Was That an Ad? Even the Big Brands are Making it Personal

This summer is going to be amazing for your content and we are going to kick it off by exploring how today’s biggest brands (think Oreo, Taco Bell, and DSW) are embracing a more personal, relatable approach in their content marketing. We’ll walk through some big brand reels breaking down how they fit into the REP hook, discussing why the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing, and how being human and relatable always wins, even in a world driven by trends and algorithms. 

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• Viral reels, trolls, and using the latest content trends for inspiration, not copyright infringement.
• The importance of adding your personal spin to trends and hooks on social media.
• The content shifts toward personalization and examples of how the big brands are adapting.
• The power of using the REP hook and moving beyond boring how to content.

Links to reels in this episode:

• Reel: “Don’t Steal People’s Content”

Other episodes you might have missed:

• Episode 058: Embrace the Content Creator Mindset
• Episode 059: Are You Talking About What You Love?
• Episode 060: Nail Your Short Form Videos with This Simple Formula
• Episode 061: Use The Relatable Expert Hook to Create Your Next Helpful Reel
• Episode 062: Why You Don’t Need Fancy Content to Stand Out

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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. Okay. I wanna start off real quick by saying I have a reel going crazy viral right now on Instagram Instagram, and the trolls are out. And let's talk about it real quick because it's a new trend where it's six syllables of a beat of a song, and you're basically coming up with a saying. A lot of people are doing, like, let's just go to Chili's or let's go get iced coffee or, like, really funny relatable ones. That's why it goes so crazy because they're really, really relatable.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:47]:
So I was trying to think of a relatable one for people in my world, right, or content creators, business owners. So I said, don't steal people's content. Don't steal people's content. Right? And you do it four times. That's how the trend goes. Everyone's doing it the same way. Most people are like, oh my gosh. Thank you for saying it, blah blah blah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:02]:
Right? Because we've all had our content stolen, and this person just wrote me and goes, there's no such thing. Once it's posted to Instagram, Instagram owns it. And I'm like, okay. First, I just wanna say and if you wanna go to my Instagram on my reels tab, a friend of mine who's also a she you know, copyright infringement, all this stuff is like her jam. So she talked about it about how, you know, yes. It's it's and other people are commenting all that, you know, the trolls are like, well, you're stealing someone's content because of this isn't your trend. Here's the thing about social media. You have the right if someone copies your content word for word, and I don't mean a trend.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:36]:
A trend is different. An idea is different. A fun, clever idea for a trend is not like if someone were to even take mine, that's not really stolen. Right? It's annoying. Because it's like, oh, I you could have given me credit, but it's it's not stolen. When I say copied, I mean, you know, about six, seven months ago, someone copied my method and claimed it as their own. My 4H method, right, and said it was hers when it in fact is not. You can say, let me teach you the 4H method, but you can't say it's yours if it's not.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:06]:
And it said, like, my 4H method. I was like, well, and things like that, or someone's entire caption or their carousel. Like, the hook is the same exact. Obviously, something like pasta salad, Memorial Day pasta salad recipe. Nah. Like, that's probably been used a million times. What I'm talking when I say steal someone's content, it is literally their entire caption. Someone even said someone stole their caption, and it was a heartfelt story about her daughter.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:33]:
This is the stuff that's happening online, and it is out of control. And, yes, you can file a copyright infringement. Just, again, just Google it. You can file this stuff. I've had Instagram take stuff down before. One girl one time did my reel that also went viral about subliminal hooks. I mean, she took the hook in the whole list verbatim and copied it. Could she have changed a few words and it would yeah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:55]:
But she didn't. And this is what I'm talking about in the in the this world of social media is so frustrating sometimes. It's like we spend so much time coming up with these hooks, and I'm giving you hooks all the time on this podcast and on Instagram. Put your little spin on it. Put your little magic on it. For trends, put your own spin on it. That's not stealing. Being inspired, coming up with ideas, taking someone's idea and kind of running with it, that's not stealing.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:19]:
Verbatim words, copy, you cannot do. Methods, things like that. So I just wanna say that because if you listen to this podcast and you saw my reel, it's just it's hilarious. I mean, people are loving it, and we're all having so much fun with this trend. But then there's people that are like, we everyone that's what social media is. It's copying. I'm like, it's it's not. Yes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:38]:
Trends we copy and a lot of times, but my thing, what I teach my people is like, what's your take on it? What's your perspective? How can we take that really good hook and make it yours? That's all it is. Anyway, But yeah, I just want to say that because I got a lot of questions too, is saying, well, what's the difference between being inspired and copy? I'm like, look, if someone's entire cap, like 2,000 character caption is your caption, that's a problem. Right? And if you do get inspired by someone's and it was like their idea, maybe it's their exact editing style or whatever it is, give them a shout out in the caption or reach out to them and say, Hey, do you mind? I've had so many people over the years say, Hey, Shannon, do you mind if I steal that? I'm like, go for it. Just ask. K. That's kinda I just wanna say that as, like, a general rule of thumb. Okay. That's not what we're here to talk about today, but it is frustrating because you're just trust me.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:19]:
I know it happens a lot. I even got a DM a couple weeks ago from someone who and, of course, these people have more followers than her, and they stole her exact hook and exact outfits that she was showing. Like, not even just the hook. It was, like, the exact screenshots that she had. Like, that's crazy to me. I'm like, what is going on, people? Come on. And in this world of AI, you can easily change it a bit. But I just want to say, you know, just be careful, be mindful.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:44]:
And, you know, ask yourself, does this look exactly like so and so's maybe switch it up that's already up there. So the world doesn't need it again. Not from you know, you can do it your own way. Okay. So what we're seeing is bringing humans back into social media. Right? And all social media really being personalized again. Hallelujah. Right? Less generic, more personalized.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:04]:
And what's interesting to me and what I wanna talk about on this podcast today is how if you look at the big brands, they're all doing it too. So you guys have heard me talk about the rep hook, right? Something relatable, something expert in something, personal in the hooks. And the reason those do so well, even if just like, if you can look at every time you do a hook, make sure at least one of those is in there, an r and e or a p something. And again, when I say relatable, I mean, a word, a phrase, something that they go, oh, I know that I recognize that I'm familiar or, like, I relate to that phrase, that location, etcetera. I have a whole podcast on it. Right? E is expertise. So maybe it's like busy mom. It's just a title, busy mom, realtor, karate instructor, plumber, ten year veteran of blah, blah, blah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:42]:
Right. And then P is personal. It just feels like something personal. It doesn't feel like it's coming from a big brand. So here we go with Oreo. It says, and if you're watching on YouTube, you can see right there. It says upgrading my store bought cake with Oreo mini bars. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:55]:
This is so genius, and it is from the brand itself. The word my makes it feel personal. Right? Upgrading is a great word because we know it's going to signal transformation. So we're gonna watch from beginning to end. So upgrading my store bought cake with Oreo mini bars. Oreo is recognizable. Store bought is relatable. This looks like something I would see from a friend or a creator I love.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:16]:
That's what big brands are doing. They have caught onto the fact that we wanna follow creators. And I actually got my score back from social media marketing world, like, oh, 4.74 out of five, which I'm, like, freaking out about. And of course, they give you the negative reviews too. Right? They're like, here's what everyone said. And they warmed my heart. And there were a couple, you know, feedback that I got that, you know, I wanna make sure I was like, what did I not hit on? And it was interesting. One person's feedback said that the only wish they had was that the reels I showed were a little less about personal brands and more about businesses.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:45]:
And for me, it confused me only because which I appreciate the feedback because, again, that's on me. Something didn't get communicated to this attendee. Every reel I showed in my presentation was from a business, a brand. It was from a dentist office. It was from a travel agency. They were from marketer. Right? There were a couple personal brands that were like a graphic designer, but most were teams, businesses, brick and mortars that I was showing them. But I think what's crazy is they thought they were from personal brands.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:11]:
And I made I thought I made very sure, but, you know, things it's a thirty minute presentation. But again, it just made me realize more and more that this is the new norm and people aren't used to it. They, it just shows almost how uncomfortable us business owners are with making content that looks like it's from a personal brand. Sorry. We are now creators, even Instagram, the creator account. When I did that collab with them, when I sent my script to them that I was gonna do, they're like, oh, can you add the word creator? So instead of saying travel advisor, they want me to say travel creator. These platforms we're creators now, whether you like it or not. So we need to be creating based on what a creator would create.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:47]:
Does that make sense? Was that that was a lot of words. So let me keep going. Because again, I want to drive this home. This is from Oreo, the word my is in it Store bought cake and they literally go. And if you're watching on YouTube, you can see it. They take the little minis and they put them on the side of the cake and people love it. Okay. Here's another example.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:03]:
Canada dry. I don't like drama. Me watching reality, my reality show and the girls eating popcorn drinking, Canada dry. It looks like it's I mean, that actually you can tell is, like, more of an ad, but interestingly enough, I, me, my. When I say personal, that's what I mean. Your hooks should not be how to, what to. They can be I'm not again, these are just suggestions. There's no absolutes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:26]:
But I like to even with my reels, I'll say how I edit a talk to camera reel. And then or if it says how to edit a talk to camera reel, my caption will say this is my favorite hack. In one of my hooks, whether it's on screen or in the caption, the word I, my, etcetera, is there. It makes it feel personal. And what it does is it literally establishes expertise, even if you don't say the title of what you are, because you're saying this is mine. If I say blah, blah, blah, from a therapist that makes me go, oh, yeah, they're an expert. They're an authority. But if I say a therapist with anxiety, I'm like, okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:57]:
That's personal. And also this person knows from experience, not just from studying books and going to college and going up getting a PhD. Do you get what I'm putting down? Alright. I just wanna make sure this really makes sense. Another example. Imagine talking bad about me, but I'm just eating Taco Bell nuggets in my room. Again, from Taco Bell. This is not a collab with a creator.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:18]:
No. This is them. What's currently in our shopping cart? DSW. So retailer. What's currently in our shopping cart. Now, obviously that means DSW, but it looks like it was filmed in a store, not like a studio. So with all that said, I just wanna drive home the last several podcasts to really help you understand. I'm not just talking out of my butt.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:37]:
Okay. I've been seeing the big brands do this, and it's why people are having this huge shift and going less from how to what to when it comes to educational content, AKA helpful content to how I, what I it's, why we say this is your sign to make my blah, blah, blah. This is your sign to X, Y, Z. Right? It's why we love my toxic trait is it's raw, real humans talking to each other on social media. It's no longer ad, ad, ad feeling like ads. Right? Because that's what it started to feel like. That's literally what it started to feel like. We were marketed to all day long, and the best marketing does not feel like marketing.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:17]:
Say it again. The best marketing does not feel like marketing. You do not even know you're being sold to until you're handing your credit card and, like, like, what just happened? Right. I mean, it's persuasion. I'm not talking about ripping people off here. I'm just talking about making sure your content feels like it's from a human and it's relatable and it's personal, but it also has your expertise and authority in it. R e p hook. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:39]:
So with that said, I I I wanna make sure next week we talk more about I feel like I've been talking a lot about the helpful educational content a lot. So next week, we'll go through and I'll give you examples of maybe we'll do heard. I think we kinda fun to really double down on a few of the h's that I teach because heard is another one of those that people just go nuts and follow for. So we'll talk about that next week because at the end of the day, we're on social media to feel seen, heard, and have a safe place. I wanna look at your account. If I feel like I would feel safe to ask a question or safe to tell my story in your comments, I'm following you. Right? Even if you are Canada dry, even if you are DSW. Right? I would feel safe because your core values match mine.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:20]:
Your prices align with what I can afford. It could be as simple as that. I don't want you to, you know, again, it's not that deep. You know, marketing is a lot. It's not easy to create all this content, but it is simple. And that's why I listen to this podcast and I hope that help. I just want to drive home again. If you start noticing, you will notice the biggest brands are doing this, so why aren't you? And you need to be too.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:41]:
So again, even though it's like, oh, that looks so personal. It should. Right? Anyway, with that said, I just thought it'd be fun to show a few of those examples. I have a ton, but I just wanna give you guys those. I'm heading to Miami tomorrow for a bachelorette party with cousins. It's just gonna be so much fun. Do not worry. The summer's gonna be amazing for your content because we we got it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:59]:
You and me together. Love you, friend. Bye.