The Key to Creating Good Content for Social Media Growth

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I am your host, Shannon McKinstry.

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Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never-ending content creation guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked, good content. All right. So welcome. We are in my podcast studio, which as you can see, it's kind of not ready yet, but that's okay. I've never started anything in my business polished or ready to go. So why would my podcast be anything other than kind of a hot mess? But it'll be exciting. I can take you guys along with me on how we make this little corner in our loft space, my podcast studio. I do have a chair at least. I've got a microphone and I got a ring light. So let's just dive in, shall we? This is this is so exciting. I never thought I'd start a podcast. To be honest, I'm not a big podcast listener. Only recently have I really kind of dove in. So when I was trying to come up with a concept for this, I honestly didn't know what I was going to talk about. And because something that I've always known to be true and something that I'm really passionate about is the fact that I'm big into marketing messaging. I'm big into helping people grow on social media.

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Obviously, that's my thing. That's been my jam for 10 plus years now. But the problem is a lot of the things that people write me about on Instagram and ask me questions about on LinkedIn, wherever it is, it's often things that someone might have said maybe 6 plus months ago that aren't true. And this is why I don't have a lot of courses to buy because it's always changing, right? And that's why most of my programs that I have, the offerings that come with them are constantly changing and being updated. And again, I'm big into timeless marketing strategies, you know, especially social media. We're on these apps to be entertained, to connect with humans, and at the end of the day to feel seen, heard, validated. So while that hasn't changed, and especially Instagram, it's literally been a storytelling app from the beginning, always has been, always will be. I never want to stress anyone out and make you feel like, Oh my gosh, you have to completely do an overhaul of your brand and your messaging. No, it's just that you got to figure out what type of content is working right now and take that messaging and then dump it into that format or that recipe. If you will. I have a lot of people who DM me that aren't even in my programs and they're like, Shannon, I got 18,000 followers off 1 reel. Shannon, I've doubled my following in 2 weeks.

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It's just from mimicking content I'm doing plus taking the reels prompts that I share all the time and running with them. And I love it. So it just goes to show a lot of these people that talk to me had dead accounts, quote unquote, right? So it comes down to good content.

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And I will die on this hill. So many marketers out there, And I'll be honest, I could grow a lot faster on Instagram if I talked tactics and hacks. Use this looping video. This is the new thing. I'm not here to, 1, give false promises and 2, teach the hacks. It's like all things in life. There's always a hack here or there, but it doesn't mean long-term strategy. So what you need to know is your audience. You need to know what their desires are and why their desires are. And oftentimes I tell people, the problem you think you're solving is actually very surface level. They're like, oh, this is the problem I solve.

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I'm like, well, why does that matter to them? There's a really cool book I have all my clients buy. I've been obsessed with it for years. I've been talking about it for years and tell everyone to get it. It's called Obsessed by Emily, I think, Hayward. And they even talk about how Airbnb came to them and was like struggling after doing a ton of market research which is part of the job, you have to do it. They found out why people actually were renting from Airbnb and The word belonging kept coming up. So they didn't even realize they were selling a sense of belonging, not just a place to stay but, you know, staying at an Airbnb made people feel like they belonged in the community, etc., that they were staying in. So again, once you find this stuff out, you're like, oh, well, snap, right? That takes work. It's a lot of work that you have to do off of Instagram to see success and grow on Instagram and create that good content. So now that I said all that, let's go into what's working right now. Okay. I'm going to just assume you know your people, you know why they have the problems they do, but you also know why they want to fix those problems. I also like to say, like the fitness coaches, they're like, oh, they want to lose 20 pounds. I'm like, but why do they want to lose 20 pounds?

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Or people who sell jewelry and they're like, oh, I just make custom jewelry.

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Well, why do they want custom jewelry? Or Why do they want tarnish-free jewelry?

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Because they're busy, right? You got to really figure out why they want the thing. There's another marketer I follow.

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And she does this whole example of buying an alarm clock, right? Because she found that with her iPhone, she wasn't getting her out of bed to go work out. She had to buy an old school alarm clock. Remember those ones that we had back in the day that were like, wah, right? She bought 1 of those. And she thought it was so interesting how in Amazon and the descriptions, it didn't say anything about that. She was like, if it had said the alarm clock that's gonna get you out of bed to go to your workout, She's like, I would have bought it immediately.

