Start Talking About Yourself in Your Content

I know over the years you’ve been told time and time again NOT to talk about yourself and it’s because of this that content has become kind of boring, it took out the connection piece. You need to talk about yourself in your content! We want to hear from you, your journey, why YOU choose to do something a certain way. So today, we’re talking about this type of reel and I want you to try it, because not only can it lead to sales and new followers, but also conversations. 

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• We’ll look at examples of viral reels that are using I, Me, and Our in the hooks.
• Why we love to see demos of your process!
• What creating valuable content really looks like (it’s not educating…)
• The importance of storytelling and showing your personal journey, creating human connection.
• Putting yourself into the content to take a hook from basic to feeling like you’re talking to a friend.
• Studying these reels and applying these strategies to your own content (without copying!)

Links to reels in this episode:

• Reel 001: Couple Routine
• Reel 002: Epic Wedding Songs
• Reel 003: Pediatrician
• Reel 004: Non-Toxic Body Care
• Reel 005: White Wine

Other episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 018: The 4 H’s Are the Only Content Pillars You Need for Reels 
• Episode 030: Attract New Followers with Talk to Camera Reels
• Episode 040: Build More Connections with Everyday Moments
• Episode 049: Relatable Humor That Says “They Get Me!”

Sign up for Reels Lab

Join the Social Squad Society

Love this conversation? Tap the follow button so you never miss an episode.

Connect with me over on Instagram!

