In this episode of the Marketing Muscle‑Up podcast, host Richard Toutounji chats with fitness‑industry marketer Ev Chapman about whether Twitter is worth adding to a fitness professional’s marketing mix in 2022. They start by addressing common misconceptions about Twitter in Australia – its association with politics and trolls – and then pivot to its strengths as a fast, short‑form, thought‑leadership platform. Ev explains that Twitter’s 280‑character limit forces concise, rapid content, while recent product upgrades (longer videos and Twitter Spaces) let creators share richer media. They discuss how fitness coaches can use niche hashtags (e.g., #FitnessTwitter) and tap into a broader audience of entrepreneurs seeking health advice. The conversation moves to practical strategy: consistency is key, start by mastering two core platforms (usually Facebook and Instagram) before experimenting with a third, and treat the trial as a time‑boxed experiment (the holiday season is a good testing window). They note Twitter’s relative stability compared to the volatility of other social networks and suggest concrete steps – cleaning up or creating an account, defining a voice, and measuring revenue impact – for anyone considering Twitter as a long‑term branding and community‑building channel in 2022.
Chapters
Welcome back to the Marketing Muscle Up Podcast Show. I'm Richard Deterji, and today we're talking about tweets. I've got Ev Chapman. How you doing, Ev?
I'm great. How are you?
Good, thank you. It's been a while since we've jammed.
Yeah. I feel like it's been ages.
Yeah, totally. And I thought we would kind of maybe catch up to some bit more of a tactical piece today around conversation that— well, question I've been getting asked a little bit around some different platforms to market your business. We all know the usual suspects. We've got a thing called Facebook that we either love or we hate. And then we've got old Instagram there where, you know, it's the stories. Old faithful. The faithful. Yep. But there are some other platforms that have been around for much longer than that. And I wanted to chat about those today. And I hear from a little birdie AKA Twitter, but that's kind of a funny thing too, right? Let's talk about Twitter. I hear from Birdie that you don't mind a good twittering here and there, Ev.
I've always loved Twitter. I think it hasn't really taken off in Australia as much as it has in the rest of the world. But I think there's a perception that, especially kind of maybe the last 2 years, that it's the place where you go to, like, talk about political things and, you know, there's trolls on there and all of that. And so I think people get scared or they wonder like, is this really a platform that I should be looking at?
Yeah, totally. And I think that's very fair to say. And maybe that's some old thoughts around Twitter. And, you know, what do we do on Twitter? So why don't we I might just drill you for a few questions, Ev, because I know you spent a lot of time on Twitter recently, especially this year, really exploring the platform, building your community up. Let's go through the ABCs of Twitter for those who are going, Richard, I don't have much patience on this conversation, but hold, just hold on a second. There is a possibility on Twitter. So number one, let's talk about Twitter and let's talk about it like who's it for? Like is it—
Do you
think it's a decent platform for fitness pros? If you're a personal trainer or studio or gym owner?
Yeah.
Is it relative? What are your thoughts?
I think if you're just planning on pushing your content from Facebook or Instagram onto Twitter, it's probably not going to work for you. So it is the kind of platform that you're probably going to have to, you know, think about the type of content you put on there. The great thing about that is that It's very short-form content. So if you don't like writing, great. You only get 280 characters to write something. So you have to like be— it's really about short. It's about speed. It's about being fast. And things just kind of move through very fast. So I think that it's probably perfect for people who want to maybe explore online training or want to kind of expand their audience beyond kind of the bounds. Like it's not a local area platform, I wouldn't say. Whereas, you know, somewhere like Facebook or Instagram, you're probably trying to attract more of your local area people. All right.
So we're talking about Twitter being a, it sounds to me like it's a thought platform.
Yeah.
And it's to attract a larger audience or to give your thoughts or influence to.
Yep, exactly right. So it's really, yeah, if you want to educate people, kind of become that thought leader, that influencer where you kind of have something that you want to say, Twitter is the perfect platform for that.
Awesome. And just to recap for those who are local community here, I was just having a coffee and just put myself on mute there. A local community, being a thought leader is a decision-making process when you decide which venue to go to. It sounds to me that's a brand position. Like if we brand ourselves as the thought leader and there is a platform to have our soapbox, as we say, well, it's definitely something to consider for 2022.
Yeah, I think so. And I think Twitter itself is putting— I think for a long time, Twitter was the same. You had 140 characters only. It was text-based only. And probably for about maybe 6, 7, 8 years, it was the same. And what they've done is they're really stepping up their product. So now you can have 1-minute videos on there. They're doing a lot in terms of audio. So if you remember Clubhouse, Yeah. which was like the biggest thing at the beginning of the year, where you kind of have these audio rooms and a lot of people build a really good following on Clubhouse. The problem is that's not connected to any other of your social media. So Twitter came out with these things called Twitter Spaces, which are the same as a Clubhouse room. So basically you get a whole lot of people in a room and you speak and you can get people up on stage. And so they have that same kind of feel. So they're doing a lot kind of with all different kinds of media. Definitely around that kind of being an authority figure.
Yeah. Love it.
And building that audience. Yeah.
Okay. So Twitter, something to consider for 2022.
Yep.