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Again, you got to know why people are actually buying your stuff and it's not always why you think they are. So that's 1 major thing that I need everyone listening to Take and Run with. Do interviews. I mean, I know for years people would say, Hey, Shannon, I know you're not in need of a blank, but can I give you a $10 gift card at Starbucks and pick your brain? I just need market research." I'm like, heck yeah, I'll take a $10 gift card for coffee. Right? So get in there. You gotta do the work. I'm sorry, you just do. Anyway, we'll do that on another episode. But what I wanted to say today, what's working right now is what I just talked about. Specificity.

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You have got to be so specific. My favorite thing to do when someone goes, my reel didn't work, blah, why? I'm like, okay, well, who are you talking to? Say for instance, a mom blogger and she's like, mom outfit inspo. Well, what kind of mom? Is it the baddie mom? Is it the mom who likes more nautical style? I mean, I know you guys are probably listening, going, this is ridiculous, but this is what is working. Right. This is what I see working on TikTok, on Instagram, everywhere. They're calling out their people. Or again, wedding photographers. How do you shoot? Do you shoot super cinematically? For instance, there's another wedding photographer I saw a really cool piece of content from and I was like, that's genius. It said something about POV looking for the blah, blah, blah. But she mentioned looking for brides who want photos that look like cinema. Very specific. You've got to know your person's desire. They don't just want a cute outfit. Why do they want a cute outfit? Because their outfit is an expression of who they are. So who are they? You got to call out that word, right? Again, people who share recipes.

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It's not just low calorie lunch. No. 400 calorie lunch, 3 ingredients, 20 minutes to make for the busy mom. That's lengthy, but you get what I'm saying? Like who cares about this content and you gotta call it out. Now I'm not saying you have to keep yourself in a box. I'm a big, I say it all the time. You do not need a niche way down. I've never niched way down. The problem I solve is my niche, I guess, if you will. When I say I have worked with every industry under the sun, it's because I want to help all the people. I don't want to only help 1 type of person. So if you're like, I don't want to niche down all the way, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying you can't just say 3 cute summer dresses or 3 ways to make more money this month. For who? Who is this going to help? Is this going to help the stay-at-home mom? Is this going to help the retiree? You got to be specific. The wealth management people I just did a training for, I told them their tips need to be here's how I would invest $5,000 if I was blank.

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Here's how I would invest $5,000 if I was blank. Retiree, 30, just graduating high school. Do you see what I mean? It's not a niche. You don't have to only speak to 1 person, but your hook at least needs to speak to 1 person, literally 1 person.

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This works in storytelling. This works in hooks. And that is what I'm seeing right now. So if you are struggling and growing right now, you need to come up with those words. You need to come up with those words. You need to come up with a word bank of how you describe your people, how they describe their problems, things that they're looking for. I'm big on the help my people go viral. Most of my students go viral at least once or twice a month.

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And the 1 that went viral last month, the prompt was POV, you're a blank, tired of blank, and you find my account. And it went bananas. But it was specific. They couldn't just put, you're a mom who wants this, you're a home buyer who wants this.

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No, You got to be like, who are they?

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What is gonna make them go, that is me, right? And I know 1 girl went viral and it just said, POV, you're an overstimulated mom. Hello, me. Who's tired of only having time to shop at target, but forgot what their style is and you find my account. I mean, hello, way better than just your tired mom who wants cuter clothes. But I hope that helps. That is the big 1. That is, I think we're going to continue to see this in 2024 and beyond, especially because There's more content out there than ever, right? A couple of years ago, we would get away with mediocre, weak hooks just saying, dinner idea, right? Now, it's like dinner idea for what? What's the benefit? Dinner meal from Trader Joe's, 3 ingredients, like what is it? Why do I give a blank? Okay? Anyway, I'm so glad you're listening. I promise, I promise I give away everything for free. I do not gatekeep and I will never share anything unless I have already tested. Again, I would not be doing this podcast right now if I hadn't already tested out that hook and seen what a difference specific wording has done for myself, my clients, my students, people who follow me. That's your big takeaway this week. Be specific, keep it simple, And I know you will see a difference. Takes studying. It takes talking to people. It takes research.

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Would you rather have a microwave dinner or a really nice cuisine? Is that a bad analogy? That's probably bad. But I mean, you can throw something in and get a quick win. And like, it's not going to taste that good. It's going to be a little weak, but it gets the job done. Or do you want to really wow people? I'm someone who wants to wow people. And I just I also want you to know, and that'll be next episode, wowing people does not mean Einstein advice does not mean you have to blow the roof off does not mean you have to save their life with every post. That's what we'll talk about next.

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Talk to you then. Thank you so much for listening. I'm so excited. We're going to grow a lot together. And of course, have some fun. Till next time.