Shownotes
If you’ve ever posted on social media and felt like you were talking into the void, this episode is for you.
So many therapists tell me they feel discouraged when their posts don’t get likes or comments, or when they see others getting much more engagement. It can make you question whether it’s worth continuing at all.
In this episode, I’m not suggesting you stop using social media. Instead, I’m sharing a different way to think about it.
Because what if your posts are working - but just not in the way you expect?
I talk about:
- Why low engagement doesn’t mean your content isn’t helping
- The “silent followers” who may be reading without interacting
- How clients can find you through search, not just likes
- Why niching can reduce likes but increase relevance
- How to stay consistent when it feels like nothing is happening
- A simple shift that helped me move from comparison back to purpose
May Social Media Ideas for Therapists
Looking for simple content ideas this month?
Key dates to consider:
- Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week (4th–10th May)
- Mental Health Awareness Week (11th–17th May) – this year’s theme is Action
- Black Inclusion Week and Trans+ History Week
- Dementia Awareness Week and World MS Day
For lighter, engaging posts:
- World Laughter Day (3rd May)
- International Tea Day (21st May)
- International Hug a Cat Day (30th May)
You don’t need to cover everything. Choose what fits your work and your clients, and use these as simple ways to stay visible and connect.
In this episode, I mention a previous episode with Becky Willoughby of Willow Therapy Tring. It's episode 75: Grow Your Therapy Practice by Nurturing Connection
For more information about Therapy Growth Group, please click HERE
Setting up in private practice? Download my free checklist HERE
Need ideas for how to get clients? Download my free handout 21 Ways for Counsellors to Attract New Clients HERE
You can also find me here:
The Good Enough Counsellors Facebook Group
Josephine Hughes on Facebook
Josephine Hughes on YouTube
My website: josephinehughes.com
Keywords: social media engagement, private practice marketing, therapist social media tips, social media algorithms, online presence for therapists, social media consistency, overcoming social media comparison, connecting with clients online, content creation for therapists, measuring social media success, mental health content ideas, social media for therapists
The information contained in Good Enough Counsellors is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this podcast are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this podcast. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this podcast.
Josephine Hughes disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this podcast.
Transcripts
So how can we continue to post on social media when it feels like we're not really getting any response?
Speaker A:We're the only ones without any likes or follows, because, of course, the social media algorithms only show us the most popular people.
Speaker A:How do we carry on?
Speaker A:How do we know that we're making a difference?
Speaker A:And that's what I'm going to be talking about today.
Speaker A:Welcome to Good Enough Cat Counsellors, the podcast for growing a private practice without the pressure to be perfect.
Speaker A:I'm Josephine Hughes, counsellor and creator of Therapy Growth Group, helping you get the clients you want and create the practice of your dreams.
Speaker A:Have you ever noticed in your therapy that sometimes different clients will come up with almost the same subject?
Speaker A:And that happens in my life too, as I listen to lots of therapists telling me about what's going on with them and how easy or difficult they're finding it to reach out to clients.
Speaker A:And something that's come up recently with several different people is the whole idea of social media and how many likes and follows you get on social media.
Speaker A:And if you listened to Vicki Jackson's podcast episode last week, Vicki was suggesting that we need to take the advice that we give to teenagers, which is about not chasing the likes and follows.
Speaker A:So this week I thought I'd expand on that particular theme because for some therapists, it's actually really difficult.
Speaker A:It can feel like you're working hard, you're using your social media, you're creating posts, and you wonder if it's worth it because you don't seem to be getting many people who are responding to your posts.
Speaker A:So that's what we're going to talk about in today's social media episode.
Speaker A:And if you'd like some ideas for your social media feed, listen to the end of the episode where I'll give you some ideas for posts.
Speaker A:So what can happen is you might be posting on social media and you don't seem to be getting many people who are liking your posts.
Speaker A:You may be not seeing a lot of people converting into followers.
Speaker A:And as you know, I'm someone who tends to compare myself.
Speaker A:And if that was to happen to me, I know that what I'd be doing is just noticing that other people seem to be getting more likes and follows than me.
Speaker A:And of course, the social media algorithm actually feeds that sense of comparison.
Speaker A:It's why teenagers suffer from it.
