Social Media Strategy ft. Andrea Brognano

Uriah
Andrea, welcome to the show!

Andrea
Happy to be here. Happy we're finally new.

Uriah
Yeah. I'm so excited to talk to you. I was thinking about it. I think meeting you in Uriah at the Thrive Summit was definitely a highlight for me of that whole experience.

Andrea
Oh, thank you. I'm so happy to meet you, too. You just have such good energy, and it was awesome.

Uriah
I like to have fun. I like to have fun, and you like to have fun.

Andrea
Yes, I do.

Uriah
Yeah. And that was such a good event. It really was.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
So I'm legit thrilled to be talking to you because I need your help, and I think there's a lot of therapists out there, maybe somewhat like me, that needs your help as well. So I'm excited for them to hear this, but I would love for you to talk a little bit about who you are and some of the cool things that you're up to.

Andrea
Yeah, absolutely. So for those that know me, they know I'm always up to lots of things at once. So I am the founder and CEO of Therapy Connection. I started Therapy Connection, an online group practice, I always say in August of 2019, not knowing where we would be in 2020, but here we are in the world of telehealth. Trippy told. I started it because I wasn't in love with what my life was looking like, and I knew that I wanted to work from home and I wanted to create a space for other clinicians to do the same.

Uriah
And you also have a crystal ball.

Andrea
I tell people all the time, I'm like, I haven't hit the lotto yet, though, so I don't know what was happening then, but I needed to happen now.

Uriah
Again, please. Yes, more.

Andrea
And then in July of 2021, I opened Achieve with Andrea, and we have a few different programs and things, one of them being achieved with authenticity, which is my social media membership. I really like to be able to help clinicians and therapists and coaches to really hone in on their social media and what that social media presence can do for that, whether it be their practice going beyond one to one. I'm a person that loves social media. If you see me on social media, you know that I love it and I love being able to teach other people that, too. Because for me, I think in school we were told as clinicians, like, you couldn't be on social media. Like, you had to hide yourself. And I'm like that's not who I am. I'm going to be who I am. You're either going to like me or you're not, and then we're going to be a good fit or not. So I like teaching other clinicians to kind of do the same and to.

Uriah
Show up on social media, achieve with us. Authenticity is a great name. It really is.

Andrea
Yeah, I rebranded it right after you and I had been in Utah and rebranded it a little because I didn't want it to just be achieved with Andrea. Right. I want everyone to achieve as themselves and I really want people to show up authentically as themselves and be okay with that. I show up no makeup some days because that's what I'm feeling. So, yeah, I want others to do the same.

Uriah
Did you know I can't remember the name of it, but there's a new social media app that has no filters and it requires you to post every day in order to see other people's posts.

Andrea
Interesting.

Uriah
I'm going to have to look it up and put it in the show notes because it's sort of like it's like a backlash against the curated, sort of perfect presentation.

Andrea
Definitely share that with me because I'm not knowledgeable. I think also to what happens with social media is, like, so many things come out. I know for a while I was on different apps that were like kind of podcasting, and then when you get into too many faces, that's when you need it. I haven't delved into too much on TikTok yet. I love it. I love seeing other people, but that is such a different beast. That Instagram is definitely my jam. It's like where I love to live. You don't have to be on everything to do well. I'm very curious about that app now.

Uriah
I'm not going to look it up right now because we have a conversation, but I'm going to find out and tell you for sure. Yeah. So before we get into my situation and the help that I need, I'm curious, what do you believe every therapist should know about social media? Whether or not they choose to use it for their practice, what do you think they should know?

Andrea
I think the biggest thing is that it doesn't need to be scary. I say that as a person who once was scared of social media, but I noticed the more that I truly showed up authentically and you'll hear other marketers that are not therapists say the same thing. The more that you just show up as yourself, the more people are going to be attracted to that and the more people are going to invest in you and whatever it is that you're doing, whether that be therapy or beyond, that, it's that, like, know and trust factor. You'll hear marketers say it all the time. People know that I have two cats, has nothing to do with therapy or what I do, but they know that about me. Right. And they know me, and they like to know that they know me. So it doesn't need to be scary. Show up. Just allow yourself to be present and be who you are, and you don't need to know everything all at once.

