Whether you run a health club, a leisure centre or an independent sauna and cold plunge spot, a lot of your future members are already scrolling past places like yours on TikTok and Instagram. The question is whether they’re seeing you.
With 12.2 million people now members of a UK health and fitness club, competition for new members is fierce. Whether it’s a new gym, a family swim or a spa day, people want to see what a place is really like before they think about joining.
A membership is a big commitment, so people want to be sure it’s worth it. When a local creator spends a day at your club, moving from the gym floor to the pool to a coffee in the café, their followers see everything a membership includes through the eyes of someone they trust. By the time they enquire, they can picture a week at your club, and because those followers live near your sites, they’re the people who could actually join.
For most health clubs and leisure centres, the challenge is scale. A small central marketing team is often looking after lots of sites, each with its own local audience, offers and opening hours. Finding and messaging creators for every club soon eats into hours your team doesn’t have, and it’s hard to keep things consistent from one site to the next.
Why Local Creators Work for Health Clubs and Leisure Centres
- They show off everything you offer. The gym, classes, pool, spa, courts and café can all appear in one creator’s visit, which is hard to get across in a brochure.
- They make each site feel local. A creator who lives near a club speaks to the people who could walk through its doors, not a national audience.
- They bring their community with them. Creators have loyal followings, and when they share a day at your club, some of those followers come and see it for themselves.
How Can Health Clubs and Leisure Centres Work with Influencers and Creators?
There are four common ways:
- Gifted visits: Give a local creator a day pass or trial membership to experience the club, and if they enjoy it, they share it honestly with their followers.
- Paid partnerships: Pay influencers with bigger followings for agreed content, often to support a membership campaign across your sites.
- Launch and reopening events: Bring creators together for a new club opening, a refurbished pool or gym reveal, or a family open day.
- Videos for your ads: With Ad Studio, creators film at your club to your brief, ready to run as Instagram and TikTok ads for each site, and you own every video you approve.
What to Offer Creators
A clear, generous offer brings in creators who are keen to visit. For health clubs and leisure centres, that might be:
- A free day pass, with an extra like a spa treatment or a meal in the café
- A free month’s membership, so they can share how the club fits into their routine
- Access for a plus one or the family, so they can show off family-friendly facilities
Running Creator Campaigns Across Multiple Sites
If you look after more than one club, creators can work for every site at once while still feeling local.
- One campaign, every site: on Joli, one campaign can cover all your clubs, with each site’s own opening hours and limits on how many creators visit each day, week or month
- Plan around your peaks: line up creator visits ahead of your busiest joining moments, like January and the run-up to summer
- Prioritise the sites that need it: focus creator visits on new, refurbished or quieter clubs where an extra push makes the biggest difference
Our guide to getting fresh social content for multiple sites every month goes into more detail on running one programme across a group.
Independent Saunas and Cold Plunge Spots
Social saunas, contrast therapy and ice baths are all over people’s feeds. For independent operators, that’s a big opportunity, but with a small team and often just one site, there’s little time for marketing.
Creators are a great fit because:
- The experience is the content. The steam, the gasp of the first plunge and the glow afterwards make videos that are hard to scroll past.
- It takes the nerves out of a first visit. Lots of people are curious but unsure what to expect. Seeing a creator try it for the first time shows them exactly how it works.
- It’s social. Many people go with friends, so content that shows a group session encourages followers to book with theirs.
What to offer creators:
- A free session for them and a friend, so they can film the social side
- A first look at a new sauna, plunge pool or session format
- A spot at a community event, like a sunrise session or sauna social
How Joli Works for Health Clubs and Leisure Centres
Joli is a creator platform for hospitality and leisure brands, so your team can run creator visits for every site from one account.
- Set up your campaign: add your offer, like a day pass or a free month, the sites it covers and what you’d love creators to capture.
- Creators apply: local creators near each club apply to visit, so nobody’s sending cold messages.
- Choose who comes: check each creator’s content, engagement rate and where their followers live, then approve the ones that suit each club’s community, from young professionals to families.
- They visit: creators book in and spend time at the club, and if they enjoy it, they share it with their followers.
- See the results: their posts land in one content library, with views and engagement for each campaign and site.
Every creator on Joli is based in the UK and reviewed by our team before they can apply to anything, so your brand is in good hands at every site.
What Creator Content for Health Clubs and Saunas Looks Like
A couple trying the sauna and cold plunge together, reactions and all. It shows exactly how a session works and makes it look like a fun thing to book with a friend.
The Results It Can Drive
Rocket Padel has brought creators into each new club as it opened, from Ilford in 2024 to Beckton in 2025, where it also added a workout offer at its gym. Each club got its own local creators, and together they’ve shared 120 pieces of content with more than 448,000 views. The club hears about it from the people ringing up to book:
Marketing is always hard to quantify, but we’ve had calls coming in for bookings telling us they found us on TikTok which is all you can ask for!
Oskar, Club Manager at Rocket Padel
If you’d like creators at every one of your sites, book a demo and we’ll show you how it would work across your clubs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I market my leisure centre?
Show people what their membership really gets them. Make your facilities, prices and joining offers easy to find for each site, and give people a reason to visit, like a free day pass or open day. Content from local creators and real members is one of the best ways to show off your centre to the people who live nearby.
How do I get influencers to promote my health club?
Look for creators who live near the club and share fitness, family or lifestyle content, depending on who you want to reach. Offer a day pass or trial membership and a simple brief. With Joli, you set up a campaign and local creators apply to visit, rather than you tracking down people for each site.
Do health clubs and leisure centres need influencers?
With so many clubs and gyms competing for the same members, they're worth considering. Creators show the full experience, from facilities to atmosphere, in a way a brochure or a price comparison can't, and they put each of your sites in front of people who live close enough to join.
How do I increase memberships at my gym or leisure centre?
Make your membership offer simple to find and sign up to, then get it in front of people who live nearby. Giving each creator a sign-up link or code to share, and asking new members how they heard about you, shows you which sites and creators are bringing people in.
Can I run creator campaigns across multiple sites?
Yes. On Joli, one campaign can cover every club, with each site's own availability, and creators near each club reach that club's local audience. You get content that feels local everywhere without setting up a separate campaign for every site.
When is the best time to work with creators?
Any time you want to drive sign-ups, but it works especially well around your busiest joining moments, like January, the run-up to summer and new club openings.
What if members don't want to be in the content?
Ask creators to film in quieter areas or at off-peak times, so other members stay out of frame, and put up a sign on days when creators are visiting. For a bigger push, an open day or creator event means everyone there is happy to be filmed.
How do I market a sauna or cold plunge business?
Show people what a session actually feels like, and make the first visit easy. Explain how it works, offer intro sessions or bring-a-friend deals, and run community events that people want to share. Content from local creators trying it for the first time is one of the best ways to win over curious newcomers.
