Social media management for a kids’ karate club

Yuriy and Vitaliy Kryukov’s karate clubs are places in Lviv where kids and students learn martial arts. In this article, I’ll share a successful case study — how I created content for a children’s club.

To attract new students and keep the existing ones engaged, the club decided to hand me their social media management — creating content for Instagram and Facebook.

The Brief

As part of running their social media, I had a few tasks in front of me:

• create original content that’s genuinely interesting and useful for the audience;
• make sure posts go out on a regular schedule;
• set up advertising to promote the content;
• build and maintain a consistent style across the profiles.

The Results

Thanks to effective social media care, which included content creation backed by advertising, I achieved the following results for Yuriy and Vitaliy Kryukov’s karate clubs:

• 40% growth in followers on the Instagram profile;
• almost all videos make it into the recommended feed;
• 25% of the audience is deeply engaged with the content on the profile.

Content Planning

My content planning focuses on three main directions:

Coaches. I put the spotlight on the coaches as the key figures of the club — the people who pass their knowledge and experience on to the students. The posts cover their professional and personal lives, showing the coaches in all kinds of situations.

Students. The main players in the whole process, actively writing their own story at the karate club. I tell their success stories and their impressions from training sessions and competitions, keeping their motivation going.

The training process and time spent together. I build a clear picture of the atmosphere and everything that goes on at the karate club.

Communication Tools

Copy

I talk to the audience like they’re good friends: in a friendly tone, without unnecessary formality.

The way I write posts, comments, and private messages reflects the everyday communication between the coaches, the students, and their parents.

I use entertaining content, show the coaches in real-life situations, and also the “behind the scenes” of the training and mentoring process. But I do all of it with respect for my readers.

Instagram — Carousels

I create posts with minimal design, because the main emphasis is on the live photos — and that’s the specific nature of this project.

The visual side is built on:

• photos from competitions;
• photos from the training process;
• photos of the kids.

I introduce the audience to the students of the sempai and the sensei, so that in each individual story you can spot a bit of yourself.

Stories

For stories, I go for bold colors, accents, and plenty of “tap-here” interactive bits, so I’m always in touch with my audience!

It’s through storytelling that I pull not just the karate club’s students into the training process — and not only that. Kids love away competitions, summer camps, and time spent together, so I often post lots of videos and photos in real time — they capture best the mood that runs through the group.

Videos

This is probably my favorite part of the content. I use this format a lot and often — both for posts and for stories.

The optimal video length for Instagram is 60 seconds, but training sessions and competitive bouts last much longer, so I edit dynamic, eye-catching videos for the Instagram and Facebook profiles.

The video formats I run:

• interviews with students, where they share their impressions from training or competitions;
• the training process;
• videos from time off together;
• videos with the coaches.

Wrap-up

Creating successful content for a karate club’s social media is a complex process — it takes a clear understanding of the target audience, along with creativity and the ability to connect with kids.