Case  Study:  Balancing  Corporate  and  Local  

Initiatives  on  Facebook  

 

 
 
Last  winter,  24  Hour  Fitness  had  developed  a  rapidly  growing  corporate  Facebook  Page  with  100,000  
fans,  but  needed  to  figure  out  a  Facebook  strategy  for  its  400-­‐plus  fitness  clubs  across  the  country.  
Especially  following  the  launch  of  Facebook  Places,  the  corporate  marketing  team  realized  that  local  
Facebook  Pages  for  each  club  would  be  the  perfect  way  to  replicate  and  extend  the  fitness  dialogue  and  
experience  between  visits.  

The  challenge  was  how  to  balance  protecting  the  brand  with  encouraging  each  location  to  cater  to  its  
unique  market,  such  as  local  preferences,  habits,  and  even  weather.  High-­‐priority  goals  included  the  
following:  

x Monitor  and  analyze  corporate  as  well  as  local  efforts  on  Facebook  and  Twitter  
x Utilize  content  workflow  system  to  approve,  reject,  or  suggest  content  (including  Wall  posts,  
branded  tabs,  and  promotions)  to  all  or  a  subset  of  locations    
x Encourage  localization  to  increase  consumer  engagement  and  check-­‐ins  while  enforcing  brand  
compliance    
24  Hour  Fitness  sought  the  help  of  Hearsay  Social,  a  Facebook  Preferred  Partner  which  has  developed  a  
social  media-­‐management  tool  for  distributed  organizations.  The  24  Hour  Fitness  marketing  team  works  
with  local  club  managers  to  create  a  Facebook  Page  for  each  location  ĂŶĚƚŚĞŶƵƐĞƐ,ĞĂƌƐĂLJ͛Ɛ
administration  tool  to  centrally  monitor,  analyze,  and  provide  Facebook  content  suggestions  to  the  
various  locations  across  the  country  (see  Figure  1).  Club  managers  can  view  the  suggestions,  personalize  
and  localize,  then  one-­‐click  publish  to  their  Facebook  wall  and  Twitter  account.  

The  results  have  been  higher  engagement  both  by  consumers  and  local  club  staff,  a  consistent  brand  
experience  across  these  local  efforts,  and  hours  of  work  saved  by  the  corporate  marketing  team  and  
local  staff  each  day.  In  addition,  24  Hour  Fitness  uses  Hearsay's  compliance  module  to  filter  profanity  
and  personally  identifiable  information  which  may  appear  in  Wall  posts.  

͞dŚĞƌĞŝƐĂƚƌĞŵĞŶĚŽƵƐ  opportunity  for  us  to  engage  with  our  members  using  Facebook  during  and  in-­‐
between  their  visits  to  our  fitness  clubs,  but  managing  the  social  media  activity  of  our  over  four  hundred  
clubs  was  a  daunting  task.  Hearsay  Social  helps  us  organize,  empower,  and  measure  all  of  these  
disparate  local  club  initiatives  from  a  central  dashboard  and  is  helping  our  brand  reach  and  connect  with  
larger  audiences  while  saving  valuable  time  for  my  team."  
 ʹTony  Wells,  Chief  Marketing  Officer,  24  Hour  Fitness  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure  1  
Hearsay  Social,  a  Facebook  Preferred  Partner,  helps  distributed  organizations  centrally  manage  content,  
compliance,  and  workflow  across  corporate  and  local  social  media  presences  (such  as  Facebook  Pages,  
LinkedIn  profiles,  and  Twitter  accounts).