
Gymshark is a British sportswear brand that began as a humble small business in 2012.
Founders Lewis Morgan and Ben Francis started out selling fitness supplements from home. After achieving success, they started to make the company’s first pieces of athletic clothing with simple at-home printing gear and a sewing machine. The two entrepreneurs grew the business and it is now known as one of the highest-earning startup businesses in the UK [1].

There is no question that Gymshark’s success story is a very coveted and inspiring one by small business owners. So what can fellow entrepreneurs learn from the success of Francis and Morgan’s business?
Taking a closer look at the creative ways in which they used the power of social media to grow their brand could be a big piece of the puzzle.
1. Working with fitness industry celebrities and influencers
With Gymshark’s official Instagram profile currently boasting 7.1 million followers, it is clear that the company knows what they are doing when it comes to social media marketing. But taking a closer look at the company’s Instagram page will show dozens of young and attractive models sporting their brand. Gymshark has been strategic in keeping a pulse on internet celebrities and fitness influencers they might recruit.
In the beginning stages of the business, the young entrepreneurs came to fitness influencers Lex Griffin and Nikki Blackketter to partner with the company. Lex Griffin, from Shrewsbury, UK, is a fitness trainer who also owns his own sportswear company. Nikki Blackketter is a fitness content creator from Houston, TX.
Gymshark offered the two free clothing in exchange for content where they were seen wearing Gymshark merchandise. The partnership was huge for the company [2]. By the year 2020, the company was paying 125 different influencers to show off the brand [3].

The relationships Gymshark has created with social media fitness influencers have also been shown to benefit both parties. Gymshark regularly organizes events with their family of influencers and celebrities. These live events allow fans of the brand to look at new products and meet some of their favorite internet personalities [4]. This has been a major success for the influencers to spread their image and gain more followers. This mutually beneficial relationship has been a key part of Gymshark’s success.
2. Creating engaging, consistent, and relevant content
Scrolling through the official Gymshark Instagram will also reveal dozens of humorous and engaging videos perfectly tailored to go viral. Gymshark has proven that they can stay ahead of the social media curve by paying attention to trending content styles, jokes, and fitness industry memes. Anyone can create content these days with a smartphone and some basic free filters and music.
But examples of Gymshark’s content are highly edited shots of influencers at the gym in cool poses with trending music, or a funny and relatable skit about waiting your turn for the leg press shot with a high-quality camera. Investing in equipment to make high-quality content could be a worthwhile venture to make your company appear more professional on social media.

Creating content regularly that is engaging can be difficult for new business owners who choose to use social media for marketing purposes. Gymshark has been able to stay on top of trends in a way that creates entertaining content and gets clicks to their site without it seeming like an advertisement. Using research tools to look closer at new trends is a great way to stay ahead of the algorithm and get your content noticed first.
3. Creating a welcoming space online for fans and followers
An often-overlooked aspect of how companies use social media is how they interact in the comments section. Most of the time, companies will make a post and allow the comments to fill up with very little interaction. This is a missed opportunity because it is very boring as a customer to interact with a post and receive no acknowledgement for it.
Gymshark has also done a great job in this area by keeping a conversation rolling in the comments. This is also another creative way Gymshark has used its partnered influencers to maintain an engaging space online.
Just like with the Gymshark live events that happen around the world, fans and followers are excited for an opportunity to interact with their favorite celebrities. When influencers participate in the comments, it gives fans an opportunity to interact with them directly.
This engagement also helps to maintain interest in each post, especially if a well-known influencer says something funny or interesting about their lives. On a final note, it makes online interaction appear more human and personal rather than just leaving the comments section to fizzle out and lose interest.
4. Maintaining core values by investing in social causes
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, Gymshark shifted its marketing to encourage others to follow social distancing measures. This included closing the retail company’s pop-up shop and humorously rebranding to “Homeshark”. The company also donated to hospitals during the time, as CEO Ben Francis’s mother works in healthcare [5].
In 2022, Gymshark began its “United We Sweat” campaign, showing that because of the pandemic, life for gymgoers has dramatically changed. The company released a 60-second video with the title, “United We Sweat”, which featured actors of many different backgrounds and body types to highlight that their company was truly for everybody. This video also showed that everybody chooses to approach fitness differently, and being interested in fitness doesn’t look the same for everyone [6].

In June of 2022, Gymshark released several videos for the campaign “Pride In Progress”. One of these videos featured gym footage of Angel Flores, transgender bodybuilder and influencer, who was famously in an episode of Netflix’s Queer Eye [7].
The company has also invested in sustainability efforts, and has highlighted these efforts on a page on its site titled “Our Impact”. This section shows the changes the company has pledged to make to its manufacturing processes to create products in an environmentally friendly and low-waste manner [8].
These social causes are great ways to remain more personal with customers and ensure that they are supporting a company with values. Even now, Gymshark continues to produce content featuring a diverse range of actors to demonstrate that fitness is for everybody, regardless of stereotypes and barriers.
5. Diversifying social media presence
Gymshark’s performance on Instagram is impressive, but limiting content to only one outlet would be yet another missed opportunity. Gymshark has done a great job of consistently creating content across many different platforms. This includes videos and shorts on YouTube, posting memes and product updates on Facebook, and also keeping fans updated with company news and sales on X.com. It can seem like very hard work to continue creating content for all of these different platforms, but it is certainly what has set Gymshark apart from other companies [9].

Many social media users may choose one form of social media over the others. Many young users prefer the visual format of Instagram, while others may prefer the text-based environment of X.com, and they may not have any other social media profiles.
It is free for a business to create profiles on any of these sites, so it is wise to branch out to create content for all of them. Gymshark has done a great job of keeping customers updated on sales and new products, no matter what social media platform they may be using. This maximizes the free advertising power of social media.
Conclusion
The story behind Gymshark is one of the most coveted success stories among young entrepreneurs and it is certainly no surprise as to why. In 2020, CEO Ben Francis was named the wealthiest self-made entrepreneur in the UK, and the company boasts approximately £560 million annually [10].
However, the secret to Gymshark’s success is not really a secret at all. The company focused half of its efforts on making quality fitness garments and accessories, while the other half was focused on building a social media presence and keeping it.
What can be learned from the success of Gymshark via the power of social media marketing? For a quick recap, the ways fellow entrepreneurs can maintain a strong social media presence are:
- creating engaging content that is relevant to the business
- collaborating with other content creators
- using a wide variety of sites to show off that content.
Stay ahead of social media trends using market research tools to ride the wave of trending memes and video formats to keep users’ attention. This also will make the content ready to be picked up by algorithms and sent straight to users’ For You Page.
It is important to work with other creators who will create a positive image for the company, as well as maintain the core values of the company. It is also crucial to make those core values known with social media campaigns and searchable hashtags that will get people talking. Finally, it is important to interact with customers in a friendly and personable way, including interacting with their comments and direct messages.