To celebrate National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, and to raise awareness of the many reasons to be physically active, IHRSA will be providing daily content on the benefits of physical activity that clubs can share with their networks.
Club operators, fitness professionals, and industry stakeholders are encouraged to use this information in their member and prospect communications to promote that May is a great time to renew a commitment to a healthy, active lifestyle.
Alex Black, IHRSA’s health promotion manager and leader of the campaign said, “We are creating fun, engaging content that clubs can put to use in May as part of National Physical Fitness and Sports Month and can revisit at other times of the year in accordance with their own marketing calendar.” She added, “The content is meant to be interactive. For some of the #WhyGetActive prompts and trivia quizzes, clubs should ask their members to participate.”
While IHRSA is one of several organizations working together to promote National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, including the President’s Council, SHAPE America (the group behind National Physical Education and Sport Week), Alliance for Women’s Health (the group behind National Women’s Health Week), and more, IHRSA is the only organization that is providing messages specifically for health club operators.
Beginning May 1, look for daily messages on the IHRSA.org blog as well as IHRSA’s Twitter account, IHRSA’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and on the newly launched IHRSA Exclusive Member Content App. IHRSA members should ensure that their communications staff follow IHRSA on all of the association’s social platforms.
IHRSA will be using its advocacy social media accounts (@IHRSA_Advocate) to share these messages directly with industry partners, stakeholders, policy makers, and engaged consumers.
Each week of the month will be themed to focus on physical activity as it relates to:
▪ May 1-May 7: Physical Education and Sports
▪ May 8-May 14: Historic Achievements and People
▪ May 15-May 21: Women’s Health
▪ May 22-May 28: Global Employee Health & Fitness
▪ May 29-May 31: Initiatives to Thank Servicemen and Women
Additionally, for each Friday in May, IHRSA will create and promote content that drives industry support for PHIT. As part of our ‘PHIT Friday’ initiative IHRSA has organized a Thunderclap to help spread the word about the physical and fiscal benefits associated with passing this legislation. For those unfamiliar with Thunderclap, IHRSA created a short FAQ blog post to explain Thunderclap and how people can sign up to generate additional support for #PassPHIT on social media.
IHRSA anticipates the campaign will reach almost 3 million users on Twitter and 50 thousand on Instagram, while sharing the reasons to Get Active and #PassPHIT with millions of current and potential health club consumers.
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) is a not-for-profit trade association representing health and fitness facilities, gyms, spas, sports clubs, and suppliers worldwide. IHRSA and its members are dedicated to making the world healthier through regular exercise and activity promotion.
