How Do I Market Myself On Social?

• Transcript

  Kaely Harrod 00:04

  Welcome to doula Tips and Tits. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaely Harrod. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born 12 nearly 13 years ago. I am a birth and postpartum doula childbirth educator, la leche league leader and a doula coach. I love guiding and supporting doulas as they work out their doula business, it is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way. Thank you for joining us on this journey. Today, we are diving into some social media marketing information. So the question I'm going to answer is how do I market myself on social media as a doula? Now, I want to kind of talk a little bit about how and then also, why. Because it is important to understand why to have the motivation to keep going and keep doing it right. Because especially if social media is not something that you automatically love, then it is something that can be a little bit intimidating and feel a little like directionless in your business, right? So how do you market yourself? There's a few different things one, you want. You want to think about social media, I think especially like Instagram, and Facebook and Tik Tok, like, these are some that use algorithms, right? And so you want to think about them in sort of two ways. One is your presence teaches the actual platform, what you do. And so when people are searching for things, over time, it learns that you're the person to put in front of them. So think about Google online searches, right? You search something, and then Google's algorithm is trying to decide which websites actually answer your question the best and they're putting them to the top of the list. Okay. Now, the social media platforms that does the same thing that's happening. So there, someone's saying, like, birth planning, and then, you know, the Instagram algorithm is like, Okay, well did Kaylee's post about birth planning actually, was that something I should like put high on the list? Or should it be like way at the bottom, when you scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, right. And so. So one is to actually build the algorithms, understanding of your work and the end, like how people can find you, right? The second is for people to have a really good sense of what you do and who you are. So let's say you have a website, or let's say you're listed on doula match or something like that, and you're like, Kaely, I don't get people from Instagram, like, I don't need to be on there. Well, I will say that, if someone's going to my website, they're most likely also checking out my social media, in part because there are things about my website that they don't, they don't like fully feel like they know me, where if they go to my social media, and they can look at my videos, they can listen to me talking about something they can, like, get a sense of how I sound, how I communicate the kind of information that I know what matters to me, that is going to give them a better understanding of who I am, and make them automatically feel a little bit more kind of secure, or like, kind of warm them up a little bit to who I am, and make them feel a bit more like they trust me. And they know me, and they understand how I'm coming to this work, etc. So let's say you thought about like, you know, in terms of doula client experience, like someone hears your name, and they're kind of coming to do an interview with you, right? And your interview is in a physical building, this is my like, impromptu analogy that I'm building out. And they walk in the building, and on the hallway, on the way down to the office, where you are, there's all different signs about how you work and what you do, and how you talk to people and some of your testimonials. That stuff is what they're seeing as they walked down. They're gonna get to the end of that hallway with you, in most cases, feeling much more familiar with who you are and what you do. Now, it is possible they'll walk through that hallway and be like, Oh, she thinks that like this is not my person. But the reality is, you don't want those people if they they see something that you like, or don't like, or stand for or like, are morally against or for and then they're like, oh, I don't agree with that. Those are not your people. Those are not your clients. So you actually want it to also push people away. If they're not the right people to be there like you want them to see right away. Ah, oh, this is not actually what I need, and be able to be like, oh, yeah, nevermind, because it's a waste of your time and their time if someone who's actually not a good fit for you, is trying to hire you. Okay? So I want you to think of it as that kind of like, if I, if someone's like thinking about hiring me as a doula, but I don't know that, what would I want them to see and know about me that I can put on social media? And also, how can I teach the algorithm that I'm actually an expert in some of this stuff, and that they can put me top of the list for some of these searches. So that with time, you're also getting kind of organic exposure on top of having like some content there for people to look at. Now, consistency matters. For social media, I am not a social media expert. So I'm not going to give you prescriptive, like post this many times a week, and on this order, and in this way, and blah, blah, blah, I don't know all of that I don't have all of that context myself. I mean, I have some of it from other, you know, people that I follow on whatever, I will put a few social media accounts that I love in the show notes. So you can follow those folks too. But I think one big thing to think about, is initially, if you're just getting started on social and you're like, I have an Instagram account, but I've posted like two things, try to get to 12 posts, like in the next week, if you can. Now, the reason I say that is that when someone comes to your Instagram, and they're on their phone, they're going to see 12 posts right away. And so those 12 are a going to like give them a really good sense of who you are right off the bat. And be gonna make it look like you didn't just joined Instagram this morning. And even if you didn't join Instagram this morning, right, put 12 things on there so that they're there, at least one of them should be who you are a second should be what the heck you do. A third should be when are you available. A fourth should be some kind of q&a or whatever a fifth could be some kind of birth fact your favorite birth affirmations, whatever, whatever. Now, I will say one new thing that I recently created that I will also put in the show notes is my Instagram for for birth workers templates, because I found that with time, I kind of learned how to make my own templates, I learned how to like have a brand color that like is always the same. I just want to let you laugh at me for a second. If you go back through my Instagram, go to the very bottom of my Instagram. And you will see how inconsistent my colors were like just colors. Because I was like my color. My brand color is like teal ish, something teal, like kind of kind of teal or teal genre ish, right? Like in the family of teal colors. So that I would just use whatever the heck I wanted in terms of to colors, and it wasn't even the same color. So I did not even have brand colors. I had like a like a brand idea of colors. But they weren't consistent at all, which made me planning stuff and doing like social media posts really hard. Because they couldn't just be like, Oh, here's some colors. So just to give you a quick idea of what this what the Instagram templates are. It's actually 305 templates with a ton of templates, stories, posts, carousels, things that are birth specific topics. So like five reasons to take childbirth Ed, three reasons to hire a doula like four things to expect from your postpartum doula, etc. And also completely editable and they come with a video of how to edit them. So I include a loom, which is just a video all about what to do and how to edit these actual posts and how to even have like, this is my brand color of blue, how to have that and then be like this is the one I'm always going to use. This is a blue that I'm going to use every single time. Okay, so I'm going to go through all of that in the in the actual like when you purchase it. And so you can easily make them your own, you can repurpose them, you can put different kinds of things on them. You can make it like four things to know about the first week with your postpartum doula. And like four things to know about the last week with your postpartum doula. Like you can change them in whatever we want. There also is stock photo in there that you're also able to use and it's all editable with a free Canva account. So it's very simple to do. I walk you through the whole process. The shownotes include that link to buy that so I would really love for you to check that out if that feels helpful. If that kind of removes one bit Are you to your consistency then that is what I want that to do. That is what that is there for. So