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. Surprise, surprise. Podcast studio still isn't done. It's just a story of my life right now. I think it's just going to be funny.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:31]:
We're just in like five years. On the five year anniversary of Good Content, I'm like, look, guys, I added a plant. And then five years after that I'll be like, look. And now I added a. I don't even know. We have had so many sicknesses in this house. There was okay all last week it was, you know, North Carolina shut down because of snow. Everyone's like, what is this? We haven't had snow in four years.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:47]:
So the whole like, literally no school except for like one day and then my daughter was sick and then I was in New Orleans, obviously, and then came back and she was sick again. And now we're just holding on for dear life. I hope you're having a great week so far. I really want to focus on one type of reel right now that is going absolutely bonkers, leading to sales, leading to new followers, leading to conversations. And it's going to be a really big twist for you and your brain. And I think I've touched on it. I'm sure I have touched on it. But the reason it's going to be a big twist is because you've been told so many times not to talk about yourself in your content.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:18]:
And because of that, it's made social media really boring because we're actually here to connect with people and buy from people and learn from people and connect with people. And then everyone took the word me. I, you know, I've talked about this a little bit on the podcast, but there's two things. One, you're going to mention, you're going to talk about yourself, get ready in this reel. And two, you're going to demo. We're going to show, not tell, because think qvc, right? Think infomercial, you need to demo. And even if it, if you sell a course, it's something digital or you're showing someone how to do something, open the laptop and show me where to go, what to type, et cetera. So with that said, this is going to be a helpful right for the four Hs, but actually, can I say something real quick? I always feel like I'm like talking right to you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:00]:
In this. Okay, so I just put a reel up to this morning and it's already over a thousand likes, which usually for me it takes almost a day to get a thousand likes. Because y'all happenings. Do not forget the H of the four H's. Make sure you've listened to my podcast on the four H's. We love to know each other's journey. So can I. Let's start there.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:16]:
Because again with all these social media experts for years saying, provide value. Provide value. They made you think that value meant educate, that value meant tip. That value meant tutorial, that value meant hack. No, no. Human connection stories. Laughs. That's all valuable too.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:32]:
So what I want you to do, especially if you're struggling and you're like, my content isn't landing, my content isn't landing, start documenting literally my video that I put up on this reel that's going crazy. Usually like my, for me, my kind of like threshold, right? Depending on how many views I get, you know, you want to make sure you have a decent engagement rate, right? Typical engagement rate is, I think right now on average is like 4% or something like that. So you want like 4% people liking based on views. Right? Actually, let's see if this one is. Falls in that. So this one right now has 20,000 views and a thousand likes. So that's really good. So essentially someone will be like, Shannon, I got so many views but didn't get a lot of likes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:13]:
I'm like, we got to figure that out. Because the algorithm was pushing out, see if people liked it and it just wasn't resonating for whatever reason. So anyway, besides that, the reason it's doing so well, I literally just threw my phone up in my car yesterday while I was driving and took B roll of just me driving. I then put it with some trending audio and put my story of my journey on text about eight seconds long. It's going crazy happenings. We love to know your journey. So the more you document, the more you can create content like this. And I highly encourage it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:41]:
You've got to start talking about yourself in your content. We've missed the human side. Like, tell us your journey. So what mine says, if you want to steal this prompt because obviously if it's doing well, go for it. I said just a 42 year old girly, which is kind of silly because obviously I'm not a girly. I'm dang midlife here who never made the honor roll, would turn bright red if ever called on in class. Was Always picked last for kickball, never felt comfortable speaking in meetings at her nine to five. And now is a seven figure business and her biggest speaking gig of her life.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:09]:
Next month, I'm speaking at Social Media Marketing World. Next month. Pinch me, I cannot even deal. And I just found out today that I'm on the main stage. What? Okay, so it's just crazy. I don't even know. I'm spazzing. All right, the cool thing about this again, like, I talk all the time on this podcast.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:23]:
This is an overlap. This is a happening. It's talking about one. I have a speaking gig coming up. That's. That's a happening. It's telling people, hey, guys. Like, hey, people actually listen to me.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:31]:
Weird. Who knew? But it's also heard a lot of most of the comments are like, oh my gosh, me too. I was terrified to ever talk in class. I was a shy kid. Right? So never underestimate talking about yourself. Okay? I see a lot of content like this going crazy and I think it's because we're getting back to that. So with that said, that's one thing I want to talk about talking about yourself and putting yourself back into your content. And the other that we're going to talk about today because now you have that one.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:54]:
If you want to take and run with it, just play around with it. That's just me being like, hi, this is who I am. I've also done this. When like my podcast reaches a milestone, obviously when I speak at Social Media Marketing World, I'll be creating content going, who knew this would happen? That's what I mean by happenings. We love to see it, right? You know the story of you buying some random thing and turning it into this six figure business. Like, we love it. That's why we love Shark Tank. Right? Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:19]:
But with that said, what I want to talk about today is the hooks that are going crazy with the word me. I. Our. Right? So meaning, like this is our routine as a blah, blah, blah. I don't want to know. Meet your new blah, blah, blah routine. No. What is your routine? Because you seem like you got it all together. I want to know.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:35]:
Right? So let me tell you the one that's going viral that I'm actually going to have in the Reels Lab for my students. So by the time they've this comes out, they will have already created theirs. I can't wait. Just listen to these insights. Okay? And again, this doesn't mean every reel needs to be like this. This is a specific type of reel I want you to try out. Okay. So it says and I'm gonna give you a bunch of ideas.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:55]:
Hold on. But this one in particular I'm obsessed with. Okay. The on screen text says our Friday Sunday routine as a couple working opposite 45 plus hours a week. Sorry, work weeks. It will be in the show notes. And do you want to know why? It has 20,000 likes, almost 7,000 shares. People chiming in.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:17]:
It starts conversations and lets us go. Oh, you know what? I love that idea. Here's what we do too, you guys. It feels like they're talking to a friend. Comments. Love this. Definitely making lists and checking them twice. Have plan B's for the meal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:30]:
Giving their 2 cents another one we've been using chat GPT to meal plan. You can ask da da da then ask for it to make a groceries list. The creator. Oh, I'm gonna do that. Revolutionary. Oh my gosh. Conversations, comments, real life stuff here. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:44]:
And the video is so cute. Just says Sunday meal prep and clean and then it goes through. I call this the book reel where you start with a hook and then it's clip, clip, clip explaining more like pages. So there's one. Okay. Now obviously no one wants to see my routine. It's a hot mess. So this isn't one I would use.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:59]:
But if you are someone that your accounts about habits or homeschooling or event planning. Right. It's like my day of my wedding day of schedule as a blah, blah, blah. We love to see this stuff. We want to see what it's like. Dude, let's say you're a home organizer. Go through your routine like what you do for the first two hours versus the third. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:16]:
Stuff like that. So we'd love to see it. Now let me go on to more and do. And again, if it had just said here's a schedule to try this weekend with your spouse. Boring. This is a couple saying this is literally what we do and it works for us. Maybe it'll work for you too. So this is where you change from say your social media manager instead of content calendar.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:33]:
Here's how I plan my client's content calendar or here's how I set up a content calendar. Whatever it is, you're an email marketer. Here's how I create a welcome series for my clients. Marketers. These are the three shots I get every time I shoot B roll for a client that I shoot B roll, not three shots to shoot that I shoot. Okay, so again, clothing boutiques. Here's the three spring Dresses our employees are going gaga over. And then you get Sarah to try on one, Veronica to try on another, and you create a reel like that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:01]:
You've got to put people back in your content. Your people. Either you, your employees, your team, all of it. Okay, here's some more examples. Love this from a photographer. Day 26 of me. Me keyword. A wedding photographer sharing songs I think would be epic at a wedding.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:16]:
232,000 likes. Hello. Do you see where I'm going with this? Put yourself back in your content, especially when it comes to helpful content. Another one from a pediatrician. Things I do automatically because as a pediatrician, I've seen enough tragedies. And then she goes in and demos it. So this is what I mean by the magic of demoing plus talking about yourself. Here's how I.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:42]:
Here's what me as a photographer thinks. And even though she didn't demo it, she played it and demoed her reaction to it. This right now, I guarantee if you take this one single reel idea where you are demoing and bringing yourself back into the hook and talking about why you. Why it's your opinion while it's your thought, why it's your tip, why it's your routine, it will go crazy. And if it doesn't, you can cuss me out in the dms. Just kidding. I'll take a look at it and be like, okay, here's where we missed the mark again. Study these in the show notes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:10]:
Study the timing. Study the text placement. You guys don't copy the copy. Of course. Right? We're not. That's not what we do over here. But we are not going to reinvent the reel. And we're gonna see what the formula is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:21]:
The recipe is the foundation, the framework, and go from there. Okay, I'll give you one more. Here's another version. This girl's talking about how she just ditched all her toxic stuff. Her hook just says, best non toxic body care of 2024. It doesn't have the word I or me in it, but guess what does. Her script, her talk to camera goes, I just changed out every single da da da da da. So that's another way you can do it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:42]:
Your hook can be just a generic hook. And if you're talking to the camera, start storytelling one more. My crispy, crunchy white wine recommendations under $30. She made them care. If it just said my crisp, crunchy white wine recommendations like, I love the word crisp, crunchy. I get that as a wine, a white wine fanatic I'm like, I can feel it, taste it. I love it. Under $30, she made them care.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:01]:
So there you go. She used the word my. I see the word our, right? Our routine, my I do it, do it. I hope that helps. You're gonna crush it this week, friend. I can't wait to hear how it goes. I just had a podcast listener message me 2 days ago saying she went viral from a tip I shared from the relatable... viral. She got more views than the prompt that I shared, so make sure you go listen to that, too.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:25]:
I love you, friend. Make it a great week. Go crush it. Remember, people want to know your thoughts, your recommendations, your opinions, your perspectives, because you are the one they're following. Love you.