Episode 185: What’s Actually Working on Instagram in 2025 w/Shannon Mckinstrie

 
 

Are you tired of following Instagram formulas, tips, and tricks that no longer work? You’re not alone—and you’re not doing anything wrong.

In this episode of Small Business PR, host Gloria Chou chats with Instagram strategist and content expert Shannon McKinstrie—an Instagram OG with over 270,000 organic followers. Together, they unpack what’s actually working on Instagram in 2025—and what outdated strategies to finally let go of.

From embracing authentic storytelling to getting back to basics with commenting and engagement, Shannon shares the real, human-first Instagram growth strategies that are helping product brands, service providers, and creators stand out without burning out.

What’s Actually Working on Instagram in 2025 (According to a 270K-Follower Pro)

  • Why “how I” storytelling now beats “how-to” content

  • Shannon’s 4 H’s Content Method: Heard, Helpful, Humor, and Happenings

  • A simple Instagram Stories hack that instantly boosts views

  • How commenting on popular accounts still drives organic growth in 2025

  • Why your first 3 Stories matter more than ever

  • The truth about how often you really need to post

  • Why unscripted, raw videos perform better than polished ones

  • How to combine growth, engagement, and conversion—all in one post

  • The outdated Instagram content tactics to stop using now


Whether you're a product-based business, personal brand, or service provider, Shannon shares how to simplify your content strategy, boost engagement organically, and make Instagram fun (and profitable) again—without having to post every day.

You’ll learn why storytelling, casual videos, and simple Reels are outperforming polished content—and how to use Instagram as a genuine connection tool instead of just another sales platform.

Product Businesses! Download my free HOW TO GET INTO A GIFT GUIDE/PRODUCT ROUND UP roadmap for free HERE to get more sales and traffic to your site this season.

If you want to land your first feature for free without any connections, I want to invite you to watch my PR Secrets Masterclass, where I reveal the exact methods thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR and go from unknown to being a credible and sought-after industry expert. Register now at www.gloriachoupr.com/masterclass.

 

Resources Mentioned:

Join the PR Secrets Masterclass

Get the PR Starter Pack

Join the Small Biz PR Pros Facebook Group

DM the word “PITCH” to us on Instagram to get a pitching freebie https://www.instagram.com/gloriachoupr 

Connect with Gloria Chou on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/gloriaychou 

Join Gloria Chou's PR Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/428633254951941

Learn more about Shannon McKinstrie:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannonmckinstrie

Website: https://shannonmckinstrie.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonmckinstrie

Additional Resources:

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TRANsCRIPT

00:00:00 Gloria: Hey, small business heroes. Welcome back to Small Business PR where we make PR and marketing super accessible for the everyday small business underdog. Now I'm so excited to have my new friend Shannon Mckinstrie here. You probably have seen her on the interwebs. She's got a lot of followers. Yeah, I'm talking about 270,000 organic followers on Instagram.  And even if you have five or 50, she is going to reveal what's working right now because she has seen the evolution of social media. So welcome to the show.


00:00:28 Shannon: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited. 


00:00:31 Gloria: So you're what I call one of the Instagram OGs. You have seen it through. So can you tell us really quickly about yourself, how long you've been on Instagram? How long did it take for you to grow to nearly 300,000 followers? 


00:00:41 Shannon: Yeah, no, I love this because there's a lot of people that have been doing what I do for less time with more followers. I'm like, I'm here for the long haul. It's been a long journey. A lot of people have rapid success. I haven't. But I think that's also why I love it and why I love my community so much because we've really gotten to bond over the years. So I started showing up on Instagram consistently, I would say 2018, because I was growing so many businesses. And I was like, should I do this for myself? Maybe. Maybe I should show my own business some love.


00:01:07 Gloria: And that's when I started really kind of coming up with content strategy and taking it seriously. So 2018 was around the time I started really focusing and posting consistently like four times a week. And yeah, and it's just grown pretty consistent over the years. And reels are what really helped me. It was really the big launch pad for the major growth. I was managing Instagram accounts before Reels existed, before even stories were a thing. So like I've been around for a long time. I've seen a lot of changes, but I always like to tell people Instagram is still very much a storytelling app. So not to be too intimidated by all the changes, but I hope I can help you with that today.