Uriah
That's good.

Andrea
Yeah. I'm big on especially Instagram reels, right. Like, reals are like a hot button thing. You don't need to have all these fancy transitions. Take a video of flowers and throw some text on it and you're showing up. It doesn't need to be scary. You don't need to be a pro marketer to make it work.

Uriah
It doesn't have to be scary, and you don't have to have all the answers and know everything before you get started.

Andrea
Yeah, perfect.

Uriah
So my situation is I'll sum it up with my group practice, social media. My last post was January 12. Okay, so what does that tell you?

Andrea
It means we're not having fun with it. We're going to start to have fun.

Uriah
Yes. I need to get back to that. I've been using social media for my practice since 2009, probably for a long time. And I would say that at least now, at this time in my life, in my practice, I would rather not do it. And I'm not terribly interested, but I understand the importance of it. And so I want to figure out how to use social media again, maybe make it fun, if that's possible. Let's do that. But I also am still interested in outsourcing it to somebody else. I'm curious your thoughts on that, but first I'll tell you real quick. The situation I'm in is I have a new name, new brand, you know, this for my group practice. And so I get to have the opportunity to create all new social accounts. Literally, as we're talking right now, I have zero, I have nothing in tune, family counseling. So I'm starting from scratch, which I actually am kind of excited about because I like the new name. I like the whole vibe of it. Right.

Andrea
So any thoughts before you dive in and go on all different platforms? Where do you feel like you need to get out of the social media? And where do you feel whatever it is that you're getting out? Where are those people going to show up? Is it Facebook? Is it Instagram? Is it Tik tok? Where do you feel those people are going to be?

Uriah
I don't know 100% for sure, but I think my intuition says Instagram.

Andrea
Okay. All right.

Uriah
I think our ideal sort of clients, we work with a lot of teens and young adults. I would say the majority of our clients are probably teenagers. So it tends to be the mum that's looking for services. And the mom is probably somewhere between 35 and 55, roughly, I think so.

Andrea
Right, yeah.

Uriah
And also, I just feel like Facebook has not been very useful for business marketing. I don't know if that's true. Certainly pages are kind of like, I don't know, like a wasteland.

Andrea
Yeah. I feel like they're so archaic at this point. Myself too, and I have a group practice page, but I'm like, no one is even looking. We did a LinkedIn page, too. I'm like, literally no one is looking at this at all.

Uriah
So should I still create that? I'm guessing yes, I would just create it there.

Andrea
Because even when you have, let's say that you're hosting a group for X amount of weeks, that's good to have that page so that you can create an event and more people could see, right. And they could show up there. It's really a matter of knowing almost like the love languages of social media, right. Of like, who's going to do what. We know that Facebook, as far as having groups for things that you're doing are really good, or having a page for your business is good because you can have an event space or things like that where people can respond or share. Whereas on Instagram, you're constantly feeding information tips and kind of like just showing up, showing face so that people funnel in a little bit more. Right? Yeah.

Uriah
So I think my first question for you is, is there anything I need to do or can do to handle my I feel embarrassed in saying this, but to handle my own ambivalence about social media. Because if I didn't need it for helping my group practice, I'd be like, sayonara I use it personally.

Andrea
Right.

Uriah
So is there anything that I can do with that? I know I'm not alone with that, I don't think.

Andrea
Yeah, and I think it doesn't hurt or harm to be able to outsource that. Right. One of the things that I learned, and I am very transparent with this, my own group practice, I have mine for a treat with Andrea for myself, so that I can do all those things. But then I have a group practice Instagram as well, which we're doing well on there. At the time when I started, I love social media, and prior to my role here, I was working at a nonprofit and I was doing social media for the nonprofit. I also was a network marketer at a point, so I know all the languages and all like, the ins and outs of things to do. But I knew it was something that, even though I loved it, I could tap in when I wanted to love it and not feel that I had to be married to it. So I realistically hired an intern for I hired an intern who was going to school for communications. Now, I didn't hire a mental health, like, clinical social worker person. Those people are the same people as you and I who went to school for clinical work. They're not going to school for social media or marketing. So it's really sometimes hard to kind of blend the two. So my love of both helps me with kind of guiding. My intern at the time who became a paid employee, she's fantastic. She learned all the ins and outs of what I needed. So I don't think it hurts to be able to kind of hire someone to do the social media for you if you don't want and just lay out things for them every once in a while of saying, hey, here's what I need you to post about this month. Or I found out that July is Disability Awareness Month. We need to make sure that we're posting about that. Right. That's where kind of my membership comes into play because I give all those tips and tools. So if you have someone that's going to do it for you, they'll get all the prompts to be able to make those posts then for you.

