Is There Enough “You” In Your Content?

Can you remember why we all hopped on social media in the first place? I think we've strayed a bit too far with all the perfectly curated content, replicating the endless cycle of tips and value posts that sometimes, let's be honest, feel a bit impersonal.

So, let’s talk about the shift back to basics, where real, human connections spark genuine engagement. Whether it's a simple story about a surprise happy hour at home or sharing those seemingly mundane moments that make us who we are, it's time to bring YOU back into the social media equation.

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• The real purpose of social media and why you need to share your personal stories and experiences.
• Trading in perfectly curated grids to embrace storytelling and sharing real, less edited content.
• Sharing personal stories from your daily life or business that maintain the human element to connect and engage with others.
• What to pin at the top of your grid, including my favorite!
• Using timelines in your content to draw people into your experience and build a more engaging narrative (yesterday, last week, etc.)

Links to reels in this episode:

• Reel: Pilates Boyfriend
• Reel: Mixing Play-doh
• Reel: Spotify Playlist
• Reel: What Mom and I eat for Lunch

Other episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 040: Build More Connections with Everyday Moments
• Episode 043: We’re Getting Back to Basics and Loving Our Content
• Episode 044: Become Their Favorite Comfort Creator with Everyday Moments
• Episode 051: Start Talking About Yourself in Your Content

