ReLaunch Your Social Media Strategy to Increase Your Impact and Scale Your Business

Hello, and welcome to you, and what a day we are going to have together. Ah, it's going to be so good, because I am going to help you get to the bottom of social media. And really specifically, how do you leverage impact and scale your business using it. But I'm not the only one who's going to be able to give you some of the tips and tricks. I have somebody here that has been crushing it has all of the secrets has the ability to share it with you so that you can leave today and actually begin to see your followers, your engagement increase, and we're not talking about like minor increases, we're talking about massive increases. So I would like to welcome you and introduce you to Shannon McKinstrie. And she is the founder of the boutique social and it's a social media company and she's the strategist for business owners who want to make an impact. They I know it I know you're out there you want. You don't want to keep doing what you're doing and having marginal results and she does big results. That's where she focuses and it's through organic and proven social media strategies. She's also a wife, she's a mama she is a Target junkie. And I love this. She's an oat milk latte fanatic. And so I've got to do a shout out to my daughter Danny, who is also and I this is a VAs she's a cheap wine connoisseur. You're gonna have to give us that like, you know what's your favorite cheap wine, and she is the co founder of the social squad society.

You're listening to the ReLaunch podcast and I'm your host, Hilary DeCesare, best selling author, speaker and transformational coach widely recognized in the worlds of neuro psychology and business launches, which cultivated the one and only three HQ method helping midlife women. Yep, that's me to rebuild a life of purpose, possibility and inspiring business ventures. Each week, we'll be diving into the stories that brought upon the most inspirational relaunches while sharing the methods and the secrets that they learned along the way, so that you too, can have not just an ordinary relaunch, but an extraordinary relaunch.

Shannon, welcome today to the show. It's so great to have you.

Thank you, Hilary, I'm so excited to be here.

Well, it's always so fun when I get an opportunity to share a great relaunch story, also to share some real insights into what you are doing now based on your relaunch, and how that will directly impact our audience. And so thank you so much for being open and ready to kind of give us the the do's and the don'ts of social media. Because quite truthfully, it can be a grind, right? I mean, there is you could literally be on social media all day long between stories between, you know, the taking pictures, sharing, sharing, sharing and sharing. But let's before we dive into all of those things, let's talk about you for those that that don't know you. Can you share with us how you got here, and the relaunch that really was significant for you.

Sure, yeah. So I've always just been obsessed with documenting things. And I ever since I held the family video, Cam quarter when it was very heavy, you know, aging myself there.

I do remember it though very, very well. It was super heavy. And you know, everything was like then you had to like download it and then you had to bring it over to something else and was quite the process.

Yes. And we're kind of VHS tapes where you know, you're scared. You're going to tape over something. Now there's a cloud. It's just crazy. It's just funny to think about. But yeah, I started During TV production in high school, which led me to Virginia Tech, where I studied communications and marketing got even more obsessed with marketing and producing television segments really for in college. And then I got to do my dream job at CNN and then realize this is not for me, this is a grind, you know, wait,

what was your dream job at CNN,

I wanted to direct I want to sit in the control room. And you got in you got to I got to I didn't get to direct. I did get to sit in the fonts and graphics chair. That was the one listening to the director. But I got to sit there got to be part of the action. I like fast paced stuff I don't do well. I always tell people I'm like, I can't study in a library. I have to be at a coffee shop that's bustling and loud. And that's just how I work. So I like chaos, I guess you

could say, you get fueled by other people's energy Absolutely. Is by being by yourself and a talent really? 100% get that?

Yep. So I was like, that's what I want to do. I actually went to a live taping of SNL in high school. And that's when I was like, watching everything the chaos and I was like, I want to do this. So I figured news would be a great place to start. And I was you know, so I got into CNN and I loved it. But you know, I was young 20s I was living away from home. I was working overnights, I was there during Katrina and the tsunami and panic attacks. And I was like this is I can't do it. So my dad was like, come home. So I went home and I lost my identity. I was like, what this was, this was everything. And then I bounced around marketing, jobs, marketing jobs, and I was just like, this isn't filling my soul. I was very kind of intimidated in the corporate world. So I was played around a lot on social media during office hours. And I just fell in love with accents. Like, oh, it allows me to my creativity of my love of creating video, my love of photography, my love of writing, I love it sounds silly, but I love writing captions. And I was always the friend and my friends were like, What should I caption this photo, you know? But back then social media was personal. And at the time, I asked my nine to five job. I was like, Hey, would you mind if I just manage the company Facebook page? And they're like, sure, whatever, you know, it was not a job. It wasn't even a blip on the radar for people really?

Anyway, isn't that crazy? Now crazy app that I mean? Payments? Yeah. There's I mean, like, it has literally become obsessive around, you know, like, how are you doing? What is happening? What's your strategy? I mean, you can't if you don't have it really dialed in. It's almost like, you know, what are you doing?

