is a good example of ‘savable’ content, because someone may want to try these handstand tips, but they are not currently doing yoga. They can therefore save the post so that they can revisit it the next time they are on the mat. 

In fact, this is also encouraged in the caption- “Save this sequence and do it before your next handstand press”. 

This kind of educational content is also a good Instagram yoga marketing tool as it demonstrates your knowledge and expertise as a yoga teacher. 

To take the example above, she has also used it as a means to direct users to other aspects of her business, such as her Youtube channel- “Longer sequences will be up on yt shortly”.

She also uses it to advertise her yoga programme- “We also do A LOT of handstand strength and flexibility preparation and development in my yoga programme”. 

When making a video tutorial, you can even get creative and edit your videos, adding things like text and graphics- such as the example below:

Again, as you can see, they have told users to “hit SAVE & try it out later”. 

• Use It As a Means To Advertise Your Classes

You can also use a photo or video to advertise a specific upcoming class that you are teaching. 

For example, the yoga teacher below has used a photo of her in a yoga studio to advertise an upcoming class she is teaching in that studio.

This therefore demonstrates how you can use photos and videos not only to educate, but also as a more direct way to generate sales leads and ultimately gain students! 

• Show Your ‘Human Side’ As A Yoga Teacher

Finally, asana photos and videos can also be used in a more holistic way to convey things such as your personality and values as a yoga teacher. 

For example, the yoga teacher below shows how you can use an image of an asana as a means to share a caption about her own practice. 

As you can see, whilst the photo demonstrates her physical skills, the caption makes her appear more ‘human’ and ‘real’, by talking openly about her personal practice and life in general. 

Both practical skills and being ‘human’ and approachable are both important traits of a good yoga teacher. Demonstrating these traits through your Instagram will therefore help you attract potential students! 

As with all of your content, the quality of your asana images and videos is important. This will help your brand appear professional and is ultimately what will attract users to your page. 

A good tip is to ensure that you have a plain or fairly neutral background to do your poses against- such as in the example above. This helps the asana itself stand out, as well as keeping your page professional. 

Images and Videos Of Your Yoga Classes

As well as images and videos of yourself doing yoga poses, it is also important to include your students in your Instagram yoga marketing content. 

If you’re wondering how to market yourself as a yoga instructor on Instagram, you should post images and videos of classes you have taught. 

This is a great way to demonstrate your teaching style and give potential students an idea of what they can expect from your classes.

Plus, a video of a busy class with lots of students implies that your classes are popular and in high-demand. Again, this will make people want to go to your classes!

This could be in the form of a still image, such as the example below:

As you can see, the class is full, indicating that her classes are popular and in high-demand. Psychologically, this will make people want to go to her classes, as her classes must be busy for a reason! 

You could also do a short video of a part of your class. 

Since yoga classes are typically an hour-long, a good way to do this is by creating a time-lapse video of your class. 

To do this, simply place a camera at the back of the room where you are teaching, and select the ‘timelapse’ function on your camera. 

For example, the yoga teacher below has posted a timelapse of one of her classes:

Images and Videos Of Your Studio

If you’re a yoga studio owner, images and videos of your studio are one of the best types of content to create for marketing a yoga studio on Instagram. 

This is a great way to attract students to your studio because if done well, you can present your studio in a positive light and give them an insight into what the studio is like.  

This could be through images of the studio, such as in the example below:

As you can see, they have also accompanied this with information about the studio in the caption (such as parking, facilities etc).

You could also do this in a video format as a yoga studio tour. 

For example, the yoga studio below has posted a studio tour where they film from the street outside, walking into the studio to the studio space itself. 

Another good type of content for marketing a yoga studio on Instagram is to do a ‘meet the teachers’ video.

For example, the same studio has done a post dedicated to each teacher, where they introduce themselves in a short video.

As you can see, they have then given details of the time of that teacher’s class. This therefore changes the post from merely informative to more directly sales-related too, as it encourages users to book onto her class.

Both of these things are great ways to give potential students an insight into your studio. 

This is an effective Instagram yoga marketing technique, as people are more likely to spend money on a studio if they already know what it looks like. 

Since they already have an idea of whether they will like it or not, there is less risk of them spending their money and having a nasty surprise when they turn up at the studio itself!

