Jonathan Thompson (Coach JT) grew up in Nassau, Bahamas. Growing up with a basketball in his hands almost everyday, he eventually moved to Canada in pursuit of a higher level of education and a degree in business administration. Playing high level basketball all throughout, JT has always been determined to be the best he can be. Even though his playing career came to an end, his determination did not, and this ultimately led him to start Next Generation Athletics, where he is able to share his knowledge and skills with the next generation.
Back in May 2021, Coach JT was a one man show. He hired coaches to help him out, he had some content creators come out to sessions, but at the end of the day, he was a one man show doing everything he possibly could to grow his business.
When it came to advertising, JT heavily relied on the top-notch service he offered by letting word of mouth grow his business. Relying on this worked okay for him, however, without predictable online growth, he had little control over when new business was going to come in
JT, like many entrepreneurs, thought that he had to execute every task himself in order to grow his business. He took great pride in his social media efforts, however, under the surface, there was problems
- He struggled to generate new business using social media 😫
- He did not have the proper time to allocate for effectively growing on social media⏱
- He feared his competitors fast-growing social media’s that were leading to new business 😟
- He wanted to spend his time coaching, not on social media 🏀
So, JT hired some content creators to help him professionalize the brand. These content creators did (and still do) an outstanding job taking photos and videos to promote Next Generation Athletics.
After this decision was made, things picked up. Next Generation Athletics had several posts go viral which resulted in a bigger community.
Unfortunately though, the growth was again, unpredictable as followers only came in after a post caught wind.
And even when the followers did come in, the conversion rate was minimal.
Why?
Because Next Generation Athletics had no relationship with these followers, they were fans, not friends.
Coach JT knew he had to make a change
- He wanted to consistently grow his following on social media fast ⏩
- He wanted to catch up with his fast-growing competitors 🌱
- He wanted all the content creation he invested in to be seen by more people👨👩👧👦
- He wanted to generate leads in another way than just word of mouth🗣
Over the next few months, Coach JT did exactly that and in this article, we are going to explain how.
It was May 2021 when JT signed on to instagram and was faced with the following statistics:
- Followers: 1464
- Average likes: 143
- Average video views: 612
- Average comments: 8
- +175 average new followers/month
Not bad, for some…
But Coach JT wanted his brand to be bigger and It was at this time when Coach JT reached out to Outwork Media after following them on social media for a few months.
“I reached out to you guys because I like what you post. I even tried some of the free tips you guys share and they work! I just don't have the time to always be executing them”
- JT on why he reached out to Outwork Media
Shortly after reaching out, Outwork Media scheduled a consultation with JT to tell us more about his business.
Throughout the consultation, it became clear to Outwork Media that:
- JT already had an established social media ✅
- JT was posting the right content on social media ✅
- JT had little engagement with his fans ❌
- JT left opportunities for new business on the table due to lack of time ❌
With this in mind, JT collaborated with Wilson Media to come up with a social strategy to grow his account quickly. Here’s what we came up with
Outbound Engagements:
If JT wanted his account to grow quickly, he knew that he could not continue to wait for people to come to him. Instead, Next Generation Athletics had to put in the work to initiate contact with as many people as possible. So, Outwork Media’s ongoing task was to execute outbound engagement on their behalf. Here’s what we did:
- We searched for relevant hashtags and locations so we could like, comment, and engage with Next Gen’s target audience who posted to Instagram. Doing this enables the Next Generation Athletics brand to be brought to people's attention in a positive and personal manner.
- We followed and consistently engaged with accounts that qualified as potential customers.
New Follower Outreach:
JT wanted to increase his conversion rate for his instagram account so his social media investment would pay for itself. After consulting with Wilson Media, it became clear that the best way to achieve this was to build personal relationships with Next Generation Athletic’s followers. The strategy was to have Outwork Media execute New Follower Outreach. Here's what we did:
- Sent a message to new followers
- No sales language
- Focused on relationship building
Managing Comments and Messages:
As the Next Generation Athletics Instagram began to grow and more relationships were built, it became critical to maintain those positive relationships. JT struggled with time and was not able to commit to communicating with his fan base on a regular basis. Therefore, the final task Outwork Media had was to manage the comments and messages. Here’s what we did:
- Responded to new comments
- Responded to new messages
- Directed important comments/messages to JT
The plan was set, and we we’re ready to go
JT handed over the keys to his social media accounts and got back to the gym floor doing what he does best. Meanwhile, Outwork Media got to work immediately on Next generation Athletics social media. 3 months later, here are the results:
- Followers: 2720 (+186%)
- Average likes per photo post: 388 (+271%)
- Average views per video post: 1117 (183%)
- Average comments per post: 19 (+238%)
- +419 average new followers/month (+239%)
- Many new relationships and clients:
And that is how JT and Outwork Media worked together to accelerate the growth of Next Generation Athletics Instagram, while simultaneously letting coach JT spend more time doing what he does best - passing his basketball skills and knowledge onto the next generation.
If you would like to work with Outwork Media to grow your social media just like JT did, schedule a free consultation today and we will take you through the same process to achieve YOUR goals.