Social Media Tips for Yoga Teachers

Social Media has become a way of life for most people, and it's an amazing tool for connecting with your audience.  Social media tips for yoga teachers are floating around the yoga community, and many are wondering what really works.  There are so many different platforms, strategies and content options available.  When putting together your plan for social media, there are several things to consider.  

Personally, I was pretty resistant to social media.  In the beginning, I couldn't decide if it was invasive or brilliant.  On the one hand, I love the connection that it brings.  After all, yoga means union so yoga is all about connection.  On the other hand, authenticity has always been a big part of my yoga practice (and life in general), and social media doesn't always feel like a super authentic place.  

My three oldest daughters who are all in their early 20's grew up in the social media era.  They've all been on social media since their teen years and have slowly pulled me into the modern world.  My oldest daughter, Khloe, was voted "most instafamous" in her yearbook senior year.  She started with a huge Twitter following, then she moved to Instagram and now she focuses on TikTok.  With over 2 million likes and 143,000 followers, she enjoys connecting with others daily and has formed a lot of meaningful relationships from her social media.  She's taught me a thing or two, and she's helped me gather some social media tips for yoga teachers.  

Social Media Tip for Yoga Teachers #1 - Find Your Platform

There are many options when choosing a platform for social media.  Yoga teachers may choose Instagram, Meta (formerly known as Facebook), Twitter, TikTok or others.  While you don't have to limit yourself to only one social media platform, you may put more effort into one platform than others. 

Facebook is the largest social media platform, even after all these years.  There are $2.9 billion monthly users.  People share everything from long winded stories to quick pictures.  You can share stories or post on your page.  The downside of Facebook is that they have changed their algorithm over time and organic visibility is tough. You almost have to pay for advertising to build an audience first, and then it becomes a more useful place to share.  

Instagram is a great visual space if you have lots of images to share. Instagram's audience swings younger, with the average user being 13-34.  You're more likely to reach people organically on Instagram and there are options to post stories, reals or posts.  Instagram enables businesses to post in a way that feels genuine rather than gimmicky.  One thing to know about Instagram is that the algorithm changes regularly.  They used to push posts with lots of likes and now they are prioritizing reels.  

TikTok is the fastest growing social media platform.  It began during the pandemic, and families everywhere were doing dances to trending sounds.  Since that time, it has grown to an audience of over a billion monthly users.  Both men and women use TikTok, but over half of all users are women.  It's a good place to reach Millenials and Gen-Z.

Social Media Tip for Yoga Teachers #2 - Develop Your Goal-Based Strategy

Once you decide the best social media platform for you, you want to figure out what your strategy is.  Your strategy should be based on your goals.  Some yoga teachers use social media to connect with other like-minded people.  Other yoga teachers use social media to fill up their yoga classes.  They may include links to sign up for yoga classes in their posts.  

Even if your goal is to gain new students and increase your class enrollments, it's probably best to take a soft approach.  Every post shouldn't ask your followers to spend money or they won't want to follow you anymore.  You might alternate between helpful tips, inspiring content and advertisements. 

Social Media Tip for Yoga Teachers #3 - Timing Is Everything With Social Media 

Every social media platform has its own unique algorithm, and most social media platforms change their algorithms often.  Once you start sharing posts on social media, you may notice a higher level of engagement at certain times.  Not only does the algorithm play into engagement, but also the time of day that your demographic is on social media.  You'll start to get a feel for your audience and learn the best times to post.  

Social Media Tip for Yoga Teachers #4 - Define Your Brand on Social Media

It's important to know your brand so that you can be consistent with your audience.  There's visual branding, which is being consistent with the colors, logos and overall aesthetic of your brand.  Then, there's your marketing persona which is really just your personality shining through.  Finally, there's your brand's voice and tone.  

How can you make sure that your brand is consistent?  Well, that brings me to social media tip #5 for yoga teachers.

Social Media Tip for Yoga Teachers #5 - Be Authentic

Whatever your platform of choice is and whatever your brand is, be sure that you stay authentic on social media!  So many yoga teachers are contorting themselves into postures they don't normally practice or posting only the healthiest moments of their day.  Sometimes creating these unrealistic social media personalities can really backfire because you become unrelatable and people can sense the lack of authenticity.  You can't go wrong by being yourself.  Your tribe will find you, and those that don't connect with you aren't meant to be part of your tribe anyway.

For more tips for yoga teachers, join us in our 200 hour yoga teacher training online.