Speaker A:And they're not alone in suffering from it.
Speaker A:We tend to see the popular people and that can bring up an awful lot for us, especially, say, if you were Somebody who didn't experience a lot of popularity in the past.
Speaker A:You might be quite sensitive to this side of the social media algorithm and you might feel a bit like Billy Nomads.
Speaker A:And when you're feeling like that, it is really difficult to carry on feeling motivated and feeling like there's any point in you actually continuing to post on social media.
Speaker A:But as you know, if you've been listening to any of my social media episodes, I think consistency is actually key because it shows clients that we are somebody they can rely on.
Speaker A:So how can we continue to post on social media when it feels like we're not really getting any response?
Speaker A:We're the only ones without any likes or follows because of course, the social media algorithms only show us the most popular people.
Speaker A:How do we carry on?
Speaker A:How do we know that we're making a difference?
Speaker A:And that's what I'm going to be talking about today.
Speaker A:So if you're in that situation where you feel like you're Billy no Mates on social media, please do listen to what I've got to say because I really want to say you are not the only one that feels like this.
Speaker A:I often feel like this.
Speaker A:Listening to Vicki's episode last week, she feels like this.
Speaker A:So this is what we're going to cover today.
Speaker A:These feelings are perfectly normal and natural.
Speaker A:And if we're advising teenagers on how to cope with it, we know it's not just us.
Speaker A:So I'm just going to illustrate this with some of my own stories and things that, that I've heard back from people that I've worked with.
Speaker A:But let me start with talking about an experience I had.
Speaker A:I can't remember if it was last year or earlier this year, but yep, I'd done it.
Speaker A:I'd gone on social media.
Speaker A:I was feeling down, I was thinking, what am I doing?
Speaker A:It's not working.
Speaker A:I don't seem to have that common touch that means that people really respond to my posts.
Speaker A:Maybe it's something to do with me.
Speaker A:Perhaps it's because I'm neurodivergent.
Speaker A:I don't really understand how people feel.
Speaker A:All these thoughts coming up for me.
Speaker A:And then I went to yoga and I was able to forget about it, focus on that lovely grounding movement and really get centred again.
Speaker A:And then I drove home and it just occurred to me, in the very short five minute drive from my gym to my home, I suddenly thought, how about just asking people what help they need?
Speaker A:And that was a real shift in my brain because what happened was I was stopping thinking about me.
Speaker A:And I was actually thinking about the people I wanted to help.
Speaker A:And I think this is sometimes where we can get tangled up.
Speaker A:And it's perfectly natural.
Speaker A:It's perfectly natural to think about yourself and whether or not you're good enough.
Speaker A:But actually, that's not the whole story, is it?
Speaker A:Because really, it's about coming back to what we're trying to do.
Speaker A:It's about coming back to our purpose.
Speaker A:It's about connecting with people.
Speaker A:It's about helping people.
Speaker A:So when I got home, I just did a really simple post and I said, does anyone need any help with anything?
Speaker A:And I got lots of responses and I felt good, because what I felt was that I'd actually come back to what I was really about, which.
Speaker A:Which is about giving and helping and less about that sort of.
Speaker A:Can I say it?
Speaker A:Do I dare say it about that ego side of me that really helped me.
Speaker A:So I think this is something to think about, is to think about what is it that you're trying to actually do?
Speaker A:And especially, you know, if you're sitting there thinking about publishing a post, it can be really helpful to think about what is the purpose of this post, why am I doing it?
Speaker A:Even if it's just one of those really simple little posts about, you know, coming up in May, it's International Hug a Cat Day.
Speaker A:So it might just be a simple post about cats, but that can help someone who likes cats feel seen.
Speaker A:That's really important.
Speaker A:You know, someone's scrolling through social media.
Speaker A:It helps to create a connection with someone.
Speaker A:That's a really, really good thing to do.
Speaker A:It's a really helpful thing for people who perhaps are feeling lonely or misunderstood to see this someone who gets just.
Speaker A:Even the simple things in life.
Speaker A:So it's moving away from thinking about, you know, almost what's in it for me to why am I doing this?
Speaker A:What is it in it for the people I want to help?
Speaker A:And when we really do that, it becomes.
