How to get started on Instagram as a psychologist or therapist with Helen PerryIf you are listening to this podcast it is most likely because you want to make a big impact in your psychology or therapy practice. Most people who listen are members of my Do More Than Therapy community where our explicit aim is to reach more people with positive messages about mental health. I have felt for a long time that Instagram is a platform bursting with potential for us to reach our goals but I will be honest I just haven’t managed to crack it yet.
Today I am here with Helen Perry, an Instagram influencer and expert who now teaches small business owners how to grow awesome Instagram accounts. Instagram is a MASSIVE topic so Helen will be coming into the DMTT membership to teach a more in-depth class. Today we are just going to get an overview of the way we could be using Instagram to help more people and grow audiences for our products and services to inspire your content planning.


The highlights:
●     Helen tells us how she got involved in Instagram, and how using it as a marketing platform for her blog turned into ‘how to do Instagram’ becoming her business 00:21
●     We discuss how using social media to listen is really important to learn about your clients 05:04
●     Helen talks about thinking of Instagram as a conversation rather than somewhere to advertise or broadcast 06:54
●     We discuss whether Instagram can be a good platform for mental health professionals, and why it’s seen as the most unhappy or damaging of the social media platforms 07:16
●     I talk about how I came to Instagram after initially thinking it wasn’t for me 09:21
●     We discuss how Instagram can seem really intimidating at the start and and Helen gives her priorities for the beginner 11:02
●     We talk about how people use Instagram to research products and services before buying/using 13:28
●     We look at how to use social media to show why someone should choose you and trust your advice, whilst also setting your boundaries and knowing what you want to share 14:41
●     Helen talks about knowing your audience and the community you want to reach, rather than worrying about your peers 16:56
●     Helen advises us to look at what we love and engage with on Instagram, and how we can replicate that for our audience 19:06
●     Helen explains how hashtags work and why we need them 19:40
●     Helen tells us about Instagram starting to introduce searchable terms in captions 24:01
●     We discuss the myth that ‘everything you post needs to be beautiful’ 26:05
●     Helen talks about Matt Haig as an example of who’s doing well in the mental health space 28:40
●     Helen talks about the power of bite-size chunks of content (such as short videos from Dr Julie Smith), and why we don’t have to provide the whole solution in every post 30:11
●     Helen explains that Instagram is the gateway, and we need to make sure we are taking people somewhere else because there is a limit to what you can achieve on Instagram 34:31
●     Helen tells us how we can use links in Instagram, and how to drive people to content outside 35:23
●     We discuss reducing overwhelm by choosing one social media platform to focus on, being realistic, and seeing it as a long game 37:17
●     We talk about whether social media managers can help us 39:38
●     Helen recommends the tools she uses for content creation 42:04
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