00:01:42 Gloria: Yeah, I think that the reason why I wanted to keep this conversation super niche and specific to what's no longer working because we get so much advice from this guru and that expert and it gets so overwhelming. And so I want to hear from you because I really do think that you're someone who really can see the landscape from all the years you've been in it. You're not just another influencer. So just tell us really quickly, you know, at the time of recording or at 2025, what's working now that may be like it was not working before. What's working before that's no longer working now. What should we be doing? 


00:02:11 Shannon: Yeah, I really appreciate that. Yeah. So it's kind of fun. I've been talking about this for a while now, probably about a year and a half. I started seeing this big shift because I kind of got sick of it really. Like you were saying, it's like social media. We don't really own our platforms. I started kind of getting discouraged in 2020 when all of sudden everyone was jumping on the reels train. And again, like just a lot of advice out there and a lot of it took the human out of social media. A lot of the advice out there just made it very business heavy, which was great. That worked, right? Really hooky, grabby, kind of sleazy-ish, you could say clickbaity type of content. And that was getting a lot of people a lot of growth. 


00:02:47 Shannon: But what it did was really take the human out, right? I just, a lot of people was like, who is the person behind this account? What's even going on? Who are they besides what they do? And I think a lot of people were telling people, you know, don't talk about yourself at all. Don't da-da-da. And I think for a little time that worked. Now we're going back. We're back to following the journey of a human being. We're back to, don't want to hear just a tip of a good email subject line, for instance. I want to know why. What's your perspective? Why are you telling me I should try this email subject line? Or why should I pitch myself to this podcast? Write personal experiences. 


00:03:21 Shannon: So it's like the tips that we used to share that you could find on Google that ChatGPT can tell you. It's like, no, but why? So again, for example, the example I always give people as a social media strategist and manager, I could say, you know, here's a hook to use. Why do they care? Because I would say this hook got my client 40,000 followers or whatever it is, right? So it kind of builds that trustworthy. Obviously it's the magic of all the curiosity, but it brings back the storytelling aspect of like, no, no, this worked for me and here's the story behind it. And that is the biggest shift I've seen. 


00:03:54 Shannon: And even the bloggers, the influencers, I've seen it with them too. They're like, here's what I'm looking forward to wearing this spring. Here's what I found at Walmart. And when you see what's doing well on Instagram and the fact that this big shift of less how to, more of how I, it's really, really powerful. And I think reels are the big reason for that because we can tell a story in the video and the caption, bring it back home and make the audience the hero. And that's where we really bring in that sales copy and things like that. 


00:04:24 Shannon: So that's the biggest shift I've seen is if you're giving a tip or even sharing, like I spoke at this thing, I was on this podcast. We want that. We wanna get back to who am I following and why do I wanna give them my money? What's the story behind you and all that good stuff?  


00:04:39 Gloria: Oh, so we have a lot of product founders in our community. So a light bulb just went off. So let's say if I make skincare instead of like three reasons why you need to buy my botanical, whatever serum, it could be like how I, as a skincare enthusiast, prep my skin for winter or something like that. 


00:04:54 Shannon: Yes, and actually that's perfect because a lot of the content I follow, skincare, makeup, hair because you know, I'm in my 40s now. So I'm like, ooh, we got to switch some things around. So I tell people I'm like, you know, again, it's great for people that sell products because we want to know why you develop the product, what people are buying, what's flying off the shelves, what you're shipping out the most of. love the reels where they go pack this. I'm obsessed with these. They say something like pack a $100 order for a client, a customer in Phoenix or whatever. 


00:05:25 Shannon: There's one girl that does this beautifully. She sells just stationary like papers, pens, and she's now got all these followers. She does all these cool reels about how many customers she started with, who she has now. But she'll say that. She'll say, a $10 order with me. Pack a $1,000 order with me. And it just brings you in behind the scenes. So instead of here's a pen and paper to buy, it's like, I want... It gives that FOMO.  And you also fall in love with the business owner and you want to root them on. 