Speaker A:Social media becomes much more purposeful.
Speaker A:Now, the other thing I just wanted to talk about is when we don't seem to get any responses.
Speaker A:So I publish fairly frequently on social media.
Speaker A:I'll return in another episode to talk about all the different, different statistics and metrics that you can look at on Facebook.
Speaker A:But sometimes it feels like I've got a big bullhorn and I'm using it to shout out into the wilderness and nobody's listening.
Speaker A:That's what it feels like sometimes.
Speaker A:But actually, what I found over time is a lot of the people who will then come and join therapy growth group.
Speaker A:They tell me they've been following me for ages.
Speaker A:They tell me that they really love my posts and I've been quietly building a relationship with them without even realizing.
Speaker A:And it does frequently happen to me that people who are following me on social media become my clients, but I don't know them until they step forward because they haven't been liking, they haven't been commenting, they've just been watching.
Speaker A:So often you may have silent followers who you don't realize are there and this is where consistency can come in because you don't know they're there.
Speaker A:But if you continue to be consistent, consistent in your social media output, this helps them to know that you are there, you are trustworthy, you are reliable, and you're somebody who's passionate about what you do because you continue to put it out there.
Speaker A:So sometimes engagement metrics don't actually reflect the true impact of what you're doing.
Speaker A:Let me put it this way.
Speaker A:Likes are visible, but trust often develops invisibly.
Speaker A:You don't know that it's happening, but it can be quietly happening in the background.
Speaker A:Perhaps you're one of the quiet ones who've been following me for a while and have been thinking about joining therapy growth group, but you haven't yet taken the plunge.
Speaker A:Well, what I'd like to say is that in therapy growth group, I particularly love working with people who don't feel that they're good enough.
Speaker A:It's my whole thing, isn't it?
Speaker A:So if somebody who worries that you can't really do social media, you're not really even sure who you should be trying to reach on social media.
Speaker A:But actually you really could do with some encouragement and support.
Speaker A:I'd really love to meet you in therapy growth group.
Speaker A:Lots of opportunities to be supported in there, not only with the information and training that I've got available, but also you can quietly come along to the calls that I do.
Speaker A:You don't need to say anything, but they can be really supportive.
Speaker A:You can just listen and get quite a lot out of them.
Speaker A:So if that sounds like you, just check out the link in the show notes the therapy growth group and I'd love to see you in there.
Speaker A:Another thing that might be useful for you to know, especially if you're someone who is thinking about I want to work with this particular type of person.
Speaker A:So you might have decided that you're going to narrow down and really focus on one particular area.
Speaker A:It could be something like maternal mental health and we've got an awareness week that' coming up in May for that.
Speaker A:So you might be focusing on young parents and that might be the only people that you're trying to reach via your social media.
Speaker A:And because of that it's much more of a narrow focus.
Speaker A:When that happens, you may receive fewer likes than when you're sort of trying to speak to everyone.
Speaker A:You know, you can put a sort of lovely quote out there which people may like, but they move on fairly quickly.
Speaker A:Whereas the way the social media algorithms are working now, it's much more based on sort of what people are interested in.
Speaker A:So if you begin to really try and reach people with a particular interest, what you'll find is that your social media posts will go out to a lot more.
Speaker A:People who are non followers might take time for them to actually build up that trust in you before you actually see any response.
Speaker A:But the more they sort of click on your post, the more they will see your posts.
Speaker A:And it might take a while before they decide to follow you.
Speaker A:But nevertheless your posts are beginning to speak to them.
Speaker A:So sometimes what you're doing, you don't see that reflected in the metrics.
Speaker A:And the other thing that can happen is that somebody finds you somewhere else.
Speaker A:Perhaps you're recommended by someone and before they get in touch with you, they have a quick search of your name and they put it into Google and your social media feed comes up and they might then go and look on your social media feed and they might find something.
Speaker A:Especially if you're someone who's got a particular niche and they're in that niche, they might find something that really speaks to them.
Speaker A:Social media content can have a long lifespan and it can continue to support people for many weeks after you've actually published.
Speaker A:You just don't know what's happening.
Speaker A:You know, we talk in therapy about, you know, we have this thing where we think that we can read minds and it's really important to put that to one side because we really don't know what is happening with our social media feed.
