How to Use YouTube as a Yoga Business

If you’ve been following along with our social media for yoga teachers series, then you already know the importance of Facebook and Instagram for yoga businesses (and most importantly, how to use them!).

But why use YouTube?

It’s no secret that YouTube has become an incredible free resource for students to take yoga classes, meditate, and learn about pretty much any topic they’d like to know about.

And don’t you want them to learn that from you?

This platform is another great way to craft your brand, engage your audience, and offer tons of value that turns viewers into clients, customers, and students.

In fact, 1 billion people visit YouTube each month and it’s the second largest search engine in the world (Source).

Read on to find out exactly what you need to get started, how to set up you channel, the types of content you might like to create, and how to get your videos seen.

Setting Up Your Channel

First, the logistics. The first step to setting up your YouTube channel is to sign into YouTube with the Google email address you’d like your page to be associated with. You can create a business of personal page, but I recommend creating a business page. It gives you more options for branding.

Then, select the appropriate category for your page and you’re ready for design.

YouTube allows you to have cover art similar to Facebook, which is great branding real estate space. Here are some recommendations:

You’ll also want to focus on choosing a great title for your channel. It should clearly state what the channel is about and be keyword rich.

For help with choosing your keywords, do some research by searching for keywords in your niche on Google. Note down which keywords give you video results, then check out the free Google Keyword Planner to decide which keywords will work best for you.

Creating Content

You don’t have to make a huge investment to get started. You can start with a simple video camera or the camera on your laptop as you dip your toe into YouTube.

If you decide to take it to the next level, you might like to invest in a nice video camera, simple 2-point lighting kit, and a microphone.

Once you decide how you’ll film your video, you need to decide what to film! As with all your content, it should be aligned with your overall business strategy. What are your business goals and how does your social presence contribute to them? If you haven’t defined your social goals yet, visit this post to learn more about crafting a strategy.

Do you want to educate, inspire, entertain, or all of the above?

Once you decide your strategy, brainstorm types of content you can create that align with those goals. Here are some ideas:

Some successful channels you might want to look to for inspiration are:

What do these channels do well? They….

Driving Traffic

This is where your Facebook and Instagram expertise will come in handy. Promote your videos on your social media platforms through graphics and photos in your feed and on your stories, and share video clips to entice viewers to watch the whole video.

The other key way to drive traffic is by using keywords. What would your ideal viewer be searching in order to find your video? Use those words in your title, caption, and tags. For example, if your video is a yin yoga class and your ideal viewer is a beginner student who would likely search “relaxing yoga,” use that keyword phrase in addition to yin yoga!

What other questions do you have about YouTube for your yoga business? Drop them below!

How to Use Instagram for Your Yoga Business

Welcome to the second post in my social media for yoga teachers series.

Does it seem like every yoga teacher on Instagram seems to have cracked the code for social media success except for you?

I promise, there are no secret codes for growing your Instagram following full of the exact students and clients you want to attract. There are just some simple principles and the hard work that follows them up!

But first…why use Instagram for your yoga business at all?

A few key reasons:

  1. Your target clients and students are most likely there.
  2. It’s a great platform for conversations: real engagement with real people!
  3. Yoga content lends itself beautifully to this visual platform.
  4. It's a platform that's still getting great organic (unpaid) reach.
  5. And of course, Instagram is key to helping you brand your business.

Just like with Facebook, the first thing you need to do to get started with Instagram is define your goals.

A few options are:

Clearly defining your goals will help you create an effective strategy.

Your strategy will define your content. For example, if one of your goals is to engage your current clients and students, you’ll probably want to ask them a lot of questions in your posts. If one of your goals is to increase class or workshop attendance, posting photo or video stories of current classes can help you do that.

Your bio is key. Your bio is one of the first things people see when they click on your page and are deciding whether or not to follow you— so make it good! Clearly share who you or your business is, what you do, and why they should follow you or what your mission is (Some accounts that do this well are Yoga With Adriene, Brittney Carmichael, and Cassandra Bodzak).

Choose your content. There are two formats for content on Instagram: posts that go in your feed on your page, visible forever (unless you delete them) and stories, which disappear after 24 hours.

Your feed is a great place to cultivate your aesthetic. When people visit your profile, you want it to be really easy for them to figure out what you and your brand are all about.