Take Advantage of Instagram Reels 

We have already mentioned some of the types of video content you can post on your Instagram.  

You can post a video as a post on your feed, or as a ‘Reel’. 

Reels are full-screen videos that can be up to 90 seconds long.

Like TikTok, you can edit together multiple video clips, add text, voiceovers and music to your Reels. 

So, why create a Reel rather than a video? 

Reels are one of the most favoured types of content by the Instagram algorithm. This means that creating reels can help increase your engagement and reach. 

This is because users can find Reels on both the general Explore page and the dedicated Reels Explore Feed. 

On these pages, users can scroll and view Reels not only from accounts they follow, but also accounts that are popular, trending, or recommended to them from the Instagram algorithm. This means that your content is reaching more people. 

To demonstrate what we mean, let’s compare the statistics from OriGym’s own Instagram. 

The post on the left is a static post (i.e. a normal post on our feed), whereas the other on the right is a Reel.

As you can see, the Reel has reached 41,449 accounts, whereas the post has only reached 1,462!

The Reel has also received a lot more engagement, in terms of likes and shares. 

Since they are only up to 90 seconds long, Reels are great for shorter-form content such as:

• Short yoga flows
• Quick tips and tutorials 
• Time lapses of a class
• A ‘day in the life’ vlog 

Use Infographics and Short Text-based Posts

As well as images and videos, it is also a good idea to incorporate some infographics and/or text-based posts into your yoga Instagram feed.

As we have said, Instagram is a predominantly visual platform. You should therefore avoid posting large chunks of text on your feed. 

Instead, remember to keep to a few words and make sure that you use a bold, easy-to-read font. 

Short text-based posts are a good way to display information about an upcoming class, such as the example below:

As you can see, the image only contains the two pieces of key information (the day and time of the class). They have then given more specific details in the caption, such as the type of class and how to sign up. 

A text-based post is also a good way to share an inspiring yoga quote, such as in the example below:

As you can see, they have layered the quote over a high-quality image, meaning that it still fits with the theme of their Instagram profile. 

Again, they have only included a few words of text in the image itself, and elaborated on it in more detail in the caption. 

Sharing quotes such as this is an effective yoga Instagram marketing technique as although it may not seem directly sales-related, it contributes to your brand identity and shows your more ‘human’ side. 

Websites such as Canva are an easy and accessible way to create text-based posts and infographics. 

Post Highlights From Your Daily Personal Life

When it comes to how to market yourself as a yoga instructor on Instagram, you may think that you should only post directly yoga-related content. 

However, you should also expand your content to other aspects of your daily personal life.

Of course, the content should still be relevant to yoga. 

For example, it is not a good idea to start sharing things like photos from a night out with your friends, or endless selfies! 

Instead, it should be things that present you in a positive light as a well-rounded yoga teacher and person in general! 

It also helps give you a more personal and ‘human’ element to your yoga business, which will make you more appealing to potential students.

This is because unlike a standard fitness class, yoga is not just about the physical practice. It is also about your life off the mat too, such as:

• Your values, morals and behaviour in everyday life
• Meditation and pranayama (breathing techniques)
• Karma yoga (acts of good service, giving back to the community etc)
• Diet and nutrition (e.g. following a vegetarian and Ayurvedic diet)
• Reading books about yoga and ancient texts  

For example, this yoga teacher has posted about a yoga book she is reading:

This therefore conveys to visitors of her page that she is a good yoga teacher, as she is still learning and expanding her knowledge. They are then more likely to enquire and ultimately attend her classes! 

Similarly, posting healthy recipe and meal ideas such as the one below also has the same effect. 

Again, whilst this isn’t directly yoga-related, it feeds into the general yoga teacher brand identity of leading a generally healthy lifestyle. 

As well as posts on your feed, Instagram stories are also a good way to document aspects of your daily life. We will discuss this feature in more detail in tip 4 of this article! 

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

• How To Become A Yoga Instructor: The Definitive Guide 
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Tip #2- Use Instagram Stories

When it comes to creating content for your Instagram yoga marketing, you may just think of creating posts.

However, there is a huge range of other ways to create content on Instagram that can help you take your Instagram yoga marketing to the next level- such as the stories feature. 

Whereas posts on your feed are permanent, stories expire after 24 hours. Or, you can save stories onto your profile with a Story Highlight. 

