Overcome Social Media Overwhelm with Timeless Marketing Strategies

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:05]:
I am your host, Shannon McKinstrie. 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, y'all, welcome to another episode of Good Content. We are going in today because let me tell you something. If I was starting from zero, if I was a small business owner, not a social marketing expert, if I was a small business owner trying to figure out how to grow on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn threads, whatever, I would not listen to any of the advice out there. I know you're like, but, Shannon, that's literally what you do. Hear me out.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:44]:
Well, of course I'm going to say my advice will not steer you wrong. I'll start with that. The reason my advice won't steer you wrong is what I'm about to tell you right now that I think you need to start doing. When I first started out as a social media manager, let's see, I started managing Facebook page at my corporate job, my nine to five in 2013. Then, you know, traumatic birth, blah, blah, blah, decided to quit my job, stay home, and start my business. So 2014 was still kind of like a hobby. I wasn't making, like, any money. It was... anyway.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:09]:
I was still trying to figure out, like, how to get people to trust me. Obviously, a couple businesses took a chance on me, and that was great because I was able to show social proof that, like, yes, I know what I'm doing. I'm helping them grow. But let me tell you something. Back in 2014, 2015, there were no handbooks of how to grow on Instagram. And if there were, I either couldn't afford them, I couldn't. I couldn't afford any courses. Then I was....
Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:27]:
Anyway, I'll spare you the sob story. And then 2017, 2018, and that's when I was like, oh, this is like, people are starting to take social media marketing serious, and you can make money off this. Like, the first three years of my business, what I did was kind of a joke. And I'm not trying to say, like, again, no sob story. We've all been there. So I was in the newsroom. I was helping edit, you know, I was helping document. I did fonts and graphics, et cetera.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:46]:
So again, it's not like I was writing news articles and stuff like that. So I still do kind of like, learn hooks, learn captions, but I learned it just from observing what type of content was going crazy on LinkedIn, on Facebook, on Instagram. I just study. Now, again, I know you don't have time for this and this doesn't interest you and that's why you're listening to this podcast. But again, I wouldn't listen to any of it right now because it's so conflicting. And I'm telling you, if I was following all the advice out there right now, not for me. I try to share stuff that will make you excited about Instagram. And a lot of marketers that I'm obsessed with we're very alike in that way.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:19]:
But a lot of the clickbaity, wink wink type of content that "experts" throw up to get views and likes and then leave it to, for people to misinterpretate it and go bananas and freak out and throw out their whole strategy. And that's a toxic type of fear mongering marketing and predatory. But that's beside the point. That if I saw that and I was just starting on Instagram and I was doing all this, I would literally throw my phone in the river. I'd run it over, I would burn it all down. So what I'm trying to say is, the reason I love sharing these tips with you guys is because a lot of it, I remind you, like, try it. If it doesn't work, cool. You know your capacity, you know your people, and if you don't know your people yet, that's a good place to start.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:59]:
A lot of people go into social media and they start posting, and that works, too. And actually, let me say something about that. Yeah, real quick. I will say, like, you do want to do your market research, and I'm going to go into how to do that market research here in just a second. But I also want to say, like, if you look at big influencers that are blowing up right now, I guarantee they didn't take a marketing course. Some people are naturally good at it, right? But we learn from them to improve our content and kind of viral, you know, hack what's working for them. Okay. So when it comes to getting to know your people, if you are struggling, you're like, Shannon, if I have to hear one more tip, even if it's for me, take a break.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:27]:
Tell me to go you know where. But seriously, I don't want to overwhelm you. And that's why I'm sharing this with you. This is what I would do. Literally, if I was starting from zero, even as a social media marketer, this is what I would do. I would ignore literally everything. Um, because most of the advice out there is tactics and not timeless strategies like I preach and many marketing people preach. Our stuff isn't as popular because guess what? We're not promising a magic pill.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:49]:
So there you go. So the content I see going viral right now in my field, I'm not going to succumb to that, because again, it's whatever, but this is what I. God, I'm on one today. This is what I would do. Number one. This is your homework, friend. It's easy. Promise.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:03]:
I mean, it's not, it's. It's work, but it's. It's easy. I would find at least three past clients or customers that, you know, that repeat buyers, customers, clients, they've referred you out, things like that. I would find three and I would set up a Zoom meeting for ten minutes and give them like a Dunkin Donuts gift card or wherever they want, like a quick link or $10 gift card. I would say it's a pick your brain. It's just I need to interview you and ask you two simple questions. The first question is, why did you buy for me? Or why'd you book with me? Why'd you blah, blah, blah, blah? And then how'd you feel before and after? And I want you to talk to them over Zoom.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:35]:
I don't want this on a survey. I don't want this on. No, I want you to talk to them on Zoom or meet them for coffee, treat them to whatever. That's why I want it on Zoom, so you can record it. Basically, you really need to get down to the why of your client customers needs, why their needs are their needs. And the more you understand your people that it's the number one thing of good content. Know your audience. The more you know them, the easier content will just flow out of you.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:56]:
And you know, a lot of the content right now going viral and going crazy, it feels like a FaceTime. Brands are simply just having more fun on social lately, and I love to see it. So again, that's another reason I'm like, throw everything out and just talk to the camera. Or again, grab a trendy audio, like, use the hooks I share on this podcast and in my reels, tailor it to your industry and use the words that you got from those interviews, looking at testimonials, all that research you did, and put it in your copy and really talk to them. You know what your people want to hear, you know what they need to know, you know what's going to make them laugh and smile, etcetera. You know that now, once you've done that research. Okay. On top of that, you know, I really want to make sure you know your core values.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:37]:
Why your values are your values. I mean, all these brands have personalities, right? Even if it's. If you are listening and you're like, well, I am a corporation, or I have a team and there's 20 of us, or whatever it is. Wendy's has a personality. Poppi has a personality. I've talked about this before, but even if you aren't the face of the brand, per se, just have fun. Throw a lot of these rules out the window. It really does come down to timeless marketing strategies and then mixing those in with all that information you grabbed about your audience and tearing what's working now to your niche.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:07]:
That is it. It's a one, two, three. Obviously, there's so much I could talk about. That's why there's millions of books on marketing and courses. You're not going to nail it every time, and that's okay. But if you're starting and you're. Or you're stagnant and you're just like Shannon, I've listened to all the tips, even mine. You might need to go back to the drawing board.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:22]:
Go from the beginning. Get back to basics. Get to know your people. Do that market research, and maybe throw everything out and just post it. Talk to the camera again. I know the hooks I use go viral. I know the content I help my students create, doubles, triples, quadruples their sales. I know what I tell you works.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:40]:
But at the end of the day, you need to know your people so well, and that comes from time. Interviews, research. But you can do it. You can do it while you're on a road trip this summer. You can do it right now. I mean, turn this off, put 2 hours aside, email a few past people, ask if you can interview them. Start looking into people's stuff. Or again, hire a brand strategist.
Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:01]:
There's so many people out there that could help you because a lot of people forget. You need to start with that and then come to work with people like me and other marketers. But again, I just want you to know, if I was following all the advice, I wouldn't be here. Love you. Talk to you next week.