Speaker A:And to a certain extent I think, you know, we have to trust ourselves that we know what we're talking about.
Speaker A:I know that can be troublesome for you, but you do.
Speaker A:I've talked about it many times.
Speaker A:You've got a level of knowledge that you can share.
Speaker A:Trust it, keep putting your posts out there, you never know who might might find you.
Speaker A:And I'm going to come back and talk about more of this sort of interest based social media in more detail in a forthcoming episode.
Speaker A:Now I'd just like to Give a quick mention here of the episode that I did with Becky from Willow Therapy Tring.
Speaker A:And if you go back through your podcast app and look at the previous episodes, you'll be able to find Becky's episode.
Speaker A:But one of the things that Becky does is she does do a lot on social media.
Speaker A:I love following Becky.
Speaker A:Her social media is very individual to her.
Speaker A:They're really beautifully produced, really lovely pieces of work to actually read.
Speaker A:And Becky said to me that actually she doesn't put that stuff out to get clients.
Speaker A:Now that's an interesting thought, isn't it?
Speaker A:She said the reason she uses her social media is to create connection and encouragement for people.
Speaker A:So that's her primary purpose in her social media feed.
Speaker A:But I've certainly recommended Becky to people as a result of what I've seen on her social media.
Speaker A:You know, I've shared her posts, I've encouraged people that I know to follow her.
Speaker A:And if you've got a lovely social media feed, people will recommend you and people will find you.
Speaker A:And what's happened to Becky is that although she's not primarily looking for clients via social media, people do find her via social media.
Speaker A:So you may get enquiries because of that.
Speaker A:If you just keep going, you might not do it for getting inquiries, but nevertheless, inquiries, inquiries might happen.
Speaker A:So it's funny how being authentic and compassionate actually leads to clients finding us, even if that isn't our primary purpose.
Speaker A:So I think when your natural inclination is to reach out, to encourage people to be compassionate and to help them rather than just trying to sell to them, the trust just naturally develops.
Speaker A:And Becky is a great example of that.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:So I'd just like to sort of round this little bit off by talking about how do we define success on social media?
Speaker A:Because likes are not necessarily the best way to actually measure your impact.
Speaker A:And I think there's different ways that you can measure what's happening.
Speaker A:There's outcome measures.
Speaker A:So that would be people who tell you that they found you on social media, messages from people who say, that's really helpful, thank you.
Speaker A:It could be that you have increased website or directory visits, but there's also other measures as well.
Speaker A:And I'd really like you to think about this.
Speaker A:And that is what you're putting into it.
Speaker A:It's not only the outcomes, it's the inputs as well.
Speaker A:And a couple of examples of inputs from me, I like to tick off the fact that, that I am doing a podcast a week and that I'm producing three or four posts a week that I'm sharing on my page.
Speaker A:Those to me are me and my inputs, the impact of them.
Speaker A:You know, how many people who might become my clients as a result of that, that can be hit or miss.
Speaker A:But I know that what I'm doing is I'm reaching out to people.
Speaker A:I know that I'm putting something out there and that's something that I measure.
Speaker A:And then of the inputs that I measure is the sort of how I feel about it, my confidence about it, how I turn up for it.
Speaker A:Am I putting my heart and soul into it, or am I just doing something really quick that AI could just write for me and actually for me, putting my heart and soul into it.
Speaker A:That's what I want to do.
Speaker A:And you can probably tell that from, from the way I speak.
Speaker A:And so for me, that's my input and that's how I measure myself rather than the actual outputs.
Speaker A:And it's almost like the outputs, the people who've been quietly following me who then become my clients.
Speaker A:That's great, but there's so much more to what I'm doing than just helping people choose me.
Speaker A:I'm sort of really helping lots of people, not just the ones who become clients, and that makes me feel good as well.
Speaker A:So there's different ways of measuring what you're doing, apart from just those likes and follows.
Speaker A:And I was going to finish off by saying, let's just think about what could help you.
Speaker A:So really to reconnect with your why.
Speaker A:Hopefully that's come across in what I'm saying.
Speaker A:It can really help to think about who you are actually writing for.
