Facebook ads are an inexpensive and effective way to reach those customers. Facebook advertising in the fitness space has one of the highest clickthrough rates and conversion rates of any industry. 

Running Facebook ads can be tricky. You’ll need to understand who your target audience is and target them effectively on Facebook. Using a Facebook Pixel to identify potential clients, and creating a strong ad will go a long way towards being successful with Facebook ads. 

Join millions of other advertisers and get on board with running Facebook ads for your fitness business.

My Start Running Facebook Ads in the Fitness Niche

One of my first businesses was in the fitness niche. It was something I really stumbled onto and it stemmed from my weight loss that happened during my transition first year of law school.

People saw my weight loss change and asked for my help so I started designing free programs for them. I just wanted to help people.

Shortly after, I became a fitness coach and my journey with marketing started there. I used Facebook ads to successfully grow my coaching business. In fact, I was doing so well with Facebook ads that other fitness professionals and asked if I could help run their ads. 

Then the gym itself asked for my help and that ad did so well the owner told other business owners and before I knew it I was making several thousand a month running Facebook ads.

Eventually, I left law for a life in entrepreneurship.

So you can see fitness and Facebook ads were kind of how it all started for me. There’s tons of opportunities in this industry for you to grow your fitness business and in this article, we will share some of the best ways for you to reach your goals with Facebook advertising.

Click here to read my full story.

5 Facebook Fitness Ads Tips

The fitness and weight loss industry can be tricky to market effectively. If you’re not careful you can have your ads disapproved or even get your ad account banned for not following the rules.

These are some top tips to help you avoid that and get the very best results with your fitness Facebook ads.

1. Know Your Audience

First things first, knowing your audience is so critical for Facebook ads period but, for fitness Facebook ads, it’s especially crucial. You should know who your target customer is and know them well:

• How old are they?
• Are they married? Kids?
• What do they do for a living?
• What do they do for fun?
• What kind of fitness goals do they have?

These are a handful of questions you should be answering to identify your target audience. If you really have no clue where to start, create a customer avatar.

A customer avatar or buyer persona is a representation of the person you want to buy your products.

This could be a millennial working in their own company who wants to workout for mental clarity and better work/life balance.

It could also be a stay-at-home mom who wants to get fit to keep up with her kids, feel better, look better and stay in the best possible health.

You create the avatar as your ideal buyer. You’ll know their demographics, goals, values and behavior, challenges, buying objections, etc.

Once you have this down, then you’ll have a specific niche to target for Facebook ads.

For more on customer avatars, read these 5 steps to creating your customer avatar.

Microtarget your audience and get super specific. Look at specific parameters like types of fitness (bodybuilding, pilates, yoga, etc.), interests, and behaviors.

One thing to watch out for is using personal attributes in your Facebook ad. In other words, calling out a group of people based on their race, characteristics, age or sexual orientation are all policy violations.

For example, you can’t say “Are you struggling with obesity?” or “Do you have diabetes?”  

Instead, keep the focus on the product or service you are selling, not the person reading the ad. You can’t say “Are you obese?” but you can say your program helps reduce obesity. 

Related: How do Facebook Ad Targeting Options Work?

2. A Strong Value Proposition and Call to Action

One of the most important parts of an ad is the value proposition and call-to-action. Make sure your ad is answering a question or solving a problem for your prospect. Make it enticing enough that they will stop scrolling and click the ad to learn more.

Keep in mind that people don’t buy products or services, they buy results. So what result are you selling? Weight loss? Building muscle? Flexibility? More energy? 

Make the result clear in the ad copy. 

And, always use a CTA to get the commitment from your lead, whether they’re clicking to your website, booking an appointment, or sharing their email address.

3. Use a Facebook Pixel

The Facebook pixel is a must-have if you’re doing Facebook ads. This code sits on your website, helping track and gather information on web visitors that land on your page.

It helps you show ads to the right people and gives you access to a ton of helpful information so you know what kind of people are interested in your content.

With a Facebook Pixel installed on your site you’ll be able to show ads on Facebook to anyone who visits your site. Visiting your site identifies them as a potential customer to Facebook and your ads will follow them there. 

This means you don’t necessarily lose a sale just because someone leaves your site without making a purchase. 

If you’re not using them alongside your Facebook ad campaigns, a lot of money is being left on the table.

Related: What is a Facebook Pixel?

4. Use High Quality Visuals

Great visuals are a must for advertising. You want clear, crisp photography or videos for your ads. You can get this by hiring a professional photographer, using stock photos or having an illustrator create an animated image or video for you.

Think about the story you want to tell with your ad and decide on what kind of visuals you want to use to share that story. Consider your brand and image as well.

Do A/B testing so you can see which visuals perform the best on your ads.

Video ads are especially good for serving ads online. Nothing can paint the picture better for someone than watching it on a video.

Video ads can also be more engaging and according to this source, 69% of marketers say video ads perform the best for them.

Here are some best practices when it comes to video ads:

Make it short: Short, sweet, and to the point is what you’re going for here. You’ll get better results and increased watch time if you stick to shorter, simple videos. They’re easier to understand and can deliver your message more clearly than long, drawn out videos.

Use video transcription: Did you know that most people watch video on Facebook with no sound? 

Around 85% of people, actually. 

So to cater to this group, consider adding video transcription to your ads so your video is easier to understand to those who are watching with sound off.

Click here for more on Facebook video ads.

5. Use Experts to Your Advantage

Experts can add to your selling proposition and make your ads stand out. Everyone is not an expert so if you’re one or you have access to experts, take advantage of this as an asset and showcase expertise in your ads.

Examples of experts in the fitness industry:

• Nutritionists
• Physicians
• Kiniesiolgists 
• Physical trainers
• Competitive athletes

If you want to stand out from the competition, using expertise in your Facebook fitness ads is a way to achieve that.

4 Fitness Facebook Ad Examples

Here are four excellent examples of Facebook ad examples in the fitness niche:

1. Body Boss

The Body Boss ad gives a glimpse of what you’d experience joining their fitness program. The ad copy is clear and to the point, with a call-to-action that asks the viewer to take action while sharing a valuable sale happening.

Next, these before and after photo ads also by Body Boss are showing a transformation:

You can see the ads share the potential results that new members might experience, without directly calling it out in the ad copy. The images really speak for themselves and the copy can be reserved for sharing info about the product and promotions happening with a call-to-action.

2. Target

This Target Facebook ad is a carousel ad which is perfect for the workout apparel they’re promoting in the ads. Each image in the carousel shows a different garment in the collection so viewers can view multiple pieces individually within the same ad.

3. Planet Fitness

This Planet Fitness video has text overlay on the video, showcasing their gym facility and talking about their facilities and memberships in the video and in the ad copy.

The ad caption is short, sweet, and to the point including a clear call-to-action.

4. Beach Body

This transformation video shows a Beach Body member’s start and progress with the program. It’s an effective 18-second video clip with text overlay and motivating music. The ad copy uses emojis to capture attention and a call-to-action to sign up is present.

You can use these Facebook fitness ad examples as inspiration when you create your own fitness ads. Draw from what they did well and create your own incredible ad for your fitness business.

Final Thoughts on Fitness Facebook Ads

There’s much to consider when it comes to Facebook ads but, at the end of the day Facebook fitness ads are going to help you attract more customers, grow your business and bring in more revenue.

Hopefully these five Facebook ad tips for the fitness industry along with the best practices and advice shared gives you a better understanding of how to create your ad campaign.