3 Ways to Use Facebook for Psychologists and TherapistsThe shop front This is the approach for you if…
You hate social media and don’t need to grow an audience for a product or service
Your business thrives on referrals from your personal network and word of mouth
Your aim is to have somewhere for people to check you are a real person not to generate engagement or a social presence.



How to do it
Create a business page
Link to your website
Choose good images (ideally professional) of you and your premises if you have them.
Provide a clear description of who you are and what you do. Make it about the people you help and written FOR them. Think about what they need to know.
Give clear contact details about how to contact you and book a session.
BONUS points: Add a video of you talking about who you are and what you do!
If you have a blog/podcast or similar then post links to these when you create them. This will not get seen by ANYONE other than people who look you up as FB does not give organic reach to business pages anymore but it means that a potential client who looks you up might find them. 





The authority builderThis is the approach for you if….
You want to get known as “the go-to” in your area of specialism
You want to develop an audience to sell an online course, book or workshop too (or anything similar that needs to reach a lot of people, remember only 1-2% of people buy so you may need a lot of people in your audience to sell something low ticket)
You don’t have energy or time to build a community OR you don’t think your ICAs are likely to use FB that much.
You are active on another platform (e.g. LinkedIn) and use that to have high-quality conversations with your ICA



How to do it
Follow the steps for the shop front to start with - clearly directing to a platform you are more active on (ie LinkedIN)
Create high-quality weekly cornerstone content, good blogs, good podcast episodes etc.
Create weekly videos on your page around the topic of your cornerstone content
Reach out to people with relevant communities on FB (FB is all about community now) and ask to guest speak/offer free classes on your topic. Point all those people back to your most active platform or website.
You can use other peoples’ audiences in this way to grow your own online audience if you are complimentary e.g. I speak in lots of life coaching groups about how to deal with strong feelings of depression, anxiety etc.





The community king/queenThis is the approach for you if…
You want to get known as “the go-to” in your area of specialism
You want to develop an audience to sell an online course, book or workshop too (or anything similar that needs to reach a lot of people, remember only 1-2% of people buy so you may need a lot of people in your audience to sell something low ticket)
Facebook is your only or your main social platform



How to do it
Follow all of the steps for the shop front and authority builder PLUS
Create a Facebook group, FB really likes community and doesn’t like pages very much so all of your effort above what we have already established will be going into a group.
Your group needs to give something TO the people that join it.
Identify something your ICA’s struggle with (that relates to your specialism) and create a niche group that helps them solve that problem. The best groups are really specific to a particular client group struggling with a particular problem. My favourite group on Facebook is the https://www.facebook.com/groups/DIFTK (Doing it for the Kids Community). It is specifically for self-employed parents. The group is used to disseminate a helpful, practical podcast from the people who run it each week AND it provides a space for solidarity and social support between people who share struggles. 
Use the group to deliver them high-quality content that leads towards your paid offer (that cornerstone content we talk about!) and promote...