We’re Getting Back to Basics and Loving Our Content

We’re kicking off 2025 with a commitment to going back to basics and actually being excited about the content we are creating. It’s more important than ever to share your stories and show up as your true self to truly connect with your audience. I’m also sharing my thoughts on how the social media landscape has changed in recent years, exploring the shift away from toxic one size fits all advice and focusing more on transparency and integrity. Let's navigate this new year together and create content that's not just effective, but also enjoyable!

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• How the social media landscape has changed since 2020 and even during 2024
• We’re ditching the toxic marketing tactics, there is no space for the stressful marketing advice that has become widespread in recent years.
• The return to fundamental marketing principles like transparency, integrity, and honesty.
• Applying the 4 H Method to your content strategy this year.
• Diversifying your content with a mix of personal stories to build a genuine connection with your audience.
• A peek at the big plans coming in 2025!

Links from this episode: 

• Grow Your Gram Guide
• The 4 H Method Masterclass
• A Week of Content

Episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 039: Transform Your Business in 2025: Top Tips and Trends for Good Content
• Episode 040: Build More Connections with Everyday Moments
• Episode 041: Let’s Make Content Creation the Easiest Thing on Your To Do List
• Episode 042: Your Simple B-Roll Can Become Easy Reels That Actually Convert

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Transcript

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:00]:
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. Happy 2025. Can you believe it? It's so crazy to me, but honestly, I'm very relieved. I don't know what it was. Okay, again, 2024 was definitely my most successful year in business. So thankful beyond.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:36]:
But something just felt so off about the whole year. I don't know if it's because the past four years, really ever since the pandemic is when I saw the really toxic marketing advice going rampant for four years and just really bad advice out there. But guess what? We're going in in 2025. I bought a fancy quote unquote camera for the podcast studio. We're going to make this space really, really cool. So I'm excited. It's going to be, we're going to do big things with this podcast in 2025, so get ready. But right now the kids are still home, so it's still a little crazy around here.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:07]:
But I hope that your year started off beautiful with lots of hopes and excitement. Before actual New Year's Day, my sister in law were talking about, you know, her motto, my motto, we both have very similar mottos for the new year and it was going back to basics and heavy on the go back to basics in life, but also going back to basics for my business, for marketing. Because again, like I said, and you can go back to my content from 2019, 2020. I've always kind of gone in. Not trying to be mean or be a hater, but gone in on the BS because I just like, let's say you're a health coach, you know how much toxic advice is out there. Say you're a realtor. You know how much bad advice is out there from other realtors. It's every industry, right? So when you are someone, and I know you're, if you're listening to this, we have very similar values, right? Like we aren't here just get a bunch of followers and make a bunch of money to scam people and lie, right? And I know 2025, I can feel it in my bones is going to be the year of transparency, honesty, integrity, authenticity.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:07]:
All those things that people have been preaching for four years but not actually doing, just going to say it. I'm not trying to be mean, but you know, for my journey, when I started actually really posting on Instagram was 2016. Because that's around the time that I was only social media manager for Facebook and LinkedIn for some realtors, hairdressers, et cetera, in the Northern Virginia, D.C. area. Cause that's where I'm from. And then when I started growing their accounts, I was like, wait a minute, should I be doing this for myself? Like, I didn't really have an interest in doing it for myself. So then I started showing up on Instagram. But I used Instagram in 2016-20, really 18, just to kind of document my journey, show people what I'm up to, things I'm working on.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:43]:
I would give little tips here and there, but I didn't really have a strategy, per se. But then again, once I started growing my clients, I was like, dang, I should start doing this for myself too. So I really started honing in on, okay, let me make sure I'm sharing some educational, helpful content every week along with some inspirational, motivational type of content. And then behind the scenes, lots of behind the scenes, right? And that's really where I started. And then I would share, like some funny stuff here and there. But a lot of what I say in the 4H method, that I came up with, a lot of happenings. So again, behind the scenes of my business, things I'm working on, places I love to go. I mean, I would just share like, oh, I found this really good risotto at such and such in D.C.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:18]:
like, I posted whatever the heck I wanted. And guess what? I still gain followers. And I want to say this real quick before we get deep into this podcast. Gary Vee spoke on stage a few months ago and said something that I've been saying since day one. And it's one of those things where it's like, you finally hear someone in your industry say it that people believe. And you're like, finally, thank God someone else said it. Because everyone, you know, you finally get that validation. Right? Anyway, he was talking to a group of contractors, I believe, I think, oh, electricians.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:44]:
And he basically said, oh, you're into Dancing with the Stars. Get on once a week and talk about Dancing with the Stars. And everyone kind of laughed. He's like, I'm not kidding. And then the caption be like, hey, need help on your house? I'm also a blah, blah, blah, Call me. And everyone was like, what? You guys, this is what I've been saying from day one. You do not only have to post business unless you want to. I posted today some silly reel about playing Barbies with my daughter.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:08]:
In the caption, I did educate from a marketer's perspective. I said, hey, guys, this trend is great. Go for it. So that way, I'm like a two for one. I'm like something that I find funny that I just wanted to share and document because I think it was funny and followed it up in the caption with some information about what I do and who should follow me, because I think that's the thing. Everyone's like, well, talk about Dancing with the Stars. I'm only going to attract Dancing the Stars people. Not my ideal client.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:30]:
Who cares? What I mean by that is reels can do two things. Carousels can do two things. That's why I we. It's such a gift that we have these apps for free. Do you understand what a gift it is to have these apps for free in our hands to reach people all over or people in a specific region? So think about it this way. I see this person talking about whatever, whatever. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I love Dancing with the Stars too. I go to their page, I see they're a hairstylist in Raleigh.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:57]:
We're going to start talking and I'm going to be like, holy crap, I'm in Raleigh. Blah, blah, blah. Do you see what I mean? Like, or maybe you're just a jewelry maker. I like jewelry. Now I see that we have other things in common. Are you going to talk Dancing with the Stars every day? Probably not, but you're allowed to post something. I call it going rogue. And it's okay to do every once in a while.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:16]:
As a social media manager five years ago, would I want a client of mine going rogue and posting some random stuff? No. It was a different world, though. We didn't have reels. We didn't have these multidimensional type of pieces of content that we can share. It was like picture caption, right? You wanted to keep it very niche because you really didn't want to confuse your audience and things like that. Nowadays, we're getting back to basics. We're getting back because it went so far. Left to, like, business, business.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:41]:
Sell, sell. Marketing, marketing, which, hello, I love. But we lost the human connection. So then here comes 2020, right? Everyone's at home and everyone's starting a side hustle and everyone's baking sourdough bread and everyone's doing whatever, right? It was a time I was newly pregnant, very sick, and I remember thinking, I got to take time off of social media. I can't keep up. I'm so sick. I was in the middle of launching a course and. And I never had this sickness with Cam.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:08]:
So I was like, what is this? I was so ill. We were moving to North Carolina. It was a S show. But then I, all of a sudden, because reels were brand new and people were experimenting with them, certain people were going viral and then calling themselves social media experts. Now, that's fine. There's a lot of people who are naturally good at this. But unless you're managing other people's accounts and helping people grow and not just your own field. Right? Like, if I was a content creator, social media manager who only grew my own account, I.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:35]:
I would have no business doing this podcast. But no, I've helped title companies grow. I've helped hair salons, boutiques. I have helped business coaches go viral, triple their incomes, triple their followings. I have helped so many different industries. It's actually silly. Home builders, Right. The reason I give myself the titles I do and speak on what I do is because I can prove that what I do, I can help you do it too, no matter what your industry is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:03]:
But a lot of these people that went viral, yeah, the tips and tricks they had were great. But it's very different to be a social media expert for more than one. Just one person. Right. So what I mean by that is like, let's say the Avery Woods of the world, the Emilie Kiser of the world. If you're on TikTok, you know who I mean. The GaryVees of the world. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:22]:
Highly doubt GaryVee in the beginning, hired a social media manager or marketer or consultant. Highly doubt Emilie Kiser or any of these big Alix Earle. They didn't hire someone to tell them a social media strategy. They documented, they shared stories and they let people in. And that's what I did with my 200 followers when I started. I documented, I let people in, I told stories. Some people just naturally feel comfortable showing up and things just kind of take off from there. Do you need a content strategy from there? Yes, absolutely.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:55]:
Sorry, I'm kind of going on a rant on this. But what happened is what I'm trying to say is between 2020 and 2024, this is why I'm so excited for 2025. From 2020 to 2024, the amount of toxic and BS advice I saw out there was honestly, it was hurtful for me. It was hard for me to watch. Cause I knew it was hurtful and harmful to business owners because it was confusing people. It was driving people over the edge. I was getting DMs from people literally saying they were having panic attacks, trying to keep up with some of the marketers, quote unquote, and that are big on Instagram, telling them they had to post multiple times a day telling them they had to do this and that everything was a have to and not a, you know, there's many ways to grow. No, it was always have to.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:33]:
And it led to a lot of burnout. It also led to a lot of people growing really quickly and then becoming stagnant and then not being able to sell anything. And that sucks too. I've heard all the horror stories. I've heard all of it. What I'm trying to say is the reason I'm so excited for 2025 is I truly believe the last four years have been experimental for a lot of people. And now we're waking up to realizing, okay, it's not just the tips, the strategies, the tactics, it's actual marketing strategy and going back to basics. Documenting, sharing stories, inviting people into your world.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:04]:
This is why I've said it for a long time. And this is not obviously, I'm still a social media manager. I manage a brewery and a real estate company as well still. And of course I have the reels lab and I have my one on one coaching clients who are business coaches, health coaches, et cetera. But as a social media manager and consultant myself, who's still doing all this and in the thick of it, I can tell you with everything, we're going back to basics. We are going back to what? What was social media in the first place? It was storytelling and documenting and following humans and. Oh, you like Dancing with Stars? I want to hear about it. Oh, you're on a weight loss journey.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:39]:
Take me along for the ride. Oh, you're building a podcast studio. I want to see it all. So what does going back to basics for you look like? First, I think it's a good time to have a check in. Just like most people tend to check in with themselves beginning of the year. I'm not a big resolution person, but I do tend to do at least that. Like, what do I want for myself this year? Last year it was Hustle. Last year I was like, I'm getting on a stage, I'm getting in the podcast.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:02]:
I want. I was like on a Hustle journey this past year and guess what, it was an incredible year. I was also on a mission to just get through all this noise that all you guys have been hearing that is total BS and of course there's thousands of marketers who just like me are doing the same thing. We just want to make sure you guys understand it's timeless marketing. Yes, it's work. Yes. It's getting to know people. Yes, it takes actual editing and studying and all that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:28]:
But that's why you're listening to this podcast, right? So that it can take you a little less time than it normally would. But going back to basics is for you, for business owners, going back to the basics of marketing. Who are your people? What are their desires? Why are their desires their desires? Again, there's a great book by Emily Hayward called Obsessed, and my book comes out this spring. Can you even. But again, it's like, you gotta talk to people. You gotta figure out what it is that they actually want and what it is that your product or service actually does for them. Like, again, how we don't buy a vacation, we buy memories that we wouldn't have normally because we're in the day to day with sports and this and that. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:05]:
What are your people actually investing in when they hire you? But I really think the reason we overthink it is because once 2020 hit, everyone started growing on social and saying they were a marketer and then led people astray. And I hate that. It really, really bothered me. I'm a very transparent person. I have connected with so many incredible marketers on Instagram who I know have big hearts, and we all just want to help everyone. So if you're following people who are making you feel really stressed out and are talking in absolutes and making you feel like they have the only answer. I don't. I don't have all the answers. I would just be.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:42]:
I would check in with yourself, make sure the people you're investing in and the content and the marketing strategies you're doing align with your core values and make sure you're asking yourself, do I actually even want to do this? You don't have to be on social media to grow a business. Are you going to miss out on a ton of money and a ton of impact? And yeah, if you're not. But I'm telling you, friend, I know what social media can do, and there is no one way to do it. If you go on TikTok right now or Instagram right now and look at some of the top creators and top businesses, none of their content's gonna look the same. We gotta go back to how people wanna feel, making content that sometimes we just wanna make for the sake of it, because it's our story. And Our passion and showing up as humans. Anyway, I just wanna give you permission to share something just cause you wanna share it. I just wanna give you permission to do social media your way, marketing on your own terms.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:31]:
You don't want to post that day cause you're tired. Don't post it because guess what, it's not going to work. It's going to fall flat because there was no passion or your interest wasn't even in it. So again, like I always teach my clients, the best thing to do is when you are feeling energized, batch a bunch of ideas based on the 4H method. Go to my YouTube channel. It's. I have literally an entire class on it. My Grow Your Gram Guide goes over it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:54]:
Everything's in the show notes. I just really want 2025 to be the year that you go back to basics and actually enjoy being there and posting content that you're actually proud of and excited about. I always joke like if you're not putting up a piece of content and going back and watching it over and over, excited about it, like you're doing it wrong, right? I always joke when my husband puts up a new piece of content, he's so cute, he'll go back and watch it like all excited. We should be excited to show off our content. We should be excited to be here. We should be excited to connect and help people and sell our services and grow these businesses and make an impact. So I just wanted to say that. And if you do need ideas, just know.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:26]:
Just the other day I posted an entire. It's. I only posted it like January 2nd. It's a whole week of content. I'm talking what to put on the screen of your reel, what to put in the caption. So if you're struggling right now and you're ready to get back in, that's what you do. Go to that. You've got this, my friend.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:43]:
I usually go over some trending reels, but I just want us to get back to basics this week. Kind of have a check in look at that post I did create from there. I know this was a little longer than normal, so thank you for listening and I just love you and I just. Oh, if I could do anything, it would just be to give you a big hug and know that there's so much you can share with the world that we don't know. That's not on Google, that's not that we can't find on chat GPT. And that's what we want to see. We want to know your experiences. I've been saying this for a whole freaking year.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:11]:
Again. We're so tired of the gimmicks. From 2020 to 2023, they just got worse. And in 2024, they really came to a head, and everyone was like, none of this is working. This is all crap. And now we're going back to basics, and I'm so excited. All right. Love you, friend.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:26]:
I'll talk to you next week.