Posting Isn’t the Only Way to Grow: Engage More Using This Simple 10-10-10 Method

Social media isn’t just about churning out endless posts, it’s also about genuine engagement and community building. Even if you only have a few minutes a day, you can still build engagement into your daily routine. I'll walk you through my signature 10-10-10 Method aka The Shannon Method, for intentional engagement, and share stories of how meaningful conversations, (yes, real convos in the DMs!) can lead to unexpected friendships, collaborations, and business growth. Whether you’re managing a brand, just starting out, or simply feeling overwhelmed with social media, you can take this simple engagement strategy, customize it, and run with it!

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• My 10-10-10 Method for Instagram engagement and community building, breaking down each step.
• Sparking real conversations and connections with meaningful comments instead of boring generic comments that get overlooked.
• How daily, consistent engagement still leads to account growth with minimal posting.
• Engaging with hashtags and accounts your target audience follows, including local businesses or influencers.
• Building genuine relationships through the DMs and connecting over shared experiences or interests.
• Thinking of social media as a networking opportunity and perfect for introverts wanting to grow their business.

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 034: Is Engagement the Most Important Metric on Instagram?
• Episode 043: We’re Getting Back to Basics and Loving Our Content
• Episode 062: Why You Don’t Need Fancy Content to Stand Out
• Episode 070: Instagram Growth Hacks That Actually Work and Give Your Account Personality

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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. Greetings from Atlanta. My business partner Emily and I are about to go to the Reelies. So I. I'm really dressed up for you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:29]:
I hope you appreciate it if you're watching on YouTube. Okay. So I'm gonna keep this really short and sweet. Cause my podcast episodes have been a tad longer lately. Just because I have had a lot to say, clearly. But what I want to talk about today and Emily helped me figure out. Cause I'm like, what do I talk about? Which is like, when I really think about the trajectory. I don't say that word very well.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:44]:
Of how we got here. Like, Emily and I both, right? Like the woman putting on this event, Manu, with Your Social Team. I mean, I. And when I really think about all a lot of the growth I've had on Instagram, it's beyond just posting, right? So I thought I'd talk about engaging real quick and community building. Because even if you're someone who's like, Shannon, I can only post twice a week. I'm like, okay, well then every day, treat it like a happy hour, a networking event, whatever, however you want to call it. Like, I would literally, back in the day when I was only posting like three times a week. Cause I didn't have much time else to do anything else and I was managing so many people, literally, I would call it my Jeopardy hour.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:18]:
We'd have Jeopardy on. And. And while we're like watching, you know, getting everyone ready for bed, I would just spend 30 minutes engaging. And I came up with it. It was called the 10-10-10 method. Emily calls it the Shannon Method. The Shannon Method. It's called the Shannon Method.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:31]:
Get it right, trademark it, you use it. Shout her out. Yeah, I love you. But I came up with it because I was engaging for so many other businesses, like title company, a boutique, a hair salon, right? And what I would do is I would spend the first 10 minutes engaging with the feed. So people that are already actively following, I would leave comments. Not just cute, right? I would leave a comment that would spark a conversation or make it meaningful. I spend the next 10 minutes going through Instagram stories, replying to stories, etc. Commenting on stories.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:57]:
And sometimes a little fun fact for you because, you know, everything's based on an algorithm. I would sometimes swipe my Stories all the way left. So I go to the end of the storyline and I'd work my way backwards because a lot of those people at the end are people I haven't connected with for a long time. They're not seeing my content, I'm not seeing theirs, et cetera. Then the last 10 I would spend engaging with hashtags. But another way to think of it is just accounts that you know your people are following. So let's say you're. And as I work, especially when I was doing full on management, most of my clients were local.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:23]:
So let's say they were a yoga studio. I would be like, okay, what coffee shops are near that yoga studio? What local influencers are your people following? What local blogs, magazines, et cetera are they following? Farmers markets? They're going to. And I would make sure to comment as the yoga studio or I would comment as the realtor, whatever it was. And that is how I built a lot of people's account besides just posting. This still works. This still works. These, whether it's TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, these platforms want you to engage, they want you to take part, they want you in the comment section, they want you in the DMs. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:59]:
And when I think about today and the reallys and that we're going to this award show, I think about the way I communicated and got to know Manu was I DMed her once and I, I'm if I go back years into our dms. But the reason we started chatting is because we realized we both worked at Turner. I was at CNN, she was at Cartoon Network, I believe. Yes. And because I noticed she was from Atlanta. So I found that connection point. And this wasn't to sell to her, this wasn't to get anything. I just was like, oh my gosh.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:26]:
She's another social media marketing expert. She seems cool. We have similar, like we stand for a lot of the same stuff as far as like, you know, no burnout, things like that. And then I messaged her and I was like, oh my gosh, we're in Atlanta. You know, And I started saying I used to work at CNN. She's like, oh my gosh, I used to work at Turner. We had that in common. And now here we are all these years later and she's asked Emily and I to be jurors.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:45]:
We're presenting, we're competitors at the end of the day. Right. But I've never looked at my competition as a competitor. I have collabed with people I've Done. You know, I come into masterminds where someone literally does the same thing as me. I'll go talk about that. They'll come into our mastermind and membership. Sometimes with Emily and I talk about what they do.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:04]:
And what was so funny is Emily. Every time we'd have a someone come in who's an expert in our field come in and talk and they say the same stuff we do, we'd be like, yeah. And sometimes people need to hear that to really know that you know what you're talking about. It's not just you, it's other people. Right? So here's what you can do. You can use the 10-10-10 method, the Shannon method. If you are like Shannon, I don't have 30 minutes or whatever, 555 or maybe in the morning you engage with your feed. In the afternoon when you find yourself doom scrolling or whatever, go write the stories and go comment on and leave, you know, sweet DMs to people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:35]:
You know, again, like when I see Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram posts, I make sure I always comment on that post. And it's not just to get visible. It's also because I want to chime in and also say thank you. And I, you know, whatever the information is he's sharing. So think of it that way. What are accounts, you know, your people are following? What are. So again, if you're a business coach or maybe only coach women, they're probably following accounts like Flodesk, you know, that sort of thing. Right.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:58]:
If you're in the online space, Teachable is here. We had a dinner with Teachable. They were amazing. They hosted this dinner last night. If I was managing Teachable, and they have a huge following, so they're obviously doing the right thing. But I would engage with other accounts that aren't direct, maybe competitors of theirs or they could because they all offer something different. I just want to encourage you to know that posting isn't the only way to grow. I have gotten so many followers over the years from leaving a comment or just from swooping into their DMS and being like, hey, I see you're in the same field.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:25]:
Oh my gosh. Also, local Raleigh influencers, I have literally slipped into their DMS and been like, oh my gosh, I love that coffee shop. And then they'll follow me, I'll follow them back, we'll start yapping and we'll be like, you know, hopefully we run into each other at an event sometime. So that's all I want to say today. I want to keep it really short and sweet that we are on here to be social, not just post. And the TikTok especially is obsessed. When you start commenting on other stuff they will show your content to more people. So trust me when I say engage, be social, treat it like like I said what do you whatever you want to think about it as a book club or if you want to think about it as a networking event, right? And I always say that's why Instagram, TikTok all these are so good for introverts because you don't have to leave your house.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:03]:
You can sit on your couch, leave some comments, shoot out some DMS and make a new connection and possibly a sale or business. Bestie like me and Emily, we met through a hashtag and here we are all these years later celebrating all of what we've accomplished. Oh, aren't we cute. We're about to go have a ball of a time. Love you friend. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you next week.