With over 500 million users looking at Instagram stories every day and one third of those stories being from businesses, it is definitely worth taking advantage of this feature. 

Stories are a great way to maintain your reach and engagement on a daily basis, even if you don’t have any content to post on your main feed.  

The temporary nature of stories means that they are ideal for sharing shorter term pieces of content with your followers, such as:

Updates From Your Daily Life

As we discussed in Tip #1 of this article, posting updates from your daily life is a good way to present yourself as an approachable and relatable yoga teacher.

Stories are a good way to do this, as you can post them throughout the day. 

Plus, since they aren’t permanent, stories are a less ‘formal’ and polished type of content compared to a permanent post on your feed. They are therefore a great way to present the ‘real’ you to your followers. 

This could be anything from a healthy breakfast you had to a selfie updating your followers on what you are doing- such as the example below:

User-Generated Content (UGC)

This is content that is created by your followers that they have tagged you in, that you then repost to your own story.

Since the content is already created, this is one of the easiest methods of marketing a yoga business on Instagram!

This could be anything from a video of one of your student’s self practice to a photo of their coffee after class. Or, in the example below, a student has posted a photo of the studio:

This is a great way of marketing a yoga studio on Instagram as it acts as a form of review, as your followers can see ‘real’ photos of your studio- rather than just marketing photos. 

This therefore presents you as a credible and trustworthy studio, making people more likely to attend! 

Your Timetable for the Day/Week/Month

Stories are also a great way to tell your followers about your upcoming classes. 

Whilst you can do this as a post on your feed, since you might have a different schedule every day, it could make your feed appear too text-heavy. It is therefore better to post this on your story, as you can post a new one every day without affecting the aesthetic of your feed. 

A good way to do this is to post it as text over an image or colour- such as the example below. You can do this using design software such as Canva. 

As you can see, they have also added a direct link to book onto the class. This directs users straight from the story to their website’s booking page.

This is therefore an effective yoga Instagram marketing technique as it turns the story from being just informative (telling users about upcoming classes) into a sales-related action (signing up and paying for a class). 

Tip #3- Use Consistent Branding

An important thing to remember about Instagram yoga marketing is to always keep your visual branding consistent. 

In other words, you should create a consistent ‘aesthetic’ across your feed and stories. 

This is important for marketing a yoga business on Instagram because:

• It increases your engagement. Having a visually-appealing profile makes for a better user experience, which makes them more likely to stay on your page and engage with your content.
• Increases brand recognition. When users become familiar with your branding, they will instantly recognise if a post is coming from your page.
• It makes your yoga business appear professional. If your branding is disorganised and incohesive, this will come across as unprofessional. 

Some tips for having consistent branding on your Instagram are:

Create a Logo/Icon

Your logo appears not only on your profile page, but also on every single post and story.  

It is therefore the thing that users will see the most, so it is an essential part of brand recognition. so it is worth taking the time to perfect it!

Using a logo- rather than just an image, makes your business appear more professional and credible, as well as increasing brand recognition. 

For example, the yoga teacher below is a good example of how to create an effective logo for your yoga Instagram marketing.

As you can see, she has formatted her logo to be the appropriate size and shape for Instagram. 

The logo you use on Instagram should also be the same as the logo you have used on any other marketing platforms. Again, this creates brand consistency and professionalism. 

We have a whole guide here to creating a fitness business logo for more tips! 

Design Instagram Story Highlight Icons

As well as a main logo, you should also create icons for your story highlights. 

This makes your profile more user-friendly as users can easily view stories on a particular topic. Again, this will make users stay on your profile and therefore increase engagement! 

For example, the yoga teacher below has used icons of different yoga poses for each of her story highlights. 

As you can see, she has used the same style and colour of illustration, helping create brand consistency and recognition. 

Other Ways To Keep Your Branding Consistent 

When marketing a yoga business on Instagram, some other ways to create a visually-appealing profile are:

• Keep a consistent colour palette
• Use the same font
• Use the same background for your images
• Keep the same general theme, e.g. bright and fun or neutral and minimalist

Again, these things should be consistent with the rest of your marketing channels such as your yoga teacher website.

Tip #4- Direct Users From Your Instagram to your Website

Once you have created your content and developed your branding, the next step is to make 

One of the main benefits of yoga Instagram marketing is that you can use it as a way to direct users from your profile to your website.

