Social Media Toolkit - July - Good Enough Counsellors

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I wonder how you found my Good Enough

Councillors podcast.

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I'm guessing here, but I think it may well

be because you already knew me through my

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Good Enough Councillors Facebook group, or

perhaps someone who's in the group

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recommended me.

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When I started it back in 2018, I thought,

I'll just give it a go.

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12 ,000 members later, and having grown a

successful coaching business, you can see

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why I'm a big believer in the power of

social media.

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to help you grow your practice.

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Welcome to the social media toolkit with a

focus on how you can use your social media

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to reach out to clients in July.

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Each month, I discuss an aspect of social

media marketing and then round up the show

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with some suggestions for your posts.

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Today, we're going to look at how social

media can support you in gaining more

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clients and act as a complement to your

other marketing efforts.

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Who knows?

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In time, you may be in a position to ditch

paying for directories like counselling

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directory or psychology today because you

get all your clients via your business

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pages.

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In case you think that's unlikely, I do

know therapists who don't have to pay for

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any advertising because they rely solely

on their social media to attract new

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clients.

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I'll be interviewing some of them in the

coming months.

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And if you'd like some inspiration,

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Listen to how Josh Fletcher and Fee Hukin

have made social media work for them in

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episodes 15 and episode 11 respectively.

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So why does social media work for getting

clients?

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I think here it's helpful to consider one

of the models for change that you're

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probably familiar with from your training.

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This suggests that people move between

stages.

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They start with pre -contemplation.

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This could also be called denial, where

they don't recognise their behaviour is

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problematic.

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What normally happens is that the

behaviour will cause an outcome that

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causes them to begin to contemplate

behaviour change.

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That contemplation may then lead them to a

preparation stage, followed by taking

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action.

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Now, I think a lot of therapists are

missing a trick when they...

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rely solely on directories for new

clients.

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The people that directories attract are

those clients who have definitely decided

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to take action and are actively searching

out a counsellor.

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You may ask at this point, well, what's

wrong with that?

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Surely those are the people that I want to

attract.

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The first answer that is glaringly obvious

it is at that point, you're competing with

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a whole number of other therapists.

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And a lot of directory profiles are very

similar, making it difficult for a

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potential client to pick anyone out.

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At this point, I'm going to interject to

say that at the end of June: 2024

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running my successful Make Your Profile

Work Challenge in my coaching group,

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Therapy Growth Group.

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So if you'd like to make your directory

profile stand out, join the group this

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month to be able to take part.

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There's a limited number of spaces

available.

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If you're interested, click on the link in

the show notes for this episode.

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Coming back to the change model, the

advantage of a social media presence is

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that you're going to be able to connect

with clients before they've even thought

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about looking on a directory for help.

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You may be able to reach them when they're

in that contemplation stage.

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And this can really help them.

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I'll explain why.

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As therapists, we tend to assume that

people will know that counselling is an

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option for them.

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But the more I speak to non -counsellors,

the more I realise that people try a lot

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of other options before they even consider

therapy.

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Let's think of a few examples.

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Consider someone who binge eats.

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They may try a variety of diets run by the

big companies.

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They may turn to someone who specialises

in nutrition.

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or they might employ a personal trainer.

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They could try complementary therapies

such as acupuncture or Reiki.

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Or let's think about someone who's

adapting to a life change.

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This change may have highlighted a gap in

their lives and they're desperately trying

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to fill it with more activities or

relationships.

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They know they're unhappy, but they're not

tackling the real root cause.

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And that means it's likely that a problem

will reappear again.

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in a different form the next time they

experience a change.

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It's not that there's necessarily anything

wrong with exploring different avenues.

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But where does counselling figure in this?

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Is it something they include in their list

of options?

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Are they aware that therapy could make a

lifelong difference to them?

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And in passing, I'll say that this is why

I do the work of helping therapists with

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their marketing.

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I know good counselling changed my life

forever.

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and I'd love more people to access it.

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In the contemplation stage, wouldn't it be

wonderful if potential clients came across

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someone who could help them understand

that their experience of life could be

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radically different?

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Someone who perhaps gets them to start

thinking about seeing a therapist.

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Now, the advantage of being that person

is,

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Who are they going to turn to when they

decide to see a therapist?

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It's very likely that if they've connected

with you because of what you've already

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told them, they're going to want to see

you.

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And they're not going to go looking

elsewhere.

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Why is that?

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It's because you've already built a

relationship with them.

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It might not actually have involved any

direct conversations, but they've been

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reading your posts or watching your

videos.

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They've got to know you as someone who is

consistent, knowledgeable and trustworthy.

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Your social media presence enables you to

showcase your personality, your values and

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your approach to therapy.

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And it makes you much less of a stranger

than one of the many therapists who are

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listed in a directory.

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In the words of Ghostbusters, who are you

going to call?

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Let's move on now to think about how you

could reach out to clients via social

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media in the month of July.

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I'm going to use upcoming events and

awareness days, but there's so many I have

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to be quite selective for the purpose of

the podcast.

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Do remember that one of the benefits of

joining Therapy Growth Group is guidance

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on topics for every day of the month.

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One of the ways that you can use social

media is to share content related to

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mental health and wellbeing.

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This helps to establish you as someone

with what is called authority.

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By sharing information, you show that you

have the knowledge and training that means

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that you can help.

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And it also helps people in that

contemplation stage to realise that

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therapy may be an option for them.

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So here's some topics you could cover.

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July is a big month in the sporting

calendar.

