Three Things To Set Up Before Your Content Goes Viral

I tell people this all the time and I don’t think they realize that you are literally just one post away from blowing up on Instagram. But here’s the thing most people don’t think about, you need to have the systems in place before it ever happens. I’m not saying don’t post your content, or use my hooks, in fact I want you to do that today! If you’re sharing online and people are connecting with you, eventually people will start reaching out, and I want to make sure you have systems in place to handle it, because trust me, once the ball starts rolling, you might feel overwhelmed. 

In this episode we’ll be covering:

• The three most important systems to have set up in case you blow up on Instagram (or other social media platforms.)
• How I’m leveraging ManyChat for the podcast and other ways you can use it for your business to create effortless automations that work for you around the clock.
• Creating a Canva account for digital products so you can start selling your expertise, I know you have something sitting in your notes that can make you money.
• Making sure you have a way for people to contact you, whether it’s brand collaborations or speaking opportunities, you need to have a simple way for people to get in touch with you. 
• It’s ok to start small and simple, I used Google Docs for years, your people don’t care about the packaging, they want your brain and your knowledge. 

Featured content in this episode:

Social.varsity is your ManyChat Expert!

Recommended episodes:

• Episode 87: How to Get New Followers on Instagram: Trial Reels, Bios, and More!
• Episode 98: Start Selling on Social Media without Feeling Salesy
• Episode 108: Why You NEED To Take Content Creation Seriously
• Episode 117: How to Start Making Money Without Fancy Funnels
• Episode 119: Your Boring Life Moments are the Shortcut to Success

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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. Hey friends, still at the beach. We're here one more week. I'm so grateful and again, I think it's just really cool to do a few podcasts from the beach house just to remind you guys like what's possible. And I tell people this all the time and I think they don't realize like you're literally one post away from blowing up. I had someone take one of my viral hooks a few months ago.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:00:42]:
I just shared on Instagram. She took it, ran with it, she gained over 12,000 followers. You gotta be ready though. And that's the thing, that's what a lot of people struggle with is they're like, they want the virality. I'm like, oh. But then when it happens, do you have system set up, do you have email set up, do you have ManyChats set up? Right? Like all those things are really, really important. I'm not saying wait to post your content, wait to use my hooks and all that because I mean go right, go, go, go. But also you don't have to be selling anything yet to have automations in place.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:09]:
You don't have to be selling anything yet to, to even start going or making money. You don't have to be selling anything to be making money, right? You have something that goes crazy and people are connecting with you and your brand. You, you're sharing a journey you're on, you're sharing the -some- it could be just some random tip or some random reel could go crazy, right? And people are reaching out. I just wanna make sure you have those things in place because I will tell you if you're using my tips and using the free, the hooks I give every week over on Instagram, if you're listening to this podcast, chances are you're gonna see some crazy success on Instagram or TikTok or LinkedIn, wherever it is you choose to show up, right? If you wanna do all I do, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram mainly. I also have my email newsletter. But you don't have to be all these places. There's so many people that are crushing it, that are literally only monetizing on one.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:01:55]:
But I wanted to say that, to say I want to say a few things to set up in just in case you blow up, right? One is obviously ManyChat I have partnered with them so many times, they're incredible. Like their tool. I can't stress it enough. I don't just use ManyChat to sell. I use ManyChat for this podcast. So by the time you listen to this, go look, you know, and I'll have an automation for this episode of the podcast. And people comment. We usually do like a number like ep 118, like episode 118.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:02:24]:
So if people want to listen to the podcast, they now get the link to it, right? We are lazy as we're scrolling. We don't want to leave the content we're absorbing. It's like commercials almost, right? If you're like, I'm saying commercials as in if you go, okay, go to the link in my bio or okay, go here, it's like, no, we want to stay right where we are in our little happy scrolling place. So if you want someone to grab the article that you're talking about or read your blog post or whatever it is, I even tell my husband with real estate, he could do a real talking about like a new development being built in Cary or some exciting new thing. He should have a ManyChat for that. And it could take them to the link or to the website. It doesn't have to be his own stuff, right? It's just to help your people get what they want. So, number one, set up ManyChat.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:05]:
I have a friend, Heston, I'll make sure his contact info is below. I know, I'm pretty sure he helps set it up for people, but he's got so much great info on how to do it. But like I said, I use ManyChat for my podcast. I've used it for just a link to a free Google Doc of mine that just had some series ideas for people. I use it for a lot of free stuff. I'm not selling with my ManyChat links all the time. So let's say you start sharing on Instagram, you're just documenting your life as a, I don't know, bachelor in his 30s living in New York City, right? And let's say all of a sudden you're like, this is the gym you go to. This is the blah, blah, blah.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:03:39]:
People are gonna start DMing you, they're gonna start asking for info, have a link of like, here's here. It could be a Google Doc. When I tell you I have literally, you guys, my membership that is surpassed 2 million in sales started on a Google Doc. It's now much nicer, fancier with Kajabi and things like that. But I have so much stuff on Google Docs where I'm like, oh, you comment blah blah blah for the link. And then ManyChat people comment on my story or they comment on my post, whatever the trigger word is. That's how it works. You guys have all seen it, right? They can comment, you can comment shop, you can comment Google, you can comment whatever.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:14]:
In Manychat, in the DMs, we'll send them the link. So I just want to make sure, you know, even if you're just getting started and you're like, I don't know what I'm selling yet, I don't know what I monetize yet, just have ManyChat ready to go. Because once people start DMing you, they're like, I want the link. Where'd you get this? Da, da, da. You're going to want that link. So basically, as you start your journey, whatever it is you're sharing, you can use it for all sorts of stuff. It could literally be like I said, let's say you're. You did a green screen and it's an article on the literacy crisis or whatever it is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:04:43]:
You know, people are gonna wanna be like, do you have the link to that? Well, now ManyChat will save your booty. Cause now you don't have to send spend all day manually DMing it to people. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, get a Canva. If you don't have it, you're gonna start wanting to make digital products. Even coffee shops should be making digital products. Even plumbers should be. Right? Like everyone should be making a digital product.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:04]:
It could be seven. It could be. I have clients who have made literally change their entire family's life. Bought homes, gone on trips, like I'm telling you, with $37 products. One of my clients, literally my, my biggest shining star who, like, it makes me cry even thinking about it, is, you know, a teacher who wanted to share her knowledge and her of how to help people, especially children with dyslexia. And she started putting all the things she knows and all these things that we weren't taught as, especially as millennials, we weren't taught the right things. She put them into digital products and they range from, I think like 10 bucks to 50 up, right? It's changed her entire life because we took her account from, I want to say she was at like 12,000 when we started or around 10,000. And now she's over 85,000.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:05:51]:
This is life changing. But here's the other thing I want you to know, when it comes to digital products, I didn't start the Reels Lab because I was like, you know what? I want to start a membership that's going to blow up and change people's lives and it's going to be called the Reels- No people ask for it. People in the DMs were like, Shannon, I desperately need your eyes on my content, Shannon. And I was like, you know what, I can't do this as a high ticket mastermind. I need a low, lower ticket membership because I had this one thing called Red Carpet Reels and it was high ticket. People were then seeing the results. I was getting people there and they were like, I can't afford that, but I still need your help.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:23]:
And I was like, boom, membership. And now there's over 300 people in it. And it's changed my life. But what's amazing that I don't care that it's changed my life, it's changed other people's lives. Because now I have a digital product that people can pay for monthly or, you know, they can come in for a month and leave or stay. I have people that have stayed for years or about two years. I think the membership is now. But again, this is.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:06:46]:
Digital products aren't just for your way to change your life, they will change other people's lives. Because it's a way to get your amazing information and brain and perspectives and whatever it is that you're really good at, it's a way to put it into a little pretty Canva or a Google Doc, if you will. And now use that to send out to people and you can help change their lives for something as little as $37, right? So if it's meal prepping that you're really passionate about, if it's, I'm telling you right now, you have things in your notes app, in your Google Docs that will make you a freaking millionaire if you want it to. And I'm not being crazy saying that we see it happen all the time. So get ManyChat going because we're going to the moon and get your Canva going because everything you can do or obviously Google Docs because I'm a lazy person and people still love my Google Docs. They don't care about the packaging. They want your brain, your knowledge, your vibe, whatever it is that they fall in love with you for. So again, let's say you're sharing a journey of you moving somewhere or you're sharing a journey of you trying to replace your 9 to 5 income so you can stay home with your kids and you take us on that journey.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:07:53]:
Little things you share, people are gonna start DMing you and asking you for and that's what you turn into a digital product. Do not waste your time or again, do you? Right? But again, like I said, you might have stuff in your notes app or your Google Docs already that you can turn into a digital product. But I even have clients who I'm like, they have these free PDFs and I'm like, sell it for five bucks. I mean, again, that's not selfish. You've put together the work. This is your lived experience. This is your intellectual brain on paper. I have a friend, Kim, who

