We Love B-Roll Because Simple, Shareable Content Never Goes Out of Style

You have probably heard that b-roll is boring and that’s why your content isn’t performing well. That’s simply not true. B-roll has been around forever, it’s not new, social media didn’t invent it, it’s always been there. In fact, “boring b-roll” isn’t the problem, pair it with a good trending audio and quality copy and it works. Remember, it's not about the fancy shots and edits, but the story your content tells, making people feel seen and heard.

In this episode we'll be covering:

• Step by step instructions on how to find the perfect trending audio on Instagram to pair with your b-roll video clips, including what key indicators I look for when picking out a sound.
• A quick peek at what my journey into social media marketing looked like, all the way back to high school when I always had a camera in my hand.
• Always quality over quantity, you don't need to post daily. Instead, focus on creating quality content that resonates with your audience.
• B-roll is far from dead! It's a timeless tool that can add depth and context to your stories. Pair it with trending audio and captivating text, and your b-roll will be anything but boring.
• Keeping your marketing strategies timeless with content that's simple and specific, yet shareable. Make them feel heard, introduce humor, or share helpful tips to build genuine connections.

Links to reels in this episode:

• Reel: “I Googled my symptoms and it turns out ___” 
• Reel: “I wish more people knew ___”
• Reel: “Did you know ___”

Other episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 005: Create Shareable Content to Increase Your Reach with the 3 S’s
• Episode 026: Start a Signature Series That People Keep Coming Back For
• Episode 029: Tailoring Successful Reel Techniques to Your Niche
• Episode 040: Build More Connections with Everyday Moments
• Episode 042: Your Simple B-Roll Can Become Easy Reels That Actually Convert

