Here’s What I Would Post for You on Instagram This Week

Consider your next five Instagram posts done! This week I’m sharing what I would post to your Instagram account if I was your social media manager, so you can stop wondering what to post. I’ll walk you through exactly what I would be posting if I was running your account, whether you’re a coffee shop owner, realtor, or run a bigger business. We’re talking about random thoughts to educational demos, with POV storytelling, community-building content, and the easy carousels that we’re all loving right now. I’ll break down each post type, with examples and hooks to get you started, plus, we’ll touch on the pressure of niching down and having a perfectly (un)curated grid.

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• Step-by-step content plan for business owners, whether it’s just you or your part of a larger business entity, this is exactly what I would post for you this week.
• Reminder of the importance of showing your human side and personality when you are creating content.
• How sharing random thoughts, hot takes, and POVs can boost your account engagement online.
• Using demos and conversational tips to create relatable, helpful Reels that resonate with your audience.
• Leveraging trending carousels, humor, and behind-the-scenes “happenings” for fresh content your community loves to see.

Featured content in this episode:

• chelsea_explains: I get to…
• Isabellapaige_: What my type is
• the.rosie.home: Are you even a girls girl?
• rebeccajade___: Of course everything is falling apart
• scottbrysonbts: Parking lot safety tips
• balancebymacy: 5 Articles that helped me fall back in love with life
• leadershipheather: I can tell by your emails
• shannonmckinstrie: The one friend who creates the Instagram story
• shannonmckinstrie: How our dream beach house came to be
• dietcoke: OOO

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 019: Convert Viewers to Followers with the “That’s Me” Reel
• Episode 030: Attract New Followers with Talk to Camera Reels
• Episode 049: Relatable Humor That Says “They Get Me!”
• Episode 060: Nail Your Short Form Videos with This Simple Formula
• Episode 066: Static Images vs Carousels vs Reels: Which Instagram Content Type Actually Works Best?
• Episode 067: The Importance of Belonging on Social Media

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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. All right, today we are going to walk through a week of content for you to post. Okay? Because if I was your social media manager, well, I wouldn't call myself a social media manager anymore. Just in case anyone listening is in the social media marketing world like you create content, you manage, et cetera. I have noticed just the term social media manager, what it meant 10 years ago is totally different, right? It's like you're more than just putting pictures up with a caption and replying to comments, right? You're editing, you're doing trend research, now you're data mining.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:54]:
You're the creative, right? So just a little side note, for all my social media manager people out there, update your title to like chief content officer, head of content, content director, social media strategist, whatever it is. All right, I digress. So if I was and I managed forever and I still actually manage a couple accounts, meaning I post and create and edit, etc. The content for two other businesses other than my own and I always manage at least 2 to 3 because I want to be in the thick of it, right? Like, I don't only grow my own account, I grow others. But the reason the social media manager world has changed so much is again, social media has changed so much. It used to be like a client could just give me a bunch of pictures and I could just come up with witty captions and stuff and sure, that still works, but you really gotta get involved. Like if you have a social media manager, they're basically a team member at this point. So they're giving you ideas.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:47]:
You gotta. Gone are the days of just giving them stuff and walking away. It's like you gotta be involved because you are the face. Even if you are a corporation, we need the humans in your content. I talk about it all the time, right? A really good example of this. I see this girl's content pop up a lot. Chelsea Anderson, it's Chelsea Underscore explains. And it's really interesting because what I tell people all the time is that like if you look at any of her hooks, I mean the word I, my, me, whatever, is in every single one of her hooks.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:14]:
Almost every single one. Some recent ones. She has my take on the loneliness epidemic. The most mortified I've ever been in my Life is another one I get to is the first words out of her mouth from her scripts and things. And there's a reason, right? Because we miss. I talk about it all the time in the podcast, but, you know, we miss the human side of social media and people's content for a long, long time. And we're so back. And I love it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:35]:
But she's a good person to kind of look at, to see what I mean. But again, a lot of you might be listening to this and you're like, well, Shannon, I sell products. Or again, I'm part of a huge corporation. Yes, we still need the human. And I've talked about that a lot in so many episodes. But once again, drive it home. The power of these hooks. Now, with that said, if I was your social media manager and you were a brewery or you were a coffee shop or you were.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:58]:
You're a realtor or you sell plumbing supplies, I don't know, right? This is what I would literally post for you this week if you would give me your phone. Now, again, this is. It's also to drive home if you are looking to hire a social media manager. This is the type of content that they need to be posting for you. Because again, you. But you've got to be involved a little bit. Just a little bit. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:19]:
I went through and found some really good reels. One, the first one I would post for you of the week. So Monday would be a random thought. And this is what I would ask you if I was your social media manager. I'd be like, what are some random thoughts you'd have? What, what are some things you would put on threads or tweets or tweets, Twitter, whatever it's called now. X. What are some random thoughts? And again, what I mean by random thought is like, even if it wasn't a reel, it could just be a quote, graphic, something like that, or it would again would be on threads. So this one says, here's a perfect example of one that went viral when people ask what my type is, but my type is someone who naturally brings my inner child out, makes me laugh, and never stops flirting with me, right? That's like, it's just a Random thought.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:59]:
And the, you know, the text is cute, the video is cute. So of course it performed really, really well. Another one, are you even a girl's girl if you aren't plotting your Christmas decor right now? Just a random thought. And then of course, it has some cute videos. So that would be the first thing I do. I would say, what is A random thought. And random thought could even be a hot take, right? What's a hot take on your industry? And then put it over some B roll with some trending audio over, call it a day. Okay, here's another one.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:23]:
Random thought. Of course everything is falling apart. Your new life will cost you your old one. And what I love about random thoughts too is these types of content that it's kind of the heard category when I talk about the four H's. And it's really good to start the week off on a Monday. This is how I do things, right? I just, I, I love to think like throughout the week. Okay, Monday, kind of something lighter, something like less heavy, right? Just kind of like something light. But it also shows your core values.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:46]:
So that's what I would post on a Monday. Boom. Done. Easy B roll, simple text, a random thought. You could start this with, I don't know who needs to hear this but. Or you could start it with I wish more people knew. Sorry, that's one of my favorite, favorite all time oldie but goodie hooks. I wish more people knew.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:01]:
Like I've had so many people go viral with that. I just tell them, put. I wish people knew. More people knew. And put something really? Like what? Sometimes suddenly you want to like shake someone and be like, I wish you guys knew this. Like something like that. Great, right? Random thought done the next day. And I'm going to give you guys five because again, I don't, you don't need to be posting every day.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:19]:
So that would be Monday. On the next day I would post something, you know, more helpful, educational. So I would do a demo, meaning this reel. You're going to be sharing a tip, but you're also going to be showing them, right? We don't want to be told. We want to be shown. Like think show and tell, right? Old school days. What's something that you can show them but also demo. This one just went viral.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:37]:
This is a great example. Again, all these will be in the show notes. It literally the hook is perfection. It says, retired federal agent gives parking lot safety tips for when you're loading your car. And he's just 595,000 likes. Okay, so definitely is millions of views. So brilliant hook. And so that would be what I would do for you on Tuesday.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:57]:
You talking to the camera and, and demoing what you're talking about. If you're like, Shannon, I can't actually demo what I'm talking about. It's just like a whatever tip. Just make sure you've got What I would tell you as your social media strategist on your team, I would say make sure you're at least doing some sort of subliminal visual hook. Maybe you, as you're talking, you come in from the side or there's jump cuts, right? This is all. These are all a little more technical. If you're beginner, don't worry. Just talk to the camera.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:23]:
And we all know just simply talking to the camera, like you're talking on Instagram stories, that's what this Chelsea, that account, it's. That's all it is. All her stuff looks like stories. And let me add here real quick. When you look at Chelsea's content, if you look at her grid, it's not curated. We don't want perfectly curated. We just want your knowledge, your tips, your experiences, your perspective, things like that. And again, we want to know your core values and things like that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:45]:
But if you're someone, like, who's an interior designer, a photographer, and really your brand is an aesthetic, go for it. Make your grid gorgeous and aesthetic. Just know it's not necessary. Mine's definitely not aesthetic. I'm. I mean, look at me. I'm fresh off the beach trip, looking a hot mess. You guys know I'm not the prim.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:03]:
Proper aesthetic. I love aesthetic feeds, though. But for me, that wouldn't make sense for my brand if my grid was, like, perfect. But like I said, if you want to have it perfect, you can always lean on cover photos, gorgeous pictures, whatever it is. So just wanted to get that out of the way. Okay, so Tuesday, tip talking, the camera, demoing, what you're saying, and make it very conversational, just like this gentleman did. Let me give you guys his handle just to make sure it is. Scott Bryson.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:29]:
Love it. He's a retired Secret Service agent, so really, really great content there. So again, talk to the camera demo if you can, and make it conversational. Keep it chill. All right, Next day, so we've got the random thought, which was kind of like the heard category, the helpful demo. Talk to camera. The third post of the week that I would have you do is a simple pov. And this POV would literally, if that guy was my client, the Secret Service guy, the POV would be some B roll pov.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:57]:
You start loading your groceries like this in order to protect your kids and you. Something like that in the parking lot. And so then it's like two for one. So whatever you posted Tuesday, we're gonna re. We're gonna share it again in a POV style. So you're gonna give the tip right there with a pov. If you sell beverages, if you sell jewelry, I would say something like, oh, here's a great one from Diet Coke. It's POV.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:20]:
Your out of office email is on, the UV is 9, and you just cracked a fresh Diet Coke. Done. All right, so that would be the pov. It's still helpful in a way. If it was for the Secret Service agent pov, in a helpful way. It's like the POV is giving a tip for the Diet Coke, for jewelry, for whatever you sell. It could be more of like, hi. Like, this is a feeling that they're desiring, and you can go that way.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:43]:
So I make sure that POV either suggests an idea, provides a feeling, or shares a tip. Okay, so there you go. Your POV reel, the next one I would post for you for the week is what I love to call the "that's me" reel, where literally the reel is just saying, hey, this is what you're struggling with. This is what you desire. I'm over here. Welcome to my page. Okay, Something like waiting for the girls who don't love their arms, who have hips and boobs, Find me. I have all the outfit tips for you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:11]:
If you're a restaurant waiting for all the foodies in D.C. who love whatever it is you serve to find us, welcome to the name of the restaurant. Mine would say something like, waiting for the newbie content creators or maybe the Instagram beginners, waiting for all the business owners who want to, you know, want to exit their content flop era and blah, blah, blah, blah. Welcome to my page. So that's the fourth reel I would post for you. Okay, and again, we're talking reels. The last one's gonna be a carousel. Get excited.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:36]:
So now we've covered a lot. We've provided that helpful content. We've provided, you know, giving them a feeling of what it's like to follow you and be a part of your world. Because that's what we do on social media. We're creating these worlds for people. Enter where they belong. Right, okay. And the last one that I would post for you, let's do a carousel for some fun.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:54]:
These are the types of carousels that are killing it on TikTok and Instagram right now. They're literally, if you're watching on YouTube photos and, like, screenshots and just. I mean, this. This was so easy for her to put together. 13,000 likes, over 300 shares, it says. Five articles that helped me fall Back in love with life. And you scroll and it has the articles that she found. Other version of this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:18]:
I love this one. I can tell if you're a real leader by your emails. Let me show you how. And then. But what's cool about this is it starts with a very off the. Like I said, it doesn't have to be super polished or brand photography. Even though we need our brand photography, we need our brand photos for these carousels. It can be a selfie at your desk.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:35]:
And I'll. This is a perfect example of this. This creator's name, it's Leadership Heather. And so she goes, I can tell if you're a real leader by your emails. Let me show you how again, the word me. Let me show. And the word I, I can tell, right? Personal. And then it goes through and it gives you, like, X versus check.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:54]:
And then at least to a lead magnet. Beautifully done, carousel. So those are the posts I would do for you. Now, a bonus, because I know a lot of people get intimidated by the humor category. If you want to take a stab at it, if you love adding humor into your content, the last piece of content I would create for you would be a relatable reel. Something humorous, something relatable to people either in your field or your target market. Okay. And I will feature myself for this one because I had so much fun with this reel.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:23]:
And let me tell you something, it's not going viral. I don't care. My. I know my audience is eating it up like we. Because I am the person in the friend group and I just got back from the beach, like I said, well, I look a hot mess with my girlfriends. And let me tell you, not one of them posted their own story. They were all reposts of my story. And we always joke like, you know, all my friends are always like, Shannon, we'd have no Instagram stories if it wasn't for you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:44]:
So I put. It's this funny, funny trend where essentially the whole thing is just to kind of highlight something that's kind of mediocre, nothing like crazy. And you're just, like, acting like you're just. Everyone's cheering for you, right? I've seen so many funny, great versions of this. But I put pov, the one friend who creates the Instagram story, the whole group will repost. And my girlfriends are, like, cheering, right? And I'm just like, you guys, come on. Right? And people are loving it. And people are tagging their friends.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:11]:
They're sharing it. It actually already has. Let's look at it's got 148 shares and 4 reposts. So pretty good. I've only put it up not even a full 24 hours yet, but it's doing really well. And I what I love about this reel is it highlights my love of social media. So again, it shows like my core values. Not as for like deep core values, but it shows how much I love what I do and I love being the creative director of my friend group and you know, everyone in the comments is tagging their fellow creative director and it's just something fun.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:38]:
So that would be the last one I would do. It would be something humorous. It would be something that highlights something within your world that you and your audience will find funny so that you guys can bond. We love to bond on social. And what bonds us faster than humor? I don't know. Right. So those would be the five plus a bonus pieces of content I would post for you this week. And what I want to add is I know I talk a lot about the category happenings.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:02]:
Like happenings for me would be if I wanted to do like a photo dump of my weekend or, you know, a recent speaking engagement I had and talk about it, that sort of stuff. But happenings, I always say, isn't definitely like a weekly thing because those type of things, you don't want to force a happening. It's really a about what's going on in business, what's going on in your life. But an example of it for me would be, and I'm gonna end end on this is it'll be in the show notes, the one about the beach house and how we bought the beach house and the story of that. That's a happening. That doesn't. That's not an Instagram tip. That's a lot of what I share.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:32]:
But I just wanna encourage you guys. There's so much chatter about niching down, right. And how that has hurt so many people and our creative brains. And it's so true, right. When it comes to creating content. And those pieces of content that I would sprinkle throughout the week for you if I was your social media manager, chief content officer, et cetera, that you're allowed to throw in some random stuff like we want more from you than just your helpful advice or your hot takes and opinions. Right. That's why that girl, Chelsea.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:01]:
I'm going back to the beginning of this podcast episode. That girl Chelsea, I mean, she talks about all sorts of things, but what you get to know is who she is and what she loves and what her hot takes are, but you also get her humor in every single piece of her content. Okay to take my four Hs and overlap. It's okay to put up whatever you want. Sometimes it's a funny trend and you just want to do it. You are allowed to have a messy grid, a non messy grid. You're allowed to engage with content you love. It doesn't have to be within your niche.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:31]:
All these rules have really made have really sucked the fun out of all this. So I just wanted to show you kind of the range of content I would create for you. Whether you're a food creator, you own a yoga studio, whatever it is, this is how content should go throughout the week. You know, like, it doesn't have to. There's no rules. But this is what I would do for you. And I hope this kind of shows you the range of what you can create with your content. And you don't have to stay in this one box because that is no fun anyway.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:57]:
I love you, friend. I hope this helped you kind of get some ideas for what to sprinkle throughout the week. How to help, how to relate, how to bond. So that's all I got. I know this is a little longer, but I just want to make sure you guys see how easy that content is. You can easily get five pieces of content up this week, and that is your challenge. I love you, friend.