Social Media Strategy and Tactics for sensitive counselling industry
-
With my business I had always intended kicking social media into gear much sooner but various other pressures put this back somewhat.
Counselling is quite sensitive for a variety of reasons:-
We want to disassociate ourselves from the masses of non- professional folksy type "advice" that dominates the net,
People, particularly in the UK often do not talk about mental health issues nor would we always want people to if they had not protected their privacy enough.
Key marketing messages such as "get the first class service you deserve" (in UK people are more likely to wait 6 months to be seen by a trainee with no choice of who they see or when they see it than pay for counselling, "there are no quick fixes for mental health and counselling can make a real difference to your life if you invest time, energy and cost into it" (in a market where read this 300 word article to never feel stressed again dominates) and "what help choosing the counsellor who is best suited to you" - are not the sort of thing many people are likely to "like" or share with friends.
At the moment I am looking to focus on LinkedIn (for corporate work), Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. I have a blog which is going to be producing excellent daily content including people's positive experiences of counselling, comprehensive self help tips, counsellor advice etc.
On Google+ and Facebook I am looking to autopublish some of the blog posts and there are probably some other channels I will autopublish to but I do not yet know which to go for. Initially I am going to do little else on Google+ to focus time and energy developing Facebook and Twitter.
I am trying to achieve the following:-
Social Legitimacy - having decent number of engaged fans will make us seem more legitimate in an industry where trust is important (only 14 FB likes so far is not a good start)
Engaging with Potential Content Creators - Reaching out to people who have experienced mental health issues so that this content can be used to provide peer support to others and enable them to see benefits of counselling
Creating relationships with people and organisations where we can cross promote each other's initiatives, potentially co-deliver services in the future (community counselling work etc)
Bring traffic to my site that will potentially convert into counselling clients in several cities in the UK through both people finding
Promote my content more widely than is happening with organic search, reach different audiences, engage with potential customers, generate links to quality content I create
Develop the social infrastructure to be able to leverage it for future goals, whether promoting an article, raising awareness for good mental health initiatives (that may have no financial benefit to the business but will help people) etc.
Sorry this is so long but any comments, ideas, suggested tactics etc would be appreciated.
-
I really like David's advice.
Break down hesitancy by sharing yourself. Make yourself approachable, available, understandable, and caring with soft wisdom. Make a video that shows the office where you meet with people and the privacy and caring that you offer.
If you show them the path they will enter it with less hesitation and if you show what they will receive they will desire it.
YouTube is the second most used search engine on this planet. It is not a flat medium like text. It enables you to include sight and sound to build familiarity.
-
Hi Ben, it seems like you've got a pretty solid strategy in place. I appreciate that social media can be a tricky platform to negotiate when you're working in a sensitive industry like this, and maybe you'll find that some networks simply don't work, while others do.
One thing that I might suggest is to spend some time deciding on the niche you want to reach through social media. Connecting with potential patients in this way might be difficult for the reasons you state above (privacy, reluctance to share/like/discuss openly). Establishing your reputation and increasing your visibility among the counselling community could be achieved by joining Twitter conversations, connecting on LinkedIn, commenting on blogs, answering questions and, once you've built a following, sharing your own content.
Perhaps patients are better reached through SEO-promoted posts rather than social media promoted posts (link building, solid guest posts etc.). Having said that, there are probably lots of ways to utilise social media - e.g. awareness generating campaigns, conducting research and sharing interesting statistics and findings etc.
Good luck!
-
Become the sensitive counselling industry 'go to guy'. Be giving advice in all manner of forums and blogs. be the guy with the sensible hat on in the wild and crazy internet!
And then blog about it on a more personal level.
Have you thought of maybe doing a podcast? If giving serious, objective advice is the goal then not everyone wants it on a monitor at work or in their 'favorites' at home. A podcast is also more intimate, your voice going straight into their ears! (Look up the not for the faint of heart 'Dan Savage podcast' as an example, or A Nerd of Advice)
Be a guest on a local radio show - or become their expert. Give free counseling, or at least free counseling literature to anyone and everyone.
Facebook may not be the right place to be as it is a bit discouraging when you see a friend has 'liked' ABC Counseling....
I know this is no SEO advice, but some argue that SEO is turning into ecommerce.
Good luck!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How can I add Social media icons?
On this website, https://www.legaltranslation-dubai.com/ they are putting social media icons at the end of the page, how can I make it on my website? is it by plugin or code? Thanks
Social Media | | Ammroo0 -
The relationship between Social Media and SEO?
I have read mixed reviews about the relationship between these two in the past. Are there any ways Social Media can improve SEO?
Social Media | | sophiecrosby970 -
How to use Social backlinks in SEO.
Do you integrate Social backlinks into your SEO? If so please describe how you use Social backlinks in your SEO.
Social Media | | Green.landon0 -
Social Media + MOZ Open site explorer
Hello Everyone, When i run a report on Open site explorer, it says that our website has 129 Facebook likes and 129 tweets. However, our website has had over 4k Facebook likes and i imagine much more than 129 mentions of our url on twitter. Can any one shed any light on this? Thanks 🙂
Social Media | | Alexogilvie0 -
Any recommendations for Social Media Submission
I came across a company one time that would sign you up and submit your username to all the social media sites. Seems like it was "knowit" or something like that. Anyway Does any one have an recommendations on companies to submit to sites instead of having to do each one individually. Thanks, Utah Tiger
Social Media | | Boodreaux0 -
Social Content Posting - Post to Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and Linked in at the same time
Hi, Is there any means of posting new content for my companies various social profiles in the one go rather than having to log into each one? This would save a lot of time. Thanks
Social Media | | fdep0 -
Is it possible to customize the size and shape of social sharing buttons?
Hello SEO people... I have an important and urgent question. Is it possible to customize social sharing buttons with counter? We are developing a new website and I want to place the social sharing (not the social follow buttons) at a specific location on the website. The space available is not a lot and my developer says that it is not possible to change the size of the button+counter.... please tell me what you guys know about this. And if the answer is 'YEs they can be customized' then please give me a link that I can forward to the boy so that he can work on it. Your answers will be highly appreciated. Regards, MTI
Social Media | | TopGearMedia0 -
If I move my blog from subdomain to root, will my blog lose all of its authority? Social signals?
Moving my blog from blog.site.co.uk to site.co.uk/blog and just wondered if all the social data for each post will be lost including the blog authority which has been built up over time? Is 301 redirects enough to keep any of it?
Social Media | | SDOwner0