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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. So by the time this episode airs, I will have spoken at Social Media Marketing World, which is actually insane. Social media Examiner is a website that when I was a baby social media manager in 2013, 2014 that I would go to to learn about social media marketing because, again, it was such a new thing. And social media examiner was, like, one of the first kind of websites out there helping people understand and navigate this new thing of turning social media from personal to business. I still can't believe I got to do this as a career. I can't believe I get to do what I love.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:54]:
You know, I've been in television production in high school. Right? I was always the girl with the camcorder. I would beg my dad to hold it. When I was eight years old, it was, like, twenty million pounds. And I would document everything. I had the camera in everyone's faces. So, like, this was, like, what I was meant to do. Right? But back then, they were like, this girl is just annoying, and how is she gonna make any money with doing whatever she likes to do.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:12]:
And then I major in communications that I remember even like my dad was like, Oh, you're not gonna make much money in your life. I'm like, that's fine. I love it. Right? I love writing. I love editing. I just sit in the edit bay all day. Anyway, so I studied TV production in high school and then went on to CNN and intern at C SPAN. And just like, then I was like, oh my gosh, the broadcasting world is actually kind of crazy.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:30]:
I always wanted to direct. I wanted to sit in the director's chair at CNN. And I got to sit in the control room. I controlled the fonts and graphics. So I felt it. I knew what it would feel like, and I loved it. But I worked overnights. I worked holidays for years, and it just it was hard.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:43]:
I worked during Katrina. I worked during the tsunami and, trauma. So that was a lot. And during my late nights at CNN, when I would work overnights, you know, I was living in Atlanta at the time. My all my family was back home in the DC area. That was when Facebook came about. This was, like, 2006, 2005ish, and Facebook and Myspace were my connection back home and, like, oh my gosh. I mean, Myspace.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:05]:
My gosh. I don't even know what I was gonna talk about this podcast episodes. This is kinda fun. We're we're going this route of nostalgia, which I will be talking about actually at Social Media Marketing World. But it's just crazy to look back on. Like, you ever look back on your life? Like, how did I end up in this job? Like, how did I end up passionate about this stuff? And, really, it's been since I can remember is I love documenting everything. I was always the friend with the camera. Thank God Facebook and stuff wasn't around when I was in high school and college because that would have probably been a problem.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:31]:
My girlfriends would hate me. And literally where I am right now, there's boxes over here, boxes and boxes of VHS tapes I need to get digitized, photos. Like, I was the friend with the camera that went to Walmart every weekend at Virginia Tech and would get the photos developed, and they'd be mortifying and, like, hilarious. And, again, I was the friend who has all the videos, like, everything of that my sister did as a little girl, all the things me and my brother dancing at NSYNC. Like, I was the cousin who would make I would make all the cousins do commercials with me, and we do fake news shows. And so this was definitely what I was meant to do, and I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to say that. And I think that's why I get so passionate about stuff. And sometimes people might be like, why is she so upset that people are telling people to post daily? Why is she so so that people are saying hashtags are done? I'm like, because, like, I do take this very, very seriously.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:15]:
And I know this the world is very heavy right now. There's a lot more serious stuff going on. But I also know the power that social media has. And if you are listening, I know my community. I know my people are good, servant hearted people. So I wanna help you. Right? And especially do good in this world. So, again, it's crazy to me that I'll be speaking on stage in just a few days.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:33]:
It's crazy to me that people trust me, and the tips I'm doing actually help people go viral. And it's just crazy that this is this this is life, that this is what I get to do. And then everything in my life led up to this point, and I will get emotional. So I will stop. But just wanted to say that just thank you so much for listening and being a part of this community. It just means everything to me. And, I truly do love this, and I love you, and I'm here to help. So with that said, the past thirty days, all March long, I did.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:00]:
I've never posted every day on Instagram in my entire career. Have I ever posted every day? I was typically posting four times a week. Then I went to five and because the less one on one work I was doing, I was like, wow, I actually have a little more time on my hands with, you know, my memberships. And I was like, I can actually post a little bit more to help people. So I've been posting more, but my clients and students who content creation is not their job, do not post every day. Okay. So I want to make sure you know that you do not have to post every day quality over quantity. There's even a creator on Instagram, and I cannot remember her name.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:30]:
I think she posts once a week. She's got way more followers than I do. She's growing like crazy. She does spend a lot of time editing, though. So it's kind of one of those things. If you wanna post one or two times a week, that's fine. Just make sure the quality is epic so that that video goes crazy. Now she again, they're amazingly done videos.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:45]:
But for most of my people, like, and most people listening, we don't have time to do fancy edits and have all these fancy things. And we're we're just like b roll, slap some text and some audio, and we're good to go. So that's what the series was. Like, a lot of the all the hooks and stuff I gave can go over some simple b roll and a trending audio, and you're done. And, you know, I shared a reel the other day saying how b roll is not dead, and people are like, oh, b roll b roll is boring. The reason your content sucks because your b roll. Here's the thing with b roll. B roll has been around forever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:12]:
It's not Instagram didn't invent it. Social media didn't invent it. B roll was literally my job at CNN was to document and time stamp b roll and all that stuff. That was, like, my first position at CNN was in the feeds department. B roll is literally if you watch the news and as the reporter is talking and they're showing, like, maybe it's a storm and they're showing the waves, that's b roll. When you're watching the Golden Girls and they go from this scene and then it's at a hospital, they show the outside of the hospital, that's b roll. It's secondary footage. It's not a main character talking directly to the it's secondary footage.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:41]:
That's all it is. It's just cutaway is the best way to say it. It's cutaway footage. So I shot some b roll this morning in a coffee shop, and I will be using it for years probably because I use the same b roll over and over again. So people say you're boring. B roll is the problem. No, it's not. My B roll could not be more boring, but my B rolls work because I pair it with good trending audio, audio that I see doing well.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:02]:
And again, all you have to do, make sure you have a business professional account. You go to professional dashboard on your profile and you scroll to the bottom, tap training audio, you get all the training audios. I try to find ones with less than 10,000 uses at the moment. And then when I look at that, I look to see if the first few videos are, like, in the millions or at least over 500,000. That to me signals this is gonna be a good audio. So I will take an audio, and right now I'm I'm using the Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco one, and I'm gonna use it a lot because I see it going crazy, and it's gonna be the song of the summer. I know it. So, again, these are the things I'm looking for when I'm picking out audios for the Reels Lab and the series I've been doing.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:38]:
So this was the first time I posted every single day for a month. And let me say, I am exhausted. So I don't recommend, but I've had so much fun with it because I'm getting DMs every day, every day from someone saying they've gone viral, or at least like they got 200 new followers from it or whatever it is. People are absolutely loving it. And let me tell you all 30 of these reels, all 30 of these hooks can be used by any industry. And all it is is the simplest, simplest prompt. But what you put in those blanks is really, really important. So that's why I say your b roll can be boring.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:08]:
It's fine. The copy better come with it then. And that's what I specialize in. Right? Because again, I've got two kids at home. I've it's crazy up in here. It's freaking crazy. That's why I keep joking every week. I'm like, I'm gonna make the podcast studio cute.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:21]:
Probably not. It will probably be like this forever because we just it's crazy over here. I rely on b roll reels a lot. So with that said, if you're struggling, make sure you go to my Instagram account and look because every single day in March, I did a reel with a prompt. And with the prompt, I put examples for you take and run with it. So I'm like, if you're a hairstylist, do this. If you're a contractor, do this. If you're a copywriter, do this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:40]:
Right? Be sure to look. But I just wanna share a few of the hooks that went crazy for people. Okay? So you can take them and run with them. One was the one that went actually most viral for me, not viral. None of these really went viral. And, again, I didn't do this to go viral. I don't create content to go viral. So, again, this series, this was not a, oh, I'm gonna grow like crazy.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:58]:
This was really a series to make sure everyone sees that, like, I know what I'm talking about, and you should get into the Reels Lab or listen to my podcast. This is more of, content to help just people know who I am and what I'm obsessed with. So here is the one that did best for me. And what's funny is it did best for the people following along. And it was Googled my symptoms and turns out blank. So with this, they've said, and I'm gonna show this in the show notes. Okay. So it says Googled my symptoms turns out.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:23]:
And one of the examples I showed says, turns out I just need a farm animals and that's B roll. So again, everyone's saying B roll is dead. I'm like every single viral reel, like 90% of the viral reels I see are literally b roll training audio and simple text. That one. Googled my symptoms and turns out I just needed more farm animals. 60,000 likes, so many views. Another one. Googled my symptoms and turns out I just needed a cute little activity.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:46]:
And in the video, it's little clips. Right? But the first one about the farm animals is literally a five second video, 17,000 shares, over 60,000 likes, and it's just a woman with her farm animals. So I put examples as and I will say someone actually wrote was like, well, what what would I say as a as someone who creates digital products? Not all these reels have to be about business, and especially this one, this should be funny and relatable. So bunch of them I put were like Google My Symptoms and turns out I just needed a me day full of blank and blank. So maybe you are in marketing like me and your brain never turns off. I would have said couch rotting for ten hours and watching whatever, something like that. Google my symptoms. Turns out I just needed to go have a mimosa date with my bestie, and the video would be that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:26]:
The reason this works so well is because it's super shareable. So that was one that did really well. So especially if you're a restaurant, that's a great one because then you can kinda showcase. But, again, it's not just about what they needed. It's about the experience too. So make sure the video shows that. That one went viral for a lot of people. The other one that did well for people was the one I tell people all the time because every time I share it, it goes absolutely insane.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:47]:
And it's simply where it just says, I wish more people knew. And then under it, you say, I wish more people knew that you could make your own nontoxic laundry detergent by, and then you tell them exactly how I wish more people knew that if you don't have a blank, you can actually use blank to blank. And in the video you demo it. I wish more people knew there was a blank in Raleigh that serves XYZ and has a whatever for kids. You guys that I wish I knew goes stupid crazy every time. And again, when I'm telling you b roll, simple text that resonates and some trending audio. So that one, so Googled, I wish I knew. And last one is, did you know? You literally start - I'm sending it to Steph.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:24]:
So all three of these will be in there so you can actually see the prompts I gave everyone. You just say, did you know? And you just back it up with a did you know there's a blank in DC that did you know if you add whatever to your hook that you can double your views? Did you know Home Depot has a dah dah dah dah on Saturday mornings that you can take your kid to? And again, in the video, you show what you're talking about. That is the magic of Instagram. That is why it does so well. So when I think back to my CNN days of b roll, and I think back to my CNN days of fonts and graphics, it's all the same thing. It's telling a story with a quick little clip of video and making sure there's some text on there that gives context and makes them feel. My four h method is all about feelings, making them feel seen and heard, making them laugh, making them feel relief that, you know, you gave them a tip, making them feel with the stories you tell. That's all social media is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:17]:
And remember, you don't have to take these prompts and always keep them business. If you can, great. The Googled My Symptoms, have a little fun with it, but the did you know and the I wish more people knew. I'm telling you right now, those just stand the test of time. And I've gotten so many DMs from people over this series saying, oh my gosh. It went viral. Oh my gosh. This is the most views I've ever had in my life.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:36]:
I'm like, you guys, that's what I mean. We overcomplicated this this so much because you're hearing b rolls dead. You're hearing this doesn't work. You're hearing all this stuff. And it's like, you guys, the all of this is timeless marketing. Simple, specific, shareable is what I always say. Make sure it's helpful or humorous, makes them feel heard, or it's some sort of happening in your life and you cannot go wrong.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:58]:
I love you, friend. Watch those reels. Have some fun. Hopefully by the time this airs, I have now taken a breath because I spoke in front of hundreds of people on the main stage. I'm freaking out. But, again, I'm telling you, I think this podcast is the only reason I'm at I'm I do trust that, hopefully, I will help people at that conference because every time I hear from you guys, it makes me so happy. So thank you for listening. I know that this was a little longer than normal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:21]:
Love you, friends, and happy creating. And don't listen to the nonsense, and keep it simple.