Uriah
Perfect.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
And I'm in your membership. And you know what I've been doing because like I said, I'm not posting on social media. I'm actually stockpiling all your prompts.

Andrea
That's perfect. And I'm very strategic in making sure some of the prompts are not specifically tied to a day. Unless, like, you see, at the end, I give you calendar dates of what's coming up, but all those other ones doesn't hurt to be like, hey, on Monday, what's your favorite pizza or pasta? Right. Like, again, having nothing to do with therapy. But you want on social media, the biggest thing is engagement. Engagement is going to kick it up a notch for you to start getting your reach. Your reach gets you views. Views equal people that funnel in. It's all math. And I hate math. I'm a people person, not a math person.

Uriah
Yeah, it's all algorithms.

Andrea
Yeah, I said it before and I'll say it again, it's a little algorithm monsters, and they really play some games.

Uriah
But engagement is key. Yeah, that's true.

Andrea
Even for myself. We were speaking before this, and I have no problem being very candid. I was kind of having a rough past few weeks. So I wasn't showing up on social media because if I'm not loving it, I'm not going to show up. And my audience knew, maybe she's going through a rough time, didn't lose followers over it. Because what I was consistent with was still sharing the stories of other people. So I think a big thing is even when you don't want to engage, make sure you're showing up, even if it's showing posts from other people. Because I was still sharing like, the stuff that I loved and what was important to me and I was then showing up in people's feed a little bit more.

Uriah
That's good. I like that.

Andrea
Yeah. So even on days you don't feel like creating because creating is exhausting, still show up.

Uriah
Perfect.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
So I'm going to create new social media accounts for InTune Family Counseling. And I'll start with Instagram and Facebook; is it okay to just stick with those two and then put most of my energy into Instagram?

Andrea
I would say yes, definitely. Yeah. There's mixed signals of whether or not you should be sharing the same stuff on Facebook and Instagram ask you that. I say if you don't have the energy and space too, it's not going to hurt you in a way to reshare again. The whole purpose is that you're showing up. So if you're showing up at the same stuff, start there, and then when you have more energy right. Change it up.

Uriah
Okay, good. I was hoping you'd say that because I don't want to do separate things.

Andrea
For each we can't make this harder. We cannot make it harder.

Uriah
Yeah. I think the three places where I was posting, actually, I had one of my virtual assistants doing it for me was Facebook, Instagram, and Google My Business.

Andrea
Okay.

Uriah
I'm not 100% sure if that ever really helped us, but I know that the more content you add to Google My Business, it's straight to Google. So it helps with search on some level. Okay. So I'm going to do that, and that's pretty easy.

Andrea
Do you know your brand colors and everything like that?

Uriah
I do.

Andrea
Okay. So I would say it's specifically in Instagram, there's like the highlights of those little circles right there. Highlights. If there's something that your practice is going to be very well known for, or like if you want to create your own Wellness Wednesday or Tip Thursday or Fun Friday, whatever you want that to be that you're going to release and make it your thing, people are going to then know you for that, and they're going to expect that. Right. And expect to see that coming and popping up. So make a highlight of, like, groups, if you happen to run groups, our office space. And then one of Funny Friday, whatever you want it to be.

Uriah
I did used to do Friday Funnies.

Andrea
Yeah, I love that.

Uriah
I would try to look for I would stockpile comics that were related to parenting.

Andrea
Oh, so that's perfect.

Uriah
That was kind of fun. I should bring that back.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
Oh my gosh. I do have a lot of ideas that are kind of exciting about the music theme is the basis of intune family counseling.

Andrea
Cool.

Uriah
So the tagline is 'We help families find their rhythm.'

