Use the REP Hook Formula and Start Filling in the Missing Pieces

Grab your notebook because today we’re talking about nailing your messaging with the REP hook formula. I just spent some time in Indy with our mastermind and I’ve brought back some seriously powerful insights for you. In this episode, we’re getting into what makes content really click, and how nailing your messaging and understanding psychological triggers can transform your posts, reel in new followers, and boost your sales (like one mastermind participant who gained 600 followers and $500 in sales in less than 24 hours!). If you’re stuck on what to say in your hooks, feeling lost when it comes to filling in those blanks, or just frustrated that your Instagram isn’t delivering results, you’re going to hear proven strategies and prompts that are working right now.

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• A breakdown of my REP Hook Formula: relatable, expertise, and personal connection and how to apply each part to your own content.
• The importance of using relatable recognition and identity marketing when creating content and why words matter in your script, copy, and captions. 
• Positioning yourself as a trusted source of insider knowledge, sharing your expertise as a job title or personal experiences.
• Highlighting the  curiosity gap with personal words (like I, my, we, us) making hooks more personal to foster authority and relatability.
• Actionable hook prompts and how to personalize them (even if you feel stuck!) using specific, situational language to increase relevance and stakes.

Featured content in this episode:

• Shannonmckinstrie: Steal my proven hooks

Recommended episodes:

• 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 067: The Importance of Belonging on Social Media
• Episode 076: Create Content That Makes Them Want to Keeping Coming Back
• Episode 077: Simple B-Roll and Strong Hooks for Low-Effort, High-Impact Instagram Content