00:05:53 Shannon: And at the end of the day, we do. I know social media, there's a lot of places there. But I like to see the beauty in it. And I think when you couple this beautiful thing of like, here's what I sell and here's who I am. And I always joke like, this is why we watch Shark Tank, right? We were like, that's, I bought so much stuff off Shark Tank just because I'm like, I like the person. And then you end up loving the products too. 


00:06:18 Gloria: Yeah. Okay. So really quick recap. We've switched from how to, to how I. Now, in terms of how I... We're obviously not selling the product. So then do we in the caption say, here's how I pack an order and by the way, we have this or you don't even sell at all? 


00:06:33 Shannon: No, I love this question. Yes. And you'll see it as you scroll.  A lot of times now. I think we were so scared to ask for the sale back in the day or it felt kind of sleazy. Right now, if you look at any of these big time products or whatever, the first line of the caption is typically comment blank for the link. So if you know this... Again, if you're more so giving them an experience packing an order, you probably wouldn't say comment blank, but you could say cannot wait for Susie in North Carolina to get da, da, da. And then you can say, by the way, you can shop everything we sell bubble in, in my bio, or if you want to use many chat features, something like that.  


00:07:10 Shannon: Now, if you're showing a specific product, like, oh my gosh, look what just launched, look what just arrived. That if it's a specific thing that they can literally just go comment something, get the blank. You can start the caption with comment and I tell everyone and this was so true. I did it too. It was like we had our piece of content that was meant to sell our piece of content that was meant to grow our piece of content that was meant to nurture. Now it's like you can do all of it like use the real to grow, nurture whatever it is, use the caption to convert whether it's a follower, a sale. I use my captions to sell big time. 


00:07:41 Gloria: Yeah, I think that the reason why we became so complex is because there's all these formulas. Do that how to on Monday and then does so it becomes so specific and complex that people are thinking about it in such a formulaic way and they just get overwhelmed. And I love what you said is like, don't overthink it. It's not like 30 versus 50%. Like just make all of your content in one so that you are taking the behind the scenes. So do you think that all of our content should switch to this kind of behind the scenes and we should just not do any kind of salesy content or like benefits and features anymore? 


00:08:12 Shannon: No, I would definitely do a mix. And again,  I do a lot of different content. I'll do, you know, behind the scenes of my journey, you know, here I am speaking at this event and I'll go look at them like, oh my gosh, people followed me off of that, which, you know, maybe not as many as would follow my account because of a tip I share, but it still leads to a little bit of moving the needle. So I mean, I talk a lot about them and call it four H's because what I try to do with my content is less about, okay, is this going to grow? Is this going to convert whatever? Cause I'm like, all my content does all three all the time. It's leading to all three of these. 


00:08:43 Shannon: I base the content I'm creating off of how I want my people to feel. So if I'm like, okay, I feel like my people need a warm hug today, I'll create something that makes them feel. And I'm like, okay, you I did that yesterday. It's going crazy. And again, it's like that content that I create that I say something that they are scared to say, and that makes them feel seen and heard. And I call that my heard content. That leads to followers, it leads to shares, but it's not like I'm sharing a tip, because I know a lot of people think value, value, value. And I'm like, everything you share is valuable. I got heart and story or whatever behind it. 


00:09:13 Shannon: And then in the caption, I'll use it to say, just follow me or something like that. And again, this is like you said, it doesn't have to be rigid. You could share funny content every day. That's fine. But the next day I'll usually share something my second H is helpful. And this is another thing I would say that the big shift is another big shift to take away is I would look at my captions five years ago, and it's almost a masterclass every piece of content. I'm like, do this, do that, and everyone's like, oh my gosh, Shannon, you just... we overwhelm people with our content easily because we're seeing so much now. 


00:09:43 Shannon: So with the helpful pieces, I find one simple thing they can pretty much implement that day. So it's not like this huge overhaul of their Instagram account or something like that. So anything helpful. And then the third H is humor. So making them feel, so the helpful content makes them feel capable. They're like, oh, I can do that. And then the third H is humor and it just makes them laugh. So it just makes them happy and connect with me.