Stories are a great place for more casual, less staged photos and videos. Maybe your feed is all about minimalist yoga photos, but you want to incorporate some more lifestyle elements, too. Your Instagram story is the perfect place for that.

I recommend using stories often! You can also use them to direct people to your latest post with calls-to-action like "Check out my last post for X."

To learn more about the purposes of different content, click here.

Growing your Instagram. Now we’re getting to the good stuff! Read below to discover a few key ways to grow your Instagram as a yoga business.

1. It starts with good content. No matter how many growth strategies you use, if you don’t have quality content, your following won’t grow. Make that your priority, and then use the tips below to continue to reach more and more of your ideal students and clients!

2. Hashtag every post. There are different schools of thought on this, and it’s even thought that Instagram might do away with hashtags at some point. But for now, hashtags can still be a great part of your strategy! The key is to use the right hashtags.

When you search for hashtags, you want to hit the sweet spot of more than 100,000 but less than 1,000,000. This means that there are enough people using it that your posts will get seen, but not so many people using it that your posts get buried.

The other things to remember with hashtags? Switch them up, and use any trending hashtags to join a relevant conversation!

3. Engage. There are three audiences you want to engage with (and by engage I mean like, comment, and follow):

  1. Your followers. First and foremost, engage with the people who already follow you to cultivate a strong community.
  2. Relevant hashtags. Go through relevant hashtags regularly and engage with the users who post there. Remember to switch these up, too! There are so many yoga and spirituality-related hashtags that you’ll never run out.
  3. Likers and commenters of accounts that have your target audience. This is one of the best ways I’ve found to engage with my ideal clients. It starts with getting clear about who your ideal clients actually are. Then ask yourself, who do they follow online? Maybe it’s a yoga-based subscription box, an inspiring author, or a public figure. Visit those pages, and engage with the people who have liked their posts.

4. Use call-to-actions in your posts. Want people to comment with an emoji, click the link in your bio, or tag a friend? Let them know! “Tag a friend who needs this mala,” “Tag a friend you want to bring to this retreat,” or “Tag a friend to try this pose with” are all great examples of call to actions that both get engagement and help other people discover your account.

5. Ask your other followers to follow you. Already have a following on another platform like your email list, Twitter, or Facebook? Invite them to follow you on Instagram, too. Chances are, they will!

6. Geotag your photos. This is a simple but great way to share your photo with other people who’ve used the same geotag! Get specific, like a restaurant or neighborhood, or go general with a city.

7. Collaborate with other users. How can you collaborate with other users with similar audiences to benefit you both? Can you host a contest or start an Instagram challenge? Can you take over each other’s stories for the day as guest contributors? Can you start a group where you all like and share each other’s posts? Get creative!

What other questions do you have about using social media for your yoga business? Comment below and let me know— I would love to help!

4 Ways to Change Your Money Mindset

Photo courtesy of my amazing friend TJ Galmut.

Money is energy.

An exchange of money is simply an exchange of energy, and as such, you can attract it to you. You can manifest it. You can create it, just like you can with any other energy.

But.

You cannot attract, manifest, and create the money you want in your life if you are stuck in a mindset of lack and fear.

Many of us were raised to believe that wanting money and talking about money is bad and wrong, and much of the world wants us to believe in scarcity and lack: that there is not enough to go around, which causes us to feel fear.

When you realize that money is energy, you realize how untrue this is.

There is no scarcity or lack of energy. Energy is abundant, available to all, and infinite.

So then it’s true that money is abundant, available to all, and infinite.

When you experience this shift in your mindset, where you know that an abundance of money flows to you at all times, where you know that there is no scarcity or lack, where you know that there is enough, where you know that desiring money is not wrong, you become a magnet for money.

But shifting your mindset isn’t always as easy as saying “I believe money is infinite.”

Most of us have many years, maybe decades, of conditioning towards the opposite.

Try the 4 ways below to shift your money mindset, so you can receive the money you desire.

1. Notice your limiting beliefs and start to shift them. What are the things your parents taught you about money?

Did they ever say things like “it’s not nice to talk about money,” “there’s never enough money,” or “you can’t make money doing what you love?”

Like it or not, you may have absorbed those beliefs too, and the most important step in moving past them is realizing what they are.

It’s not just your parents, either. You might have picked up some money beliefs that don’t serve you all on your own, too! I encourage you to take a week and notice each thought you have about money, and write it down.

When you get to the end of the week, you’ll have a pretty clear idea about your real mindset around money.

