The Power of Social Media Marketing for Therapists: Is it worth it?
The business goal of social media use is often misunderstood. For therapists who shy away from social platforms, social media often seems like a time-consuming way of self display. For others, it's a useful tool that helps you engage with your audience and could potentially lead to a new client, someday.
Whatever your stance on social media is, this article will help you determine if using social media to grow your private practice is worthwhile for you.
The impact of social media on the therapy industry
I'm writing this article during the 2024 Summer Olympics. And if you've been watching the games, you've probably seen the many TikTok commercials that praise the platform. To be clear, I don't use TikTok so I have no particular sentiments toward the platform. But the message in all the commercials is clear:
"If it wasn't for this platform, people wouldn't know me and my business."
Social media has undeniably transformed the way businesses connect with their target audience, and the mental health industry is no exception. For therapists, social media offers the opportunity to expand your network, connect with your audience of potential clients and get a conversation going about mental health.
What's more, social platforms are free to use and require no upfront investment, except time. This offers a unique opportunity of getting as many eyeballs on your practice and services. The younger generation of therapists have mastered platforms like Instagram and TikTok and some have amassed large audiences as a result. More experienced providers sometimes find themselves behind the curve with these platforms but are tapping into LinkedIn and FaceBook to increase their reach and grow their practices.
In short, social media allows you to connect, engage and grow your network. Attracting clients is a byproduct of most of your activities on these platforms but when used wisely, you can speed up the process of attracting clients there too.
Benefits of social media marketing for therapists
One of the major benefits of using social media is the ability to reach the people who you'd have no contact with otherwise. Think about it this way, without a social platform it would be very hard for someone to find you in other places. Before, you would have to pay for an ad or a radio commercial for someone learning about your practice in another town.
Now you can reach practically anyone anywhere. Of course, that shouldn't be a goal in itself but you can use it to your advantage for:
Growing your network of potential referral partners
Highlighting a topic that you find important for your niche
Talking to a specific segment of the population
Reaching people in your geographic location
Asserting yourself as an authority on a particular subject related to mental health
Selling your services
But arguably, the main benefit is using social media is to drive traffic to your website. By incorporating compelling calls-to-action, sharing informative content, and promoting services or special offers, you can direct followers to your website where they can:
Learn more about your practice
Book appointments
Access additional resources
This increased web traffic not only boosts your online presence but also enhances your visibility in search engine results, potentially attracting more clients, building your caseload, and increasing revenue.
Social media marketing strategies for therapists
Because social media marketing can be so time consuming, it requires a strategic approach on your part. Realistically, (unless you have a dedicated social media manager) you will not be able to be active on multiple platforms at once. Therefore it's important to determine which social platform makes the most sense for your practice.
To do that, you'll first need to define what you niche you serve and who your ideal client is. Once you know who you're trying to reach, you'll be able to pick the right platform for you to get active on. To help you with that, take a look at the screen shot from the recent webinar hosted by Neil Patel Digital.
Note that LinkedIn is not a part of this graphic. That's because LinkedIn is a professional social platform and is in a category of its own.
Pick one platform that makes sense for you and start establishing your presence there. What I mean by establishing your presence is creating an optimized profile that includes the link to your website, a bio and a good headshot at a minimum.
When it comes to setting up social media profiles for therapists, professionalism and consistency are key. Therapists should use a professional profile picture that reflects their brand identity and conveys a sense of trustworthiness. A clear, concise bio that highlights the therapist's expertise, qualifications, and areas of specialization can help potential clients understand the therapist's background and approach to therapy. Additionally, therapists should ensure that their contact information, including website, phone number, and email address, is easily accessible to facilitate client inquiries and appointments.
Ideally, the next thing that you'd need to do is figure out how your social media efforts fit into your overall marketing strategy. One of the mistakes that therapists often make is thinking that social media is a stand-alone effort, disjointed from every other marketing tactic you use. In fact, social media offers best results when it's part of one big marketing system.
Make sure that your messaging on you social platform is cohesive and targets the same people you want to attract to your practice, either as clients or referral partners. Use your posts strategically to either educate, discuss or promote your services. You can use a variety of formats (text, image, video) to post. The important part is remaining consistent, posting at predictable schedules.
Ideally, the next thing that you'd need to do is figure out how your social media efforts fit into your overall marketing strategy.
