The fire in your belly burns bright. You’re passionate about empowering individuals, guiding them towards fulfilling lives, and building a thriving life coaching practice. But with a saturated online space, translating that passion into a tangible online presence can feel overwhelming.

Here at Sarpa Social, we understand the unique challenges life coaches face in the ever-changing world of social media. This guide equips you with 13 social media secrets to transform your passion for helping others live better lives into a powerful social media presence, attract ideal clients, and build a coaching business that thrives.

Why Social Media Matters for Life Coaches and Mentors

Gone are the days of relying solely on word-of-mouth referrals. Word of mouth still reigns supreme, but relying on this may limit your reach and the number of people you can help. Social media has become an indispensable tool for life coaches and mentors seeking to connect with potential clients and establish themselves as authorities in their niche.

Here’s how social media empowers your life coaching and mentorship business:

• Brand Building: Craft a compelling online persona that showcases your coaching philosophy, values, and expertise.
• Client Attraction: Target your ideal audience with laser-focused tactics, build trust, and nurture leads into paying clients.
• Community Building: Foster a supportive online space where potential clients can connect with you and each other.
• Credibility and Authority: Regularly share valuable content and insights to position yourself as a thought leader in the life coaching space.
• Scalability and Growth: Expand your reach beyond local limitations and build a global client base.

Social Media Secrets for Life Coaches

Now, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty. Here are the key social media secrets to unlock your social media potential:

1. Define Your Ideal Client

Before crafting captivating content, take a deep dive into who you want to attract. Imagine your ideal client: their demographics, challenges, aspirations, and preferred social media platforms. Once you have a clear picture, tailor your strategy to resonate with their specific needs.

2. Choose Your Platforms Wisely

Don’t spread yourself too thin! Research which platforms your ideal clients frequent the most. Popular choices for life coaches include:

• Instagram: A visually-driven platform perfect for sharing inspiring quotes, success stories, and glimpses into your coaching process (with client consent, of course).
• Facebook: Ideal for building communities, hosting live Q&A sessions, and offering free coaching challenges.
• YouTube and Podcasts: Create in-depth video content like coaching tips, guided meditations, or client testimonials.

3. Do an Audit to Optimize Your Profiles

Your social media profiles are your digital storefronts. Ensure they are fully optimized with a clear, professional bio, a compelling profile picture, and links to your website or blog. Include relevant keywords associated with life coaching and wellness in your bio to improve your searchability on social media platforms. Here is how to do an audit of your IG bio:

• What is the name on your profile? Does it include your name along with searchable keywords relevant to what you do and your niche?
• Is your bio simple and easy to read and infused with your personality and vibe?
• Are you speaking to your ideal client in the first sentence?
• Do you have an email list-building CTA in your bio?
• How is your shop front looking? Can profile visitors see what you are about when they land on your profile? Utilise pinned posts and story highlights for this!
• How are your story highlights looking? How are they organised, are the covers on brand, are they up to date & still useful/interesting?

4. Content is King (and Queen!)

High-quality content is the lifeblood of your social media presence. Here’s what your audience craves:

• Valuable Insights: Share actionable tips, strategies, and exercises that empower your audience to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.
• Focus on creating content that is shareable (we love those story mentions), worth saving for later and highly relatable.
• Explore the art of storytelling on social media: Storytelling transcends the mere conveyance of information, transforming teachings into immersive experiences that resonate deeply with the soul. Write your content as if you are having a conversation, we aren’t all robots out here (yet lol).
• Inspiring Stories: Social proof is powerful. Showcase client success stories (with permission) to demonstrate the transformative power of coaching.
• Engaging Questions: Prompt discussions and foster a sense of community by asking thought-provoking questions related to life coaching topics. Stories on Instagram is a great place to do this with the stickers feature.
• Live Sessions: Host live Q&A sessions, workshops, or meditations to provide real-time value and build rapport with your audience. Live sessions are always saved as replays on your feed so you can continue to benefit from going live.
• Visually Appealing Content: Utilize eye-catching visuals like infographics, quotes with beautiful backgrounds, and short video snippets to capture attention. Get your branding on point and use that as a guide for your visuals. Consistency is key so your audience starts to make strong associations between your content, you and your brand.

5. Integrate SEO Within Your Social Strategy

While social media does not directly impact website SEO, the traffic and engagement generated can lead to higher search rankings indirectly. Ensure your social media activities align with your SEO strategy by:

• Incorporating Keywords: Use relevant keywords in your posts, graphics, hashtags, and profile information to improve visibility.
• Engage with Your Community: Interact with your followers by responding to comments, liking posts, and participating in conversations. Engagement not only builds a strong community but also increases the visibility of your posts in your followers’ feeds.
• Leverage Instagram Stories and Reels: These features offer dynamic ways to share insights, daily practices, or behind-the-scenes glimpses into your healing journey. One sneaky hack is to type keywords using the text function and then hide them off-screen (not sure if this really works but this is all about experimentation at the end of the day!).
• Utilize Alt Text: When posting images, use the advanced settings to add alt text—a feature designed for visually impaired users that also serves as an SEO opportunity. Include descriptive keywords that reflect the image and relate to your content, improving accessibility and boosting your visibility in search results.
• Post Consistently in your timing and your message: Regular posts that stick to the topic of your niche keep your audience engaged and signal to Instagram’s algorithm that your account is active, boosting your content’s visibility. We recommend keeping all of the posts on your feed related to your offerings and your niche as a way to nurture your audience, use your reels as a place to attract new people and use your stories to post anything and everything about your life in general.