It's so true. And it was kind of a joke. And I remember thinking like, well, this is what I want to do. But how do I make a living doing it? Because no one was taking it seriously. Then I had a very traumatic birth, my daughter, and I was like, I can't go back to work. And I actually really enjoyed my job at the time. But that forced me out of desperation. I was like, Okay, what if I take my love of social media, all this stuff, and I just start, because at that point, it was slowly people were starting to take notice that they actually can't just throw up picks up of their dog, they have to actually, like, have a strategy. So I kind of bounced around my community and just pitched myself was like, Hey, I know marketing, not just you know how to put up a picture. And I got a few people to hire me. And then I, you know, quit my job and started my startup boutique social, which actually, at the time was called boutique social DC, because I didn't think I'd work with anyone outside of the DC area. But that's,

that's really funny based on Yeah, so

that was Yeah. Right, that was my first big like, ooh, and then it became a very successful business, and I could not believe it. And then I launched, you know, the social media agency. And then from there, I went right into consulting, because I realized that was even more fun to teach people. Because as much as I love managing accounts, I'm like, Just give it to me, I'll do it for you. I love that. And it was mainly working with realtors at the time, because they didn't understand. They needed social media. And they didn't understand they didn't know what they were doing. So it's like, okay, perfect target market. And then I realized I wanted to help way more than just realtors. I wanted to help people all over the world. And that's when I pivoted a bit I still manage. But I pivoted into consulting speaking. And I was just like, this, how is this real life?

So now you're now as you said, because we we've had some conversations, you said that this is really, you're living the dream. And what about when your daughter was born? What really triggered because it sounds like before you were going through an identity crisis, right? And we're trying to figure it out there and really, you're you're letting things come to you? Yeah, you're just you know, hey, you move back home, what's going to happen? What am I going to really do? But then you ended Uh, you know, there was a time where you got married and you created right. Can you tell us a little bit more about what was really going on when you were having that identity crisis? Because that's a huge part of your story.

Oh, yeah, huge. I mean, just thinking, I just remember back, sitting in the conference rooms during meetings, just praying, no one would look at me or ask me a question. I never felt confident in what I do. Because I was like, I just never felt smart, if that makes sense. I just never felt like I knew what I was.

Oh, there's a lot of people out there right now that are sitting there saying, yeah, I gotta Yeah,

I don't. I always I was joking. Like, I don't know much. But I know social media and I know marketing, but everything else was just always kind of over my head, the corporate jargon the, which, kudos, I wish it just never, I never fit in there. And I just never felt excited. And you know, CNN, even though it was a lot of work, and it was horrible pay. It was exciting, you know, and as it was something bigger than myself, I guess, right. And then just being, you know, sitting in a cubicle, which I loved my coworkers to death, but I was like, This is not for me. And I'll never make more than $50,000 a year ever. And I was fine with that I kind of set but again, I never took charge. I was like, Well, I guess I'll just make $50,000 a year sit in this cubicle the rest of my life. And luckily, my husband had faith and makes he was like Shannon, we have a new baby. We can't You can't quit your job. But luckily, I was able to find a few clients through networking through honestly friends and family. I was like, Do you know anyone that would pay me even like $100? To just do their Facebook? And they were like, sure, yeah, this guy probably would. And I'm like, okay, you know, I was like, if I can just, you know, bouncing out how much daycare would cost versus this and that I was like, Okay, if I can just bring like $1,000 a month Ryan's like, yeah, okay, sure if you can bring home at least 1000 a month. And that's where it started. And now it's, it's just, it's, it's very crazy to look back on. Well,

and you have had this incredible success. And you've been able to a lot of times what we talk about at relaunch is you know, you have to relaunch yourself first into the $1,000 a month, then you get to your six figures, right? You reach that 100,000 year lie, I've arrived my business. But then there's another gate, another revenue gate of 250,000 500,000 a million, there are these gates and you have to continuously re launch yourself, you have to continuously relaunch your business, change the identity of who you are now, and think of the new identity of that next version of you that would have a bigger company, more profitable, scalable, revenue driven company. And so as you I love that your husband was one of those, it's like, you know, okay, you know, as long as you hit this, I mean, it sounds like he's very supportive. He literally, you know, he really wants to you. He wanted you to find your your passion.

Yeah, he did. He did. And he's grateful now. Well, I bet my crazy and I mean, it was a stressful time, but he never let me see it. And he's very thankful. Now, I'll just say that. It's like, okay,

so you've been doing this now for how long?

Oh, gosh, since 20 2014.

