A Starter’s Guide to Social Media Marketing for Coaches
This article offers a general education on the topic of social media marketing for coaches. If you're pondering how to grow your coaching business, social media may come to mind. But does it make sense for your situation? Read on to learn when, how, and why social media has become a proven marketing strategy for coaches of all types.
What Is Social Media Marketing for Coaches?
Social media marketing for coaches is the targeted use of platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok to promote and grow a coaching business. In a world where almost everyone is connected digitally, social media serves as a bridge between coaches and potential clients. By crafting meaningful posts, sharing success stories, and offering snippets of advice, coaches can showcase their expertise and reach broader audiences.
For coaches across various niches—be it career mentoring, wellness guidance, or spiritual coaching—social media marketing provides a unique opportunity. It allows coaches to build trust, credibility, and a funnel of coaching leads.
The Importance of Adding Value
As with any personal branding strategy, authenticity is key. Social media marketing for life coaches isn't about being the loudest in the room and overtly selling your services. Rather, it’s about connecting genuinely and adding real value for your community. In time, with consistent and captivating content, followers will convert to coaching clients. For those who do it well, the selling takes care of itself.
As you start to think about your social media strategy (i.e. video, article, or post topics to explore), the leading question should be this: What things do I know so well that my insight may improve the lives of others?
If you can answer that question, you have the beginnings of a worthwhile social media marketing strategy. A great post social media post is not one that asks your audience to buy your services. Rather, it’s one that gets your audience to stop their scroll, read, and have a meaningful takeaway. The ability to do this consistently will have positive, compounding effects for the growth of your influence—and subsequently, your business.
What Types of Coaches Should Use Social Media Marketing?
Here’s the short answer: If the coaching niche you’re targeting lives somewhere in the social media world, then you should consider social media marketing. That’s because as long as your desired audience exists online, so too does the opportunity to get in front of them. If your ultimate goal is to get more coaching clients, such opportunities shouldn’t be passed up.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find coaching niches that don’t have at least some audience on social media. That goes for health coaches, accountability coaches, cognitive coaches, startup coaches—you name it. When it comes to niche marketing, that’s the beauty of the internet. Even the most specific interests can attract a horde of loyal followers.
Social Media Platforms That Are Worth Your Time
Which social media platforms should you consider for your marketing mix as a coach? While it depends on your audience and goals, chances are you’ll be picking from a predictable list. At CoachRanks, we recommend the following platforms for coaches.
Whether it's career advancement, cultivating executive presence, or promoting work-life balance, LinkedIn is the go-to platform to reach a career-oriented audience. LinkedIn offers some of the strongest organic reach for posts published on its platform, which means your content can get solid mileage. Also worthy of note is that a majority of LinkedIn users are working professionals, which means they may be more likely to have the budget to invest in a self-development resource like coaching. For a deeper dive on this platform, read our comprehensive guide on LinkedIn marketing for coaches.
TikTok
TikTok offers a unique advantage: content discovery isn't restricted to your immediate network. Thanks to the platform's "For You Page," content is exposed to a broad spectrum of users. For coaches, popular niches on TikTok include self-help, side hustles, wellness, and productivity tips. The app's users are keen on liking, saving, and sharing content that offers value to their lives, making it a hub for sharing transformative advice and tips. For more detail on this platform, don’t miss our longer article on TikTok for coaches.
With its expansive user base, Facebook provides coaches a broad canvas to showcase their expertise. While Facebook content is initially shown to friends, strong engagement can push it to a wider audience. But for many coaches, the most value here comes from Facebook Groups. These niche communities offer a more targeted and engaged experience, where discussions are richer and more specific. Searching around for relevant Facebook Groups is a great place to start as you gear up to share content on social media.
One of the most passionately used apps, Instagram can become a key tool in any coach's digital marketing toolkit. To make the most of Instagram, it’s worth your time to stay updated with the app's trends to maximize content reach and engagement. For example, as noted in a 2023 interview with the Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, user behavior is shifting. Teens, for instance, spend most of their time in Direct Messages (DMs), followed by Stories, and then the main feed. If this trend continues, coaches should stay focused on where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. Think about how you can leverage your profile to create Story content that prompts DM interactions. This will foster personal conversations that may lead to new coaching business.