All right. So let's say we want to build authority, we want to get into that space and we want to be seen to potential audiences. And I just think it's a branding piece. You'd be seen and then you're running ads or Facebook organic traffic and it's another platform people to pop and see you. How much time do you have to spend on it? Because we know it's a big piece around, like everything, authenticity, building community up. What about, you know, if you're playing on Facebook for years and you're in Instagram land and you go to a new, like, it's like you're going to a new party, it feels like to me, and you don't know any friends. Is that the case or—
It can be the case. It can feel like you are tweeting into the void of nothing. Yes. Especially if you have very little followers or you're starting from zero. I think in that case, really what you want to do, like it's consistency that wins the game on Twitter. So the more you show up, the more you show up in people's feeds, the more people see you and notice you and that kind of thing. So you, I think the best thing to do is trying to find the smaller communities. I think you'll be surprised at how quickly you can kind of find that. So there is something called Fitness Twitter. And there's a whole hashtag around it. There's a whole lot of people who, you know, talk about fitness, health, you know. And the other thing that you've got is you've got a big audience of entrepreneurs, business owners, creators, all of that, who are probably sitting in front of the computer all day, every day, and wondering, I wonder how I can get healthy. And so you've got a huge audience of those people That are ready and willing to listen to what you have to say.
Yeah, it is a new world. And especially if you are— I'm gonna do an episode on this too. If you are kind of in that world of doing maybe more online training, it is another avenue that you can be using. And I like the flip on that. There's a lot of creators that are sitting on their butts all day long and
Yeah.
You know, big audience there.
And I think the other thing you have to remember is on Twitter, people are hungry for information. So they are scrolling through their feeds all day looking for inspiration. They're looking for interesting things. And I think like if you can bring an interesting point of view, not just an average point of view, people love kind of to hear something different. They love to hear you kind of say, you know, Yeah, like if you, if you kind of think a little bit differently, then you can really get some good attention and start to, to like, and even like, I mean, it's a hierarchy of you, you'll connect with people on the feed. You might slide into their DMs. A lot of people love to even have Zoom calls. You know, I've had Zoom calls with a heap of people this year who are all over the world and it's just interesting.
Very interesting. Team 2022, is Twitter in your space? Okay, Ev, we have— we just talk about like, you know, how many platforms can one be on?
Yeah.
Let's say we're big on Instagram, Facebook. What are your thoughts? You know, is it time for a third platform?
I think if you have— if you can like, you know, 80, 90% master 2 platforms, then I think you're okay to go to another one. But if you drop those platforms, that means you can't kind of like keep up, if that makes sense. So it's like, I think we've always said 2 platforms and then if you can master those, you can add a 3rd and then the same. And then, but then, you know, you might also have been building a team and they might do your Instagram or their Facebook or help you out with it. And And you can then be free to explore other platforms and see, you know, and I would treat it as an experiment. Everything is an experiment to me. Does it work? Does it bring in revenue? You know, is it worth my time? All of those kinds of things. Set yourself a time period and be serious about it. And then, yeah, see if it works.
Awesome. Very good. Well, you might see me back on Twitter, Ev.
Ah, sometimes I see you sneaking around.
Yeah, it's a great platform, Twitter. And if you haven't checked it out, it's something to check out. And the reason why we wanted to put this out now, and if you're watching this or listening this, I should say, a Christmas period is a great period to start doing some testing and some playing around because I like the time to take the usual proceedings off, like a usual standard kind of marketing, you try some different avenues out around this time. And as you said, Ev, it's a good time to test it out, see if it sticks. It could be that holiday fling or it could be a longevity approach in 2022 that will really work well for you, especially if you are a thought leader, as you're saying, especially if you feel that you've mastered the 2 platforms, you want to go to the 3. And if you feel that you have a voice and you want to get your voice out and you feel that Nobody's hearing you on Facebook and you want to have a bit more clarity of building a community, definitely head over to Twitter and get that account and password cleaned up, find it and get back into it, or just start a new platform up and find a new way on Twitter.
Yeah.
Good insights, Seb.
Good. I hope to see some people on Twitter soon.
Yes. Twittering world. Get yourself on Twitter. And guys, yeah, think about if it's going to be a strategy for you in 2022. And it's definitely, Twitter's definitely that long-termer, right? It's been steady, hasn't it? Steady.
Yeah. And, you know, unlike Facebook and, you know, Facebook and Instagram, it doesn't have, I feel like it doesn't have the volatility like You know, they stay pretty under the radar. Um, and maybe that's just their position in the market. But, um, yeah, it does seem, you know, pretty stable.
But I also think, I also think when you say pretty under the radar, that sometimes industries like the fitness industry, um, and certain industries, they really love a certain platform. And I think, you know, if we were another industry, um, like journalism or, you know, Anything like that, it would be the number one choice.
It is. Yeah. You're absolutely right. So any kind of knowledge-based industry like journalism, writing, all of that kind of thing, they have a fairly big presence on Twitter.
Awesome team. Now, if you joined this episode, definitely share it out. And if you are on Apple Podcasts, that's the place you can review. We had a client That came up. Well, a person who's listening to the podcast said you can't review on Spotify. Yes, you can review on Spotify. I don't know why. We'll ask Spotify, but you can review on Apple. So if you're on Apple, give it a, uh, give it love. And if you're on Spotify, share it out. Thanks for tuning into this episode of