Okay, so if you think about this, you have been doing this for nine years, so much has changed. So much has changed. And as the changes have occurred, you have been able to manage to those, and your business and your account, and I went and you know, obviously I, I looked, I looked and I kind of you know, reviewed and I thought oh god, she's really, really good. And you have wide 100,000 followers in one area, and you have even more than another and what let's talk about this now, because I think everyone is trying to figure out is there a silver bullet and there's a lot of really bad, bad bad information out there. And the relaunch code was actually a victim to one of the bad pieces of information. About a couple years ago, we had somebody come in and say oh gosh, you need to you know build up your your followers and we can help you with it. We've got you know, these databases of amazing women, they all would want to be relaunched and all this stuff, and I'm like, Really, this is amazing. And the way she talked it was like, oh, everyone's doing it. Everyone has these, you know, these these lists and this is just a normal thing. So I thought, you know, okay, that make sense. And if you got to a certain level, remember you would it would open you up to different layers. levels that you could, you know, swipe up and all these things. And so I ended up doing it. And I think we were going to break through the 10,000. Mark, that was at 10,000 followers. Well, next thing you know, within about a day, we had 25,000 followers. And I'm like, okay, hold on, hold on, I'm going through them. And I'm seeing that they're like, they're not the women. There's a lot of very young boys. There are a lot of gamers, there's a lot and like, what is happening here? Like, these are not my peeps, these are not this is not my tribe. I'm like, Ah, so then I ended up being on somebody's Instagram Live. And as we're talking this beautiful, lovely woman, next thing, you know, these very strange boys start to say very inappropriate things into the chat. I see her trying to like, you know, take them out of the conversation and kick them off. And she's like, I don't know what is happening. And I'm like, my heart's beating, I'm starting to sweat. I'm like, Oh, God, I've just committed them, you know, a major faux pas here. Okay, so I ended up it took, it took so long, we deleted every single one of them. We got back to I mean, it took for ever to get back to normal. But let's talk about what the heck happened. What, what was this? What really did go down? Because there were there were some really crazies in there. Yeah.

Well back. I mean, I will say a lot of people used to do this. And I always advise against it. Because one, it goes against Instagrams rules, you know, but what it was just kind of buying followers in a way, but like these little pods were people and then the agreement was they go engage, they would follow and all this but what happens like you said, They're not your actual people. So then it actually backfires. And if you're, it's great to have a lot of followers, sure. But if they're not engaging with your content, your engagement rate takes a hit and Instagram, the way the algorithm works is if you're not getting good engagement, it won't do you favors, it won't show your content to more people. So in the end, you know, we're like, Hey, look at all these followers I got, but then it backfires so badly and I'm so sorry, that happened, but

it was terrible. And again, women that needed relaunches, yeah, that's yep, that's what we want. Perfect. That sounds really good. Let me tell you, I mean, I am now like, you know, standing on the mountaintop screaming, never do this ever. And now I am very aware when people say I've got this amount I'll go through and I'll be like, ah, they did that thing. You can absolutely

tell and you can tell by you know, someone has 100,000 followers and they're getting like 10 likes. It's, you know, dead giveaway. Yeah.

And so we have to take a quick break. But when we come back, I would love to hear from you on what are the absolute no no's, like what happened to us? And what should you avoid, but then we're going to get into what are the tips and tricks to really grow your social media, so we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to turn on the three HQ method that I've been using for years throughout my entire life reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally and personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com Welcome back. And again, I have Shannon McKinstry and we are talking all things social media. She is the master of increasing followers increasing the connection that you absolutely need in order to scale your business with the people that matter the most to you, which are your the people that really love what you do. And I was sharing how I made a terrible mistake. And where I thought I would end up with 10,000 women that are all going through relaunches targeted list, I ended up with 25,000 being dumped in that we're all you know, boys and I have no idea what they were. I'm not even sure because there were so many gamers in so many. And I had hired this woman and I felt like oh my gosh, I remember I felt so like betrayed I might. It took us a long time. To get, you know, to really cultivate and next thing, you know, we are going through deleting, you can only delete 100 a day. It took us for ever. And we got you know, at one point there was we deleted too many. And then they were added back. I mean, it was just an awful, awful, awful situation. But, Shannon, what is going on with this? Because, you know, I definitely was not targeted list that sounded really great to me and it blew up.

Yeah, it's, I mean, I'm seeing it less and less, because I think less people are investing in it. But like I said, a lot of people did this years ago, especially before Rails, because before Rails growth was a lot slower on Instagram, if you wanted to grow really, really fast, that really wasn't even a thing unless you were working different angles of different places and getting people funneled in. And I always grew very slow and steady, which I was fine with. Because I like you were saying I wanted to build a very tight knit community. And again, in the beginning, I was only trying to talk to people in DC because that's the only I was thinking very small at the time. So you know, but I did have a client. It's funny, you mentioned that because one of my clients who was in real estate, wanted the swipe up, right, because you had to have a 10 you had to have 10,000 followers back then to have the option to swipe up on stories. And so he was like, I'm just gonna buy followers, I was like, please, please do and I like had to beg him. I was like, Please, I beg you, I was like, I will get 10,000 It might not it's not gonna be in a day. But I was like, We can do this. I know we can do this. And to this day, he's like, thank you so much, because he's heard of other people who did it too. Because again, three ish years ago, this was kind of the thing, even a year ago, but I've been seeing it less and less because people did find out it wasn't what people were actually selling. They were selling hot.

