Whether you are a mental health professional aiming to establish a striking digital presence whilst marketing your services and promoting your expertise or an organisation planning to stand out in the virtual space by adding value to people’s lives through impactful content, here are some stimulating ideas to incorporate in your social media strategy for optimal results:
Establish yourself as an authority in your field by creating valuable, informative content:
- Post educational content about mental health conditions, including an overview of risk factors, warning signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment options. If you are comfortable in front of the camera, conveying this information in a video format would help you establish a good rapport with your audience. Thought-provoking text posts, memorable captions, visually compelling social media graphics, and stimulating animations can also be impactful.
- Design social media graphics or produce short videos offering tips and insights on mental health topics, self-care, building a mental health support system, mindfulness practices, and healthy coping strategies.
- Create statistical infographics to show the scale of certain problems and raise awareness about significant topics.
- Start your own podcast, inviting other mental health experts or advocates to have meaningful conversations about important mental health topics.
Explore specific topics that are likely to be of interest to your followers. For instance:
- Discuss the advantages and growing success of online therapy. This can constitute an entire blog post, which can be promoted on social media by repurposing a quote from the article via social media graphics or an audio post.
- Create posts exploring the subject of mental health stigma in the workplace – including ways to reduce it, and tackle the advantages and disadvantages of revealing an invisible illness or disorder at work. Provide advice on how to recognise psychological distress in the workplace and how to tactfully approach the person in question. On another note, discuss how social media can be used as a tool for staff mental health support and wellbeing.
Get personal and be relatable:
- Allow your audience to get to know your organisation better by sharing the faces and stories of staff members.
- Post inspirational quotes related to mental health, personal growth, positive thinking, and self-care. Use compelling graphics.
Leverage online trends:
- Create mental health awareness campaigns, embracing trends: Have a mental health calendar with relevant dates e.g. Time to Talk Day, Mental Health Awareness Month, World Mental Health Day, Eating Disorders Awareness Week, World Suicide Prevention Day, Stress Awareness Month, World Bipolar Day, Anti-bullying week, University Mental Health Day, etc.
- Collaborate with influencers to spread your message and mission or share the stories of public mental health advocates who adopt a destigmatising approach when discussing mental health topics.
Regularly post engaging and interactive content:
- Share user-generated content featuring the success stories of people who have overcome mental health challenges or the progress of people who are in the process of improving their mental health. This will help build a sense of community, nurture virtual bonds, and foster engagement.
- Post interactive content such as quizzes, polls, and surveys to engage and bond with your followers, stimulate learning and self-knowledge, and encourage introspection.
- Use CTAs to build rapport and increase engagement. For instance: Encourage your followers to participate in a self-care challenge using a specific hashtag or to tag a friend who has helped their mental wellbeing in the comments section.
- Host Q&A sessions where followers can ask questions about mental health concerns and you can provide insightful answers about therapy options, coping strategies, and external support.
Share other mental health resources that you trust and appreciate:
- Promote mental health organisations and groups that unite and support people with specific mental health struggles and conditions.
- Share the latest mental health news from reliable sources, including new treatments and innovative digital health technologies.
- Make a post about Top 5 mental health apps of the year in your view, pointing out what distinguishes them from the rest.
- Share links to books, journals, or research papers that are likely to engross your audience. Don’t forget to mention what you find interesting and worth noting about them.
- Share a list of mental health accounts that you value in order to advocate for others in the mental health community, as well as strengthening your connections.
A couple of key points you need to remember and keep at the heart of your content strategy as a mental health brand:
- The emotional aspect: Storytelling is paramount when it comes to marketing within the mental health field. Share intimate, inspiring narratives about mental health conditions in order to destigmatise the topic and help your clients and followers relate, which will increase engagement. Make sure to connect authentically and interact with your audience in a supportive way that avoids potentially triggering language. Fostering a sense of community will make your followers likely to engage more often and appreciate and advocate for your brand.
- The cerebral aspect: Prioritise high-quality content that establishes you as an authority in the field. From in-depth, informative blog posts on mental health topics to insightful Q&As, stimulating podcasts with other mental health specialists, and thought-provoking videos, make sure you create content that is valuable, professional, and informative. But don’t hesitate to sprinkle a little bit of subtle humour, especially on a platform like TikTok, if this aligns with your tone of voice.
I hope you found this useful!
If you’d like to outsource your social media and digital marketing so you can focus on other aspects of your business, feel free to contact me! I would be happy to help you grow your brand by implementing these ideas and more.
Follow me on Instagram at @dianamarindigital
Diana Marin 
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