Think of Reddit as a collection of niche communities, called "subreddits." For coaches, pinpointing subreddits that align with their target audience can be a goldmine. However, a word of caution: Reddit users are very wary of overt marketing or sales tactics. Coaches should prioritize genuine contributions and discussions over direct promotions to resonate with audiences on this platform.
No matter the platform, one pro tip will pay the biggest dividends: Add a ton of value for your audience. Gaining followers, likes, comments, and business leads happens slowly. But it won’t happen at all if you’re overly cagey with your ideas, tips, and advice. Show up as your best, and the rest will fall into place.
3 Keys to Successful Social Media Marketing for Coaches
How should you go about building your social media strategy? While it depends on the platform, here are some pro tips that apply broadly:
1. Creating Content for Social Media
While this section alone could support its own article, here are some best practices that will set you steps ahead:
Recycle Content: Don't hesitate to reuse and repurpose. An image you've shared on Instagram can easily find a home on Facebook. Furthermore, a lengthy blog post doesn't just have to reside on your website; it can be broken down into multiple bite-sized LinkedIn posts. By doing this, you maximize the reach of a single piece of content across various platforms.
Get the Support You Need: As a coach, your strength lies in mentoring and guiding, but crafting perfect visuals or prose might not be your forte. Consider investing in professionals like writers, photographers, or graphic designers. They can provide the expertise to elevate your content, making it resonate more deeply with your audience on specific platforms.
Use AI Carefully: In an era of automation, it's tempting to let artificial intelligence handle a chunk of your tasks. But remember, as a coach, the human touch is integral to your brand. While AI can aid in some processes, it lacks the personal insights, anecdotes, and unique perspectives that set you apart. Your authenticity is your biggest asset; don't compromise it.
Give Away a Ton of Value: It's a mistake to believe that sharing a lot of valuable content means your audience won't need your paid services. On the contrary, by consistently providing high-value content, you establish trust and expertise in your niche. Your audience will see the depth of your knowledge and, over time, will be more inclined to invest in the comprehensive coaching services you offer. Think of your free content as a teaser to the transformative experiences you provide as a coach.
2. Engaging and Growing Your Audience
Every interaction, no matter how small, is a building block of your life coach brand and reputation. Whether it's a comment on a post, a share, or a direct message, these are moments where individuals have chosen to engage with you. Treating these interactions with respect, gratitude, and promptness can transform a casual follower into a brand advocate.
Simply posting content is like casting your fishing line. Engagement is where you actually reel in the interesting bites. Too many people forget this second half of the equation. They believe that by just posting content, everything else will fall into place. In reality, to build an authentic audience—the kind that is passionate enough to support your coaching practice—you need to monitor your platforms and show interest in others.
Some examples of great engagement: Follow back your active followers. Reply to every comment. Thank people for taking the time to share an idea or suggestion. Imagine an entire community of people supporting your coaching practice—what are the values you’d want everyone in the community to live by? Live by them yourself, and the followers will come.
3. Optimizing for Conversions
Finally, at the very bottom of the funnel is the world of conversions. How are you converting casual followers into real business leads? Have you put thought into the “happy path” your audience can follow if they decide to make the leap from follower to client?
Optimizing for conversions means creating a user friendly website with clear instructions on how to contact you. It means encouraging your followers to DM you to learn more about your practice. It means having pre-constructed coaching packages and plans that leads can review as they consider hiring you as a coach. Successful social media marketing for life coaches considers the entire buyer’s journey—from discovery of your brand all the way through point of sale.
Building Your Marketing Ecosystem: Looking Beyond Social
When it comes to digital marketing for coaches, social media represents a growing segment of winning strategies. But it shouldn’t be the only segment. The CoachRanks playbook leans heavily on the concept of building an ecosystem, or a multifaceted approach to marketing your coaching practice.
In addition to social media marketing for coaches, consider your broader marketing machine. From building a beautiful coaching website, to setting up an email marketing strategy, to generating web traffic through Google search results—social media is only part of the equation.
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