You talked about reels that that is one reason tell us. Let's go let's start here. Your What is your favorite platform that you think can make the biggest difference for your business?

I mean, I Instagram hands down. Tick tock, of course is what everyone's talking about. I'm there, I'm loving it. I have actually had some really good conversions on there. But what's interesting and I've looked all into this, even people I know and tick tock with huge followings and smaller followings on Instagram, they convert more on Instagram. My theory is that we're still learning tick tock and whereas we still have a guard up a little bit with the people, we follow Instagram, we've been following a lot of these people for years, we trust them, we'll throw our money at them. But tick tock, it's still like a lot of these people are strangers to us. So that could be one thing. But I know for me and my clients, it's no matter I have clients across the board, you know, brick and mortar police's service providers, Instagram, Instagram, Instagram is especially because it's very easy to build your funnel with Instagram.

So for those that don't have a clue of what you're talking about, yep. What, what is the right way to build a funnel on Instagram?

So I'm big into email marketing to email is where I mean it's it's incredible if you can get someone on your email list, like that's a big deal. And using Instagram stories, so really build that connection, because here's the thing. We are following people at the end of the day, even if we're following Nike, we want to follow the people, right? I tell everyone, if you want to see how social media is changing, go on tick tock and go to brands like I don't know American Eagle Wendy's. You wouldn't even know what they're selling the product comes second. It's people it's people trying things on? Yes, they're putting the clothes on or they're eating the food, but you're listening to the person watching the person, et cetera. So Instagram is so personal Tiktok has been like that, too. But when Instagram first started out, it was personal. It was our friends, our families, we were showing our coffee, the ocean, like we didn't know what you're doing. We were just taking pictures in the moment throwing it up with a cheeky caption and calling it a day, right? It's a business and then we were all like sell, sell, sell. And from the beginning, I was like you guys, no one's on Instagram to buy things they're in there they are to follow people. And if you can get them to trust you as a person, they will then buy your thing. So with your funnel, you know, I always tell people like you don't need to go off the bat and start selling just start connecting with people. And in the blank

is the best way. What's the best way to connect? And I've heard often that stories is where you can just be you. Yes, that's where you can just like you know, show what you're eating show where you are show what you're doing. Give a little of that like craziness of you. Yeah but you don't want to do that in your posts a

little different, right? So unless you're a blogger, right, you know, that's all you share is personal life things, typically. But with stories, I tell everyone, like you don't sell a lot in your content. I'm like, because I'm selling stories. And that's where, you know, I'll use my stories every day to have at least one goal in mind. Okay, do I want to build my email list? today? I'll use the question box and sticker at the little sticker box and stories. And I'll say, Hey, guys, I'm sending an email out tomorrow, drop your email below if you want in, right. And then in my emails is where I'm connecting even more telling stories selling my services. Or I'll use the link sticker and say, Hey, go grab my $37 guide, and then go boop, boop, boop, boop. But in stories, when you start off to selling there can be turned off. But that's why every, every day, I'm like, Hey, guys, here's here's my coffee. Here's what I'm working on today. And they're like, Ooh, what's you doing? I tell everyone I work with, if you're not taking people behind the scenes, you're missing out on so much, not just money, but just connection. I've had people connect with me and follow me by for me, because of the show, I'm watching because of the song I'm listening to. You'll be surprised how much people just want to relate to you and bond with you. And I tell everyone, at the end of the day, we're on social media, to feel validated and to connect with people that we kind of relate to or want to learn from. So in stories is that magical gift that Instagram gave us or we're able to it's like a little reality show behind the scenes of our life, where we can constantly remind them what we do for a living, but also that we're a real human that they can chat with. And you can when you reply to someone's story that goes to their direct messages. And that's incredible. You're having a one on one conversation with a potential customer client or follower.

So Shannon, what do you recommend from a? How often should you how many stories should you be doing in a day?