Andrea
Oh, my God. I love that.

Uriah
Yeah, isn't that cool? And then the website, there's pictures, there's music related things. I don't think I told you this, but in my office, the whole waiting room is a music theme.

Andrea
Oh, my God.

Uriah
And so there's record albums on the wall. There's pictures of actually literally have guitars hanging on the wall.

Andrea
It's so cool.

Uriah
Every room is themed to a different genre of music. So we've got the jazz room, rock and roll. We've got the rhythm and blues room.

Andrea
We are going to make the coolest reel from all of these things. This is what I mean by the content. You don't even have to make a transition. Take videos of all those bases and create it into a Real. I'm going to find a good sound for you for that. And that's how we're going to introduce that.

Uriah
That's great. I love it.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
And I was also thinking, of course I should get the whole team together and we should do some dance videos.

Andrea
Oh my God.

Uriah
As much as I hate that idea, I think it's a fun one, right?

Andrea
Yes. And you can again, that's even something that as you create the videos batch keep on to those. I'm big on Fridays will be my recording day for the week ahead. And I just oh, nice. Whatever sounds is trending at that time, I do all those and then write it out for the week. And that's more than okay. You do unfortunately have to post in real time because those algorithm monsters know when you're posting from like hero post or other things. But if you batch create the content, you can post it out when you want. Oh my gosh, there's so much fun that we can have with your account. I think creating a real on that would be amazing.

Uriah
I agree.

Andrea
Even if I'm big on alliteration. So even if you make it like Song of Saturday or Song of Sunday, and then that can be the question that you ask every Saturday or Sunday. Like, what are you listening to today and what mood does it put in? Right? And that's something that your viewers will constantly know that's coming up and they'll get in a good mood. Or like.

Uriah
Today I'm actually wearing a concert T shirt.

Andrea
I love that Coldplay. Yeah.

Uriah
I was thinking about posting on my social media about what's on your playlist today, something fun like that and a.

Andrea
Little like even a throwback Thursday, right, of like what was your song that you remember most from childhood? Or what was the song that number one song of the year you were born, but they don't have to like, say the year you posted anonymously again.

Uriah
I like it.

Andrea
Just have fun with it and it doesn't have to be related.

Uriah
Totally. Yeah. That's so cool. I like asking people, what was your favorite band or song when you're like 15 or 16? Because it seems like most people, almost everybody is nostalgic about that music. And I still like it. When I hear Pearl Jam, I'm like, oh, yes. I don't know what it is for you.

Andrea
I'm very much an in sync girl and in sync any day.

Uriah
Nice. I guess that question also places someone in time, too, right? Yeah, most likely. Most likely. Cool. That's fantastic. Jumping back on what we were talking about before, about outsourcing and having somebody else do it and giving them some of the content or ideas or are there any downsides to that? Or things that if there's other group practice owners listening to this or just people, even a solar practice owner that wants somebody else to do it for them, are there any downsides to pay attention to?

Andrea
I would say if a person doesn't know the mental health space that's why I like utilizing my prompts or having someone use the prompts. Because if you're going to hire someone that is specific with even like your virtual assistants right. They may or may not be in the mental health space and know certain things. So having someone that knows the mental health base or is going to use those prompts to create things and definitely to making sure that you have at least in the beginning of a close relationship with them. Because another thing too is engagement on other people's posts and you want to make sure that they're engaging on posts that are going to be still within your mission of the work that you're doing. I was so fortunate for the Internet that I hired. Like I said, she became my employee just because her and I meshed so well and she did have mental health backgrounds because it's what her mom had done for work. So she did know a little bit more. It definitely helps. I don't know that everyone's going to have that luck, right. If you're hiring someone for communication. So I would say just making sure they know the mental health space and also share the same values that you do that you want to portray in whatever it is that you're posting.

Uriah
Right, that makes sense.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
It seems like the challenge of having someone else create content for you, whether it's blog writing or social media, post writing, like the voice has to match yeah. The brand identity and all that has to come through. So they have to be able to figure out how to speak as if they were you. Right.

Andrea
Which is very important.

Uriah
Definitely possible. But it seems challenging to find the right person or company to do that.

