Avoid statements like “shout-out for shout-out”, “like for like”, or “follow for follow”. Never ask for trades. It’s rude and most likely you’ll get blocked by the other party. Simply be generous with your likes and be gracious with your comments on other profiles. Read Bob Berg’s book called the “Go Giver”. You’ll understand these steps after you read the book.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Armen Ghazarians, the CEO of Finish Fit®. With over 20 years of experience in the fitness industry, he has created the Finish Fit® Coaching System which combines the power of technology with the knowledge of Finish Fit® Coaches to remotely train its clients around the world.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
In high school I was a cross country runner. I was fit and felt great. My story changed when I started college. I focused so much on school that I lost sight of my health and fitness. I gained 50 pounds over 5 years and my cholesterol shot through the roof. The funny part was that I didn’t realize how overweight I was until I took a good look at my license photo. I was shocked! So, I hired a personal trainer and went on the WW diet. It wasn’t long before my trainer told me that he landed a gig on a TV show. Understandably, he left to pursue his dreams. The next question for me was: now what? I studied fitness, got certified, and started working as a trainer at various gyms. Now, after spending nearly 20 years in the fitness industry and receiving over a dozen certifications, I’ve started my own fitness company, Finish Fit®. I created Finish Fit® with the desire to help all those who are struggling with their health and fitness just as I did. My mission is to help change lives for the better, just as my trainer and WW helped change mine.
Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?
I believe I’m an authority on Social Media Marketing because I’ve leveraged it successfully to promote the Finish Fit® brand.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?
Perhaps the most interesting story that has happened to me is that I’ve had to transition from being a technician (personal trainer) to an entrepreneur (CEO) in order to make my company a success. The learning curve has been steep and I’ve had to work extremely hard to master many different skills.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was completely oblivious of social media when I started my company. So, I would randomly create posts at odd hours with little engagement and for a very long time I could not figure out why. Eventually, through a lot of trial and error, I learned how to time social media posts correctly for best engagement.
Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?
For many years we used Facebook exclusively to increase our business revenues. However, recently, we have had a paradigm shift. Our Instagram posts have gained greater audience engagement than our Facebook posts. Hence, we have begun to focus more of our social media marketing efforts on Instagram.
Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.
- Treat each engagement as a “make it or break it” interaction. Take the time to respond to every comment and be generous with you “likes”.
- Avoid statements like “shout-out for shout-out”, “like for like”, or “follow for follow”. Never ask for trades. It’s rude and most likely you’ll get blocked by the other party. Simply be generous with your likes and be gracious with your comments on other profiles. Read Bob Berg’s book called the “Go Giver”. You’ll understand these steps after you read the book.
- Timing your posts is essential. We have found that posting between 5pm-7pm PST works best on weekdays. And posting between 3pm-5pm PST gets the most engagements on weekends.
- Content is king. However, not just any content will suffice. You have to go beyond generic posts. You content must be educational, inspiring, novel, and authentic. You must engage your audience and your content must be catered to your niche.
- Master “Pareto’s Principle”. Applying this to Instagram, the 80/20 rule suggests that 80% of your results come from 20% of your posts. So, it’s vital that you follow each post’s analytics to know which posts perform the best. By doing so, you can model future posts after ones that have a proven track record.
- Research your “hashtags”. Use the right “hashtags” to get your content found on Instagram. There are tools like “http://hashtagify.me/” that can help you with this.
Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would inspire everyone around the world to begin a healthy lifestyle that incorporates good eating habits, regular exercise, and daily stress management.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would love to have breakfast or lunch with the CEO of WW, Mindy Grossman. When I began my personal weight loss journey over 20 years ago, I joined WW and went to its weekly meetings. WW changed my life and set me on my current path. I’d like to partner with WW to bring the Finish Fit® Coaching System to its members.
Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!
“Why you should never ask for trades on social media” With Finish Fit CEO, Armen Ghazarians was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.