With 330 million users, and 100 million users logging on every day, Twitter is an underrated tool for therapists and mental health practitioners worldwide.
Not only does Twitter give your private practice free advertisement, it enables you to connect with potential clients, give a voice to your brand, and collaborate with fellow therapists.
Despite 80% of Twitter users mentioning brands at least once in their tweet history, many businesses don’t utilize the power of Twitter. This gives you an advantage.
So, if you run a private therapy practice and aren’t using Twitter, follow along so I can teach you everything you need to know to start infiltrating this online world.
Create a Twitter Business Account
It is always important for business owners to keep their business social media account separate from their personal account, but when it comes to being a therapist, it’s essential. With strict privacy rules, you never want to mix the two.
Creating a Twitter business account is easy:
Create Your Account: There is no separate layout for a business account, so register with your real name, and you can edit this later.
Build Your Timeline: Twitter will display profiles of users to follow, you must click 3 to proceed. Aim to follow other accounts within your area of mental health.
Add A Profile Photo: This will be the main way users will recognize your practice. It’s often recommended to use your logo, as this will appear next to any tweets you create.
Upload Header: A header is the Twitter version of a Facebook cover photo. You’ll want this to be something easily recognizable for your brand. This is the first thing users will see when they land on your profile.
Create Your Bio: You only have 160 characters, so ensure you’re using them wisely. Think of this as an elevator pitch. What would you tell someone if you only had a few seconds? Make sure it’s captivating and grabs their attention.
Change Your Name: Once your profile is created, you can change your name from your personal to your brand.
Build A Community Around Your Scope Of Practice
One of the most pivotal ways to start gaining followers is through engagement.
This doesn’t mean go and follow as many accounts as you can in hopes they follow you back, as this isn’t often successful.
Think: quality over quantity.
Start following successful accounts related to your niche.
If you’re a children's therapist, start there. If you’re a trauma therapist, connect with other trauma therapists. Eventually, they will begin to follow you back.
Engage with these accounts by liking and commenting on their threads, and mentioning them in your retweets when possible.
One simple way to begin creating a following is by tweeting about new, upcoming research related to your practice. Is there a breakthrough talk therapy being tested across the globe? By retweeting and placing a call to action at the end, you’re inviting others to join in on the conversation.
Share Content
It sounds so simple right? If you’re creating a business page for your practice, you should be strictly posting about promoting your services! Wrong.
While you will do this eventually, you’ll never be able to build up a solid following simply by tweeting about yourself.
You need to tweet, and retweet relevant, informative content that your future client base wants to learn about.
If you specialize in marriage therapy, begin retweeting articles on ways to de-escalate after a fight, or tips on how to create open communication with your spouse. These types of articles will draw clients in, that need your services, without openly promoting them yet.
Create Your Own Content
Once you have a firm grasp on retweeting and sharing content, you can begin making your own content, too.
When it comes to creating your own content for your brand, remember these 3 things:
A Hashtag: Every tweet should have a hashtag relevant to your therapy niche. This is how followers that live across the world will find your content. If you’re creating a post about stress, include a hashtag relevant to the topic, so a user looking for stress management tips can find your content organically.
A Photo: It’s no secret, that humans are visual creatures. By adding visuals, you’re drawing in attention from users that may have kept scrolling. Tweets that include a photo are much more likely to stand out in a cluttered timeline. It’s encouraged to add text to your photo, but not TOO much. Save that for the actual tweet. One or two sentences is enough to have an effect. Think about what your target audience wants to see, and cater to that.
A Call To Action: Call to action words are simple phrases that motivate a reader to take immediate action. For example, “start your journey to better health today!” is a call to action.
In Conclusion
When it comes to Twitter, many businesses don’t view it as the marketing hotspot it can be.
Of course, your content is going to be tailored to a Twitter feed, rather than a Facebook business page, but it only takes a few tweaks, time, effort, and practice to get your page up and running.
Once you cultivate an account full of helpful articles, tips, tricks, and relevant guidance, you can begin promoting your private practice.
Once you take this step though, don’t forget to continue to post informative content. Not only do you want to grow your Twitter page, you want to maintain it as well.
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