Andrea
Right? Yeah. Like I said, I know, I looked out with her. It can be difficult, I would also say, to try to find someone, like I said, that just knows the mental health base and if you're going to be interviewing them for it, making sure that you spend a lot of time in the beginning. So even though you're outsourcing, you're still spending a little bit of time at least for like a month or two, making sure that you have that close connection. So marketing in general just takes time and kind of knowing that that's going to be the biggest challenge.

Uriah
That's really important point. That's a really important point because I think some people maybe like myself who don't love social media and they want to use that strategy, but they don't necessarily want to be so involved. They might want to hire a person or an individual or a company and just say, here, do it. Right. But it's really important for that practice owner to spend the time to communicate, to make sure they're on the same page and make sure it's successful.

Andrea
Yeah. Having someone that knows the space of what you're working in and knowing mental health is so super important, especially we were just talking like, the state of the world has not been the greatest. So it's also a matter of being able to put out news in a way that's not going to also continue to make it like this negative thing right, in creating spaces that it's not more negative media that's going out there and creating resources and things that are going to show your voice in the way that you needed to show up.

Uriah
Can you think of some therapists that you know or know of that are using social media really effectively and maybe some examples of what kinds of things that they're doing that seems to be working?

Andrea
So I would say there is one. There's a lot of therapists that I happen to follow that are more geared towards helping other therapists too. I forget her name specifically, but her instagram handle is like psychotherapy memes. And I love it because it's like, it's almost like a household name at this point. But it's all the things that we're feeling as clinicians and being able to see that she's so authentically herself. And I love that about her because she's like, if you're not going to enjoy what it is that I'm saying, then this is not the case for you. And I think that we need to hold on a little bit more true to who we are because I think that, again, going back to schooling, we were taught that you're a therapist, you're a therapist, you're a therapist and you weren't someone outside of that. But I think even in the course of the past few years, it allowed therapists to be more who they are and really being super more niche down of who the clients that they want to take are. So I think she's someone that is doing really well. And there is a therapist that I follow, she has a little bit smaller following. Her name is Ariana. She is so she leads with her heart, with all the content that she creates. And I love that about her because she creates, you almost feel safe going to her page and seeing some of the stuff and some of the real. It's just so calming and soothing. And also she adds humor in there too. I'll share her with you later so that you can even share that if you want. But her name's Ariana. She just like creates really, I don't know, soul filling content that I like that it feels safe. And in a social media world, it's sometimes hard to feel safe out there, right? Like we said, it's a little scary. So I definitely enjoy looking at herself as well. For sure.

Uriah
That's great. So I'm hearing humor, authenticity, and obviously video.

Andrea
Yeah. So I say this to everyone. Even if you are not showing up on the camera, being able to do video is crucial. One of the things that I talk about is I don't know if you have young young kids in your family or no young kids, but CocoMelon we know is like you've heard of CocoMelon?

Uriah
I have not.

Andrea
Okay, well, so I baby and I have nephews that are very young and like CocoMelon, you'll look it up after. Coco Melon is like all the rave for young children. And they did a study on it and it's like, why are these kids so obsessed with cocoa Melon? And it's because the clips are every 2 seconds, they're changing the clip to a new face. And they did a study on it and it's like human design. That's almost what our attention span is, too. Right. So no one's really sitting there reading paragraphs of information anymore. They want to see video and content. It's why TikTok did so well because people are pushing out 32nd videos but getting across the message that they need to. It's almost like creating your elevator pitch. Often in these small batch of content, even the algorithm sometimes changes. Like instead of like 15 seconds, they want you to do seven second videos again, it could be the video of a flower or your coffee brewing in the morning and just putting a fact over it with text. Grabbing my coffee to make it through the day. What are you drinking tonight? Comment below or whatever. Yeah, engagement is big.

Uriah
What are you drinking tonight?

Andrea
Tonight? Hopefully not coffee!

Uriah
Not caffeine. For sure.

Andrea
Today.

Uriah
Okay, that's helpful. I think I need to figure out how to kind of tap back into my creativity because that's one of my superpowers.

Andrea
You said it was like January was when you last posted. I have to say though, just from knowing you, from when do we go april, may? When do we go to Utah?