00:10:07 Shannon: And then the fourth is happenings and that's that behind the scenes. So talking about my life as a mom or I was on this podcast that, you know, was awesome and things like that. So, but I tell people all the time, you don't have to share humorous if you don't want to. If that's not your thing, don't, right? It's all, there's no rules, but just find that magic content that you enjoy creating and that your people like consuming. But I do think it's a good mix. Definitely the helpful and the heard seem to be what people gravitate to the most and find easiest to create. So...


00:10:37 Gloria: Yeah, so that's actually a light bulb just went off. If I'm looking at my content, and I experienced a shift as well, where I was doing a lot of the tips to get PR and like, it just never grew my content, like nobody saw it. But what I'm doing now is so much humor. So I take the best memes from dogs, and people like tripping on their barbecue, like people, those go crazy. And the helpful ones actually not so much. And so I think the reason why the helpful ones are not landing is because you just taught me right now that if you are going to do helpful content and give them one piece of information, not like a whole thing in a pod. So that's actually that really helped me. Thank you so much. What is something else? Yeah, I'm going to use that actually. I should take your program. So what's another thing that's working right now or not working anymore? 


00:11:20 Shannon: The other thing that's working right now is the same thing that's always worked. And it's so funny. I saw it on TikTok all of a sudden. I mean, that's a totally different platform, different beast. But everyone's like all the TikTok coaches, growth coaches are like, all right guys, here's what's working. You need to engage, you need to comment. I'm like, what? Like this has always been a tactic. So I like to tell us to people, because a lot of my clients, even if I'm holding their hand, I'm like, hit post. They're just... they get paralyzed. Like so many people are just, I'm like, if there is nothing you do today, well, and this would be a four tip, but post on stories, just anything behind the scenes, right? Like it goes away. So you feel like it's cringe, cares?


00:11:55 Shannon: But the biggest thing is just leave a comment somewhere. I think people have lost the art of being social on social. So a lot of people get intimidated. I'm like, well, you know how to comment on a post. Everyone knows how to comment on a post. That's not hard. And it's so funny because I'll sometimes just comment on something random that I find funny. Like maybe an author put out a reel that just made me laugh. That's not my niche. I'll comment on it. And all of a sudden I've got like 500 likes, people commenting under my comment.


00:12:22 Shannon: And I know it's leading to people checking out my profile. Did they follow? I don't know. There's not really a metric for that yet,  but I'm sure they did. So even  me as someone who the people I want to see my content are people who are trying to grow and sell on Instagram and not burn out and all that stuff. I still get people that will say, oh, I saw your comment on so and so's posts. So it's crazy. We live in the comment section. We love the comment section. And a lot of times before we leave a comment, we want to see what other people are commenting. Just to make sure, am I reading the room right? Was my question answered?  


00:12:53 Shannon: So me, if I go comment on your stuff, right, and I go, Oh, great, great tip. I can't wait to check out the podcast. Someone might see that and just go click on me, go to my profile, check me out. You just never know. So even though that's not really a content type of way to grow, it does help you grow. And it also sees who you're connected to. So maybe your goal is to speak at some conference. You know, the people that are speaking there be in their comment section, comment, comment, comment, you sell a product. What other products do you know your people are buying? Where are they shopping? Comment on there. 


00:13:24 Shannon: And actually what's really interesting, because I think people got too good to comment and I don't want to say it like that, but also everyone's like, oh, I've got reels. They're getting a million views. I don't need to engage anymore. And then everyone's, all these people that grew really fast, connection with their audience has tanked as they stopped engaging. And I'm like, I never stopped. Like I'm there to connect with people. And anyway, long story, strategically think of where to follow. And I, or where to comment. I work with a lot of local businesses. So the brewery, for instance, that I work with.