In marketing, this is called ‘lead generation’. 

In other words, you turn someone who was merely browsing on Instagram into a potential paying student! 

The steps for generating leads through Instagram yoga marketing are:

Step 1- Create a Landing Page

We have a whole guide to creating a landing page here. 

But in summary, a landing page is a stand-alone page where a user ‘lands’ after being directed from another platform- such as Instagram. 

Unlike a website that has lots of different pages with different directions for the user to take, a landing page is designed for the user to take just one specific action. 

A typical yoga teacher/studio landing page will direct the user to do things such as:

• Book onto a class, workshop, course or retreat 
• Purchase a membership 
• Leave a review 
• Subscribe to a newsletter
• Purchase a product e.g. equipment, clothing
• Download a file e.g. a yoga guide or eBook

Step 2- Link to Your Landing Page in Your Bio

Once you have created your landing page, you now need to include the link to it in your yoga Instagram bio. 

Including a link in your bio is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic from Instagram to your website or a landing page. 

This is simply a clickable URL link that takes users to a specific link (in this case, to your landing page). 

Instagram only allows users to include one link on their profile. This can therefore feel limiting if you have several pages that you want to direct users to. 

For example, you might want to direct users to both your booking page as well as get them to subscribe to your newsletter.

We would therefore recommend that you use one of the many ‘link in bio’ landing page tools that allow you to include several links in one!  

One of the most popular ‘link in bio’ tools is Linktree. 

This works by allowing you to create a custom landing page that contains all of the links you want to share. 

For example, the yoga teacher below has used Linktree to create a landing page in her bio. 

As you can see, she has drawn more attention to her Linktree link by using emojis to directly point towards the link.  

Clicking the link then brings up her Linktree landing page:

As you can see, this one link actually includes 5 different links, helping you get around Instagram’s limit of only one link in your bio.

This is a highly effective way of marketing a yoga business on Instagram as with just two clicks, users can take a direct sales-related action such as sign up to a class. 

If you were to link to your general website, users would have to take more steps before taking an action (e.g. they would have to navigate your website to find the booking page etc). 

Step 3- Direct Users To Your Link From Your Posts and Stories

Once you have created your landing page and included the link in your bio, you now need to direct users to it!

Whilst they will see the link when they land on your profile, you should also direct them to it from other aspects of your yoga Instagram marketing. 

The best way to do this is through a Call To Action (CTA). 

A CTA is when you prompt a customer or user to take a specific action, telling them exactly what to do and how to do it. 

The most effective place to include a CTA is within a caption on a feed post. 

For example, the yoga studio below has created a post about workshops they have coming up that month. 

As you can see, they have listed the details of the workshop and ended with the CTA- “Book now, link in bio!”

This is one of the easiest ways of marking a yoga studio on Instagram, as just a few words is enough to get the user to take action on the information that they have just read. 

In this case, they have read the information about the workshops, and now know exactly what to do to book onto them. 

In other words, it transforms your content from being merely informative to something that ultimately makes you money! 

Tip #5- Engage With Your Community

Another thing to remember when it comes to yoga Instagram marketing is to engage with your followers.  

This is because the Instagram algorithm favours accounts who not only have engagement from their followers, but those who engage with their followers in return. 

You may think that once you have posted your content, you can sit back and relax. 

But in fact, you should be constantly engaging with your followers and others in your community by doing things such as:

Replying to Comments On Your Posts

As we have said, a key metric of engagement in yoga Instagram marketing is comments on your posts. 

But to really maximise your engagement, you should reply to these comments. 

This helps you to build a two-way relationship with your followers, building trust and making your followers see you as a ‘real’ person they have a connection with. 

This helps you appear more likeable to your followers, and presents you as an inclusive, community-oriented yoga teacher. This then makes it more likely that they will come to your classes! 

You may be put off responding to comments as you think it will take up a lot of your time- particularly as you start to gain more followers and get more comments. 

But as you can see below, just a few words is enough to keep your followers engaged.

If you don’t have time to reply in word to all of your comments, even just ‘liking’ the comment itself or replying with an emoji will still show that you are engaging with your followers- as you can see below.

Responding to comments is equally important if you are marketing a yoga studio on Instagram, as it helps followers see that there are real people behind the business. This makes your studio appear welcoming and ‘human’, making people more likely to attend! 