Uriah
Two months ago.

Andrea
You've been traveling a lot though, too, haven't you?

Uriah
Yeah, for sure.

Andrea
And that I know because I've been doing the same thing, is draining. And it's cool to be creative when you're in the moment and you're in the space, but you also want to live. So presently and sometimes it's like, how do I hop on social when I want to be social with the people that are in front of me?

Uriah
Too right.

Andrea
It's difficult.

Uriah
I'll tell you. One of my other challenges is that and I'm trying to work through this and figure out what's going on for me personally. But it's about visibility and putting myself out there. And I want to specifically with productive therapist's. And I'm doing this podcast, so I'm obviously putting myself out there. But when it comes to videos and social media, I went to Chicago last week and to. The Group Practice Owners Summit, and I realized that after I came home that I posted zero times about my time there. And I took pictures, I talked to people, I did cool things. That's interesting. Why didn't I share any of that.

Andrea
From the very little time that I know you? I think you are such a genuine person that is so good at being present in the moment that social media pulls you away from that and they create it so that they do, right? Like, they want you in there a little bit more. They want you in this world that we get sucked in and we become like Sims. But that's probably why you're not posting.

Uriah
Well, thank you for that nice reframe.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
I'm just so in the moment, I can't do it.

Andrea
That's what it is that I think even if you the next time you travel or the next time you're anywhere, even saying when you post, right. I haven't been on here in a while. Things have changed in the past few months. What is the content that you're looking to see? Start off with that when you post, right. So that you know what the people that you already have there as an audience are expecting or wanting from you. And then build on that because your audience is going to grow then, so you don't that makes sense, but it will help you also, too. I think that's a part of it sometimes, too, we don't know what the people want, but then we don't ask. So being able to just ask, what do you expect to see? People respond to me. They're like, your cats. I'm like, Well, I'm a therapist, so I'm trying to close more than my cats. But I mean, sure, if you want a cat, I'll share my cats.

Uriah
People always want cats on the Internet. They really do.

Andrea
And I am glad to give it to them.

Uriah
Well, this is a really helpful conversation for me, just working out all my issues with you.

Andrea
Yeah.

Uriah
I would say being authentic with Andrea.

Andrea
I would say the biggest thing maybe for you right now is, like I said, hopping on there, asking your audience what they want to see you at a bunch of videos of your new office and new space, I'll find you a sound that will be really good for you to introduce that for. And just even when you're engaging, it doesn't have to be post every day. Get on there on Story and create things like polls or engaging questions. And this way you're not feeling that you even have to be overly creative with it. Just asking your audience certain things and sharing their answers. It helps you to show up a little bit more.

Uriah
That's great.

Andrea
I'm excited to share your page.

Uriah
Awesome. I'm excited to create it. Yeah. So you have some things to offer that I would love to share with the audience. And I'm curious what do you have to offer and where can people find you?

Andrea
Absolutely. So the biggest thing right now is the social media membership. I love being able to share that with other people so that's achieved with authenticity. You can go to achievementrea.com and find the membership there. And then also follow me on Instagram. Andrea Rognal. You'll see me posted a bunch more. I have some reels coming out. But in the membership, I give you prompts to use for every day, real prompts for the week and those fun hashtag holidays like National Pizza Day or things like that, and how we can get creative to tie it back to therapy.

Uriah
That's so great. People should definitely check that out because I've been using it for using it, and it's really helpful. Every time I see your email, I immediately copy and paste it into a note that I'm keeping. Good, because I think a lot of people struggle with what to post. Right. So you're telling us exactly like, hey, here's an idea.

Andrea
And I always say we have a separate Facebook group just for that content. I always say whenever you have a question, the membership is not just there just for that. Hop into our private Facebook group, ask me questions. That's what I'm here for. It's what I want to do, because I genuinely love seeing therapists thrive on social media. I just think that we could take over the world of social media for therapists, and it could be so great.

Uriah
There you go. I love it. There's your vision. Yeah, we'll thanks so much for having this conversation, and it was helpful for me, and I know it will be helpful for the listeners too. I appreciate it so much.

Andrea
Thank you for having me. I'm so happy we did. Bye.

Uriah
Absolutely. Bye!