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I've just realised there is a month of

Euro football to contend with starting in

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mid -June.

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This means if you follow me on social

media, you'll see me being really

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productive with my own content because

once it gets started, football will be on

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the TV in my house every single match.

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And I'm going to be trying to avoid it.

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Now, that's the subject for a post in

itself.

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The Euros and Wimbledon overlap and they

both end on the 14th.

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And then we've got the Paris Olympics from

the 26th.

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Sport's going to be talked about a lot in

July.

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And you can use this to your advantage.

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Use the event hashtags in your posts and

then add your own therapist twist to it.

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This could be, for example, about the

mental health challenges that athletes

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face and how to manage stress, both for

them and for their fans.

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Sadly, there's an angle you could also

take and that is talking about how

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domestic violence can increase during

sports tournaments.

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And while I don't want to be a gal, you

could also seize some moments of drama.

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I attended a talk recently by an ex -Pol

-Volta who'd experienced a serious injury

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that ended his career.

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As a result, he suffered depression for a

couple of years.

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And although he found a new way forward, I

think his story illustrates how an injury

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impacts mental health.

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If you see someone carried off the field

in a stretcher, particularly if it's an

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England footballer and you live in

England, you could add to the commentary

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to talk about how recovery is not just

about physical rehabilitation, but also in

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the mind.

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You could then follow this up to talk

about how unwanted change impacts you.

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both personally and in relationships.

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Who knows, you might reach someone who has

an aha moment because they read it and the

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penny drops.

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They suddenly realise why they're feeling

as they do.

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What I think the interesting thing is to

note here is how you can combine what is a

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general topic of conversation, sporting

fixtures, with information about mental

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health.

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You'll be adding a perspective that people

perhaps haven't thought about and may find

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interesting.

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If they start commenting on your posts,

they will be seen by more people and this

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helps to increase your overall reach.

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I'm going to move on now to talk about

some more counsellor type days and events

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during the month.

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The start of July is Alcohol Awareness

Week, which could fit in with a football

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if you have a focus on domestic violence.

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It's also Bereaved Parents Month and Pets

Remembrance Day on the 5th.

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These are quite sobering subjects.

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Whoops, that's an unintentional pun there.

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Sorry about that.

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And it can be hard to know how to talk

about them on social media in a way that

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engages your followers.

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I'd like to give you a short trigger

warning now.

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I'm about to speak about death by suicide.

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So if that will upset you, please skip the

next 30 seconds.

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I've lost count of how many worthy posts I

have seen about suicide and scrolled on

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by.

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However, on the subject of suicide, the

one post that stands out vividly to me was

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about an exhibition in 2022 that showed 50

photographs of happy, smiling people.

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These were all people who died by suicide

and it was very poignant and moving.

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The reason why it was so memorable was

because seeing actual people, while

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difficult, made the topic very real.

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There's no doubt that telling stories

helps people to empathise and connect at a

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deep level and that stops your posts from

seeming dry and dull.

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So if you're thinking about posts on

bereavement or alcohol awareness, you may

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like to keep your eye on the media and

also charities who are campaigning on this

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issue.

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They may well share some real life

experiences and you can use these in your

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own posts.

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One way of helping people to connect with

you as a real person is if you share your

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own reactions and how the post impacts you

and why that is.

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The why can be the part where you provide

some psychoeducation.

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As well as providing information and

showing people what a thoroughly lovely

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and trustworthy person you are, because I

know you are, it's also important to

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remember to tell people that you're in

business and open for new clients.

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Otherwise, what's the point of spending

all this time crafting great posts?

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However, sales posts can be the ones we

find the most difficult to share.

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It's so much easier to be helpful with our

content than it is to ask people to

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actually employ us.

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It might feel like we're asking them for a

favour, but I'd like you to remember how

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will people get help if we're too shy to

tell them about what we do?

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And while you may think it's obvious what

you do, it may not be to people who know

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nothing about counselling and know nothing

about private practice.

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For this reason, intersperse your helpful

posts with information about how people

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can work with you, what counselling is,

how it works, and what people can expect

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to get from counselling.

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And coming up in July, there's some great

opportunities to talk about counselling.

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They're not necessarily well -known days,

but that doesn't matter.

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You don't have to name the actual day.

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You can just use them to remind you to

post about your service.

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So here's a list.

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They start the conversation on the 3rd of

July, new conversation day on the 12th,

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world listening day on the 18th, and

Samaritan's Awareness Day on 24 -7.

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Remember, the whole point of why you're

posting on social media is ultimately...

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It's all about raising awareness of you,

your service and counselling in general so

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that people can change their lives.

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People will be so glad they've found you.

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Thanks to you, they'll be able to resolve

problems that they've been struggling with

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for years.

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When I had counselling, it transformed my

family life and it most definitely had a

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positive impact on the relationship with

my teenagers.

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Can you imagine you'll be able to reach

people and stop that intergenerational

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trauma in its tracks?

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To me, that's such a compelling reason to

try and reach people via social media and

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why I'm so passionate to support you in

doing so.

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Thanks for listening.

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Do come and join my Facebook community,

Good Enough Counsellors, and for more

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information about how I can help you,

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develop your private practice, please

visit my website, josephinehughes .com.

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If you found this episode helpful, I'd

love it if you could share it with a

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fellow therapist or leave a review on your

podcast app.

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And in closing, I'd love to remind you

that every single step you make gets you

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closer to your dream.

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I really believe you can do it.

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