Do I HAVE to?

I hear the same question a lot from therapists…

“Ugh, do I have to be on Instagram?”

Or

“There’s no way in hell I’m making TikToks!”

The good news is:

You don’t have to.

You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do, really!

The question you should ask yourself is:

How will my ideal customers find out about me?

Really ask yourself that question.

Of course, we all know that people are glued to their phones these days. So, yes, people are on social media, and maybe the way to find people is using social media.

If you simply don’t want to use social media, then this blog post is not for you. I would encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, though. You may find that trying new things can be really rewarding!

What Social Media Should I Use?

So, if you’re still reading I’m guessing that you’re willing to make social media usage SOME part of your marketing strategy. Let’s dive into how to do this!

First of all, there are a LOT of social media platforms. Ask yourself:

What platforms would I like to be on?

Here are some platforms you could use:

LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
TikTok
X (formerly twitter)
YouTube

There’s probably others, too, but those are the ones that I use for my business.

Making Profiles

The first step, if you haven’t already, is to create your profiles. It can kind of be like going to the gym and signing up. It’s a lot of hassle, you have to enter a bunch of information, and, even then, maybe you don’t end up using it.

It’s a hard first step, but an important one.

Thankfully, these social media platforms make it simple enough. So, just download the app or visit the website, and they’ll walk you through the sign-up process.

Be sure to decide if you’re making a business page or a personal page. For some, it may be in-between (if you’re in private practice, for example). For others, maybe you’re making a profile for your group practice. Make sure to use consistent marketing and branding materials across platforms!

Next Steps to Build Your Brand

Now, here’s where things get interesting! Once you’re on the social media pages, you have to start actually churning out content. If you’re just getting started, don’t worry as much about consistency. Again, like going to the gym, it helps to just show up and do stuff. It’s likely that, if you keep going, you’ll find a rhythm and routine that you like.

The type of content that you create depends, again, on your interests. It will also vary by platform, since each platform has its own ‘container’. For example, an instagram post may not look quite the same on LinkedIn.

Choose which platforms you want to use, and then go from there.

If you haven’t already identified a target market or niche, I’d encourage you to do that. It’s important that you can speak to one specific audience, otherwise you’ll be trying to compete in a sea of other therapists. It can be hard to differentiate yourself in that kind of crowd.

Example niches you could use:

Substance Abuse Recovery
Psychedelic Integration Therapy
Men’s Issues
Post-partum
Divorce

There’s a million-and-one. Likely, you have some interests or training that put you in a niche. If not, pick one that you’d like. For example, I had training in addiction recovery, and I chose to focus on young men who are struggling to get their lives together. Those became some of my main niches.

Content Creation

Once you have your profiles up and your niches identified, you can actually start churning out content.

Your content should speak to the specific needs of your target population. So, you might write an article about breathwork techniques to manage anxiety. Think about what information that it might be important for your ideal clients to know.

Do they need education about the causes of their issues? Are they looking for tools or techniques to manage their condition?

I like to start with blog posts. This gives me the option to write things out in long form. I can also post them on my website to help my Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and drive traffic my way. If you’re doing SEO, make sure you’re doing some keyword research. Also, see our article on SEO for Mental Health Professionals for a more in-depth read.

Once you have an idea that is turned into some form of content (blog, instagram post, tweet, etc.), it can be reused in a different format.

I like to take my blog posts and turn them into Instagram Carousels (the posts you scroll through). I watched this video to learn how to make nice looking Carousels on Instagram. You can also browse through free Canva templates for a more low-effort strategy.

An Example of Part of an Instagram Carousel

Posting Content

Each piece of content should have some ‘Marketing Copy’. This is the text that goes with the post.

See example:

The text is simple to read, broken up into pieces, and explains what the full post is about. It also includes a Call-to-Action (CTA). Additionally, note the use of hashtags. The hashtags are pretty obvious. Use hashtags that are obvious to you - then they’ll be obvious to your clients. No need to overthink this part! Also, note that I used local hashtags as well! This is a great strategy if you’re trying to bring in local clients.

Your marketing copy can be used to entice people on your social media pages to go to your website, or just as an explainer of what you’re posting about.

So, once you have your content ready to go, and your marketing copy, you can start posting to your different profiles.

Again, make sure that you’re making each post custom to the platform you’re posting on. A LinkedIn post might link back to your blog with the full marketing copy. A tweet might be a short description with a link to the blog post. An Instagram post might be the Carousel with the marketing copy. You get the idea!

Getting Clients from Content

Now, here’s the tricky part:

Just because you are posting doesn’t mean you’re going to get clients.

Oops, I said it!

Yes, that’s the unfortunate truth.

Your goal should be to get people interested in what you have to say so that they follow you to continue to learn from you!

Put yourself in their shoes.