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:19]:
she always says she's not like type A type A, but when it comes to trips and planning, she is type A and she laughs at. I'm the worst I get. I pack five minutes before my trip. I have no idea what I'm doing. She did one on New York and she had it down to a science. It was a three day trip to New York with her kids. She had down the exact time to get on the subway, how long it took from this place to this place where to go to dinner. You guys, it is incredible.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:08:43]:
I told her, I was like, you could literally sell that. She could literally sell that for. Because again, you can. A lot of times people are like, well, you can use that for ChatGPT. I don't want ChatGPT's suggestions for everything. I'd like to know the girl that actually did it and has the pictures to prove it. So again, look out there for how much stuff. You can find stuff like this on Etsy, but she could easily sell it for like 17 bucks.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:06]:
I know I would buy it, right? So think about those things and then if you get people in your family and friends who come to you for certain things, those are the type of things you can turn into digital products. And once you start building a following, who's in love with you and loyal to you and trusts you, buckle up, we're going to the moon. You do not have to be selling something to already set these things in place and start monetizing. Oh yeah. The third thing is to have some sort of email set up for brands, for collaborations, for people who want to reach out and maybe hire you to speak or whatever it is. Just have these things in place because trust me, once the ball starts rolling, you might feel overwhelmed. You have that viral spike. Get ready.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:09:47]:
It happens all the time happens to my clients all the time, happens in the masterminds I co-coach in, happens in the Reels Lab. So I just wanna make sure so an email for people to reach out to. And if you go to edit profile and you have a business account, you can actually add an email button. If you go to contact options you can actually go and add your email. So in your profile they can tap email and email right there and all the rest, let it follow. But I'm telling you right now, do not hold back and be like, ooh, I don't need ManyChat yet because I'm not selling anything. You don't need to be selling anything. What starts as step one is building a brand and showing who you are and connecting with people.

Shannon McKinstrie [00:10:21]:
And then the products start flowing, the things start flowing. I wanted to keep this simple, but those are three things that I would absolutely set up. If you are choosing to share a journey, share what you know and again, take my hooks, take my tips, take my scripts and let's change your life. I love you friend.