These days, social media is simply part of everyday life, and is among the most common ways for people to connect with thought leaders, discover helpful resources, and explore different ideas — and this includes learning about what professional coaching is, how it can help them with their goals and challenges, and finding a coach (like you!) who they can connect with and trust.
However, shifting from using social media to stay connected with friends and loved ones to creating accounts to build your coaching practice can raise many questions and uncertainties.
Thoughtfully engaging online can lead to greater general awareness of coaching, more clients for your practice, and even an opportunity to establish yourself in the coaching field as a thought leader. This all starts with finding the right social networks to focus on.
Network + Audience = Content Confidence
When engaging online to support your practice, you will be most successful when you have a clear purpose to focus your posts. Are you trying to raise awareness of coaching and reach new clients? Who are these potential clients, and where do they connect online? Take some time to define your goals for online engagement, which will help you identify the right social media platform to post on. Who you want to reach matters, as different audiences engage on different platforms, and each network has its own style of communicating.
Finding the Best Fit
Knowing some best practices for social media can make it easier to build a plan for posting.
LinkedIn is the go-to for many coaches engaging online. The audience is business professionals, ranging from C-suite executives to HR professionals at companies building coaching cultures, as well as individuals eager to invest in their own professional development.
What should I post?
LinkedIn is the perfect place to post thought leadership of any kind — long-form, short-form, sharing articles, and more. It’s also a great place to showcase your expertise and offer in-depth spotlights on the value of your coaching.
Why?
This platform is for connecting with professionals, your coaching peers seeking insight, or potential clients. LinkedIn is an especially good fit for executive coaches who work with company leaders, professionals, and coaching cultures at organizations. Put your best foot forward to win over new business and grow your network!
Facebook is less about self-promotion (except for paid ads) and more about connecting through groups.
What should I post?
On your personal profile, network in coaching groups! Share tips and connect with others to build your own support network. On your professional profile, share big business wins, demonstrate the power of coaching, and even post advertisements for your practice.
Why?
Facebook is best utilized as a tool for connection and community, so it’s a great place to grow your network with peers. It’s also a great way to place yourself in your community and share your work (and advertise it) with those who may be interested. Keep in mind that your Facebook audience will most likely be over the age of 30.
Instagram is a visually driven medium, and audiences are interested in light content that is interesting and relevant to their own lives.
What should I post?
Instagram is a great place to highlight professional wins and awards, as well as to share quotes and insights — whether from other thought leaders you agree with or from your own earned opportunities. It’s also a great place to post photos from events alongside coaching tips. You can even share stories or collections of tips in carousels of multiple images! Every post should have a compelling visual — free tools like Canva can help you create clean, consistent graphics even if you aren’t a designer.
Why?
Instagram is a great way to connect with people in the lifestyle and personal development spaces and to show your work in a different way. Audiences on Instagram likely aren’t searching for professionals, so light, interesting, and inspiring content will hook them initially as they learn more about coaching.
X (formerly Twitter)
X is a fast-paced world, heavily driven by the news and pop culture. It is generally geared towards short-form content — just a sentence or two per post.
What should I post?
X is the perfect place to respond to timely media relevant to your coaching focus. When news or features are released, post to offer short snippets of thought leadership or professional insights. It’s also an appropriate forum to post about business wins or awards occasionally.
Why?
Audiences on X aren’t looking for a business pitch or an essay. They are looking to scroll quickly and absorb short insights. Meet this expectation, and they may dive into your profile or your website.
TikTok
TikTok might be the most elusive of all social platforms. It is constantly changing, but it has broader intergenerational reach into younger audiences, and it is great for engaging with communities around tightly focused topics of interest — such as self-improvement or pursuing professional goals.
What should I post?
Though TikTok recently added a text-only post option, it is a highly visual platform. Post short video content that raises awareness and demonstrates the transformative power of coaching. Above all, be authentic, open, and conversational.
Why?
Audiences are curious! They want to know what coaching is and how it works, as well as hear stories that you can share. You may find you attract an audience eager to ask questions and better understand what coaching can do for them.
Taking the First Step
With so many different social media platforms, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Overcome those feelings by taking a simple first step, select which platforms you want to engage on, and make sure you have the proper accounts set up. Then, trust your gut. Interact with content that feels organic and natural on those platforms, and post when you feel your insights are valuable and targeted to your audience. Building a calendar to decide when you will post can also be helpful — you could even give it themes to help you get inspired about what to share.
The right social media platforms can help you share your experience and promote your practice. Time to start posting!