A minimum of three is what I tell people, because I know posting every day is not possible for most people. It's not possible for me. I typically post by Friday, I take off you don't I'm I'm in stories, but I'm not posting on the weekends. Like that's my time for family and to regroup. You do not need to post every day feed posts, meaning your images, graphics, those last two to three days. If they're getting engagement reels can last for months. So like why am I going to post everyday that's silly. But stories. I'm active almost every day, I might take one day off, but I'm sharing the coffee, I'm ordering a funny story that just happened. I'm showing my desktop sending out notes. So a client people are like, what's that? Oh, I want to know. And you've got to sell. So it's like one big funnel in a way like you start. They look at your bio. And it's just leads once you're in the DMS with them, and you have an actual human connection and a genuine conversation. That's it. And you know, I think one of the reasons you said Silver silver bullet, and I honestly think one of the reasons I've had the success I've had is because and this might this is probably horrible business advice. I didn't go into Instagram to get followers or make money. But I figured out how to do it. And I was like, Oh, this works. On my computer screen. I was like, okay, but it's, I'm selling something people desperately need and everyone is and you've got to know why they need it. Right. And that comes with market research. But once you know, what is keeping your people up at night, if you can tell that story on stories, and you know, whenever I get off a consulting call, I talked about what we went over. And I say she was feeling this, that and the third and I helped her this, you know, do this and that and people are like, Oh my gosh, you did that for them. I'm like, Yeah, that's what I do. So get on Instagram stories. I don't care if you never post I tell people all the time. You need to post to gain new followers. But stories I'm like, You guys are missing out. And that's why I still think Instagram is the most powerful platform. Tiktok has stories they have, you know, Instagram. Okay, but you already talked about,

you talked about reels. Tell us how often should we be doing reels as well.

I do about two to three reels a week. And like I tell everyone you really want to hit different content pillars if you can. The three I tell everyone to focus on is one empathy. It's the biggest thing that everyone misses to education and three entertaining. And I think entertaining people think dancing plenty of bubbles like no, it could just be behind the scenes of your weekend. Where were you? You know a recap of your week and like a funny story. It could be a funny graphic that is a funny meme type thing. Anything that makes brings a smile to people's face and is personal to me is that entertaining pillar. It's a stuff you'd never overthink. You just kind of throw it up there. Education obviously quick tip To actionable things that someone could go and run with, because we're overwhelmed. You don't need to do a masterclass, you just share a quick tip. And then the empathy is one that I dig deep with my clients on. I'm like, What does your person need to hear? What permission slip? Can you give them? What pep talk can you give them? I'm not a Wufu type person, but I'm like, stop doing this. Like, I'm one of those people. I'm like, tough love type pep talks. I love those. And they do very well for me. Because I know my people need those permission slips regularly. So those are my three rules. Every week, I do something empathetic. And sometimes it's a story about me, you know, a lot of times what I'm doing those like, it's a message I needed to tell myself today, you know, that's so

true.

So that's if you can do those 123. And then typically the fourth if I throw in, and it might be to promote something I'm currently selling.

So what's the best way for somebody to really get to be an experienced social media? Because this is this is a very interesting question. And I'm actually going to rephrase it. Sure. So you know, a entrepreneurs CEO has a ton of things to get done. And a lot of times when we don't do something, it's because we don't know how to do it. Right. And I am a victim to this. Because if I'm at all uncomfortable with the tech, I have to like I need to spend time I need to figure it out. What's the best way to learn? Like you just said that these are the three areas that you need to be focused on and you do it three times a week, how do we learn this? How do we how do we become better knowing that it is critical to our business?

Well, I'm so glad you asked. This is like my favorite thing. And actually, I've done several real my whole theme. I never do like a theme of a week. But this week, I realized that's what everyone needs. Like how do I get a reel out really, really fast? I don't have time and how do I do it? When I don't want to do edit jump cuts and text everywhere. I'm like, I got it. The biggest thing happening in Instagram and of course this might change in six months, but one of the biggest things people are loving on Instagram. Tik Tok, as well is an hopefully this may make sense to everyone but it's B roll type video. And when I say B roll that like goes back to my news days, but it's those SEC that secondary footage like think, for instance, for me as a social media manager, mentor B roll for me would be putting my phone right here are this, right, I put my phone right here I'm talking to you, I'm not looking at the camera. It's behind the scenes, B roll type footage. Record yourself throughout the day. So a CEO could literally if they have five minutes in the morning. And if their morning routine is making coffee and checking emails, the video could literally be of them having their coffee and checking emails, but not looking at the camera. Exactly.

It's just the side. It's like it's setting it up with a you know, one of these I have this like I don't know what it's called, like a monster tripod or you know, not all the tentacles. It's got all these things. And it's just setting up your your phone on there and being able to just do stuff and slice it down. Right?

Yeah, that's it. And it can be. So again, six second clip, seven second clip, fast walk, walk your dog, whatever it is. And then you put that to some pretty trending audio. You guys hear me all the time. That's pretty melodic sounds or if you'd like more upbeat, do that. And then you just put that message that I was saying the empathetic message.