Speaker A:So if you can, you know, think about a particular client and imagine that you're writing the post for them.
Speaker A:If you've got a client that you really loved writing for, write to them.
Speaker A:I mean, obviously you're not going to say anything about them or use any of their personal information, but, you know, what would they really have needed to know?
Speaker A:What would you like them to know?
Speaker A:You can use people that you have worked with as your inspiration for posts and obviously remember, remind your inner teenager that it's not about likes, it's about your why.
Speaker A:Okay, now I'm quickly going to just move on to speak about the forthcoming dates that might interest you.
Speaker A:I'm just going to do these very quickly.
Speaker A:Coming up in May, there's a couple of really important mental health awareness weeks.
Speaker A:There's Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, and that's from the 4th, 4th to the 10th of May.
Speaker A:So if you work with parents or families, this is A great opportunity to talk about the emotional challenges and helps them to be seen, helps them to know that they're not the only ones.
Speaker A:And obviously you can use this opportunity to talk about the sort of work that you do and then on a more wider basis it's Mental Health Awareness Week from the Olympic 11th to 17th May, and obviously this is one of the most significant dates in the calendar for therapists.
Speaker A:The theme for this year is Action for yourself, for someone else and for all of us.
Speaker A:It's a lovely opportunity to encourage small steps towards better mental health.
Speaker A:So things you could think about sharing is you could share something for yourself, you could share something that helps you, a simple self care practice for someone else.
Speaker A:You could talk about ways to support a friend or encourage acts of kindness.
Speaker A:And then for all of us, you might want to talk about the importance of community and talk about the role of advocating for better mental health that all of us can get involved in.
Speaker A:So those are sort of mental health awareness days.
Speaker A:Also May is quite a big month for inclusion.
Speaker A:So here's a few of the dates that are coming up for inclusion.
Speaker A:There's Trans History Week that starts on the 4th of May.
Speaker A:There's also the, I never say it, Ida Hobbit Day, which is the international day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia that's on the 17th of May.
Speaker A:So that's a real opportunity to reaffirm your own sort of stance on inclusion.
Speaker A:It's Agender Pride Day and Pansexual and Pan Romantic Awareness Day as well.
Speaker A:So they're the 19th and the 24th respectively.
Speaker A:So it's another opportunity to celebrate diversity.
Speaker A:And also it's Black Inclusion week, that's from the 11th of May.
Speaker A:Do look that up because there's quite a lot about it online and obviously that's a really important thing for us to make sure that we're focused on.
Speaker A:If you're somebody who supports people with health, there's quite a lot coming up again, Stroke Awareness Month, Dementia awareness week from 18 May, Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month and World ms.day on the 30th of May.
Speaker A:So there's quite a lot there around health.
Speaker A:So have a look and see if the areas where you support people has anything coming up this month.
Speaker A:Yeah, we don't want it all to be about difficulties and you know, there's always a role to play in terms of connecting with people.
Speaker A:It is, after all, social media, so it's nice to be social.
Speaker A:So some of the dates you could look at are are World laughter day on the 3rd of May, it's international tea day on the 21st of May, and also it is International Hug a Cat Day, and that's on the 30th of May.
Speaker A:And so in closing, let's just summarise the main points.
Speaker A:First of all, social media doesn't have to be about popularity.
Speaker A:We don't have to chase those likes.
Speaker A:What we can try and do is create a page, a space on the Internet, where we're connecting with people, where we're showing them that we are trustworthy, and where we trust our content that it might be making a real difference to people even though we can't see it.
Speaker A:The engagement may be quiet, but our content may actually be making quite a profound difference.
Speaker A:Success on social media doesn't have to be about being the most popular therapist online, but it can be about being the one person who says exactly what someone needs to hear at the moment when they're ready to listen.
Speaker A:Thanks so much for listening to this episode and I'll see you next week.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening.
Speaker A:Do come and join my Facebook community.
Speaker A:Good enough counsellors and for more information about how I can help you develop your private practice, please Visit my website, JosephineHughes.com if you found this episode helpful, I'd love it if you could share it with a fellow therapist or leave a review on your podcast app.
Speaker A:And in closing, I'd love to remind you that every single step you make gets you closer to your dream.
Speaker A:I really believe you can do it.