6. Understand the difference between attraction content & nurturing content

And make both types of content! Attraction content is the type of content you want to share to reach new people who don’t follow you yet, this could entertaining, humorous or highly relatable. Just think of all of those memes and funny reels. That is attraction content. This will get new people on your profile, once they land on your profile hopefully they will see straight away that you speak directly to them and they will go on to follow you. Use well-researched keywords and hashtags to enhance discoverability and reach a wider audience interested in life coaching and self-improvement topics.

Then you also want to post highly valuable content to nurture the people who already follow you and turn those followers into clients. Position yourself as an authority in your field by sharing educational content. This could include tips, how-to guides, insights, and resources that support personal growth and wellness. 

7. Consistency is Key

Develop a content calendar and stick to it. Regular posting keeps you top-of-mind with your audience and demonstrates your commitment. Experiment with different types of content and posting times to discover what resonates best with your followers. 

8. Master the Art of Engagement

Social media is a two-way street. Don’t just broadcast; actively engage with your audience. Respond promptly to comments and messages, answer questions thoughtfully, participate in relevant conversations, and express genuine interest in your followers’ lives.

This not only fosters a sense of community but also boosts your profile’s activity, which is favoured by social media algorithms.

Social media algorithms keep track of how you engage and interact with others on the platform. By sending DMs, posting comments, replying to comments, liking and saving relevant posts and resharing others’ posts on your story, you will be signalling to the algorithm who you are interacting with and your content will be pushed to them.

9. Utilize Social Media Tools

Several free and paid tools can elevate your social media game. Leverage scheduling platforms to streamline content posting, and explore analytics tools to track your performance and refine your strategy based on data. Metricool is a robust scheduling tool with an impressive free plan. This is the one we use at Sarpa Social. 

10. Paid Advertising: A Strategic Boost

While organic reach can be challenging, consider allocating a budget for targeted social media advertising. This allows you to reach a wider audience, attract highly qualified leads, and accelerate your client acquisition. It’s recommended to seek a professional to help with your ads if you don’t have any experience to avoid wasting money on ads that don’t result in quality leads.

11. Be Authentic and Vulnerable

People connect with authenticity, especially now more than ever thanks to the explosion of AI. Share your own experiences, challenges, and lessons learned. Let your unique voice shine through, and build genuine connections with your audience.

12. Be Patient and Persistent

Building a successful social media presence takes time and dedication. Don’t get discouraged by slow growth. Focus on creating high-quality content, stay consistent, celebrate your milestones and most importantly stay connected. Use social media for what it was designed for and build meaningful connections with potential clients and collaborators. There are endless opportunities to engage with new people who can help you further your dreams.

13. Collaborate with Other Coaches and Influencers

The life coaching community is full of supportive and collaborative individuals. Partnering with other coaches or relevant influencers through guest posts, co-created content, or joint live sessions can:

• Expand Your Reach: Tap into each other’s audiences and attract new potential clients.
• Cross-Promote Services: Offer valuable content together and showcase the diverse expertise within the life coaching community.
• Boost Credibility: Collaborating with established coaches can enhance your own authority and brand recognition.

Beyond Social Media

While social media is a powerful tool, remember it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Integrate your social media presence with your website, email marketing efforts, and offline marketing strategies for a holistic approach to client attraction.

Never, ever forget that you DO NOT OWN your social media accounts. This means it can all be taken away from you overnight. They could decide to close your account, ban you for some reason or the algorithm might change so dramatically that your social media becomes unviable. We simply don’t know what the future holds for social media, things can change a lot very quickly. But what we do know is that our accounts belong to the likes of Meta and Elon Musk. This is why it is crucial to use social media to build your email list and direct people to your website – which you do own and cannot be taken away from you.

Embrace the Journey

Building a thriving life coaching practice through social media is an exciting and rewarding journey. By implementing these secrets, you’ll transform your passion into a powerful online presence, attract ideal clients, and make a lasting impact on the lives you touch.

Ready to Take Action?

At Sarpa Social, we’re passionate about empowering life coaches and mentors like you to build successful businesses online. We offer a comprehensive suite of social media management services designed to help you:

• Develop a Winning Social Media Strategy
• Craft Compelling Content
• Manage Your Social Media Presence Efficiently
• Grow Your Follower Base and Attract Ideal Clients

Book your free discovery call today and unlock the full potential of social media for your life coaching practice!

Remember, social media is a powerful tool for life coaches. By following these secrets and staying true to your passion, you can build a thriving online presence, attract ideal clients, and make a transformative impact on the world.