There are so many valuable benefits that you can access by using social media to promote and propel your therapy practice. After all, your practice is also a business and this means that many of the marketing techniques that other service models use on social media can help build your brand and propel you to success too!
For example, you can make the hard task of taking that first step towards therapy much easier for your clients by having a presence on social media. You can also reach and connect with a far wider audience that needs help. Finally, by making use of social media you can also establish yourself as a leader within your niche, something that will not only include not only providing valuable information for those in need but also boost your brand and even your SEO.
With that in mind, check out our guide on how to use each of the 5 main social media platforms in your therapy business.
A note on ethics
Before we examine each of the social media platforms that can help your therapy business in detail it is necessary to discuss ethics. Indeed, there are specific guidelines that you need to uphold including HIPAA, and it is vital that you review these before you begin your social media efforts.
Now you may be wondering what a lot of filtered photos of people doing the duck face pose have to do with therapy! However, the reality of the situation is that Instagram can be a powerful marketing tool for your practice.
The good news is that setting up an Instagram account for your practice is easy. All you need to do is go to your profile, click the top right-hand corner, go to settings, and then switch to a professional account. You will then be asked to add a category for your business and you’re done.
Of course, once you have an Insta for your therapy business you’ll need to use it in the correct ways. In particular, it’s important that you focus on using relevant hashtags as these will help the people most in need of the specific kind of help you can offer to find you.
Additionally, be sure to take the time to interact with accounts similar to yours on Instagram. The main benefit of this is that it helps you to make connections and enhance your credibility within the field.
Another important platform that has the potential to propel your therapy business to success is Facebook. Indeed, there are several ways you can use Facebook to your advantage including sharing content that you have previously published on your website’s blog.
To set up a Facebook account for your therapy business you must first have a personal account to act as admin, which you can create here. From your account page go to create a page, and then click the business option. You will be promoted to give your page a name ( the name of your business) and add a category. Once that is done you can add images, which are great for branding, and a user name so you can reply officially from your account to comments. After that, you are good to go. Although spending some time adding in detail to your page can help clients better relate to you and ensure your SEO is good too.
One of the great things about Facebook is that you can schedule or automate posts, which means you can’t get all your practice marketing activity completed in a single afternoon!
Although before you can schedule a post you need to have a good idea of what to write. After all, you probably don’t have enough blogs to post one every day, and even if you did your followers wouldn’t have the time to read and engage with them.
That is why you should instead vary the content you post and include things such as external academic or media articles, a key fact you got from a conference you attended or even your opinion on a new study or approach in the field.
Twitter can also be hugely helpful for therapists looking to propel their practice, and concerning marketing, some basic rules apply such as engaging with others on the platform and using it to prompt content and link back your therapy website.
Sign up for an account for your therapy practice by visiting the Twitter homepage, and providing your name and phone number. You will then be taken through several prompts, complete these, and log in. Finally, remember to switch from your username to your business name and you are ready to go.
However, there are some specific tactics for getting the most out of your Twitter account as a therapy practice. In particular, making sure the visuals of your account and your profile are on point can do a great deal to boost your reach. Luckily, it’s easy to add photos or images including a header which you can use to directly promote your practice.
Also when it comes to your tweets make sure that they always offer both values to your followers and include a call to action as this will help to galvanize your followers into doing what you are asking of them.
Youtube
There are so many therapists spreading mental health education and advice on Youtube right now! However, even if you don’t want to take center stage in front of the camera, there are still plenty of ways you can use this platform to help market your business.
Of course, before you begin doing this you will need to sign up for an account. Do this by setting up a dedicated account for your business by filling in the details when promoted, and setting up your channel icons and artwork. Be sure to complete your channel’s description, and then you are good to go!
Once your channel is up and running it’s time to make some video content. Many therapists create talking head content, but there are other possibilities to consider as well. Why not show a sample therapy session (role play), or host a discussion with other mental health professionals. You can even use animation to get your point across. Just remember that your content always needs to offer value to your viewers, put yourself in their shoes and ask what would I want, or better yet run a survey and ask them directly!
Once you have crafted and edited your video, it’s also a really good idea to make sure it’s embedded on your website. Then when visitors to your site are viewing it they won’t get redirected to Youtube, where you have the potential of losing them to other distractions.
Tiktok
Last, of all, a platform that you should consider for your therapy practice is Tik Tok! Now I know what you are thinking, of all the platforms, how in the heck is this one going to help make my therapy practice a success? Well, the truth of this and all the social media platforms mentioned in this post is that they are tools for reaching out and connecting with potential clients. They are as useful as you make them!
Of course, there are also some very specific benefits of using Tik Tok to promote your therapy business. The first is that it’s easy to sign up, while the second is that it’s a great way to reach teenage clients, who may not yet have the skills and resources to contact you directly, as well as those that are not familiar with therapy and the benefits it could provide them.
Also having a presence on Tiktok is helping win the fight to normalize mental health and the discussion around it. Therefore being a part of this is not only aligned with the goals and values of most mental health professionals, but it can also help them establish their status as leaders in their field as well.
