Ewa Chodakowska is a personal trainer whose holistic philosophy is based on the idea that physical activity improves a person’s quality of life in every aspect. She makes women believe that they are in charge of their wellbeing and happiness. Ewa encourages women to find contentment and inner strength through exercise and clearly demonstrates strong motivational skills. As a fitness coach she is committed to spreading her philosophy. To grow her fitness business beyond a physical space, she looked into virtual ways of communication.
From offline to online personal fitness trainer
Ewa Chodakowska is a personal trainer whose holistic philosophy is based on the idea that physical activity improves a person’s quality of life in every aspect. She makes women believe that they are in charge of their wellbeing and happiness. Ewa encourages women to find contentment and inner strength through exercise and clearly demonstrates strong motivational skills. As a fitness coach she is committed to spreading her philosophy. To grow her fitness business beyond a physical space, she looked instead into virtual ways of communication.
The digital age requires digital measures, such as strong digital marketing strategy. In her strategy, Ewa utilised the power of social media to establish and maintain a unique relationship with her fans and “friends” - as she calls them. “Change your life with Ewa Chodakowska” _ is a major theme in marketing slogans used by the personal trainer. Sports made an incredible difference to her life and she decided to share her passion with others.
By employing channels such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat _, combined with her own well designed website, Ewa built an online image of an approachable and caring person. Polish women love her because of her motivational charisma, incredibly effective workout programs, empathy, unpretentious and a positive attitude to life.
Building a Career as an Online Personal Fitness trainer through Facebook
Back in 2011, Ewa created a public Facebook profile and this allowed her to easily share her passion for fitness with others. Ewa’s husband is Greek and he shares her passion for fitness. Together, they started sharing the joys of living a healthy lifestyle in Greece, always leaving motivational comments and healthy tips for their followers. Since anyone could get involved in the conversations, Ewa’s public profile gained huge popularity very quickly.
Within a year, she gained five thousand followers on Facebook (in comparison to 1.9m at the moment) who were simply sharing the same interests, such as online fitness training, weight loss, sports and wellbeing. As the conversation around the topic of fitness grew in popularity, so did Ewa’s Facebook account.
The positive relationship that Ewa created with her fans encouraged her followers to create a community – which is when Ewa became a mentor who led the conversations. She personally reached out and responded to her fans by email or a direct Facebook message, always including photos of various exercises and a short “step- by-step” description with each exercise.
And this is when something very special occurred, that proved Ewa to be a great motivational leader - people started sending feedback and transformation photos with gratitude to their guru. These events brought about another Facebook account, where Ewa now was officially sharing these inspirational stories of many women.
Soon after, videos became a popular form of expression and Ewa’s fans started craving more. Ewa’s response to her fans’ needs was quick and effective. Recorded in Poland and in Ewa’s native language, the videos were aimed at a Polish audience – mostly women of various ages and shapes. Ewa’s biggest goal at the time was to sign a contract with “SHAPE” – the most popular fitness magazine. Eventually, she managed to secure an interview with the publisher. Without much hesitation, she was asked to open her Facebook page to verify her popularity. As soon as she logged in, she started a brief conversation (in a form of a Facebook post) and almost immediately the post received 200 likes. She then shared SHAPE’s official Facebook page – this move made Ewa gain an impressive 2,000 likes within a space of two days.
The magazine was impressed with such a response and Ewa was offered a contract that she worked hard for. They soon started recording and her first four DVDs were followed by an offer to support Ewa in a creation of her own fitness magazine. Over the next couple of years Ewa produced another six DVDs. In a meantime she also published two books, which became fitness bestsellers in Poland and even received a high number of orders from fans living abroad. Ewa’s healthy recipes and effective workouts were shared and talked about on social media and soon Ewa was able to run fitness events in Poland and travel overseas to visit her global audience. She opened her own gym shortly after which was a outstanding success and she remains committed to running her blog and motivating women ever since.
Ewa’s positive vibes were soon noticed and welcomed by the media. She was often a special guest in some of the most popular breakfast shows in Poland, where she talked about healthy lifestyle choices and the role that exercise plays in our pursuit of happiness.
The Strategy behind the Success
The Big Idea & Need Recognition
- Ewa used her results as proof of transformation and this way she encouraged other women to share their own transformation,
- As a personal trainer she recognized a need for mutual feedback (possible through Facebook) and it was essential in the creation of trust and a sense of accomplishment for all of the followers,
- She managed to build public friendships by close monitoring of the account (only positive feedback is allowed) and never left her fans in need.
Personality matters
- Ewa created an image of an approachable person who knows where to find happiness and wellbeing,
- As a fitness coach she expressed her unique personality on Facebook and over time she created a strong personal brand,
- Social media leads by example and motivates women as a result, which makes a brand promise in itself.
The commitment to content creation
- As part of her social marketing strategy, Ewa is fully committed to running a blog, her Facebook page and she manages other social media and digital channels,
- Somehow, she also manages to keep training and recording her programme, which then get posted online on a regular basis,
- A personal touch in her Facebook posts made Ewa a highly likable person and, most probably, women’s favourite Facebook personality “to catch up with” every day.