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Transcript

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. Alright. I actually just shared a reel. I wanna share before I recorded this podcast to kinda just make sure that I'm on you know, because while I have a lot of opinions about Instagram and social media in general, I wanna make sure it's not just me. Right? Obviously, I'm in this world heavily, so I don't want the content I'm seeing and the things I'm hearing to make me lose sight of, like, what other people are doing who have this isn't your full time business creating content, right, and teaching social media. But judging from the comments I'm getting, we're all feeling the same way.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:54]:
So hallelujah. So I talked about this a lot on the podcast before, but just to sum it up in a quick little cliff notes version, t l d r version is just that we lost sight of why people are on social media in the first place, which is to connect with people. We're here to follow people, follow each other's journeys. Right? We love to see what's going on behind the scenes. We like to be invited into people's worlds. Right? And we we know this to be true, especially because when you look at the big brands, they're all doing it too. Right? They're bringing in the employees. They're they're realizing that, like, we don't want the perfectly curated this and that and the third.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:26]:
Now I will say that to say, I know there's a lot of, I work with a lot of people. Well, I work with dozens of different industries, but one in particular that I've worked a lot within the past is interior designers, wedding photographers. Right? So I get y'all's grid. I don't mean like that. Right? Again, if you want your grid to be perfectly curated, that's fine. I just know for years, we've seen everyone get away from the perfectly curated grid, and that is because we're not selling perfection. Right? But you guys, certain industries, I get it. So I don't mean that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:52]:
What I mean by that is less curated content as in, like you know, not everything has to look like it's cinematic and shot by a video a professional videographer. And while there is a time and a place for those types of content, obviously, that's great. But what I mean is we've seen it for over a year now. More of the storytelling type reels where it's like you're just talking to the camera off the cuff because something just happened and you gotta share it with everybody. You're just like, oh my gosh. This just happened. Oh my gosh. I gotta reveal this thing that I just saw.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:17]:
Right? We see reels going viral that are just like, oh my gosh. Corporate girlies run to Target for this blahdy blahdy blah, and it's, like, viral because it's just, like, showing this cute thing they found at the Target dollar spot. Or we'll see people go, hey. Need a new hobby. May I suggest this? And it's something that you just started. It's like your findings, things that you are seeing in the world that you wanna share with others. That's what it's always been. When I think of, like, when I shared stories just on my personal account back in the day, which I never go on that anymore because, obviously, I love my, you know, I I I had a personal and I switched to my business, and then eventually, I just you know, my business is pretty much my personal too, really.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:54]:
But that's what I would say. Like, let's say, like, I would check out at the grocery store and something funny happened. I get in my car and get on stories and tell the story. Right? So when I started showing up on my business, when I created my business profile, I still did the same thing. I was like, oh my gosh. Just have this cool combo with someone. Oh my gosh. Look what's opening down the street.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:11]:
Oh my gosh. Look what I just found it. And I literally would go to the Target dollar spot and show things I found and silly things like that. And that's how people connected with me on stories. And this is how I always approach social media. Then my feed got a little more value based, quote, unquote, even though human connection is valuable, but it became a lot of tips, tricks, etcetera. But I always once a week or once every two weeks would do some sort of like, here's what we did this weekend. Here's where I went.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:35]:
Here's a Friday intro. Do you guys remember the Friday intro post, I would post stuff like that, like, my name is Shannon, my favorite karaoke song is Shoop. I, you know, used to live in Atlanta. I'm born in DC, right? Like I would do those types of posts. And then all of a sudden, after 2020, when all these people became Instagram gurus because they had a real go viral and decided they were gonna call themselves Instagram gurus. Do not get me started. I digress. But they were, like, value only.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:58]:
Value value. Tip, tip, tips. And, the human went away from social media. The human, you you as a human disappeared. I didn't know people's names, all everyone's accounts were a business name. And it was I was like, what is going on? So with that said, we're going we I've been saying it for two years now. But especially in the past year, I'm like, we're going back to basics. And I've been saying that for 2025.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:17]:
I said it all 2024. I was like, get ready. We're going back. We're going back. And we have to correct ourselves because we went too far the other way. And we're seeing it. So with that said, what I wanted to talk about today was I shared a reel today about how yesterday I made my husband a little surprise, a little happy hour at home because I realized it was the day we met fifteen years ago. And that I said, I was like, you know, I don't do a lot of stuff like this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:39]:
We you know, we were dating and pre kids. I used to do little fun little surprises for them all the time, but we haven't. And and I'm telling the story as the whole video is just me cutting cheese. Who cut the cheese? And, you know, slicing grapes and stuff. And that's the video. It's just me and I'm oh, my voice over is just talking about this and how I'm like, oh my gosh. We met fifteen years ago, and I decided I wanna do this little thing. And and then I go on to say and, you know, after talking to you all so much in the DMs about how bored you feel of your own content, how you'd never know what to post because you're told 10 different things.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:09]:
I was like, here I am sharing a stupid video of me cutting cheese and grapes and and putting crackers on a cheese board, but it's just telling a story about how my husband and I met and how I'm gonna share this content because I should. This is a moment I wanna remember. This is a moment I wanna treat as, like, a little diary entry of, like, something in Ryan and I's marriage. You know, we we've been together fifteen years as boyfriend, girlfriend, and then we got our thirteen year anniversaries coming up. We're allowed to share that stuff on social media. Do not let anyone tell you you cannot share this stuff. And that's where I get so frustrated because everyone feels like they have to be in a box. You have to niche down.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:42]:
Man, I have never niched down. The only way I've niched down is I typically share mainly Instagram tips. But I I work with everyone from the plumbers to the craft breweries, to the stylists, interior designers, to the educators, to the Chick fil A. You know, I've worked with all sorts of different industries, to hair salons, obviously, business coaches, nutritionists. I've done it all. I've never niched down with what I do. Now the problem I solve is that's my niche. Right? Helping people create better content, attract people, get more sales, get more views, etcetera.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:10]:
Right? But I've never felt in a box with my content, and I will post, you know, if I go to Vegas, I remember I did fun reels, silly reels in Vegas, like me and my husband. If Chloe does something funny, I put it on a reel. I don't care because I am in this world, and I know what you're hearing is garbage. And I'm like, you guys also just post what you wanna post that day. Now is that a great is it good idea not to have a strategy? No. But this is part of my strategy, and it's under the h category of happening. So if you you know, if you've listened to any of these, you already know, you guys are like probably tired of me saying it, but the four h's, it's why I came up with them because they're based on feelings. And when we open up the app, the content we react to is because it made us feel a certain way, whether it made us laugh, made us feel smarter made us feel gave us a fun idea to share with people or it made us feel connected and it resonated or made us laugh or made us feel heard.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:56]:
It makes us feel something. And that's why I always tell you like your content doesn't only have to make you grow, or nurture or sell. I know a lot of people out there teach growth content nurture. No. No. We buy from feelings. We follow because of a feeling, and we dm you because of feeling. So if you can get us to feel something done, take my money, get my follow, chat it up with me.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:17]:
We're besties now. Right? So with that said, what causes feelings more than anything, stories. And we know that Instagram is a storytelling app always has been always will be. So what can you do? Number one, you need to make sure your story is pinned to your grid. And if you go to mine, you can see what that looks like. That's the only video I've actually ever like outsourced a friend of mine owns a it's called Evolution Content. And they put together these founder stories. If you want to look her up, her name is Flora.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:38]:
She's amazing. But you can just literally do a photo dump. If you're not ready to invest in that. You can do like 10 photos on each photo be like, Hi, here's I am. And this is what I'm into. And again, my favorite karaoke song is Shoop. Mine was, you know, start with like, you know, I was a struggling whatever marketer couldn't get anyone to hire me, how to take a bunch of crappy sales jobs, and now here I am a 7 figure. Right? Next slide.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:00]:
I'm also a mother of two. Next slide. What would an about page if you have to submit yourself for a bio for a speaking engagement, that's what that is. Right? Or if you're a coffee shop or your corporation about your culture, your motto, etcetera. Right? Have that pinned. It could also look like this, and everyone should have that pin. The other I always talk about this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:17]:
This is a side thing, but for your pin post, you'll ha ve to have three pinned on your main grid and three on your reel. Reels tab, but the main three, think about a website, about me, product services, blog. So the way I say it, the same thing about me for a pin. Second would be something that sells and moves the needle in your business, whether it's you're talking about the product or service, maybe some testimonial, something like that. And then the third, something kind of community based. Right? So something kind of like that you have, you would have on a blog. Okay. So with that said, another way to be personal and remind people that like it's a happening, right? This is what I want you to do today.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:49]:
If you already have a founder story app, and you've already done that, or you don't wanna introduce yourself, no worries. This is what I want you to do. I started my reel out by saying yesterday, that was the first word. It was yesterday, it was 75 degrees, I decided to edit it up. Right? The reason I did that is because so many reels I see going crazy. And I've helped so many of my reels lab students do it and go viral. You start with the time frame, the date, etcetera. So you start with the b roll, and I'll show you if you're watching on YouTube, this is what I'm gonna have you do.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:16]:
It's just b roll of the person doing the action she says, and it starts with today. And she has 200,000 likes. Now hers is humorous, and I'll tell you in a second. So this could be humorous. It can be a tip or it could just be a story. And you just say with today, yesterday, or six months ago, eight years ago, when we go, two hours ago. Right? And you're gonna say today, and you're gonna say what you did. I discovered this blah blah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:37]:
Let's say you're a stylist or you're a fashion blogger or you're an author. Like today, I found this book or blah, blah, blah. What is something that happened today, yesterday, something like that? Okay? Because we wanna be in your world. We wanna know what you're up to, where you're going. And it's just even though it's not that deep, because again, social media isn't that deep, it's just a little thing to know, like, oh, let me what's what's she talking about? What happened today? So hers says, I'll tell you, today I've come to realize that the hardest part about having toddlers is knowing that the Play Doh colors will mix. Now, again, this is what I would call obviously humor, but it's also happening because it's like it's showing that she's playing with her kids and playing with Play Doh. That's what she was doing with her life today. And everyone in the comments is laughing, whatever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:16]:
Other ideas for this. Okay. Just just to show you. I love this. Now she didn't say today, but, you know, she could have. But it says, my old soul boyfriend dropped me at Pilates and waited for me to finish. I found him here, headphones on, reading a book, eating a slice of banana bread. I hope we're still doing this when we're 70.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:32]:
These will be in the show notes, the examples. I'm gonna give you one more example. But, basically, I want you to point something out because here's the thing. I will die on this hill. Nothing makes better content than real life moments. And it can be business related, obviously. Right? Today, a customer came in and dah, dah, dah, dah. So we made this for them.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:50]:
Maybe you're a restaurant and someone came in for, like, a fiftieth wedding anniversary. I don't know. Real life moments today, yesterday, a week ago. Okay? And here's another one. I love this. She said, this isn't saying today, but it's saying I just noticed. So that's another cool way to get started out. But what is something happening in your life right now? Something in the moment that we can take a look at and go, oh my gosh.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:09]:
I love that for you. Oh my gosh. That's so cool to bond with you. And her says, I just noticed the name of one of my daughter's Spotify playlist. And then she turns the camera around and it says car with mom with a heart. Just so it gives you that feeling of, oh my gosh. And you immediately relate to her if you're a mom, but we love getting a peek into you and your business's life. Now another example of this, if you don't wanna do that today, because I wanna give you a few options.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:32]:
One is the founder story. The next is, like I said, today, yesterday, six months ago, we dah dah dah. The other is just what's something you do within your niche that people would love. Love. I love this one. This girl, she says, my mom and I eat the same lunch every day, and then she breaks down what it is and why and how it's helping them drop their cholesterol. And so it actually goes in with her business because she shares nourishing recipes. So, of course, do do you see what I mean? It's so much more personal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:58]:
We have brought the people back into social media, and I'm so freaking here for it. And I want you to know if you wanted to show a photo dump of your family's spring break, do it. We love to see your spring break. We wanna see where you stay. We wanna see the cool cute kitchen in the Airbnb. We wanna see it. We connect over those basic mundane stuff. Again, are you gonna share that every single day? No, not unless you're a lifestyle brand or a personal blogger or whatever, But we wanna see it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:24]:
I wanna see where my yoga teacher went. I wanna see where my baristas go. I wanna see I wanna know the story of why you opened your boutique. I want to know these things. Okay? So with that said, don't forget to be human. Don't forget it's okay to just post something you want to for the sake of posting it. It's your social media. And while it's for others, it's for your people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:46]:
Sharing your life and inviting us into your world is what we will really appreciate in a way for us to connect with you. So I just wanna remind you that I hope this helps. This is kind of more of a come to Jesus type of podcast episode. I just wanna encourage you, like, especially with everything going on in the world and everything feeling so heavy. Like, one of the best things you can do is bring some more joy to it. So what brings you joy? Share that. I love you, friend.