Okay, so hold on, how do you do this, when you're walking your dog? Come on, girl. For that one,

I would say your view, I mean, you'll see. And when you scroll, the rails tab, it might be a view of a mountain and with a really pretty message on top. For instance, to the moms who need this reminder. I don't need to hit know who hears this right, or who needs to hear this. But I love just that this is your reminder to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? I did one the other day of my daughter's sitting there and I had my computer she had her little laptop and we're just sitting there I have my coffee, that's all the video is took me five seconds. And I'm in my pajamas. It's like you can do that if that's part of your brand, and I just set up my little tripod I press record I walked over sat put it to five seconds of music and over it was text that said and this is this kind of goes into kind of great way to sum this up. As I said, the content you spend the least amount of time on does well because overthinking steals the excitement out of all of it. And I said just post it at the end. So for my audience, they need to hear just post there. It doesn't have to be perfect. What is your audience need to hear? And literally do that real? Does that mean it's gonna go viral? No. But like, you know, it might. But whoever sees it, you

mentioned you mentioned something that I have to ask you music because music lights me. But is it better to have music with every video? I mean, do you have like a equation like you know, you want to do this? This is how long are there better ways to do this than others? What would be that like? Yes, Hillary, here's how long here's the music, what would you say?

I love it. So essentially what I do, the longer your reel the honestly, the worse it's going to perform unless you keep them watching till the end. Like if it's a 92nd reel, and it's a recipe, they might wait the whole 90 seconds to watch it. Or if it's a really cool story where we literally stop everything. But if it's just you sitting at a desk with B roll and some message like it shouldn't be longer than like, six, seven seconds, because our attention span is eight seconds. So I tell everyone, if you can keep it real under eight seconds, awesome. If you're telling a story, that's impossible, but keep them watching. And I usually use a hook like Do not miss the end or wait for it right? You want to keep them watching. We have no attention span. We're busy as ever. We're on 18 different apps, you got to give them a reason to watch.

I gotta tell you, when somebody says wait for the end. Yeah, and you do. And it is a terrible ending. I'm like, I will never trust you.

Well, that's, like, if you're gonna say that there better be something cool. But what I like doing, especially if you're giving like tips, like three things, I'll say Don't miss the last one. But I better make sure that last one is Whoa, yeah, really great.

That last one has to be really amazing. Yeah. Okay, so we are going to take a quick break. But when we come back, I'm going to throw you a challenge. I'd like you to look at our Instagram page, the relaunch cow and share. If we were working together three things that you would immediately change, modify, or suggest. Okay. All right, we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by my very own labor of love my most recent book relaunch. This book is a collection of my stories, other stories and is a motivational guide to living a new three h q lifestyle, sparking your heart to ignite your life. It's available for purchase via Amazon, get ready to try on the three h q method that I've been using for years, throughout my entire life, reaching the next level in all areas, both professionally. And personally. Get your copy today at www dot the relaunch book.com Oh, if you did not hear the last segment, you're going to want to go back, you're going to want to pause it Listen, take notes. Because I am here with Shannon, the fabulous social media gal who has already I'm telling you I'm taking notes, I am going to go and do this. But when I when we were just about to take a break, I threw a challenge. I said go on to our the relaunch co Instagram account and let's let's I'm going to take it like a woman. Let's hear what you would suggest, hey, you need to be doing this changes modifications. What do you think Shannon?

Well, I will say I mean you hit all the pieces like even just looking at your grid. I'm like, okay, you've got education, you got empathy, and you've got entertainment behind the scenes. So nailed it. Well done. Thank God. No, because you will be surprised sometimes I look at people saying it's just educate, educate, educate, I'm like, like, throw in something personal and humanize yourself a little bit. Your headshots beautiful. I always tell people I'm like if you are unless you're a team of 10 plus people it needs to be your face period. So this might be more of a you're doing everything right type of but the one thing I would change this real quick is your bio now a tiny bit now remember, we only have 150 characters, which I'm hoping and praying one day they're like 200 at least. But one thing I love to do with BIOS is that first line that helps you have helping women scale up their business and life so they can XYZ is usually I put something like what is their desire? Because again, what

is it that we actually do? How do we transform them what's in it for them tour

without like for instance if a lot of your people are moms I would say without sacrificing family time or without sacrifice for me. And this again if I look at my bio pride break this roll never do as I do, right do as I say, I would say are helping women scale up their business and life without debt like what are the other coaches telling them that you don't make? Right like for me it would be without spending all day on Instagram without sacrificing your sanity. Oh, that's killing you helping you grow your Instagram while also having a life like that can be one I could do you know what I mean? Like there's so many people out there Yeah, help people grow their Instagram. What makes me different? Well, practical, proven, like you said earlier, sustainable strategies. So that's one thing I would add. You got good. Oh, here's another thing I would tell you. This is something I'm telling everyone to do lately is have a start. Hear highlight at the front. Very good one day, get on Instagram stories and just talk to the camera and say hi, I'm Hillary, you can tell your founders story you can just do, this is what we do, and have like at least three or four and just have a little start here, people are nosy. And when you end up on our Explore page or our rails tab, the first thing we're going to do is go to your profile, we're going to look at your bio, and then we're typically going to watch highlights or jump to the real section. It depends. A lot of people are like, no one looks at highlights anymore. I'm like, yeah, they do. Because I can't tell you have anytime someone wants someone to replies. And my DMs is like, what is that, and it's like a highlight from three years ago, and people are digging. So I would do a Start Here. Because they would love to see a start here and hear your voice see your face.