Here's another screenshot from the Neil Patel Digital webinar that shows the formats that perform best on each platform:
Engagement is a crucial aspect of social media marketing that should not be overlooked. Therapists should actively interact with their followers by responding to comments, messages, and inquiries in a timely and professional manner. By fostering a dialogue, showing empathy, and providing valuable insights, therapists can build trust, credibility, and loyalty among their audience. Encouraging conversations, asking questions, and soliciting feedback can also spark meaningful interactions and deepen the connection between therapists and their followers.
And when creating your content, remember the main goals that I mentioned above to being on social media.
Engaging with your audience on social media
Here's the scoop, social media platforms don't want users to leave. They want people to remain on their platforms for as long as possible so they can sell them stuff. That's why these platforms prioritize engagement. The more people engage in conversations (comments) on the platform, the longer they'll stay there.
For you it means creating posts that promote engagement. If it sounds manipulative, it's because it is. But if you want to reach a larger number of people so you could potentially help them get better, you'll need to encourage engagement with your own posts.
Engaging posts fall into two main categories: entertainment and education. I've seen therapists who create entertaining posts, mostly as short-form videos or reels to increase engagement. The problem with choosing the entertainment route is that you'll need to remain entertaining and it's hard.
That's why I recommend to go for the second category of education. You can choose the tone and the topics that feel authentic to you and don't feel boring for your audience. Through your posts, you can encourage dialogue and interaction through thought-provoking questions, polls, or discussion topics can stimulate engagement and create a sense of belonging among followers. Engaging with your audience in a meaningful way can help humanize your practice, build rapport, and establish trust with potential clients.
Incorporating interactive elements such as live streams, Q&A sessions, or virtual events can further enhance engagement and create opportunities for real-time interaction with your audience. By leveraging the interactive features of social media platforms, therapists can engage with followers in a more dynamic and immersive way, fostering a sense of community, collaboration, and support. Live interactions can also showcase the therapist's personality, expertise, and dedication to helping others, creating a memorable and impactful experience for followers.
Measuring the success of your social media marketing efforts
How do you know if your social media efforts are actually working?
By tracking and measuring results. Now you may think that the only result that matters is the number of new inquiries and clients. For social media, it's not as simple as that. Because the primary goal of social media has to do with awareness like expanding your network and reach, you need to focus on different results. In business lingo they're called KPIs - Key Performance Indicators.
To measure the KPIs for your social media activity, you need to look at:
Engagement rate - the level of interaction and participation from your audience.
Reach - the number of unique users who see your content.
Followers growth - a tangible indicator of your social media impact and influence.
Website traffic - the direct flow of traffic from the social media platform to your website.
By tracking these KPIs you will be able to determine if your content is relevant and effective. It will also help you determine if the return of your time invested is worth it.
Key performance indicators such as engagement rate, reach, followers growth, and website traffic can provide valuable insights into the impact of your social media activities and help you gauge the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts.
If you start noting a decline in followers and reach, you'll be able to adjust your social media strategy to fit your audience and the platform's algorithm better.
Potential risks and challenges of social media marketing for therapists
We all know the risks associated with the use of social media on mental health. Therapists, just like other human beings, can be susceptible to the danger of over-exposure, even for business purposes. The algorithms are set up to keep you on the platform as long as possible and that can lead to unhealthy comparisons, personal and professional, and unnecessary emotional investments.
But besides the mental health aspect, social media use needs to be navigated carefully in accordance with HIPAA compliance. One of the primary concerns is maintaining client confidentiality and privacy in a digital environment where information can be easily shared and disseminated. Similarly one must be careful responding to comments, negative feedback and interacting with your audience in general.
To minimize the potential risks of social media marketing, here's what I'd recommend:
Setting clear boundaries with your time spent on social media platforms.
Creating a clear plan of action for your social media use.
Keeping a log of potential answers for negative feedback or comments.
Adhering to HIPAA marketing rules.
Possibly outsourcing your social media management to a third party.
As with every business and marketing activity, avoiding all risk is impossible. Accepting the potential risks that social media can cause is the first step in creating a solid strategy for your practice.
Conclusion: Is social media marketing worth it for therapists?
As you can see, when used strategically and ethically, social media offers therapists a unique opportunity to connect with a diverse audience, build relationships, and establish credibility in the mental health space. If you know how to leverage the reach and engagement that these platforms can offer, you can showcase your skills and expertise as a therapists and attract client to your practice.
That said, we all have different resources at our disposal and we may choose to use differently as well. And if you have the time, energy or money to invest in social media presence it can significantly improve your chances of attracting new clients.
So go ahead and get active on social media today. Alternatively, schedule a chat with me to learn how you can incorporate social media into your marketing strategy.