00:13:49 Shannon: I'm like, you guys need to be commenting on the restaurants, the hair salon, I don't know, wherever in your area that you know they've driven by the brewery, they just haven't conned it. Again, you are a home organizer, comment on the home edit. They can't keep up with all their comments. Maybe you say, oh my gosh, I do the same thing for my clients. They go, look, you're in Boise, they're in Idaho, connection. You never know. So it sounds very OG, Instagram, but that is something I literally did in 2018 to grow my clients, because we didn't have reels. I would just comment like crazy on not competitors, like people that I knew their people were following them.


00:14:23 Gloria: Yeah, especially like a media magazine to you like if I'm in beauty, I'm going to follow refinery 29 or if I make something I'm going to comment on New York Times wire cutter. So that's perfect. 


00:14:34 Shannon: Yes. And honestly, it's crazy. TikTok. If you go to TikTok, again, totally different piece. I'm not a tick tock coach at all. But I just like seeing what I observe like when real some tick tocks are going crazy and they have nothing to do with the business at all. Maybe it's like a mom and a kid and it's a funny video. You'll see Pepsi commenting. You'll see Barnes and Noble commenting, Home Goods commenting. I mean, they are in Taco Bell. And then everyone under there is like, oh, Taco Bell, what are you doing here? And they go back and forth. And I'm telling you, there's, mean,  the psychology behind it, right? But it's like, you feel connected. It's like, oh, even though these products don't feel like there's a person behind them, it gives the product, the restaurant, the store, personality. That's interesting.


00:15:13 Gloria: Oh, that is so good. You know, at the time of recording, White Lotus just had their season finale. I bet if I commented on that, like HBO, you know, like that's a great way.  


00:15:24 Shannon: Yes. And you know, it's funny. I actually, what was my TikTok about? Again, TikTok is my playground. I just put stuff up there and Peacock wrote  on my TikTok. And I was like, oh my gosh, Peacock, what's up? You know, you just, and it had nothing to do with their network. I'm trying to remember now what my TikTok was about. And it wasn't even viral. It didn't even go viral, but they saw it commented because they know they're smart. They know we're in the camera section. So it's just an interesting, a cool way to kind of almost maybe if you're like, need to break content, I'm burning out. Make sure your bio is optimized. Put up some stories every day so they know you're around and you live like you're an active account. 


00:15:57 Shannon: You haven't posted a long time. The comment you leave could lead to someone on your profile, clicking your website and buying your stuff. You just never know. You never know. Make a comment on Sephora. Comment on the influencers. It's just kind of an old school way to grow, but it still works and everyone's acting. It's this epiphany. I'm like, you guys, this is like an original  way to be social on social. 


00:16:17 Gloria: And it's absolutely validating because I think that we took the fun out of social. It's all about tips and authority and people don't want to be on Instagram to be lectured to. And I think that once I did start posting funny dog memes, that's when my account grew and I actually had a CMO that I hired to do my social media and she was unable to grow it because it was just a lot of that kind of content again, value and tips.


00:16:37 Gloria: I love how you gave us permission to just not always be so literal on our message and not talk about what we do. And then what's the last thing that you want to share with us? 


00:16:45 Shannon: Yeah. And one thing that you guys can go do today that is, you know, super simple is just talk to the camera like you're on Instagram stories. And I know that scares everyone because, you know, we think we need this fancy background, all this stuff. I saw it happening on TikTok about a year and a half ago. It's just every viral video of someone talking. They're literally just sharing a hot take. And it doesn't have to be super controversial, because I know me, if I post something controversial and people start being mean, I'm going to cry. So I am too sensitive to post a lot of that stuff. 


00:17:16 Shannon: But it could be just something like, does anyone else think, or it could be about White Lotus. It could literally be like, you guys, have you ever been in a friend group like those three girls? And just be like, I have a story. Whatever it is, just the more, and this is going to be really hard for a lot of people. The more off the cuff and it feels like this just happened or something happened while you were shopping at Walmart and you're like, oh my gosh, da da da. We love to feel like we're in your world. And that's why I tell everyone I wouldn't have a business without Instagram stories. Like that is where my people connect. 


