Double Your Views on Instagram with the RISE Formula

Everything is about to fall into place for you, because I’m going to tell you exactly what to do when you create your next Instagram post. I created the RISE Formula to help boost your engagement and get more views on your content. This hook formula will not only increase your reach, but it actually converts so you get more followers and sales, while growing your community. We’ll look at content examples and break down how each fits into the RISE Formula so you can confidently start using it right away. If you’re ready to rethink your hooks and leverage what makes you and your audience unique let’s jump in!

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• An overview of the REP Hook (Relatable, Expert, Personal) and how it is geared towards creating helpful content. 
• What the RISE Formula is (Recognizable, Identity, Specific, Effect) and how to start using it in your next Instagram hook.
• Content examples to help you start creating your next hook with confidence and boost your engagement.
• There is no one right way to do a hook, but if your content is underperforming, it’s probably the hook.
• The more relevant a hook is, the more effective it is for your audience; try to use at least two or three elements of the RISE Formula, if not all four.
• If your content is not converting to new sales, followers, or community, then what’s the point? 

Featured content in this episode:

• Fairwayphysiopt: POV: You’re a golfer…
• Feelgoodwithfi: The dinner I’ve been eating
• Coltonreidofficial: POV: You find the most perfect home
• Her.thirties: Sunday lunch in your thirties
• Absolutelyaustin: Mental health walk

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 83: Use the REP Hook Formula and Start Filling in the Missing Pieces
• Episode 92: This is the Era of Experiences and Belonging
• Episode 94: You Want Your Content to Fit Your Life, Not Become Your Life
• Episode 96: Boost Retention Rates and Create Memorable Content that Feels Human

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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, guys, you ready? Lock in. A lot's going to click for you in this episode. So much so that I fully think if you take what I'm going to teach in today's episode and you execute it, implement, whatever word you want to use, today, tomorrow, you can skyrocket your reach. And when I say people literally take my free tips on Instagram, et cetera, from this podcast, use it, I get DMs all the time. Oh my gosh, I listened, it worked. I'm at a million views.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:51]:
I'm at 500,000 views. I'm up 2,000 followers. Almost always I'm able to help people quadruple their reach, views, engagement, all of it. And again, it's not just to get content that goes crazy. It's to create content that goes crazy, but converts because if it's not converting to new followers, sales, community growth building, what's the point? Right. And it's kind of fun because obviously we're going to start decorating the podcast studio, quote unquote, this weekend because we finally have a weekend of no plans, which literally does not ever happen in my family. Um, so I started collecting little things like this is, uh, my friend Emily got this for me a couple years ago. It's a new era.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:30]:
It's like that time that we both basically were like, you know, that point in your business where you're like, oh my gosh, this is going to work and this is working and we deserve to be heard, that type of stuff. It really only happened for me personally and Emily probably like, gosh, I don't know, like 2, 3 years ago. And again, I've been working in social media Since 2013, and then I started my business 2015-ish. You know, it started as a quote-unquote hobby at first just to see if I can make any money, and it didn't make a lot of money for the first 5 years. That's why I always tell people, trust me, I was never in this for the money, because if I was, like, you know, I would have given up immediately. So just know, again, I just want to also say I have so many people that I hear from that have just started, and they're like, Shannon, I'm about to give up. I'm like, do you know how long I've been at this? Do you know? And the reason I'm still here is because I know people need my help, because I know what awful advice is out I know how hard this journey is to start a business. It is not the easy way out.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:27]:
I know how much effort it is to create content. And that's why I bow down to like the influencer content creators, the full-time content creators. I'm like, it's a lot, right? So just know if you listen to this episode, obviously share it with your friends, especially if you're on a, if you've been on this journey for a while and all of a sudden you're seeing a huge dip and you're frustrated or you're just starting and you're like, I cannot break through. This is the episode for you. I'm going to tell you exactly what to do today. And you're gonna be so happy. So it's a new era for you, for me, we're doing this. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:56]:
So I study hooks for a living. I help people go, I hate saying viral, but like really go viral. And I want to preface, there's no one way to do a hook. You could have a reel with zero text and just the visuals are so appealing and beautiful that that makes it go viral. Right? So just know when it comes to your content, 9 times out of 10, if something is not working, it is the hook. For real. Also, the other thing I see sometimes is there's just too much information. I can't tell you how many times someone will send me a reel, like one of my Reels Lab students or a one-on-one client.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:28]:
They'll go, how about this? I'm like, take the whole first 8 seconds out, or take the last few seconds out, or take the middle out. I like to always say, if you have a buddy, like mine is my husband, I'm like, am I missing the mark? Is this too much information? Is this not enough? Blah, blah, blah, right? Have someone that you can lean on to send your reel, carousel, etc., to. Because I'm the type of person I'm going to always want to overdeliver, but overdelivering on Instagram especially, it's a lot. TikTok, all those, it's a lot. Sometimes I look at something like, that's a YouTube video. Like, this is a YouTube video, right? So, and a podcast, because I can't say all this in a reel. It would bore someone to tears, right? They're like, yes, we're on Instagram to learn something, to laugh, to, like I like to say, be the group chat hero and send something funny to our friends. Come up with ideas, suggestions, right? We love that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:15]:
But we're not— our brain isn't in lock-in. Let me get my notes out. Okay. That's why people save so much content to go back to later when they're locked in. That is sometimes, but most oftentimes it's the hook because something does not grab them enough. So what I want you to think about is, yes, a hook. In case you're new to content creation, think of a hook as an email subject line and a magazine article title. Like you look when you're in the grocery store, all those things on the front of the magazine, those are like little hooks.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:41]:
They're just little, right? Obviously when you're looking at blogs, blog posts, podcast titles, those are all hooks. When you watch the news and there's like those coming up, that's, that's a hook. And I worked in news a long time, so like I'm obsessed with hooks. I've always been obsessed with hooks. I'm obsessed with B-roll, right? Because I've been in TV production since high school. B-roll's always been around. Hooks, it's— this is nothing new. So someone like me, I'm like, oh, been there, done that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:05]:
But for a lot of you guys, this is new. So just know that it's not that deep. It's just What hooks them, what grabs their attention, and what's going to grab our attention the most is something that's relevant to us. Obviously, if it's relevant to our season of life, a journey we're on, an identity we have, a location we live in, things like that. I always like to say, and there's a whole episode on this, I call it the REP formula. I love to teach this formula. And because I also like to say, get your reps in, right? And use this formula until you nail it. The R stands for relatable.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:35]:
The E stands for expert. The P stands for. Personal, meaning a hook like this. So if I was going REP and I want to share content creation tools, let's, let's reverse engineer it. The relatable word I would use would probably be, I lean on a word, a brand people already know. So probably Amazon, because all my tools that I use in my toolkit, if you will, are from Amazon. The E would be that either I work in social media, content creator, I would use a word about my expertise. So content creator type B, or I can even say My expertise could be my personality type mixed into like, or a proof of that I know what I'm talking about from someone who helps people go viral or, you know, whatever it is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:16]:
So, and then the personal part would be that I'm a type B content creator, whatever that is. So it'd be something like my 10 favorite Amazon content creation tools. And I would probably even say under $50 to make it even more specific and say from a social media strategist, something like that. So there I've got the relatable is the word Amazon, expert is that I'm a social media strategist, and the personal is really just adding my, the word my, my, my favorite. I could also say from a type B content creator, a lazy content creator, whatever. So things like that. That's just a general off the top of my head, right? I would actually work a little harder on that hook, but that makes your REP. But I always said with the REP, choose two at least.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:56]:
Choose an R and an E, a P and an E, whatever it is. You don't have to use all, but that is what I see. I see it all the time. 5 date night spots. So if that was the thing about like 5 date night spots, I swear by as someone who's lived in Boise my entire life and loves food. R is that relatable piece is Boise, right? They're like, oh, I live there. I'm going there. Whatever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:18]:
The personal part, they've lived, you know, they're a foodie. And then the expert is that they've lived there their whole life. Right? So there you go. Stuff like that works really well when it comes to like those types of tips, but REP is more for. Educational type content, which I like to call helpful content in my 4H method. So I was like, you know, the REP method, as much as I love it, I love that REP formula. It's helped so many of my clients go viral, like insane. It's really kind of stuck to just the helpful category.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:41]:
So I was like, let me think of a method for my people, you, whether you sell products, services, whatever the heck, that can be used for funny content, right? So you guys know what the 4H is. It's humorous, helpful, heard happenings, right? So all your content needs to do something. It needs to either help someone out, make them feel heard and seen, make them laugh, and/or something behind the scenes of your life with like a story. That's the 4H method in a gist. So I came up with what I want to call the RISE formula. Okay. Cause I want you to think of like your engagement rising. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:17]:
So there's RISE. And I have looked it up. It does not appear that anyone else is using this RISE formula. So, because I want to make sure this is, you know, specific to you guys. Again, you do not have to do all of the RISE.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:32]:
Okay. Pick a couple, but again, for best results, combine all 4. So R is going to stand for recognize. And again, recognize in a hook, it means something that mirrors them. It's something they recognize and can attach to because They recognize it. This could be brand names, locations, seasons of life, niche identities, like saying golfer, empty nester, blah, blah, right? Really what I mean is usually it's going to be either a situation they see themselves in and that they have again and again, they experience, but it's something that they already know in their brain that they can attach to. Again, brand names, locations, scenarios and situations they regularly find themselves in. Okay.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:13]:
So that's the R is recognizable, something recognizable in your hook that they recognize. I is identity. So this could either be their identity or the identity they want to become, or your identity, right? I always talk about, you don't want to be like, from a physical therapist, you're like, from someone who fixes muscles for a living, right? You want to kind of really make it like your identity is— I always like to say, like, I help people go viral for a living. I study reels for a living, or I study hooks for a living. I help people quadruple their views for a living. My identity could also be type B mom. Small business owner, North Carolina girly. So anything that's identity.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:47]:
So again, could be your identity, their identity. Who is it you help? Okay. I'm going to give you examples of this in just a second. Next is specific. You guys know that's my favorite word. S. So RIS, recognizable, identity, specific. Again, make it concrete, not vague.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:00]:
And then E is effect, meaning what's the outcome? What is the effect that what you're showing me is going to have? Now that's more for the helpful piece. So obviously if you're sharing something heard, like that's not as important. So again, like I said, You don't need to use all 4, but if you add even one of these into your hook, you will, I guarantee it, you'll double your views. I'm telling you. And then hopefully quadruple. So again, not every hook needs to scream all 4, but the strongest hooks will contain at least, I would say, 3, 2 to 3 at least. Okay. So it's not too formulaic, but it's going to feel natural, personal, like they're watching content from someone they're already a fan of, even if they don't know you yet.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:35]:
So let me give you some examples of this. This is my favorite. Ready? POV. And it's someone doing an exercise, right? The video is someone doing an exercise, a stretch. It says, POV, you are a golfer who does this every morning and now your swing feels smoother, your low back pain decreases, and you out-drive all your friends. Okay? RISE. So R, recognizable. They're doing I mean, that could actually be the recognizable part because it'd be so many things in that video.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:01]:
Even in the video, something's recognizable. Like, they're doing a stretch. So it's like, oh, that looks easy enough. Like, I work out, right? I is golfer identity, right? And then specific, but he actually had the E in there too, cuz it's what's the effect of this? You're gonna outdrive your friends, you're gonna have less back pain, blah, blah, blah. He didn't just say you're gonna feel better, you're gonna dominate. He said you're gonna outdrive all your friends. That is specific. Not you're gonna play better.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:26]:
That's boring. Outdrive all your friends. That's exciting. That's an outcome and effect we want. Okay, so that's an example, right? And again, This is a helpful one, so let's go to a different one. The Sunday lunch in your 30s, and the video is like a 5-6 second video of some girls sitting having lunch. The Sunday lunch in your 30s. One's budgeting for IVF, one's booking Bali, one's deep in couples therapy, one's quietly grieving what hasn't happened yet, one's finally happy alone.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:11:52]:
Different chapters, same table. Everyone's carrying something different. No one's ahead, no one's behind. They're all on a different page. That's heard content, right? It makes them go, oh my gosh. But again, the identity in this, holy moly, right? And it's recognizable because the visual in this case is recognizable. 3 girls sitting, having lunch. That is a situation this person's viewers find themselves in.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:15]:
So I just want to remind you, the R, the recognize, could be the video. Maybe it's video of you and you're saying something funny. Like, I love the Reels. I love them where it's like, I need to take a walk for my mental health, the mental health walk. And it's like, the person pushing their cart at Target, right? Or at HomeGoods or whatever it is. That's recognizable. It doesn't even say HomeGoods or Target on the text screen, but the visual is. So again, that recognizable could be that.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:12:39]:
And then that is specific. So you've got the R in reels like that, the recognizable with the visual, and then you've got the specific. And when you look at it as a whole, they're like, that is my identity. So you've got 3 right there. So As you can see, you can do RISE with humorous reels, heard reels, happenings, helpful, anything, right? So another one here, friendly reminder that Portugal looks like this in April, but is half the price with no crowds. And it's just a beautiful cobblestone street. That's it. Super simple.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:12]:
Over 5,000 likes, right? All of these have the one, the Sunday lunch one had almost 100,000 likes. The golfer one had almost 5,000 likes. So. Some might not be crazy viral, but that's really good engagement. Recognizable with the word Portugal, a location. So another one here for my realtors and my local POV, you find the most perfect 1930s home in Nashville, Tennessee. Again, did really well because recognizable Nashville, the word Nashville, specific 1930s home, not just a cute home. That's boring.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:13:40]:
We want specific. That only had 2 and it did really well for that creator. Another one. The dinner I've been eating weekly that only takes 15 minutes to make. 15,000 likes. The dinner, that's a recognizable phrase. We, most of us, I would hope, eat dinner, right? I've been eating weekly, specific, in 15 minutes, also specific. Identity isn't really there, but, and of course the effect of taking this information in, you're going to have a meal in 15 minutes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:14:07]:
So I hope that helps. If you look at your hook and go, is there something recognizable here? Is there something that pushes their identity. Golfer, type B, type A, girl dad, family on a budget, right? And then S, make it as specific as you can be. But again, there is sometimes that time people will be like, how's this? I'm like, oh, it's almost too specific. Like, you lost me. But again, these are type of things that you can easily throw into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever and be like, okay, I want this to be specific, but I want it to speak to them so they can attach to it and just see what it says. Um, and then E, of course, what's the effect? So my goal for you is every time you do a hook, whether it's something funny, educational, make some— it's something empathetic, it's a story, it's whatever the verbal hook verbally outta your mouth, the first title slide of your carousel or the onscreen text, whatever it is, that hook, may it please have at least an RISE, all 4, or at least 2 to 3, and you're going to effing crush it. I promise you.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:15:04]:
I do this for a living and this is my jam. And whenever I have a reel that didn't do as well as I hoped, I go back and I'm like, oh yeah, duh. Because sometimes I just like to get my content out there, right? I don't want you guys obsessing too much because it is a lot of it is trying, testing, tweaking. So this has been really way too long. I love you guys. I hope this is helpful. I'll talk to you next week. Let me know how it goes.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:15:23]:
Message me on Instagram and let's get some amazing content out for you this week. Bye.