And it's simple, as you just said, because I could easily do it just in stories. Yes. And then I mean, why not. And then you take it and then you move it down there. And then people can start to really understand, do you recommend that I try to like once a month, get back on and kind of start over, like have people because you don't know who's joining. And people need I believe people need to be reminded of you know, hey, this is what our mission is, this is what we're doing. This is how we're trying to help you, you know, relaunching your your mindset relaunching you to that next level of success. I feel like if you do that once a month, and I like to, you know, on the first of every month, really put that out there I think then you know that you're always circling, circling the wagon again, you know that you're doing it, you're going back in there, and you're sharing it. Is that something that you're recommending? Or should we be doing it more often?

Absolutely. And it's funny because I'm helping a lot of my clients right now do their founder story and pin that to the top. So that's another thing I was gonna say, do that and like almost what you're doing in stories with the start here than to your highlights also have it because again, like I said, what if they don't check out your highlights, and they just want to go to your meals or whatever. And you're like I this is our mission or whether it is a deep vulnerable story. Like we want to know that we want to align with your core values. And we want to know what you're about. So I am all my clients are like, Oh, well, I already did a Friday intro a couple weeks ago. I'm like, I don't care. The way instagram i It's so funny. Three years ago, I think we were all terrified to repeat ourselves. And now I'm like, if you're not repeating yourself, you're doing it wrong. Because we're, we're, we're on like I said back then we were on what LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, now we've got tick tock, well, YouTube too. But again, we're spending so much time on tick tock so much time on Instagram. Instagram now has 20 other features that didn't, right, we're bombarded now everyone's a content creator, everyone's business owner. So you've got to remember, we don't even remember what we ate for breakfast. I don't remember what you said yesterday. So repetition is a good thing. So I would do that. And yeah, I think those are like three things that you could do.

And don't look at the stories yet. Because by tonight, I promise you, there'll be a few more I did.

I think your stories are perfect. And again, I love this one, the one where you just a breakdown of your day. I tell everyone I'm like I don't care. Some people are like, Oh, I don't care for those. I'm like, well, whatever I do, I like to see what people are doing. And even. But I will say if I first thing in the morning, hop on stories and say, Hey, I'm doing this, that and the third. People love it. I mean, and I'll usually throw in something silly, like, you know, maybe it's like happy hour or not, but I'll throw something in like that's not

silly. That's, that's true.

Like, or like I'll do like laundry does it ever end? You know, I'll throw something in personal human rather than just you know, but no happy hour, I always put like, cheers, or I'll do like bachelor, isn't this the worst season something for them to respond to me, rather than just look at it something for them to always go Google, I actually want to talk to her about that. Again, the more personal that you can intertwine with your business. The

big question here, What? And how? How do you actually ask people to follow you what is the best way?

So definitely, especially like your emails, or your whatever, I treat everything as this big, you know, I get I use my email to get people here I use Tiktok even might detect biases, follow me on Instagram. Like you want to funnel everything. And that's very direct, but in emails, for instance, you know, you got to give them a reason. So I'll say hey, tomorrow, I'm sharing this, be sure you're following me. So I know when I was doing this for clients back in the day, when Instagram was just starting to be a thing because even when I started as a social media manager at the time, it was just Facebook and LinkedIn. That's all I anyone wanted to be on Instagram came I was like, great. How do we get these 800 people on your Facebook page Instagram? So I would then put on Facebook like, hey, we just started an Instagram Be sure to follow us for bop bop bop, right. So for realtors, I wouldn't just say houses because who cares? I'd say follow for local events. Whatever was I forget, like, yeah, it was whatever it did, I gave him a wreath. So you just kind of give people a reason and they will. Even when your reels it's it's good to occasionally in your real put Be sure to follow and at your at the relaunch Co. For more for instead of for more, you say for scaling tips for women looking to duck duck, basically what's in your bio. Because if that ends up in the rails tab, and they don't know you from Adam, they're gonna be like, ooh, and then you're tagging yourself, even though they go to your username right there. But it's just another touch point. So I would absolutely in reels every once in a while, especially if it's a real that you think might do very well. Make sure you put follow and then act not follow me follow tag yourself. For more business tips for women looking to whatever that right

is so great. Okay, another question. Do we? Is it better to go au natural? Or what is the percentage that you recommend? Like looking camera ready? Versus Hey, I just put my head you know, my my dirty hair and a bun. Like me today? That's funny. Oh, I