00:17:48 Shannon: I share everything. I share all sorts of stuff, even if I'm like, well, people think this is funny. They do. Most Instagram story comments I get are when I'm, know, something about our cats or something that happened that day with my daughter. You know, we connect over all sorts of things, but if you just pick up the camera and talk and it can be something that you just had an epiphany with a client, or you heard something on a podcast that you're like, Oh my gosh, I just heard this quote. I got to tell you guys and then segue it into business if you can. But like I said, it could literally be about White Lotus. And then the caption, you could be like, by the way, if you know, comment below. Also, if we haven't met, hi, I, know, I'm in PR and it doesn't always have to be about business all the time. It should obviously be.


00:18:27 Shannon: A lot of your content should convert and make sure people know what you do and what you specialize in. But sometimes it can just be whatever we bond over. I've shared so many silly reels like us at the beach, like about my beach sandwich, it went crazy viral. And I think on TikTok, I had like 7 million views, like just crazy. But even though it had nothing to do with my business, we're going to go to someone's bio, look at it, look at their profile before we hit follow. So if they want to, they're like, oh, that was really funny. And oh, she does Instagram.


00:18:53 Shannon: Oh, she was in North Carolina. They'll send me a DM. It's just crazy how it works. And I think the more we think about how we use Instagram and what content we like connect to and create kind of like that.  I find a lot of people right now are just loving the raw talk to the camera. Like in the moment, you can put a little hook over your head. That kind of  what I tell people is those first three seconds, obviously, very important. 


00:19:18 Shannon: But if you have a hook over your head, that kind of just kind of gives a brief summary of what you're about to talk about. My thoughts on like text, friend group,  trauma. I don't write something like that. Or three ways to, that's where that hook can be kind of old school basic hook over your head. Cause it just grabs them and they go, oh, okay, I want to hear what she has to say. And then very conversational. And the more it feels conversational, like you're just yapping on FaceTime with a friend or again, Instagram stories where it doesn't feel like we're being lectured to. Just you said it perfectly. So that's another thing. 


00:19:51 Shannon: Follow [inaudible] on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn even. I see the videos over there getting more casual, which is crazy. So yeah, I just, that's why I keep telling everyone, like for about a year and a half, two years now, I've been like, we're going back. We're going back to humans, we're going back to just storytelling, back to non-intimidating content. And you know, again, that could change in a year. That's what's working right now. 


00:20:14 Gloria: But it's also making it easier because it's very much kind of an invitation to come as you are and not having to up the front.


00:20:20 Shannon: Yes. I love that. Yes. Yes. 


00:20:22 Gloria: Let's talk about stories real quick before we hop off. So I actually have a problem with my stories because you know, like I have, you know, there's people with a lot less followers than me, but they get like 500 views on their stories. I'm realizing that my stories are not performing as well as they could so what's your recommendation on that? 


00:20:37 Shannon: I'm a big stories fan. Like I said, I wouldn't have a business without it. That's where I really convert a lot. If your views are down, it is a hack. Not every tactic works. Not every hack works. This one does go completely dark. So I mean like your stories have officially expired. And I actually did this yesterday, because usually by the weekend, I'm like, okay, I need to reset my story views are like half of what they normally are or even worse, let them expire. And that next story you post will be like quadruple the views you normally get. But it's more just like, kind of how again, how we use the app, we typically after three or so stories fall off.


00:21:11 Shannon: So if you want to give it a reset, and again, you know, when things aren't getting as many views and interactions, Instagram pushes it down, just demotes it in a way. But again, it's not that your stories are boring, right? I always tell everyone, I'm like, it's just that it's just how we use it. So that's a fun tactic to do. And some people do it every day. They let their stories expire. And maybe they expire at like 8am. At 8:30 they throw up a photo with a link and whatever their goal is of the day. I always say that first story, those first two to three stories are so important. So frontload those, make sure those have like new podcasts dropped, second story. Here's what I'm up to today. By the way, if you want to join my whatever here it is, right?


00:21:47 Shannon: Pack in what you can in those first two to three. And after two to three every day, that's when I start sharing like, all right, go into the grocery store, look, found this, watching White Lotus, stuff like that. I just make sure those first three move the needle. But  when the views are low, completely expire. And there are lot of people that only share one story a day and they let it expire every day. So that's a strategy too. But I'm someone that can't only post once a day on stories. I love them so much. But that's a great tactic, especially for people who just don't have the time.


