As you develop your martial arts academy’s social media presence, you will naturally begin thinking about information more visually. How can you communicate your academy’s value as succinctly as possible? This will shape the kind of content that you post to your media channels.

One of the most powerful tools you can use to create visual content is video. Dynamic video content can captivate your audience, provide an immersive experience, and communicate your academy's unique offerings and values almost as effectively as an in-person visit. 

Videos of events like belt promotions, workshops and gatherings can also give visitors a peek into the heart of your community, what to expect long-term when they sign up to take a class.

Nobody wants – or has time – to read big blocks of text. That’s why websites now favor clean design that guides the viewer’s eye visually around the page through bites of information which they can click on to further explore. 

This begins to bleed into the topic of customer journey (we’ll cover that another time), but the important thing here to note is the value of quick, digestible information to convey meaning. 

Less is more. When you have less content on your page, what you have carries more weight. 

This means you want to elevate your website and social media channels with imagery that best depicts the heart of your martial arts academy. By supplementing some of your visual content blocks with video, you can fit more information into a small frame, providing a richer and more engaging experience for your audience.

In a way, your website’s homepage should operate more like an interactive infographic: key visual points, no distractions, and a clear path of navigation. 

Your social media account should feature photos and videos and an intentional use of promotional posts. Meaning, your entire grid shouldn’t be full of information graphics – use them sparingly. You don’t want your Instagram grid to start looking like the chaotic, over-pasted side of a city building. 

So, how can video help?

There’s lots of ways you can implement video at various levels of your marketing strategy. 

Show off your academy. You can show videos of your academy at both peak hours and downtime, to give an accurate portrayal of the range that your academy experiences. 

During peak hours, you’ll capture coaches in full action, running classes and shining on the mats. 

During the quiet times at the academy, you can capture a more intimate view of behind-the-scenes, glimpsing coaches’ personalities “off-stage”, and deliver a real-time feel to someone who’s never stepped inside your school. 

Just simply giving a real-life shot of the inside of your academy can soothe someone’s nerves if they find themselves nervous to go in!

Highlight your strengths. Use video to highlight your strengths. Maybe your school has a particularly strong technique game and very skilled coaches. 

If your academy runs off of a curriculum, make others feel even more involved by making it more public. 

Record a Focus-of-the-Week technique video to post weekly on your social media channels or in an email campaign! This not only keeps students plugged into class even from home, but it gives visitors an idea of what to expect from your martial art in the first place.

Break it down. If you want to take the value of your video content a step further, you can create segments where you or an articulate coach breaks down a technique completely, rather than simply showing it. 

The more value you can add through your content, the better you’ll ensure that people will start coming to both your school and your social media for information!

Lift it up. Along with daily content of your school like class videos and behind-the-scenes footage, one aspect of video marketing absolutely worth investing in is higher quality video content you might bring in a professional videographer to shoot and edit. You may need to create some space in your budget for this, but if you can swing it, it’s worth it!

Professional videography adds the element of narrative, rhythm and skilled visual composition to bring your story to life with a cinematic edge. 

When it comes to big events, a professional will be able to capture the scope of the experience and deliver it to your audience in a compelling way highlighting both the grand elements and the tiniest details. 

Even if you only do this once a year, over time you will build a meaningful professional catalog documenting your academy's growth. This in itself, as a legacy, can feel priceless. 

However, if you’re like most academy operators, you’re running on a budget. Don’t feel like you have to break the bank to make great video content. With the cameras that are in phones these days, a current model of an IPhone can take you as far as you need to go. 

How to successfully video

Even if you see the value in all of these ideas and can’t wait to get started, the biggest key to remember here is: information.

You will not start out making professional videos, and that’s not the goal anyways. The goal is authenticity and information – to show an honest peek into your academy’s world while providing both direct and indirect information to potential members. Newcomers can sample your academy’s teaching style, curriculum and tone, and current students can stay connected to what’s happening on the mats.

Don’t get caught up in how the video looks, or how you’ve never done it before. Think about what information you want to get across, and how you can do it. What do you want to say?

Do you want to show that you have a range of classes? Take a quick 3-second video of each of your classes over the course of a week and stitch them together. Does your academy have a cool feature like a fully padded room for kids? Record a video sharing it and show kids playing!

Every video doesn’t have to be a production. Start thinking about them as short bursts of communication. There are also plenty of trends on Instagram and TikTok that you can try which bring their own scripts. 

In the end, while experimenting has a place and getting creative is fun, the goal lies in effective communication. You’re establishing a channel, and only consistency will build that channel.

Don’t get so caught up in aesthetics or overwhelmed by the process that you sacrifice consistency. It’s better to start slow and steady than to bite off more than you can chew. No matter how cool or uncool you think your videos are, the real magic happens in the consistent delivery of valuable content. 

Make your video practice sustainable so that you can keep up the consistency over time and grow your audience, brand loyalty, and student membership base. And of course, don’t forget to show this blog post to your social media coordinator! ;) 

[Build Your Martial Arts School Through Social Media]