personally have a joke with my people. Like they know I am always a mess in the morning and they expect it. And then in the afternoon, I always joke like, Hey guys, life update, I washed my hair like we joke about but that's because most of my people are also stay at home moms or moms in the middle of the grind or the messy middle and they're like, oh my gosh, they love that I shared last night all this cool food I bought to like start this new journey of low sugar. And then I was like, by the way, guys, and I showed the pizza rolls for my kids on a paper plate. Right? Like, every I'm like you guys, like don't get it twisted. I'm very normal over here and just surviving. But I would say I'm also one of those people. I rarely go anywhere without makeup. So if anyone's ever like, gosh, you always have at least makeup on or mascara. I'm like, Well, I would in the real world too. So I usually don't present myself in a way I wouldn't at least go to the grocery store as Right. Like, I have a friend who always is like Well, I'm like having your own natural all the time. I like to at least have my eyebrows and mascara on at least so I just think it's whatever is comfortable for you. But also the more natural you come off the better but if it's natural to you to have your hair and dirty, so that's fine. But I know I feel even more confident in stories when I feel put together. Okay, I got it. My energy's happier when I

totally get that. What's your favorite beauty product?

Oh my god. NARS actually have it right here. NARS. She used to be share go. Oh, here it is light reflecting Foundation, which I didn't do my full face today. But I love this.

I have to say I do like NARS there blush. And it is orgasm. Yes. And yes, that is still and it's been out forever. It is still one of my go to love the color. And I can I feel like if I just have a little blush on just a little because I get I'm very very, very pale. Then at least I'm like, okay, like that's,

yeah, I'm sorry. This and that's the step i missed today. It was I do this and it's very light. And I do makeup forever. powder on top. And it is like,

well, you are glowing right now, by the way.

But I don't like that as I keep looking. I'm like, Oh, it's okay. I will say for the summer I'll wear just the foundation. But in the winter when I'm feeling good. I'll do that. But that Makeup Forever. Plus NARS is just magic on your skin.

Okay, so if I were the expert, and you were interviewing me, what would you what would you absolutely ask me to make sure that you got the answer? Ooh,

I love that. I would say, well, because this is actually a question I would have had years ago. Like, is there a right way to scale?

Let's hear the answer.

Oh, me?

Yeah. What do you think?

i Okay. I feel like it's almost a twofer. Like, there probably is. But people are because the all the people that are like scale experts make it incredibly complicated. Totally. And I know funnels are important, and it's important, but they all make it so technical that it made me feel like well, I don't want to scale. I'll just have my one little thing and so that's, I would say there probably is and it's probably something that there's no magic way to do it. But that

I think one of the things Because what we're finding and you, you alluded to it earlier is that you have to get super clear on, on Who are you really attracting? Who do you really want to be on your Instagram or to be on your tick tock. And we always hear, like, talk to that one person, talk to that one person. But I gotta tell you, you know, I always talk about this tune in process, and being able to tune into a heightened level of energy of that person, because then you're really going to resonate. And by tuning in, you create a song, you think of a song that really lights you up. Right now, I just I just before this this interview, I listened to Miley Cyrus flowers, I'm like, yes. But I also think that at this point, we now need to get out of our own way, right? And get out of what I say is, you know, getting stuck in the head, like, you're just so like, ah, the thoughts around it. And what would you say? Are the percentages of people that end up having something viral? That it was off the cuff? It wasn't planned? It wasn't? Do you find that more of what goes viral? Are the things that aren't so scripted and so perfectly polished and all

that? Well? I love that you said that? Because yes, and then it leads to their non ideal community. And then people are mad, they went viral. It happens all the time. So don't wish for something else to want. Yeah, I'm sure you'll get nasty comments. I went very viral on Tiktok recently, and I had to delete it because it just got so nasty. So just be careful what you wish for although it did attract some great people and now I'm obviously I had to do a lot of blogging. So just be careful. And I think again, like you said, as long as even the the off the cuff stuff, just make sure it's still aligns with

perfect your mission. So let me ask you, where can people find you keep in contact with you and follow you.

Alright, so I'm pretty much on Instagram. I know. I don't want anyone else on there all day. But I'm pretty much on there all day. But it's also my job. I spent a lot of time there. So Shannon McKinstrie is my handle. I'm also a big I love LinkedIn. I love tick tock, tick. Yeah, same handle on everything. So I gotta

tell you, you have a new fan right here. I loved what you I'm literally going to go back and re Listen, take some notes myself, and I'm going to show up more. You've given me that kick in the butt. And I do want to let everyone know that next week. And here is a little like who suspense. We're going to have a premiere of a brand new show, which I am so excited to share with you. I will have a co host join me. She will be joining once a month it is going to be insane. So make sure you are continuing to tune in to the show. So that you can hear and one of the taglines is, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. So you can only imagine where I'm going to take that. So look forward to sharing all of this with you next week. And Shannon gave us a ton of amazing concepts today. Use them. Let us know. Let us know follow us on the relaunch code. Let us know how it goes for you. Take care everyone live now. Love now relaunch now.