LA Fitness: Members Need More Caffeine!
If you are like me, I love to wake up in the morning and make myself a cup of coffee. The caffeine wakes me up and gets me in the mood to focus. Gives me the energy to go out and conquer the world.
Today we are not actually talking about caffeine that is in coffee or any other products.
No.
Today we are actually going to be talking about a social media platform that is literally called Caffeine. It was founded in 2016 and was available to everyone in 2018.
What is this social media platform you may ask?
Caffeine essentially is a broadcasting platform. Think of it as a newer version of Twitch. There’s also the ability that you can stream your own devices and watch TV and movies with other people when all of you are in different locations.
Now you’re probably wondering why a fitness organization like LA Fitness should get into Caffeine. There are a few reasons why they should drink up cause here we go.
1) Needs Rebranding
From analyzing the LA Fitness social platforms, it is their website that is outdated the most. In my opinion, it has an early 2000 feel to it and navigating through different tabs can be a hassle. There are competitors who have a much better website to fit the new technology that we have today. One example is Lifetime Fitness. Their look is clean + slick and easily navigable.
The rebranding, in my opinion, needs an overhaul which includes creating a new logo. LA fitness started in 1984 and I believe it’s time for an upgrade.
LA Fitness getting into Caffeine can spark a new initiative. Getting LA fitness up-to-date on current technology. Creating a new logo, overhauling their website, and really putting an emphasis in content creation, could have the potential in making the company more appealing today. Caffeine can be the start of this new beginning.
2) Attract New Audiences
Gen Z have shown to be early adopters for Caffeine. LA Fitness current audience is literally everyone. While they may target everyone, I personally feel their target age primarily starts around 25 years old and up. As years go by, the older generation will start to phase out and LA Fitness will need to replace those members. Targeting Gen Z with a platform they are using could be very beneficial in gaining brand awareness.
3) Interactive Podcasts
One way that LA Fitness tries to interact with their audiences is by creating podcasts. The topics range from why you may not be gaining muscle to healthy nutrition plans. All these podcasts are pre-recorded and are uploaded to the LA Fitness website and can be found online TuneIn or Apple Podcasts.
There is a huge opportunity when it comes to Caffeine. Instead of pre-recording and uploading, LA Fitness has the opportunity to make these podcasts live. It gives them the opportunity to interact with their audience in real-time and respond to live comments. During the podcast they could get real input on what people want to hear next or ways that LA Fitness could improve whether on podcast topics or how to make the LA Fitness experience better.
An example that they could do is bring in a LA Fitness trainer. The live podcast can be a Q&A style. The trainer can answer questions related to nutrition, work out related lifts, or the overall culture at a LA Fitness facility.
4) Live Personal/Group Training
Caffeine has the ability to create real-time training sessions with a LA Fitness trainer. Whether you can’t make it to your personal session, each LA Fitness trainer could have a designated channel where customers can come and make up a session.
All that they would need is to have certain machines in order to follow along with the trainer. Think of it like Peloton. You are riding a bike following the instructor. In this case, you are interacting and following the instructor in real-time. If you have questions, you can respond to them and get feedback immediately. For people who may work long hours this could be a very beneficial outcome. Instead of coming home, changing, go lift, come back home to shower, an individual can go home and do their lift there.
5) Meets Their Goals
I have personal experience at working with LA Fitness. The end goal is to increase memberships. I have seen the sales team reach out to leads and do field marketing. This means that brand awareness is also a key goal.
Caffeine gives LA Fitness another avenue to advertise. Instead of cold calling and driving to different towns to speak with people, let the public come to you with their questions and needs. All that LA Fitness has to do is come prepared with the information.
As an online platform, it makes it easier for people that may be interested in a memberships. They don’t have to drive to a location to ask their questions. We could go to the LA Fitness channel or podcast and ask them there. As mentioned before, podcasts can be used for Q&A and livestreaming training sessions. It could also be used for membership inquiries. LA Fitness can leave a link within the channel to take an individual to their website to sign up. They can use the analytics and see how many people signed up from the channel to help give them understand if the platform is working and how more or less resources could be allocated.
Before presenting this article to you, I too had never heard of Caffeine. The more that I read about the platform the more I see the potential of it moving forward as technology advances. Do you think that Caffeine has a potential to overtake Twitch in the next five years?
Who knows. The only thing I can say is that LA Fitness has an opportunity to enhance their brand and make advancements.
What other companies do you think should use Caffeine?