For example, the yoga studio below has responded to a comment from a follower:

Again, this is only a short response that would have taken a few seconds to write. But it will make that user feel like a valued student at the studio, making them more likely to keep attending! 

Following and Interacting With Other Yoga Instructors and Studios 

It is important to interact not only with your own followers, but also with other similar accounts in the yoga community.

This is important for marketing a yoga business on Instagram because it exposes your account to those who do not necessarily follow you, helping you gain followers and build brand awareness.

For example, below a yoga teacher (yoga_with_kirstie) has commented on another yoga teacher’s post:

This means that anyone seeing this post will also see her comment and may then click onto her profile, increasing her reach. 

It also makes her appear like a supportive member of the yoga community. Again, this makes her more likeable as a teacher, making potential students more likely to check out her classes! 

Following other yoga teachers and studios is also important for staying up-to-date with the industry and the latest trends. You can also see what kinds of posts and strategies work, and what doesn’t, acting as a form of market research. 

You can then use this to inspire your own posts to ensure that your content is relevant and stands out from the competition.

Tip #6- Collaborate With Other Yoga Teachers and Studios 

Our next Instagram yoga marketing tip is to collaborate with other yoga teachers and/or studios. 

The best way to do this is by using Instagram's ‘collab’ feature. 

This is a single post or reels that appears on two different users’ profiles. 

Both usernames will appear above the post when it appears in follower’s news feeds. They also share the same likes, comments and shares. 

For example, this yoga teacher has created a collab post with a yoga studio:

As you can see, both her username (helendowneyoga) and the studio’s username (yogacitaliverpool) appear in the post. 

The main benefit of using collab posts for marketing a yoga business on Instagram is that it increases your reach and engagement. 

This is because not only will your own followers see your post, but it also exposes you to the followers of the profile you have collaborated with. This is particularly beneficial if the account you are collaborating with has more followers than you. 

To take the example above, this yoga teacher has 2102 followers. 

Compare this to the yoga studio, which has 5594 followers.

By doing a collab post with the yoga studio, she has therefore increased her reach to a lot more people! 

These people could then visit her Instagram and ultimately book onto one of her classes and become a paying student.

It benefits the studio too, as the collab post can also help direct the yoga teacher’s followers to the studio’s page too!

To create a collaborative post, you will first need to reach out to the person or business you want to do a joint post with. 

If they agree, follow these steps:

1. Create a post or reel as normal 
2. Click on the ‘Tag People’ menu 
3. Click on ‘Invite collaborator’
4. The collaborator will then receive an invitation in their Instagram messages. If they accept, the post will go live. 

Tip #7- Use Instagram Ads to Promote Your Page

When it comes to how to market yourself as a yoga instructor on Instagram, one of the best tools to take advantage of is paid Instagram advertising.

Instagram ads work in the same way as fitness Facebook ads- they are simply adverts that businesses pay for their advert to appear on the Instagram app. 

There are 3 main places that ads can appear on Instagram:

• Posts on a user’s news feed
• Posts on a user’s Explore page
• Stories  

You may haven dismissed the idea of Instagram ads due to the cost. However, if done correctly, the initial cost will far outweigh the benefits! 

The exact cost depends on several factors that are determined by the Instagram Ad Manager. 

But in summary, Instagram ads mostly work on a Pay Per Click basis, with the average cost being 70-90p per click. 

Instagram ads are a great way to increase your reach, as it means that your business will appear to people who do not necessarily follow you. 

Instagram uses an algorithm to determine who sees your adverts, based on factors such as:

• The type of accounts that users follow. E.g. If someone follows a lot of yoga-related accounts, the Instagram algorithm will be more likely to show them yoga-related adverts.
• Other people users follow
• Their activity on Instagram i.e. the kinds of posts they interact with (like, comment, save etc.)
• Information provided from linked platforms such as Facebook 

For a complete guide to how to get started with Instagram ads, check out Tip #4 of our article on getting personal training clients on Instagram here. 

Before You Go!

So, we hope that you now have everything you need to know about Instagram yoga marketing! 

Feeling inspired? Check out OriGym’s Level 4 yoga teacher training course and become a qualified specialist yoga teacher! Enquire today, or check out our free course prospectus here for more information.