How to Reach More People On Instagram as an Online Art Therapist
How to Reach More People (and Potential Clients) On Instagram as an Online Art Therapist
Hey, have you ever wondered how you can reach more potential clients on Instagram? Ever wondered whether it is hashtags? Ads? Or something else?
After being on Instagram for a while and building my audience there to over 10k followers in a relatively short amount of time, I learned a thing about exposure on Instagram.
I found a foolproof way to beat the algorithm. So today, I’m going to share that in this post. You’ll learn my exact thought process behind creating posts that go “viral,” meaning they are “share-able” content that reaches a lot of people. They get tons of exposure because oftentimes these posts are shared to other friends/followers they have — that’s what makes them “share-able” content.
Continue reading below to see how I create such content.
(If you want to watch the video version of this, you can do so here on YouTube).
Or if you want to listen to this episode rather than read it, you can tune into the podcast episode version here: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and more.
Here is how I approach creating “viral” posts as an art therapist:
I go into FUN mode!
The very first thing I did when I created posts that resulted in crazy exposure and reach, was going into “fun mode.”
What does that mean? I means I would think about: “What would be fun to create?” And I let go of all the pressure and all the SHOULD’s. I just think of what would be fun to create.
To give you an example, in the past, when I thought of what would be fun to create, I thought about bingo’s! When I shared the bingo graphic, it went viral!
My tip for you here is to really just let go of the pressure to perform. Let go of the stress, let go of expectations. Focus on what would feel good for you to create and work on.
This works because how you feel is put into your creation — just like art right?! How we feel always shows up in our art... as we all know as art therapists. It’s the same for social media content. Whether it is in word form, visual form, or audiovisual form, our energy and emotions are input into the things we create. And that fun and positive energy is very magnetizing.
2. What would be fun to see people respond to?
The next thing I do to create posts that reach a lot of people is think about what would be fun to see people respond to. What would be so awesome to talk about together?
This is more focused on connecting and having a fun experience TOGETHER with people.
So - what would be fun to talk about together? Imagine you’re hanging out with your people in-person, face to face; And you guys have a blast, fantastic time. What would you be talking about? What would you be doing?
This is great because you get to address people’s need to connect, have fun, & be in a community.
3. Create it with the tools I like
So once I have those ideas, I create the actual post/image/video with the tools I like; I like to keep it simple, which makes the process of creating easy.
And I also use whatever tools I like to use. For example, I loved experimenting with my iPad and doing drawings digitally. So I created my posts with my iPad, apple pencil, and the procreate app. These posts did really well in terms of reach.
So my tip for you is to use what you love. Make the process of creation really fun and just YOU.
That way, you get fired up creating it, and that energy is transferred to your creation — and people catch that through your posts :)
4. Add captions
One thing I did that resulted in way more reach was adding captions.
I try to add more details in the captions underneath photo posts. I think sometimes people don’t realize it’s important, but people actually do read captions.
And if you’re doing video, definitely adding captions can help people “read” without having to turn on the sound. (And majority of people don’t have sound on on their phone). So this makes it easier for people to consume and enjoy your content.
5. Post! And engage
The last thing I do in terms of creating viral content is really just posting that content and engaging with people — meaning I reply to people, I comment back, like their comments, send reply messages.
Just engaging with people like this really makes it feel like it’s a community and you get to boost the algorithm too since you’re being active on your page and that is a good thing.
Don’t underestimate this little tip :)
So those are the 5 things I do in my process of creating viral content.
They are: (1) Go into FUN mode (2) Think of what would be fun for people to respond to and talk about together (3) Create with the tools you like and the way that I enjoy (4) add captions to help people read/watch my stuff (5) post and engage with people.
As you can see — creating share-able content doesn’t have to be complicated, difficult, and stressful. It’s all about having FUN, thinking of how we can have fun together with your audience, and making the process fun too.
Hope that was helpful. Let me know which one of the points I shared here resonated with you the most? Let me know in the comments!
P.S. If you are curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to facilitate it or incorporate it in your work, then I’ve got the ✨perfect✨ resource for you. My Therapeutic Art Facilitation School course is THE place where you can learn the foundation of nonclinical, therapeutic art work. I teach you my step by step signature method of using therapeutic art to help people, even if you’re just starting (no artist or therapist background needed). Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.
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