Do You Want To Be A Fitness Influencer When You Grow Up?

Written by Fab Giovanetti

Fab is a business mentor, published author, influencer-specialist, best known as the founder of the Health Bloggers Community. Serial startup founder and professional troublemaker, she is obsessed with avocados and helping people making an impact in health and wellness. Sounds like you? Get daily tips on how to grow your influence via the HBC magazine.

You can follow Fab on Twitter & Instagram.

Do you remember the question you always get asked when you’re growing up: “what do you want to be when you grow old?”

I would lie if I said that I always had the same answer: first I want it to be an astronaut, then somehow I wanted to be a hairdresser, however, since I was 10, all I wanted to be was a writer.

Beware though, I didn’t want to be a writer because of the stories. I wanted to be a writer because of the words. Words are powerful, and words encapsulates ideas and beliefs. This is why, up to this day, I tell people to look out for words: the tricky ones, the ones that get us in trouble.

Once upon a time, writers had to be careful about the words they put in their stories. They were the trendsetters, the troublemakers, the ones persuading our next decisions.

Nowadays there is a whole new generation, arguably a new job title, that is all about stories, pictures, selfies and emojis, and obviously, words.

The influencers, just like it says in the name, have the power to shape how we think and make decisions about our day. In my book, Make an Impact, I define an influencer as “a social influencer”, someone with who will influence our decisions and has an impact by sharing their opinions in the online world. For sake of ease I’ll call “social influencers” simply influencers.

Whether we decide to go out for that 5am morning run, or cook a delicious meal from scratch, peer motivation and pressure to have a place in why we do what we do.

Just like the power of words, the power of persuasion is one that we should value very deeply. Especially for some categories of influencers, because this conversation about words, about persuasion, about impact goes beyond a festival in the Bahamas, if you know my drift.

This “niche” of influencers is the one that I studied for my book, and is the category that deeply affects our health and our overall wellbeing.

Those are the influences part of one of the biggest and fastest growing industries ever. Have you guessed yet, dear reader?

Health and fitness have a massive impact in our future behaviours, and, if we like to be controversial (and we do like a bit of controversy here) about our overall longevity and emotional wellbeing.

Specifically speaking, the fitness industry has been seen as one of the leading industries when it came to new trends new ideas and new ways of moving and taking care of our bodies.

For decades, celebrities would tell us how to get a six pack, why wearing a high waisted swimsuit is the best outfit to rock in an aerobics class, and whether a diet made of pineapple and soup is a good idea (spoiler alert, it never is).

Most people argue that influencers are the new celebrities - not just in the way we perceive them, but also in the way we interact with them.

When it comes to any area of personal health the plot thickens rather quickly because, let’s be honest, you can be an influencer and not be a fitness professional, just as you can be in this professional and be an influencer.

If we look at fitness influencers as a group, we need to draw the line between qualified and unqualified influencers.

Here’s where the set of responsibilities slightly changes. Just last month, January 2019, the Health Bloggers Community partnered with Wellspoken Mark to launch the first independent register of health and wellness influencers: ROHWI,

Why, you may ask? Because it’s time to clarify what responsibilities influencers have.

Regardless of your degrees of qualifications, all influencers should maintain high standards in all their communications, and make transparency and integrity the key principles of their online interactions. All this translates into is: make sure you are clear about how you communicate your message online.

The qualification you or do not have will clearly define the boundaries you are supposed to have when it comes to the type of information you are sharing. Unfortunately, the fitness industry does not regulate those boundaries.

Here’s where ROHWI does its best to introduce regulations and guidelines. Depending on your qualifications, you may be only expected to share personal opinions and be expected to ask for external support from professionals who can support any statement with robust scientific or medical sources to ensure its credibility.

The truth is, when we strip the language back, that most of the times people’s concerns could be fixed by using the correct language and communicate clearly where you got your knowledge from.

The reason why a PT undergoes the gruesome hours of studying anatomy as well as programming is because they can safely and effectively recommend an exercise routine that will support your goals. Qualifications show that the individual has undertaken a curriculum that allows them to guide a wider audience safely - and most importantly has warned them of potential concerns, issues and dangers.

When we put it down to this simple equation, the difference in communication is quite simple.

If you want to share your progress in training, or how you have been approaching exercise in your personal journey you do not need a qualification.

If you want to share a detailed program of training, or recommend a specific path for a clear issue, outcome or injury you do need to be trained in order to safeguard your audience.

In my book, I bang on again and again about trust. For your audience to trust you, you need to know your boundaries and how to ask for help. I discuss what makes credibility, and why expertise is not the only element of it.

Starting a conversation about your responsibilities as an influencer may be easy, but defining boundaries and expectations is a whole other kettle of fish.

This is where a body like ROHWI - the register of health and wellness influencers - is aiming to guide, support and clarify the path ahead. This is where peers and fellow influencers can lead by example.

“What do you want to be when you grow old? “

In a world where kids’ answer may be “I want to be an influencer”, influencers need to know their responsibilities.

The real, key responsibility of you as a fitness influencer is to aim to make a positive impact in the life of your audiences and their wellbeing. Are you willing to take the challenge?

Fab Giovanetti’s book, Make an Impact, is now out on Amazon.

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