How Four Top Health and Wellness Social Media Accounts Provide Value for Their Followers

The health and wellness industry brings in over $4.4 trillion per year and was responsible for 5.1% of global economic output in 2020. And it doesn’t stop there. According to The Global Wellness Institute, the industry will see “9.9% average annual growth, with the wellness economy reaching nearly $7.0 trillion in 2025.” This means the time is right for your health and wellness company to take advantage of this enormous growth opportunity.To get started, take a look at the industry leaders, like Weight Watchers and Headspace, and see what they are doing to increase both growth and engagement. One place where these companies shine is social media. There you’ll see that the companies provide their followers with valuable content. What do I mean by valuable content? The social media content on these companies’ social media pages does more than just “sell” their products and services. Followers can get valuable information from posts, like recipes, workouts, and inspiration. This incentivizes people to pay attention to what these companies are saying and it increases their likelihood of becoming paying customers.Below are some examples from some of the top accounts in the health and wellness industry.

BodyBuilding.com

BodyBuilding.com is an online retailer specializing in sport and bodybuilding supplements. They have established themselves as a go-to spot for anyone looking for supplements to improve recovery or take their workout to another level.BodyBuilding.com recently hosted a 4-week challenge. The Build Your Body 4-Week Challenge was “built to inspire you to think beyond your limits and find ways weekly to improve your overall health and fitness.” Each week BodyBuilding.com posted a specific workout to Instagram that people must perform to become eligible for the giveaway. To show that they completed the workout, participants had to post a photo to Instagram and mention @bodybuildingcom and use the #BBCOMCHALLENGE2022 tag on Instagram. At the end of the four weeks, one randomly selected participant would walk away with the grand prize of $10,000. A hashtag contest builds brand awareness for BodyBuilding.com. When a participant posts a photo, their own followers are exposed to BodyBuilding.com through the @mention and the hashtags. If they’re inspired by their friend’s results, they might consider following BodyBuilding.com as well. The challenge is about more than spreading awareness. It encourages followers to get in better shape through the specific workout regimen BodyBuilding.com is posting. These posts provide a valuable service to their followers for free, giving them a chance to win a prize while improving their personal performance. Furthermore, BodyBuilding.com is also collecting valuable UGC that it can use in future marketing efforts.While not every company is going to be able to afford a $10k giveaway, a big prize isn’t the only way to stoke participation in a hashtag contest. The key is to show your followers the value they’ll receive from participating. So what value are you bringing to your followers? Maybe you aren’t focusing on exercise. Maybe your focus is more on diet. If that’s the case, maybe a 2-week clean eating challenge or a month of Sunday meal prep ideas might be more your style. Is mindfulness your specialty? Challenge your fans to five minutes of meditation.

WW

WW, formally known as Weight Watchers, is a weight loss and wellness program that specializes in providing tools that help people improve their diets, lose weight and live a happier, healthier life.When visiting WW on Instagram, the first thing you’ll notice is all of the customer photos. WW does a great job at highlighting their customers’ successes and sharing these successes with their followers. Sharing customer stories provides value to your audience because they see real people using your program to see real results.In their Instagram bio, they encourage people to share their stories using the hashtag #MyWWStory. WW doesn’t offer any incentives for sharing beyond being featured on the page. However, WW has worked hard to build a positive environment for their followers, which empowers people to share their journeys and gain the praise of their community.Posting customer stories not only serves to inspire other people looking to get in better shape, but also allows WW to demonstrate that their program works for those who may doubt. Using a branded hashtag is a zero-cost way for WW to get the word out about what their product can do for people. While getting customers to share before and after photos may be easy for WW since they have over 1 million Instagram followers, it’s still something you can achieve with a smaller following. To start, choose a branded hashtag that fits your brand and the content you want people to post. Then personally ask friends, family, and some of your other success stories who have used your product or service to post their stories. Alternatively, until you build a big enough following, a hashtag contest can be great for an initial push to gather some photos of your early success stories.

Headspace

Headspace is a meditation app used by over 30 million people around the world. It provides meditation and mindfulness exercises to clear your mind of stress and improve overall mental health.Headspace’s Instagram presence is a reflection of their app. Followers are given reminders to breathe, to relax, to take mental breaks, and to clear their minds. These reminders use soothing colors and simple text to help the reader slow down. No before and after pictures, no photo contests, no big $10k giveaway – just a relaxing vibe for people to clear their minds for maximum productivity and happiness. Essentially, Headspace’s Instagram profile provides followers a glimpse of some of the meditation and mindfulness techniques they would experience with their paid app. Followers find value in the ability to try these techniques for free. Oh, and the few minutes for a mental break the Headspace posts promote is a major added benefit. What’s not to like about that?How could you incorporate a similar “trial” of your service into your wellness page?Try a live feed of a meditation session or yoga practice on Instagram. This can bring people in and encourage them to join for the next round. Make it a weekly event to build that strong bond with your followers. Building a strong bond and providing a sneak peek at what your service can provide your customers will bring your business big results and provide people with a huge incentive to follow your business. Be a constant reminder and resource for those that need it.

Optimum Nutrition

Are you selling a supplement to improve one’s health? Optimum Nutrition may be the brand to follow. Similar to BodyBuilding.com, they focus on exercise and supplements, but they focus more on product placement in their posts.Optimum Nutrition uses a mix of high-profile athletes and regular people getting the F$&! after it in a way that makes you want to do the same (and maybe I will…as soon as I’m done eating this bag of chips). And they are sure to have a container of their product in almost every shot.Product placement is a constant reminder that your product is related to performance. When you see Optimum Nutrition placing products next to NFL players, Olympic athletes, or just someone at the gym pushing themselves to get better, you can’t help but feel the two are connected.However, Optimum Nutrition also finds ways to create value for its followers. They post recipes folks can make with their product. This inspires followers to try new ways of consuming healthy meals and snacks while still getting their Optimum Nutrition boost.  Providing followers with creative ideas that help mix up their routine (see what I did there?) will bring some added value to your brand. This content encourages them to check your page for the newest ideas that may fit their goals. The more you help, the more likely people will be to follow and engage with your posts. But how do you build a following of people using your supplement in the first place? Get creative! Try running a campaign that offers free samples and encourages people to use those samples to create recipes.You can also let your followers choose your next flavor, service, product, whatever you can think of. Getting followers involved with your brand gives them a sense of ownership, which in turn gets them talking about your brand.Keep in mind, 88% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision, so when a friend, family member, or influencer is talking about your product it makes others more likely to buy.Companies are constantly reviewing their social media strategies, and the strategies of their competitors, to get the edge over the field. You can use any of these tips to give you some ideas on how to up your social media ROI and build a strong, recognizable brand. Find what works best for you and build on it as these companies have. Just remember to be patient. Your social media presence is sort of like re-shaping your body or bettering your health. You won’t see results overnight, but as long as you are constantly working on it you will see a difference when you look back to where you started.