Then, as those thoughts continue to come up (and they will!), you can immediately rewrite the story.

“I can’t afford that” becomes “I’d rather buy [thing you’re saving for.]”

“I’m broke” becomes “I am open to received abundance from expected and unexpected sources.”

“I’m scared to spend this much money” becomes “I invest in my personal development because I am worth it.”

And so on, as you rewire your brain to think about money differently!

2. Gratitude. Appreciate what you have right now. Notice all the abundance around you, available to you right now.

If you’re reading this, that might include:

When you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’re focusing on scarcity. Focusing on what you do have helps shift you into a mindset of abundance…and opens you to receiving more abundance!

3. Meditate. Of course, meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for shifting your mindset in any area.

One of the questions I love asking before a money mindset meditation comes from Jen Sincero’s book, You Are a Badass At Making Money: what thoughts about money are blocking my flow?

Sit in silence for a few minutes, focusing on the breath, and see what comes up for you.

You can also try this abundance meditation.

4. Get outside help. I read the books, did the visualizations, the journaling, the vision boards. They all helped-- but my true block was hiding somewhere in my subconscious. I needed an external force to help me shift my story and my mindset, and hiring a coach finally helped me break through.

If this is you, too, then feel free to contact me at info@frikshuhn.com about coaching! Investing in yourself is one of the best things you can do to move forward and create those breakthroughs that shift your mindset for good.

What sticky money beliefs do you have? I guarantee you’re not the only one who has them! Comment below and share.

Why You Need to Use Social Media for Your Yoga Business

I know “promoting” yourself can feel a little icky. Yoga is supposed to be about love and light and union, not gimmicky marketing.

This is a mindset I see in my clients All. The. Time. And as a yoga teacher myself, I’ve definitely been there! 

But in 2017, social media is non-negotiable for your yoga business. It’s not a good-to-have, it’s a must-have if you want to get yourself in front of more people, fill your classes, and sell out your workshops and retreats.

This photo of me was taken courtesy of Studio B Yoga & More by the amazing Sharalee Prang!

Think of it this way: you have a unique message that the world needs to hear. It’s not gross, or gimmicky, or “salesy” to want to share that message with as many people as possible, for the greater healing good of the world. In fact, it’s critical that you share that message with every single person who needs to hear it.

That is what social media can help you do. 

Below are 3 key purposes of using social media for your yoga business. Next week, we’ll delve into exactly how to use different social media platforms, starting with Facebook.

1. Personal branding. There are so many yoga teachers, yoga businesses, and styles of yoga. Why would som

eone choose your class, video, workshop, retreat, or product over someone else’s?

The answer? Personal branding! Personal branding is how you differentiate yourself from everyone else. You are never going to be the only person doing what you do. But there are going to be people out there who love your unique style and your approach, and they will want to consume your content, take your classes, and buy your programs.

But they will never know how much your style resonates with them unless you share your style with them!

You can do personal branding in so many different ways on social media. A few great ways to do this are live video meditations and short yoga classes on YouTube and Facebook, snapshots of your life on Instagram, and blogging and sharing those blogs on social media.

2. Education and inspiration. You know that yoga doesn’t stop when you get off your mat…but not all of your students do. Similarly, teaching yoga doesn’t stop when you step out of the studio.

With social media, you can teach as often as you like and you can meet your students where they already are: online.

I don’t just mean teach asana, either! You can teach them meditations and Ayurvedic tips. You can teach them about the limbs of yoga and you can inspire them to live the yamas by the way you live. You can teach them what mala beads are and why they’re powerful tools for meditation.

The opportunities to spread your message far and wide are infinite.

3. Community. Sharing your message on social media can create a global community you may have never thought possible. Your message will attract the people who need to hear it, and those people will continue to follow you, interact with you, and likely engage with others who feel the same.

You can create communities in a more traditional sense of the word in many ways online: free Facebook groups, paid memberships, and paid Facebook groups. But you can do this on your regular pages, too, because you know the saying: your vibe attracts your tribe.

Community is everywhere online, and social media can help you create yours.

If you’re reading this and thinking “That’s great, but I have no time to do any of that,” then outsourcing might be the answer you need. I highly recommend checking out Edgepoint Social for your social media needs!

Have more questions about social media? Drop them below, and keep checking back each week for more in-depth blogs about social media, mindset, and all things yoga!