Create Content That Makes Them Want to Keep Coming Back

This episode is an absolute wake-up call for anyone feeling overwhelmed, bored, or even frustrated by the never-ending content creation cycle. I’m not here to make you feel like you’re doing something wrong, because you’re not! Instead, I want to get real about what’s actually working in the world of content right now. Spoiler: it’s not hacks or gimmicks, and it’s definitely not boring, impersonal posts. Instead, we’re talking about humanizing your brand, sharing your vibe, and making your account feel like the kind of place people genuinely want to keep coming back to. I’m sharing lots of examples of content that’s resonating right now (find the links below!), explaining why building community is key, and giving you permission to have some honest, authentic fun online. 

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• Breaking free from the basic level content creation with real, personal, and humanized social media strategies that I see working right now.
• Building a genuine online community instead of chasing empty follower numbers, because we don’t need more unengaged followers.
• Start using more “me-centric” hooks and personal stories that boost engagement with examples.
• Simple steps to start showcasing your vibes, style, and personality on your business account to make your content more relatable and shareable.
• How to grow your brand with a little more fun and individuality, because we love to see it!

Featured content in this episode:

• mimi_drabik: Dumb things that make life more fun
• justina.franklin: Here’s how you're instantly going to make your life better
• tara_langdale: Things I find incredibly unchic
• candicedenise: Here’s some things you need to do to level up
• outsideeric: Making life a little more joyful
• courtney_hirsch: I don’t do it all  

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 005: Create Shareable Content to Increase Your Reach with the 3 S’s
• Episode 006: Selling a Lifestyle, Not Just a Product
• Episode 018: The 4 H’s Are the Only Content Pillars You Need for Reels
• Episode 024: Is Storytelling the Missing Piece in Your Content?
• Episode 053: Use Customer Insights to Create Reels That Attract and Convert
• 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 [00:00:00]:
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. Buckle in. This is a wake up call. This is a Shannon's not playing around day, and we need to have a chat. You're gonna leave this episode feeling really excited, though, I can promise you that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:36]:
This is not a you're doing things wrong. This is not a you suck at this. Absolutely not. A lot of the experts have made you feel that way, and I hate that. And lately I've just been feeling this big pull to just keep it. And as the cool kids say, one hunnit. Did I say right? Because honestly, I see all the garbage y' all see, and I'm. I'm just done beating around, you know, just, okay, we're not gonna go there.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:01]:
It's. I'm not gonna waste my breath, but I see it. I see it a lot. Cause a lot of people will DM me say, is this true? This. I tried this. I bought this course. It didn't work. What do I do? I've spent all this money and I'm like, it makes me so angry.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:15]:
As someone who really loves what I do, yes, I saw things, of course, But I have had, literally, people. And I'm not. I'm not someone. I'm not good at tooting my own horn. I'm really not good at compliments. But when I tell you the best thing that makes me so happy where I can act. I still struggle with being like, thank you. Because I just feel like this is what I love to do, so why wouldn't I share it? It's like when someone gives you a recipe, they're like, oh, my God.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:36]:
It's like, yeah, like, of course I'm gonna pass it down to you. It. To me, it doesn't feel like a big deal sharing these hooks and stuff with you guys, but it's changed so many of your lives. I Someone last week, right, she used one of the hooks from last week's podcast, and it's the most views she's ever had within a few hours. It was at 8,000. I think she was only at about a thousand. And that was within just a few hours. And I should go look again.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:54]:
But she's just like, oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh, what's happening? I'm like, this is what happens when you put some emotion and some bold words that aren't boring and fluffy on your reels or in your script or on the graphic or in the caption. That's what's happened when you go back to being a human on the Internet. That's it. So I appreciate every sweet DM I always get, but I just want y' all to know, like, this is what I. It brings me so much joy when I hear this stuff. And then when I hear the other side of the coin, I just get angry because there's so much going on in the world. There's.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:25]:
So we're all trying to just live our lives and do good. And when I see people giving, you know, saying that they're marketers and, you know, giving you guys bogus advice, it just. It just grinds my gear. So let's just. I'll shut up from there. I just want to let you know what energy I'm on today. Okay? But I had a call with my mentor, Sara Wiles, and I just kind of told her I was like, I'm even bored of my own content right now because I find myself seeing what other people in my industry are doing and feeling I gotta do that. And I'm like, that's not what they need, Shannon.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:54]:
And I know that. I know that, right? I know that I've stopped consuming as much as I normally do, and it's made a big difference. And I actually consume a lot on TikTok because the TikTok vibe is just. And again, everything that go does well on TikTok, it eventually comes to Instagram. So I've been spending a lot of time over there absorbing what's working. And again, we already know. It's the stuff I've been saying for over a year and a half telling y', all, it's coming to Instagram, and it's already started. And that's why people's reaches down is the humanization, the personalization, the fact that your account isn't just content, it's a community, it's a village.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:26]:
It's a. It's a vibe. It's your tastes, it's your style. It. And I don't care. I don't. I don't want to hear, you don't have style. Okay? Sorry, I.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:34]:
I'm. I'm not. I'm not yelling, I love you. I want to make sure you know that. I just already know what you're saying. I don't have style either. I'm literally wearing like. Like, let's be real.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:41]:
But what I mean by style, I mean just what Is the energy when you walk into the room or when someone leaves your presence, they should be able to feel that, right? When they get to your account, literally the second they read their bio, your bio, watch a story, read a thing, they should be like, this is my person. I need to be in that room. I've. I remember when we first moved. Let me give you an example. I remember when we first moved to North Carolina, right? We were searching for our community. Took us a while to find the right adult friends. You guys know how hard that is, right? Find the right church, find the right bar.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:09]:
We like to go to where the we're like it. And there's this place, Amberly local, right near our house. And one of the first people we met when we moved here, we walked in, I was pregnant. Ryan was getting like some craft beers to go. And she's now one of our dearest friends, Kat. And like it was, she immediately made us feel like home. She introduced us to people who are now like some of our best friends and so is she. They feel like family.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:31]:
We immediately Cary, North Carolina felt like home within days. And it was during COVID and I was pregnant. It was chaos. Our life was chaos. I was having a baby three weeks after we moved here. That is what people's Instagram needs to feel like. I don't care if you sell necklaces, candles, you're an ice cream shop, you are a business coach who helps people scale to whatever. You're a church, you are a ymca, you're a brewery, you're a musician, an artist.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:58]:
What is the vibe? And this is a major check in moment for you, right? Because I'll tell you right now, by vibe for a long time, I mean of course, like I'm here for you guys. This is my thing. I love marketing. I'm really passionate about it. But the other side of my vibe is like I get really worked up and that's the vibe we're bringing today. And that's the vibe that's gonna probably be the vibe of my account for a few weeks. Because I'm just, I'm just over it. I'm over the gimmicks, I'm over the horrible advice.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:24]:
Because guess what, the gimmicks and the tricks and the hacks and actually those worked a couple years ago, but that was 2022, 2023. They don't work anymore. We are on Instagram. We're not here for your one piece of content. We're here for your entire account and your community. And you need to Create content that makes me want to come back to it again. Don't worry, I'm going to share some content to help you understand what that means. And it's going to be from products to music to whatever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:46]:
Just I, I got you once. I'm going to get there. And this is why I've been stressing on this podcast since I started the podcast over a year ago. The Power of Me Centric hooks, right? Instead of saying, you, here's a chocolate cake to bake this fall, it's like, here's the cake I always make for people when da da da. It goes from a tip that's boring and generic, from real simple or, you know, whatever blog to this is what I love. This is what I make, this is what I do. This is what changed my life. This is the podcast that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:15]:
Blah blah, blah, this is the that, right? I talk about this every single week on this podcast. And this is why I've been driving at home so much and why I see other experts in my field saying, don't talk about yourself, don't put anything personal. When I saw all this happening about a year and a half ago was like, this is literally detrimental. Like me as a marketer, I know, it's what I do. I do not cure cancer, I do not save lives. But at the same time, when I see this happening, they are messing with people's lives because they're hurting your business and hurting your community. Okay, woo. I'm on one today.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:46]:
Wooa. Okay, so let's go through some content that, I mean, just to really drive it home. Okay. And I'm gonna go to my save folder and if you aren't in my little broadcast channel on my Instagram, you should be. I would love for you to be there every day or throughout the week. I like, I put like reels that are going viral and break down. Why? So let me actually go through some because I again, as you can see, if you're watching on YouTube, I got hyped and just went off this channel today because again, I see what's working. And what they're telling you to do is not what's working.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:15]:
And what's working is okay. And I've said it before, when I first started my Instagram, my first Bio ever in 2015, 2016, I rarely posted cause I was managing so many people, but my bio was literally like, let's build an engaged community around your brand. And that's still true today. You want to build a community. But guess what? I changed my bio back Then because people didn't understand what that meant, they're like, what is she talking about? What's a community? I don't want a community. I want followers now. I hope. I think everyone's starting to get it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:41]:
And again, that actually is what separates a lot of us from others, right? We're here to build communities and help people and spread information that helps them with their lives. Tell them something funny that happened that they'll resonate with. Give them something to smile about. That's what we're doing. That's why people come to your pages and stay in whatever. Right now, a lot of the stuff I see going viral right now. If you kind of want to get back to basics of Instagram again and be like, well, Shannon, I need to, I need to rattle this up. I need to rewire my brain.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:10]:
I've heard so many people say that. They're like, Shannon, you're making me have to rewire my brain. And they're, they're not mad about it. I'm like, good. I'm like, I'm so sorry, but I'm like, literally think about what you would post if you didn't have a business. That type of stuff. But you still make it about your business, right? So I talk about the three S's a lot. Simple, shareable, specific.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:27]:
And then the rep hook, which is relatable, expert, personal. So between that and the rep and the four Hs, that nothing has changed. All three of those things that I preach all day long still work and even more so important now, right? So with the rep hook, it's, you know, in that first text on screen or that first slide of your carousel, or that caption or what you're saying verbally in a talk to camera, whatever that first thing it is that they see or hear, it's basically saying that your, your sentences are something rather than, let's go back to the cake, right? Chocolate cake for fall. Let's go there, right? Instead you want to, like, you want to add those words that are not buzzwords from two years ago, they're buzzwords now or coming, you make up the buzzword. And yes, you are creative enough, I promise you. So one example to do this, if you're like, if you kind of like lean more into the unhinged marketing, the humor and things like that. And maybe you sell really funky, whatever it is, stickers and silly shirts, whatever it is. Or you're just one of those personal brands that is just kind of like me, like, we're just her hook.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:32]:
And it's her cracking a Dr. Pepper in her car again. It feels human. It feels like I'm just looking at someone, you know, I feel connected to her already. She goes, dumb things that make life more fun. Okay, now, again, this is not everyone's style, but what I mean is, if she had put. This is where content is going. Are you ready? This is the biggest takeaway.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:49]:
If she had put things that make my life more fun. Okay, Bored dumb things. So that means right then this is something I can probably take and run with today. And it's not that deep. We love that on social media. Okay, next one. Here's this girl talking to the camera. Here's how you're instantly going to make your life better.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:06]:
Okay, so what I'm going to give you guys as an assignment this week to kind of get you back in the groove of humanizing your content and personalizing. I want you to do something about that, your life. Because as you see, some things I do to make life more fun. This is going to change your life. And the reel I just shared today, if you want to make yours business related, do it. Mine says here I'll let it play so you can hear it. Ready? This is what I mean. I'm taking what's working.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:30]:
And ready. Here we go. I'm going to tell you something that will literally change the way you show up. So again, change the way. Make life more whimsical. I'm sure you've seen that girl. She's everywhere, all over Instagram all of a sudden, in TikTok. Ways to make your life more blah, blah, blah, Things I do as a type B, blah, blah, blah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:45]:
To make life less chaotic. Things, things I do right now. Here's another one. This girl says things I find incredibly unchic. So again, that kind of has that negative connotation that makes them. But what I'm trying to tell you is this is not the only piece of content working. There's thousands of types of pieces of content that's working. But to kind of get you back in the habit of going into your own perspectives and thoughts and opinions, because that's what helps people understand what your count is about, what your vibe is, what you stand for, what.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:15]:
And again, it doesn't have to be that deep, right? If you don't want to talk about anything deep in your life, you. You don't have to. I'm gonna find one more. Here's another creator. She's talking to the camera. She goes, here are some things that you need to do. To level up. And she says from her own experience, this is social media, this is Instagram.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:30]:
Now. Things that I do, things I find chic, unchic, dumb things I do to blah, blah, blah. And then here's another one. I'm obsessed with this one. It's this guy, he goes, it starts by saying, here, I'll just let it play so you guys can hear. Every day at precisely 2:15pm Me and my roommate get up, walk out of our respective work from home offices, head into the living room, okay. And he tells a story of what they do every day. It's something he does in his life to make his life a little more joyful, a little more happier.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:55]:
And I'm telling you, this type of content is going crazy. Even on TikTok, there is a trend saying things I do to fill my own cup. Now, when you watch these reels, if you watch these reels, they're in the show notes. Do not get intimidated that some kind of look a little more content creator. Y' all know my stuff does not. I do not do weird angles, I do not do crazy edits. I do not have the time. That's why I did make these podcast episodes so short.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:15]:
Cause I've got a crazy 4 year old that is attached to my hip. So with that said, I just wanted to have a come to Jesus moment with you and to help you kind of get back in the swing of things and into a rhythm of, hey, you matter in your content because all these gurus have told you that your social media shouldn't be about you. Blah, blah, blah. Ready? This is another one that went viral. Okay, I gotta be real with you guys. I don't do it all. I'm a CEO, I'm a mom of three. Do you see what I mean? Personal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:42]:
And I think a lot of people and I told like I saw it on Instagram the other or threads. Someone was like, don't put personal stuff on your business. And I'm like, what? The personal stuff on my business account is what has literally helped me grow my brand all these years. It's why I have a seven figure brand period. The beach house, the failures, the sharing that I was pregnant and the documenting and the journeys. We love to follow each other's journeys, we love to know your vibe. And I don't, again, I don't want that to intimidate you. You know your people are out there.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:12]:
You know they're out there and you're only going to find them if you show up completely as you and As a human, even if you sell products, you know, I've talked about this and look at the other episodes about product based businesses. Listen to those. I say the same thing. Diet Coke right now looks like a human brand. Duolingo beyond meat. Tsa, right? Corporations, government agencies, law offices. I've said it a million times. Just binge other episodes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:36]:
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I just want you to know I'm so sorry that so much of the conflicting advice out there has gotten you so off track. If you want to start thinking like a marketer and you want to continue to grow in 2025 without literally wanting to throw your phone out the window and quit, I'm holding your hand. I promise I'm here for you. I got you. I will not steer you wrong. The nothing I share on this podcast, or on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube anywhere or LinkedIn is not something I've not tested or seen across other industries. Not just mine. Not just mine.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:09]:
I do not share just what works for an Instagram coach. Okay. Oh, you saw a different side of me today. I love you, friend. Promise I'll bring some happier vibes next week. But this is a happy vibe. I want you to have some fun. I'm giving you permission to have some fun with your content.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:24]:
Talk about something unique to you. Something cool. You and your spouse do something cool. You and your dog do something cool that you just do by yourself. Solo dates, whatever it is, let us into your world. Invite us in. That's what we are looking for. I love you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:36]:
And let's add a little PS here. There's so many brilliant marketers I'm obsessed with on Instagram. You know who you are. The good ones. And anyone can spot the good ones. The ethical ones. Shout out to the ethical marketers. Love y'all