00:22:17 Gloria: Yeah, and expired within is 24 hours, right? 


00:22:21 Shannon: Literally like, if you posted a story at 8:00 am, and that can be your thing every day. And then at 8:01, it's gone. And then at 8:05, you know, something like that. So yeah. 


00:22:30 Gloria: It's very different than what you post on your feed. Like should you repost it or you turn your stories in or there's no correlation between the two? 


00:22:38 Shannon: Yeah, if I actually did it today, my first story was high. Here's what I did Sunday with my, you know, here's what we did today. My next story was in case you missed this reel on Saturday. Because I know a lot of people just go dark. A lot of people that follow me especially, they're like, so they're like, I go dark on Saturdays or Sundays. So I'll be like here it is and I'll share that reel. But in the reel, so that was story two of my morning. Under it is like, oh, by the way, this prompt is in the reels lab and I put the link. So to make sure like, okay, they can go watch the reel if they want, or they can just hop into the reels lab right now. 


00:23:05 Shannon: So kind of that's what I mean. I'm like, I try to not pack too much in it, like too many calls to actions. But what is your goal right now? Do you need more sales? Go dark. That first story, the best thing is to make it a photo. For some reason, photos just people stick around longer. I would do a photo and talk about whatever it is. Make sure you're using that strong sales copy, little storytelling if you need to and put that there. Whatever your main goal is, first story.


00:23:27 Gloria: Awesome. Well, obviously we can go on and on about all the tips, but you've given us some really, really good things about what's working. And just in the 20 or 30 minutes, I've realized that I need to kind of do a sweep of my social media too. Anything else you want to leave us with before we hop off?


00:23:41 Shannon: Yeah, I think you said it best, like, let's have fun again. If you're not having fun, people feel it. And I think that's why I've stayed in the game so long and  not seen a lot of people in my industry just stop. It makes me sags. And like they got caught up in the craziness  and I've just always had fun. But again, not everyone enjoys creating content,  but you just find that method that works for you. And if you only want to do pictures and static posts, that's fine too. Like what you just make it work for you and make sure you're showing up for your people and letting us in in your world and you'll be just fine.


00:24:09 Gloria: Is there anything that we should just avoid doing that's like old advice, definitely not working anymore? 

00:24:14 Shannon: Well, I do think the pressure of posting every day, like throw that out the window. I have reels from six months ago still getting me followers and likes and comments. So if that's bringing you out, throw that out the window beyond unnecessary to post every day. 


00:24:26 Gloria: So how can people find you and get you get more into your world? I mean, I want to know what you bought at Trader Joe's yesterday. Tell us. 


00:24:32 Shannon: Share it all. Yeah, I'm Shannon Mckinstrie on Instagram. Same. I'm on LinkedIn a lot too. Fred's. A lot of places. I always tell people, you don't have to be everywhere. I'm pretty much everywhere. And then my website's the same. shannonmckinstrie.com. 


00:24:46 Gloria: Love it. And you know, one thing I'd love to do is once our members get their PR wins, like use that as social media. It's ultimate credibility.


00:24:53 Shannon: I love that.  


00:24:55 Gloria: Thank you for being on the show. 


00:24:56 Shannon: Thank you for having me. This was so fun.


00:24:57 Gloria: If you know of anyone who can benefit from this episode, by the way, thank you listeners for being here.  Please tell them about it. And if you love this episode and other episodes, feel free to give me a rating and review so that more people can find out about it. Thanks for listening.


00:25:13 Gloria: Hey, small business hero, did you know that you can get featured for free on outlets like Forbes,  the New York Times,  Marie Claire, PopSugar, and so many more, even  if you're not yet launched  or if you don't have any connections?  That's right. That's why I invite you to watch my PR secrets masterclass,  where I reveal the exact methods  thousands of bootstrapping small businesses use to hack their own PR  and go from unknown to being a credible  and sought after industry expert.


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