Let’s just get right to it…
Social media is greatest practice-building tool EVER for psychotherapists.
Facebook allows us to connect with clients as never before.
Yes, social media is THAT powerful for building a highly-profitable private practice.
There is no other marketing tool this powerful to attract clients, build a following, and position yourself as a trusted authority in your field.
Because the decision to choose a psychotherapist is a very personal one, social media gives your clients the advantage of getting to know, like, and trust you before they call you for therapy. Social media allows your clients to follow your work, hear your message, and get value from you before you even know who they are.
I call this “value first” marketing because you are providing value to your potential clients through your social media presence, even before your clients are ready to engage in therapy. Then, when they are ready to make the phone call and book an appointment, they already know exactly who they want to work with: YOU.
Although there are lots of different social media platforms to choose from, the clear choice for psychotherapists is Facebook. Facebook offers some important advantages over other social media platforms:
- With 1.71 Billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. If your clients are using social media, chances are they’ll be on Facebook.
- The average user spends 50 minutes per day on Facebook, which gives you plenty of time to connect with them and share your message.
- Facebook allows you to precisely target the EXACT potential clients you want to reach. This far surpasses any other marketing platform out there.
- Facebook is the ideal way to position yourself as a trusted authority. Through expert positioning, you share your message with the world and effortlessly connect with those clients that you can truly serve.
- It’s much cheaper to advertise on Facebook than to advertise on Google. Many of the psychotherapists I work with are paying around $0.47 per website click from their Facebook advertising, compared to around $6.82 per click from AdWords.
But, here’s the catch…
Social media marketing doesn’t work like Google marketing.
Here’s what often happens: a therapist has had success with Google and then runs those ads on Facebook.
The result?
A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.
Why?
Google (SEO and AdWords) are demand-driven marketing approaches.
This means that your potential client is on Google actively searching for your services. They are looking for “couples therapist Boston”, or “anxiety treatment Raleigh”. Then they “shop” through the list of results.
Social media (including Facebook) doesn’t work that way. Your potential clients ARE on Facebook, but they’re not out there looking for a therapist. They’re out there to see what’s happening in their world.
Social media requires interest-driven marketing.
What exactly is interest-driven marketing?
Well, it all starts with engagement. Engagement is posting content on Facebook that your target audience is interested in. It’s content that catches their attention in their newsfeed and makes them want to read more.
When you post engaging content, your target audience reacts to it by doing 1 of 4 things:
- ‘Liking’ it, or ‘Reacting’ to it
- Commenting on it
- Sharing it
- Clicking on it
These are the 4 ways that Facebook measures how interested your target audience is in the content you’re posting. This is why social media for psychotherapists is so important.
If you’re getting a lot of engagement, Facebook will show your content to more potential clients. If you’re note getting a lot of engagement, Facebook will show your content to fewer and fewer potential clients.
If you’re not getting much engagement from the content you’re currently posting, you need to fix that FIRST. I’ve created this FREE Cheat Sheet, ‘9 Tips to Boost Engagement on Facebook’ to help you. You can download it here:
Engaging content is the first step to making Facebook marketing work for private practice, but it isn’t the only step. Once you’ve begun getting engagement, you’ll start to build momentum for your Page and for your Practice.
This momentum leads to more Page Likes, and you start to build a community.
As your community grows, your engagement grows. This engagement further builds your community, and the cycle just continues.
As your Facebook following grows, you’ll also see an increase in website traffic.
As your community grows, you’ll see an increase in new client calls. The best part about these calls is that they aren’t just “shopping around” for a therapist. They have been following you, they know your work, and they have specifically chosen to work with you.
This is the foundation of a successful private practice that you can sustain for years to come. You’re positioning yourself as a trusted authority, creating a name for yourself, and inviting people to connect with you.
Social media truly is the most powerful practice-building tool we have available to us right now. It’s the best way to attract clients, position yourself as a trusted authority, and share your message with the world.
This doesn’t happen overnight, but the results you’ll get from your efforts are well worth it. Remember, it all starts with engagement. One person liking your post, then two people, then three, then 14, then 32. That’s how you build momentum, so focus first and foremost on boosting your engagement.
If you need help getting started, click here to download your free guide: “9 Tips to Boost Engagement on Facebook“:
