KMMK Communications

Communication Can Help End the Mental Health Stigma

kmmk1@ptd.net (Kelly Kostanesky) — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 16:34:51 GMT

Communication Can Help End the Mental Health Stigma

The start of a new year is always a time of mixed emotions, filled with reflections on the year gone by and hope for the year ahead.

It's a time filled with lists of the lessons we learned in the previous 12 months, and the resolutions and themes we want to be the focus of the 365 days ahead.

To say that 2020 was challenging is quite possibly the biggest understatement of all time. But I hope it filled us all with the resolve to commit ourselves to things we want to change in 2021.

Ending the stigma surrounding seeking help for mental health issues is one of the biggest things I want to see change in this new year. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that it's OK to speak up. It's OK to say “I'm not OK right now.” It's OK to say “I need help.”

In fact, communication and human connection (albeit virtually or socially distanced) really defined 2020. Although some people didn't take comfort in the “we're all in this together” mantra, many people found solace in the fact that they were not alone in their struggles and that others understood what they were going through.

Zoom chats became a way of life for all of us. A way to break down the barriers that isolation and social distancing brought. A way to fill our hearts with communication and a sense of connection.

It was in these moments that we discovered that being honest, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable and essentially being human was just as vital and important to our daily survival as wearing a mask and washing our hands.

In 2020, I took a giant leap forward in my quest to strength my mindset and improve my mental health. As I look back on the year, I know I wasn't alone in that regard.

I hope that will be the first steps on the journey for so many of us to end the stigma surrounding seeking treatment for mental health issues or even having the courage to speak up and share what we're thinking and feeling.

One of my goals for 2021 is to have the courage to speak out about my mental health. So, with that in mind, I want to share a little about my journey so you understand why I'm so passionate about this cause and why I provide digital and social media marketing services for mental health professionals.

I have struggled with my mental health my whole life – never feeling like I was good enough, always feeling like everyone was perfect except me, feeling the weight of imposter syndrome dragging me down. But I joined everyone else on January 1, 2020, in feeling like this was finally going to be the year for big change! Let's all have a fresh start with a new decade!

I didn't even get a full month into the year before I knew 2020 wasn't going to turn out the way I thought it would. I've been a basketball fan since I'm 13 years old so the loss of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others (including two more teenage girls) was so profoundly devastating to me I could never adequately put it into words.

I found myself deeply reflecting on those nine souls, especially the three young girls with their whole lives ahead of them, and questioning what I was doing with my time here on Earth.

I know that sounds really deep but that was the beginning of a year for me filled with addressing my mindset and mental health. Of course, so many more emotional moments followed – the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the 2020 Presidential election.

Through it all, I realized that 2020 was not the year of pure joy I had hoped it would be. But it was turning out to be the year of deep reflection that I needed.

I looked inward and realized I could let fear and doubt hold me back or I could work through my self-doubt, recognize that I had talents to offer the world and use those to help others. I felt like I owed that to all those we lost in 2020 and all those who were suffering and struggling after such a tumultuous year.

It may sound unfathomable that I think there is a silver lining to take away from 2020 but I do. I feel like last year brought us all to a fork in the road. We could choose to go down a path of negativity and self-doubt and feel like we don't deserve to dream big. Or, we could choose a path of growth and fulfillment and be determined to make a difference in the world.

I feel like my journey is taking me down a path where I can combine my love of communications with my desire to help those struggling with their own mental health issues. I can use the talent I know I possess to make a difference in the world.

If you're struggling with your mental health and need someone who will listen, my email box and social media accounts are open!

If you're a mental health professional who wants to reach more clients and build a trusting relationship with them, let's connect and chat about how we can work together to help others. I have many more blog posts coming and thoughts to share about the mental health profession.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I wish you nothing but love, light, peace, happiness and health this year!

Photo by Alysha Rosly on Unsplash

Community is at the Core of Content Marketing

kmmk1@ptd.net (Kelly Kostanesky) — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 17:46:09 GMT

Community Is at the Core of Content Marketing

If you hear a faint noise in the distance that sounds like a warning siren announcing some impending doom, it may just be some marketers and businesses reacting to the latest social media algorithm update.

Many struggled when Facebook’s News Feed was limited to posts from family and friends and excluded those from pages and brands or Instagram’s organic reach began declining.

But statistics show that social media users want their platforms to be just that — social.

In a guest blog post on marketing titan Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert, Carrie Jones cited research showing that 66 percent of online brand communities define themselves as relationship-building places and 85 percent of marketers believe these kinds of communities improve the customer journey and build trust.

Social media is truly getting social

Tom Bilyeu, the co-founder and CEO of Impact Theory, summed up the new look of social media marketing. Bilyeu wrote,

“Social media has changed the game. Don’t use it as a way to waste time. Use it as way to surround yourself with people that in any other time in history you would have been unable to reach.”

Those words are even more powerful when you sit back and realize that you can share your thoughts and feelings with millions of people around the world with just the simple click of a button. I felt the impact of social media from the first moment I was a part of it more than a decade ago.

Make the customer the center of your community

It’s not a marketing secret that social media is not meant to be a one-way communication street where marketers only blast their promotional content at their customers. But the Facebook algorithm makes it imperative for marketers to focus on their customers with each piece of content they produce and encourage continuing conversations and massive amounts of interaction.

In a blog post on OnlineMarketingInstitute.org, Tess Pajaron shared her tips on how to build an engaged social media community. If you’re one of those marketers who is guilty of boasting about your brand at the detriment of your community, it’s really easy to shift the perspective back to the customer by following a few simple tactics, including:

Encourage comments and conversation — Make content that invites interaction. Ask your audience questions to spark comments and conversations or provide enough value that makes them want to share your content with their friends.
Listen first, write second — Establish listening channels so that you can use the feedback you receive from your audience to shape your content into what will be useful for them. Customers like to feel that their thoughts matter in your marketing strategy.
Be real — Authenticity and transparency is crucial in today’s marketing world. Customers genuinely want to connect with brands that they know and trust, so be honest with your target audience.

Where to start

In a blog on her website, digital marketing expert Christina Garnett provides a list of questions for marketers to ask themselves as they try to determine where to go from here. This comprehensive list of questions is a really great place for marketers to start in developing a more community-building content strategy.

Build your social community

Once you have your answers in place to those key questions, you can start implementing some of the social media platforms’ best community-building features.

Facebook Groups are an excellent place to encourage interaction and gather feedback and data from your audience. Customers can ask questions and address concerns in a safe and comfortable setting. Many businesses use them as an online community for loyalty program customers.

Twitter lists are a convenient way to organize your most engaging customers and keep track of what is being said about your brand on the platform. It’s easy to create lists and develop ones for each stage of the buyer journey through your marketing funnel.

Hashtags are still an effective way to track conversations on Twitter but Instagram has stepped up the game by allowing you to follow a hashtag. Although you can search a hashtag on Twitter, being able to follow one on Instagram gives you a solid way to keep track of your company’s standing in the online community.

Use whatever the next social media update is to challenge yourself and your organization to become truly social in your social media marketing efforts. Embrace the power of building a brand community behind your business based on knowledge and trust.