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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. All right, buckle up, get your notepads ready. Class is in session. We're going to keep this as short, sweet and crystal clear as possible. I just got back from Indianapolis.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:32]:
We're now at the beach. We had a crazy week of traveling, but at in Indianapolis for the social squad Society Mastermind with my business partner Emily, right, ten incredible female entrepreneurs. We've had this plan for, gosh, almost a year, this event and this Mastermind and all this thing. And like we've just been so excited. And the main, the whole thing is even though obviously we're helping them create content, the main goal is we are nailing their messaging. Almost all the women in this Mastermind have been in business for years at that Mastermind, one of our girls who is a reading coach for kids in elementary school, et cetera, we nailed it. When I sat with her for our one on one, I was, I had goosebumps. I was like, we got it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:08]:
She left the mastermind, went to the airport, posted the post we talked about. She wrote this to me. This was two days ago and I just looked and it's already got twice as many likes. So it's continuing to grow. This was in less than 24 hours. She goes, Shannon, I worked on this in Indy with you, right? Posted in the airport before I left. 600 new followers, $500 worth of sales in less than 24 hours from a digital product. And that was, I can't wait to talk to her tomorrow because I know it's probably now a thousand dollars worth of sales, 1200 new followers, cuz it's going.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:37]:
And those words in there were part of my REP hook formula and included these things that I'm about to share with you so that you can start filling in the blanks of the prompts I give you here on this podcast on Instagram. This is it. It clicked for her. And I am so excited it's going to click for you too. It's not only nailing their messaging, but nailing what's working again right now. And that's why you're listening to this podcast, right? So let me tell you something. That the little things I could notice, they were getting stuck on that. I'm sure you are too.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:00]:
And that in my comments section yesterday on the reel I shared with Viral hook formulas and prompts. I got so many people saying, I just don't know what to put in the blanks. That's my favorite thing to do. And that's why I have a job and that's why I have a career, because this is where everyone gets stuck. And this is what I love helping dissect. So I'm not sure what we'll even title this podcast episode, but I can tell you exactly why your hooks and content aren't working by these little missing pieces. What it comes down to is these words that you use in your copy, your script, your text on reels, your carousels.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:30]:
The words need to have little psychological triggers that people attach to. What that means is as you're scrolling and you stop on a reel, what word? And we're not talking about visual, beautiful, appealing, those types of reels. I'm talking about when someone, if there is a carousel and you stop it on it, you like it, save it, you share it, et cetera. Dissect those words. And I promise you there's something in those words. One of the following. Ready? Something relatable that you recognize.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:55]:
That could be a brand name, it could be a situation you find yourself in, a scenario, if you will. Okay. The relatable recognition. That one word needs to be something that speaks very specific to their identity. This is not me saying you need a niche down. I've never niched down. I work with all sorts of business owners. I share.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:14]:
I go rogue on my content sometimes. To share, what I'm saying is you need to know what words people attach to. Most of the time we're scrolling on social media. What I always say, the algorithm knows that we're on here to look at content we want to see and that we relate to and that we see ourselves in. So that relatable recognition. Now, I've talked about my REP hook formula so many times. It's typically for that helpful content, the educational content. But this, this applies for the funny content, the heard content, that relatable recognition.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:41]:
That one word that they can go, that's me. Or a scenario that you say, let's say maybe you're a 2026 bride. They go, yep, that's me. Or you are obsessed with shopping at anthropology, you see the word anthropology, you're going to stop. You shop at Costco, you're going to stop. My people, they're stuck in 200, 300 view jail. They see that, they stop. A relatable recognition.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:58]:
Okay, so I want you to write this down. Relatable recognition. And what that means is specific identity. My girl Veronica Romney has a whole book on this called Identity Marketing. I'm going to read the title. Identity Marketing how to Create Loyal Lifelong Fans and a Legendary Brand. And the. What she describes is, again, think about the Swifties, right? Her album just came out when I was at Disney a few weeks ago.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:18]:
Like, people identify themselves with these brands, right? But it could also be a season of life you're in. Maybe it's a journey, some sort of journey. So there you go. That's the first one for R, the REP hook. It's something relatable. So when I sat down with her at the Mastermind, you know, we wrote down words, relatable scenarios, phrases, things, relatable recognition. Because again, she's not just serving parents, she's serving parents of first grade. If you say, hey, parents, okay, that's what, like, how many people they're not gonna attach to it.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:45]:
Parents of first graders, parents of kids going to kindergarten next year. I. That would make me stop. Do you see what I mean? All right, next, it's laser focused. Next is E. Expertise, right? That's where you say something like, here's why you should trust me. It's insider knowledge. It's the gap between what you were already told versus what you have left out and you need to know, right? That makes us go, oh, my gosh, curiosity, right? So if you are an expert, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm learning from a dermatologist.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:09]:
And again, it doesn't always have to be expertise, doesn't always have to be title. If you are. If you are a dermatologist, if you are a travel agent, or if you're just a type B girly who discovered this really cool hack with ChatGPT. That expertise, it's something that we know you are the person. It positions you as the guide, right? Okay, so next. And then P is something personal. This is the curiosity gap. Ready? This is where the word even.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:33]:
Even if you just put the word I or my or we or us, that makes it personal, right? We love following people of authority, but we also want to relate to them. So we've got relatable expertise and then we've got personal. And when you put these three things together, like lightning in a bottle, when it's something personal, you're like, oh, my gosh, I need to know this. The stakes are high because you see that this person figured it out, right? There's a. There's a reel that went viral that I love. And it's this woman going, I've read 500 books or something like this on how to get rich. Okay, I'm in. Let me listen.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:01]:
Right? And that's her making it personal. I read. And it's putting her as an expert because she did the work for you. And it's relatable recognition because she's walking. You know, you. You relate. Even her visual was the relatable part. It.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:14]:
It grabbed her because she's in a bookstore. So, like, all these things come in and just make us stop everything and look and watch and pay attention. Attention is currency. You grab people's attention, and then you get them to engage and follow. They're a fan. identity is huge in marketing. I wanted to cover that with you, and I don't want to give away her hook because that's my girl. And we're. I'm so excited, and it's going.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:37]:
But I will give you the prompt. Okay, so here's your prompt for the week. The things that. And I'm gonna help you figure out what to put in the blanks. Ready? The things about blank that no one told you at blank. But I will now what she did with this and why it was so freaking good and went crazy. What they didn't tell you at. And she mentions an event.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:55]:
Okay. That parents go to. And that was that relatable piece. They right away go, oh, I. I have that coming up. Let me see what she's got to say. There's other ways to do this too. Like, so let's say you're a wedding planner.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:07]:
The things about whatever it is. Planning a wedding venue, contracts, caterers, food, hiring a DJ that your planner didn't tell you at the venue. Walkthrough at the da, da, da. But I will. So right away, they're like, oh, I have that coming up. I need to know. Let's say you're a nutritionist. The things about your metabolism and perimenopause.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:28]:
Your trainer didn't tell you during whatever, but I will. What is that scenario? Right. So other ways to do this, because this prompt might not work for everyone. I just wanted to put it out there in case you want to test it out. And you know what? For fun, I just did this. I just paused and I just want to chat you and typed it in. Let's see what it says. Here's for finance.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:45]:
The things about LLC's Your accountant didn't tell you at tax time, but I will. How about this? Mental health. The things about burnout. No one told you in therapy, but I will so if you go to therapy, you're like, I go to therapy, I'm burnout. What are you going to tell me? Right? It's targeted and they feel safe because they feel like, oh, she's got the secret sauce. Now, another way to do this, another similar prompt that I love when you are doing it so that you. So if you want to test that out, cool.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:08]:
If you want to do talk to camera, this is what I want you to do. I'm a type B content creator. I'm a mom of teens. I've been a realtor in New York City for blah blah blah years. You're going to start with what it is that shows that you are trusted expertise. Okay, Whatever that is. And this is how. Boom.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:26]:
So this is how I. But again, that's the blanks that people struggle with. I'm like, it can't just be like, I wouldn't get on and say, I'm an Instagram coach and this is how I edit my reel. Nope, I'm an Instagram coach and this is how I edit my talk to camera reels in less than blah, blah, blah minutes or that get views like this. And I show a screenshot, you gotta pack that punch. The word that would they relate to is reels. Instagram, right? The personal is how I do it, right? Sorry. I geek out about this stuff and then the personal is I get results like this.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:59]:
This is my journey. So those are a few hooks for you and prompts. But I also want you, after you listen to this episode, I want you to go to my. I shared a reel. On Saturday, I'm standing there in the kitchen with my coffee cup in that caption. We'll put it in the notes. In that caption are all these hooks I want you guys to test out. So let me read a couple real quick and then we gotta go.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:15]:
It's Sunday football day. So I hope this helps. I know it's a lot and like, people get frustrated, right? So I said, someone said, I really struggle with the blanks, right? And she said, this girl says, these are great. She's a blogger, she does fashion for Moms. She goes, I don't know what to put in the blank. So one of the prompts is what I would blank if blank. I said what I would wear if I was going to blank this fall. So for me, if I'm.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:38]:
If I help people, I would say, if I'm going to a pumpkin patch this fall, it's these scenarios that they go, yeah, I am going to pumpkin patch soon. And she's obviously, if she's saying, here's what I would wear, it's personal. And we know she's an expert because we can just see in the video that she's got a dope outfit on. Right? Okay, here's another one. The blank. I blank. And of course people are going to go, what? But I put the prompts, I put the blank. Use specific language.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:02]:
Here is what I said. Cozy weeknight soup. You wouldn't just say, the soup I make every year. That's not exciting enough for us anymore. You would say, the cozy weeknight soup I can't wait to make this fall. Or I make for dinner at least once every week and that my kids love. What are the stakes? We're missing out if I don't do this. So another one.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:21]:
Blank. I blank. That blank. Right? And I put as an example for the. For my Instagram folks. I put books or places, whatever it is, phrases you could do. I read this summer. I traveled this year.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:34]:
That changed my brain chemistry. What are the stakes? Right? My girl Adley talks about this all the time. The stakes are high. You need to make the stakes higher. What are the stakes for my people discouraged by Instagram and about to quit? My hooks will save them. Okay, so go to these REP. Write down those relatable words, phrases. Write down the personal.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:55]:
Write down the places, the things that they have coming up. What are things? You know, if you coach people on how to get a career, use words, you know, obviously, here's what I post on LinkedIn. For someone who's trying to get a job over 100K. Right? Or a specific job, you want to use those words, phrases, we can attach to so we see ourselves. That's it, guys. All right. I'm going to leave it at that. I know that was a lot to digest.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:16]:
I hope this helps more in the show notes. I love you. Sorry this was a more serious podcast because I know how frustrated you all are if you're discouraged with Instagram, this is the episode for you, and we'll talk more about it. Even next week, we'll touch on this again and I'll have more hooks for you. And we can kind of play. It's like Mad Libs. And once you crack it, consider Instagram your thing. Love you, friend.