Budget health club chains continue to lead the way when it comes to social media engagement.

The Social Media Fitness Index Q2 2016 report, from data specialist LeisureDB, reveals that Leeds-based Xercise4Less has overtaken Pure Gym as the top ranked health club operator when measured in the amount of interactions achieved across the “big four” social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube).

Xercise4Less ranked first with an overall engagement score of more than 80 per cent – 8 per cent ahead of closest rival Pure Gym.

Covering the three-month period from 1 April to 30 June 2016, the report shows that the overall number of social media likes, followers, subscribers and views received by the top 20 UK private health club operators increased on figures from the first three months of the year.

Facebook likes increased by 5 per cent during the period and there was also an impressive 20 per cent increase in the number of people following fitness chains on Instagram.

There is, however, room for improvement, according to LeisureDB director David Minton.

“Activity has decreased when you look at the number of average posts per brand,” Minton said. “And fitness brands are still failing to provoke responses to their posts.

“They could grow quickly if they took advantage of the opportunities to connect with the consumers.”

The report also shows that Facebook is the most common social media platform among the top 20 private brands, while Instagram is under-utilised, with around half of companies having accounts.

The quarterly Social Media Index report was first published in June 2016.

To download and see the full results of the Q2 report, click here.