If you’re struggling with chronic lower back pain, and you see a post in your Instagram feed from a chiropractor that shows you a stretch that actually relieves your back pain temporarily, aren’t you going to want to follow that person? Following them means that you can continue to get free value.

But, are you going to book with them right away? Probably not. You still don’t know them.

Free value leads to paying customers.

Your potential client could be asking themself, “If I’m getting this much value for free, what will I get when I actually pay money?!” The answer: lots more value!

Continually posting establishes you as an authority in your target market. This leads to trust amongst your clients.

Building a Following

Now, I’ll be honest, I haven’t mastered this one yet. All-in-all, it takes time.

My strategy, for the most part, is to follow people and hope they follow me back. You can, of course, unfollow people later. The result is that you look like you were only following them to get their follow back (not because you like their stuff). That doesn’t feel good when people find out!

On the other hand, if you don’t unfollow all of those people, you’re going to look like you’re doing just what you’re doing… following for follow-backs.

What you should read between the lines there is that authenticity matters. People like when you’re engaging with them. They want to feel like you truly know them. If you’re following a bunch of random people that you don’t know and you never engage with them, they probably won’t think too much of you.

Following people in bulk can get you more followers quickly, and start your following up, but it’s not the same as having a huge social media following.

One trick to consider is finding another page that you feel like is aligned with your brand, and following people from there. So, if you’re looking for young adult clients, you might follow the people who follow your local university (i.e., students of the university).

Overall, if you’re consistently putting out value, people will want to follow you, but it takes a long time to build up a presence.

Content Schedules

One thing that I’ve learned is that the more you put in, the more you get out. This video from Alex Hormozi, a famous entrepreneur, shows that you have to produce a LOT of content to really grow.

He talks about how he was posting 7x per week and not seeing results. He upped his posting to 80x per week and saw a 10x growth in followers, views, etc.

So, 10x the input, 10x the output. Simple math, right?

Consider how much you’re going to post and when. I treat it like going to the gym (sorry for all the gym analogies!). It’s better to have a consistent schedule and not drop off. You miss the gym for one week, you feel bad, and you don’t make progress. Sometimes you get sick and that’s okay. But, you know it’s best when you hold yourself accountable to a schedule, and show up for that every week!

Once you have a schedule, you can stick with it. It may take a while to find your routine, so don’t stress it too much in the beginning. Maybe start with one blog post that turns into other content each week. Slowly add in other content, like ‘stories’, ‘reels’, etc.

It can also be helpful to dedicate some time to engaging with your audience. It can feel unnatural at first, but it will become more natural. Many people who use social media will automatically open up the apps and engage with content they like and find interesting.

I’d encourage you to do the same with your business social media accounts. Open them up, use them, and interact with them. People will start to see your name, and, if they like what you’re posting, they’ll build an online relationship with you. This is a good thing!

Reaping What You’ve Sowed

Think of it like an investment. You’re investing your time and energy into giving away value, so that that value will come back your way later. You plant a seed when you get a follower, and all the value you give out is like watering it. As you continue to water it, it will grow, and eventually you can harvest it!

Okay, maybe that sounds a little odd when we’re talking about therapy clients! I get it. But, ultimately, this is just the human mechanism of trust at play. You’re building trust with prospective clients, so they’ll feel good about paying you.

If the clients need what you have to offer, it is the ethical thing to do to make yourself available to them. In my reading of the ethics codes, there is nothing unethical about building trust amongst potential clients and then converting them to paying customers.

Of course, you don’t want to use manipulative techniques, coercion, discounts, etc. Be mindful of how you are interacting with potential clients. Ideally, you are both a fit to work together, and this process helps you get what you both need.

So, when you are ready you can make a ‘harvest post’. This is the post that says what you offer, where to find you, and (hopefully) gives people a link to book your services. This is basically an advertisement.

Just be aware that the more value you give away, the more you build up ‘goodwill’ amongst your followers. Each harvest post takes away a little bit of ‘goodwill’. Let’s face it - ads feel spammy, and we don’t want that in our feed. The more value you can provide without asking for anything in return, the better. Of course, you are trying to get clients, so it’s a balancing act!

So, at this point, people know who you are, what you offer, and where to find you. They’ve been getting value from you, so they trust you and know that you’ll deliver on that value even more when they come to see you.

Running Advertisements

It can also be helpful to run social media advertisements. The focus here should be on getting people to follow you, rather than getting them to book with you. The reason for that is that you still need to build up trust in your customer base. So, it’s a better idea to get people interested in your work, build trust, and then do your harvest post.

Final Thoughts

This is just a primer on the subject, and, as you can see it can be a pretty deep topic! I am still learning, but these are some things I picked up. I hope that you took something away from this.
If you like this content, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to make sure you’re getting our articles in your inbox!

Social Media Marketing for Therapists (and other Mental Health Professionals)