  Kaely Harrod 10:05

  until next time, I wish you wonderful, amazing social media filled doula experiences

  Kaely Harrod 10:20

  thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula Tips and Tips podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Herat doula, so we can celebrate alongside you. If you found this podcast helpful. We would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast app that helps other doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment it is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around

Social Media for Doulas can be intimidating! It is especially hard to think about competing with folks who have a whole social media team! As a new doula something is better than nothing and the more you regularly post the more you will flex the muscle of doing it. It will become loads easier with time.

If you want a little slice of how my own online presence has grown over the years, I welcome you to go to Instagram and scroll to the VERY bottom of my feed. There’s no consistency. No color consistency, no font consistency, no strategy! I tell you this to remind you that no one is perfect, not that I’m the standard, and also to remind you that growth is a part of business ownership! You will get better with time!

You want to think about social media, especially Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok, which are all sites that use algorithms. You want to think about them in two ways: One is your presence teaches the actual platform what you do. When people are searching for things, over time, it learns that you're the person to put in front of them. So think about Google online searches, for example. You search something, and then Google's algorithm is trying to decide which websites actually answer your question the best and they're putting them at the top of the list. That is the same sort of thing you’re thinking about with social media. 

Two is that it gives your clients a way to get to know you a little bit better as they are seeing your presence online. That is equally as important, but not typically a fast source of clients, so should not be your only strategy!

Key Takeaways:

• Consistency matters more than anything else

• If you have a hard time knowing what to say buy some templates

• Even twice a week is better than nothing!

FREE MASTERCLASS

Wanting more in depth help strategies for finding clients? Join the upcoming Doula Masterclass on May 2nd. Use the link below to register today!

Where are all the clients? 3 Key Sources of Clients that Every Doula Needs!

https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/doula-mentoring-masterclass-1

Social Media Templates:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1462475705/305-doula-instagram-templates-175-posts

CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or  Instagram

https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach

https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula

Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay