Craft Your Social Media Content Strategy With Shannon McKinstrie

You can find Shannon McKinstrie at
Website: https://shannonmckinstrie.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannonmckinstrie/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shannonmckinstrie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shannonmckinstrie/

Shannon McKinstrie Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today we have Shannon McKinstrie in the house. She is a social media strategist and mentor, and I found her refreshing and engaging content on Instagram, but she can talk to us about all different aspects of social media. So welcome to the show, Shannon.

[00:00:20] Shannon McKinstrie: Thank you, Kris. I’m really excited for this.

[00:00:22] Kris Ward: Okay, Shan, let’s dive in at a sort of higher level of content from the get go. When we’re talking about content in general with social media, where do you think a lot of us are missing the mark? Because we’re just, we’re all out there because we have to be out there and it’s the beast we have to fill that with the beast we have to feed. So where should we start and what are we missing?

[00:00:43] Shannon McKinstrie: So I think one of the first places to start, and I’ve even turned people away from working with me. I’m like, you got to start a while back. You got to work with a brand strategist first. A lot of people don’t really understand what their messaging is and they just know they’re supposed to show up on social media.

[00:00:58] But I have said for years, I’ve wanted to coin this phrase, messaging first, social second, because once you know your messaging, meaning what separates you from the others, your value proposition. Your values, right? And how you are different than your competitors, what you do special for people.

[00:01:16] Once you know that messaging and what you stand for, creating content becomes a whole lot easier because what we are seeing right now, especially right now in 2024 is a huge shift. We’re in a totally different era of marketing. I think because more people are on social media, there’s more platforms than ever.

[00:01:34] There’s more choices than ever, which is a good thing, but also a bad thing is, People feel like they need to be everywhere, which they don’t. But each platform has its own culture, if you will. We open TikTok for one reason, we open Instagram for another, we open LinkedIn for another, which I think a lot of people miss.

[00:01:50] So I think when people are missing the mark and that’s not to say you can’t cross post ever. I cross post a few sometimes, but I know my audience on TikTok. I know my audience on Instagram. I know my audience on LinkedIn, and I know what they’re looking for. So when you are thinking of creating content, you can take the topics if you will, and judge them a bit.

[00:02:09] But if you have your messaging, my messaging is the same. Across all platforms, the way I deliver it is a bit different. So again, while, we couldn’t survive without repurposing. But that’s where people, I think, miss the mark is you got to really think, why is my person opening Instagram right now?

[00:02:28] Kris Ward: And so let me jump in there for a second, that messaging thing. I can go off on a tyrant on that. Cause I’ve seen poor people that, my background is also in marketing. And, even though our big focus is, really getting entrepreneurs out of their own way and, getting them to the real work and we do all that stuff.

[00:02:43] But I will see what I would call a business buddy or business friend go, Oh, I need a new website and I’m going to spend five or 7, 000. It’s you don’t have your messaging down, Pat, the pretty stuff isn’t going to change anything. And it doesn’t sound sexy and it’s the work you have to do, but

[00:02:57] it’s the copy. It doesn’t matter. All the buttons and whistles on that website are not going to change anything if you don’t know who you’re talking to. So we’re going to assume the listeners here that you all know who you’re talking to, because if you don’t, we can’t help you anyhow. So let’s start from there.

[00:03:13] We know who we’re talking about and talking to, and then you come at this from a different perspective. A slightly different massaged approach than other people. You talk about helpful, be the three H’s. I’ll let you tell me what they are. What are the three H’s?

[00:03:27] Shannon McKinstrie: Yeah. So we’ll start with the obvious one, which is helpful, right?

[00:03:31] Okay. Business owners, we want to, we’re there to serve others. We’re there to serve our people and show up and help. Everyone, got stuck on the word value and education for a long time and worrying is this valuable is this educational? I’m like, you do realize like just human connection is also valuable.

[00:03:47] Yeah, always have to be this life changing and I fell into that trap for years I was like, I’ve got to change the world with this post like you’re not going to

[00:03:56] Kris Ward: I think can I jump it? I see The word helpful too, it seems softer and more achievable when we talk about educate is like, Oh my gosh, how am I going to say something different than it’s ever been said before and I’ll be the authority and I got to blast you and I really need you to be educated.

[00:04:13] And that is a higher ask and a higher achievement. But I feel like, Oh, I could be helpful. I could do that.

[00:04:20] Shannon McKinstrie: I love that you said that. That makes me so happy because I think a lot of people do get stuck. They’re like or, people don’t think they’re eloquent enough to be educational.

[00:04:26] Yeah. It’s just, is it helpful? And even if I know that’s not what this audience is, but entrepreneur, not entrepreneur, sorry, like influencers, they were like educational. I’m like when you tell us that this product from Amazon saves you time every day of do X, Y, Z, that’s helpful. That’s educational.

[00:04:43] So again, it doesn’t have to be this like crazy, thought achieved goal. Okay. It could just be helpful. So that’s one. I like that. And even thought, even thought leadership, certain self, things from your own perspective. Are helpful to us.

[00:04:58] Kris Ward: Okay. Helpful. Yeah. One of the things I often talk about is people, I always say you do not want to delegate.

[00:05:06] Delegating is a lateral move. The work still has to come through you. So when we help you build your WIN team, your what is next team, so you can get to what is next. It’s really not about setting it up so that you’re delegating people. Oh, that just takes more time and you’re the bottleneck. So if I can be helpful and explain to you, look, that’s what’s holding you back.

[00:05:26] That I hope is helpful versus me having to educate you also seems like when I need to educate you that I have to give you a larger volume of content and take you on a wider journey where helpful seems like that could take a second you could be helpful in the line at a grocery store I could do that.

[00:05:44] I was educating somebody at a line and grocery store is a much bigger commitment. And then I’m back to blasting them with information, right? So I really think that softens it and makes it achievable. I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful about being helpful now. I love it.

[00:05:59] Shannon McKinstrie: I know. I love the grocery store analogy. It’s like your person’s in line in the aisle or is in the aisle of what you sell.

[00:06:06] Just go. Yeah. It’s gonna be helpful to you. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy.

[00:06:10] Kris Ward: Oh, awesome. Okay. So helpful. What’s the next H?

[00:06:14] Shannon McKinstrie: Humor. And that’s the one people get stuck on because they’re like, I’m not funny. I’m like you don’t have to be. And also humor could be of a… even if you don’t want to have that as a hardcore pillar on your grid If you don’t want to do memes, you don’t want to do the silly trends, you don’t have to.

[00:06:32] It could be a story. It could be something funny that came up in a phone call with your clients.

[00:06:37] Kris Ward: Okay, I struggle with humor too and here’s the thing, not that I think I’m all that and a bag of chips, but people tell me in life I am quite witty and funny. And, but I think it’s very different on video because you don’t know oh, I’m now having just caught, I don’t need you Shannon, I’m having conversation by myself because I was about to say, I’m going to say, here’s where I caught myself on video.

[00:07:03] You don’t know who you’re talking to, but I shouldn’t be talking to my people. And if I have my people, my mind, the people I work with and everything that I know that I resonate with, then I should be doing humor. As if I’m speaking to them, whereas this is an aha moment for me because in the past it’s like, ah, not everybody gets that sarcasm when it’s a wider audience and more people you put in a room, the harder it is to be funny because then you look like you’re trying to be funny and it’s not landing or you have to explain it.

[00:07:32] Whereas if you and I say something witty and sarcastic, it was timely of the moment. There is an engagement there, right? So I have always pulled back. Because I think it comes off forced because I tend to be one where I’m responding to something humorous. But when you’re trying to be funny in a video, I find to me, that’s a struggle.

[00:07:52] Shannon McKinstrie: I totally get that. And I think this will help a lot of people because what I tell a lot of people, if they know their people are there to laugh and share let’s be honest, Real humorous content gets shared a lot, right? Yeah. Yeah. So what I do, and I do a lot of humorous content on, I do some on Instagram, but I do a lot on TikTok.

[00:08:11] Okay. Because I create content for people who do what I do. And it’s really easy for me to poke fun in what we do, because we’re all dealing with the same. Yes. So I will tend to use those audios or I will describe situations that social media experts and managers find themselves in that everyone’s Oh my gosh, ha.

[00:08:30] And they love it. They eat it up and they feel seen. And a lot of, because I’ve been doing this so long, I can poke fun at it and say things that they’re probably scared to say. So that’s a thing. Another thing you think of it. Another thing, and obviously, you I know it probably feels like a lot to have to do, but again, if you have virtual assistants, they’re going to help you with this is, if there’s a floating, a meme floating around of, say the super bowl, right?

[00:08:52] All the usher stuff was coming out. You can use those to describe situations. You don’t have to be in the video, but what I tell people like you said, if they don’t want to act and do all this silly stuff, you do not have to. Because guess what? If you don’t want to do it, they’re going to tell you don’t want to do it.

[00:09:05] Kris Ward: Yeah. Finding it’s not funny when you’re not having a good time.

[00:09:08] Shannon McKinstrie: Just the copy. Like you said, I use threads to test out some of my humor sometimes. Oh, okay. Okay. I’ll test it out. And if it hits. I’ll screenshot it and throw it on Instagram.

[00:09:19] Kris Ward: So you gave me a couple of things to think about.

[00:09:22] So in one hand, there are like, I, we had a new client that we’re dealing with last week and they all secretly tell me. So they have this revelation. They’re going to tell me, about how character flawed they are and how impatient they are. And I always tell them like, you’re special, but you’re not unique.

[00:09:37] I get you. And we have this power personality quiz. You guys should check it out. It’ll be in the show links. And it’s all the entrepreneurs I work with. Yeah. Hundreds of them. I found they fell into one of five categories. And for me, I’m a recovering rush a holic. Okay. So I had this client that was, and she’s Kris, I have to tell you, I’m always in a rush.

[00:09:55] People just move too slow. They all irritate me. And that’s because she’s a rush a holic and also the adrenaline of trying to catch up and get past the next thing. It leans into her struggles, right? And I said, I understand that completely. I will be here to tell you that one time I looked at somebody who I had been working with for years on my team and he does have a tendency to have dramatic pauses in his sentences and on a bad day, way many years ago, that used to make me insane.

[00:10:24] And I am here to tell you, if you ask somebody to speak quicker, they don’t like it. They don’t, it doesn’t, and she was like, Oh my God, you said that. Cause I was like, so annoyed. Can you not talk faster? Cause I’m going fast. What’s wrong with you? And she thought that was hilarious. And so A, the frustration stories, or I was telling another person, if I had a billion dollars, like money to burn, and I would not be able to burn this in a lifetime.

[00:10:50] Anytime my computer didn’t work, I would just open the window and throw it out. Plug in a new one, right? Let’s look. Okay. This is what I’m going to do. This is if I had more money than God, this is the life I would lead. I would just open the window and throw out electronics when they didn’t work. That is stuff I say to my clients and I guess I could be utilizing that on social media because I am I like to have fun. I do to laugh, but I think we come up with the whole, it, I don’t know, like now we’re writing a script for a sitcom on, that kind of deal.

[00:11:18] Shannon McKinstrie: I know. It’s almost like it reminds me because I’m one of those people when I watch Loom or listen, and now Instagram has it.

[00:11:25] When you voice message someone, you can 2x speed. Oh, I do that. Yeah. I do that all the time because I’m the same. If someone’s I’m a, I’ve been told in my reels, you need to slow down. I’m like, you need speed up.

[00:11:36] Kris Ward: You need, you know what I say? You need to listen quicker. That’s

[00:11:39] Shannon McKinstrie: what I want to say so badly.

[00:11:40] And I go, sorry. I don’t, what do you, I put the captions. I don’t know what else you want me to do. I’m a fast talker.

[00:11:45] Kris Ward: I’m here to tell you, Shannon, I took two courses, two courses on learn how to speak slower. My husband said I should have got money back on both of them. Yes. Okay. All right.

[00:11:58] So we could be talking about that. And also I think too, you could be talking, I, whatever I, so even though I’m not in that pain point where my clients are right now, cause those are what I call my dark years many years ago, I could still tell stories from that perspective.

[00:12:14] Shannon McKinstrie: Yep. Okay. I love that. Cause honestly, most of the situations I describe on TikTok. That people resonate with were things I dealt with five years ago and would never write. Okay. And then I get to say in the caption, this is me. Don’t worry. You’re not crazy. They are. Here’s what to do. And then you can use it.

[00:12:33] And this is my favorite thing with my ages is I overlap, right? So if it’s humor, the caption I’ll make it helpful. Okay.

[00:12:43] Kris Ward: Okay. That’s, I am inspired because that humor thing was always a a struggle for me. Yeah.

[00:12:48] Shannon McKinstrie: A lot of people are like, I’m not funny. I’m like even if you are funny, I’m

[00:12:51] Kris Ward: not funny on command,

[00:12:52] Shannon McKinstrie: right? On command. And that’s what I mean. I think you, I call them, I know they’re not, it’s not tweets anymore. It’s X or whatever, but like that type of thing. You can screenshot, throw it on Instagram if people found it funny. So I test a lot on threads.

[00:13:04] Kris Ward: Okay, hold on. I know it’s X, but now do we not even call them tweets?

[00:13:07] Am I sounding like an old person?

[00:13:08] Shannon McKinstrie: I have no idea what to call them. I will still call them tweets.

[00:13:11] Kris Ward: Okay. I sounding like I’m 100. I don’t know what the kids are calling it these days. Okay.

[00:13:15] Shannon McKinstrie: I still say tweets.

[00:13:16] Kris Ward: We’ve got helpful. Now we’ve tapped into humor with fourth H is we’ve got some hope.

[00:13:22] All right. Now we have some hope. We have some hope about humor. Now, what about being heard?

[00:13:29] Shannon McKinstrie: Oh, heard. Yes. So heard is honestly why we’re here. On social media in the first place where we really are there to feel validated, feel seen. That’s why we follow accounts that make us laugh and get us. And it’s why I follow all the meme accounts about, people in their forties and nostalgia in the nineties. Like I love those, right? Yeah.

[00:13:50] Kris Ward: So when some of them are so good, I saw one, it was hilarious. It was at Christmas time and it said something to the point of after Mary finally got baby Jesus settled in New York. Whatever, I was going to call it the cabin, clearly I don’t go to church enough. It got him settled for the night.

[00:14:06] The last thing she needed was a drum solo. And you’re like, Oh my God, that is friggin hilarious. Cause it just changed the whole perspective of, a drum solo compared to the drummer boy. Really took the Bible out of that one. So I thought that those are funny.

[00:14:23] Shannon McKinstrie: They’re so funny. And I love that you brought that up because what I will do, if I see one like that, that I think is so funny.

[00:14:28] I’m like, I know my people will think it’s funny and I’ll share it to my Instagram stories. So that’s another way to add some humor into your account. I always call it. I feel seen news. I always say in today’s, I feel seen news and I’ll find a funny meme that I think I look, and again, I look and I go, I feel heard. I feel seen.

[00:14:44] Kris Ward: And okay. So that’s a powerful point there because I would have been thinking it’s off topic. It’s not about what I do, but then it’s I’m selling all the time. And the other thing is, again, I’d be like, I would send that to members of my family, but then I’d be thinking, Oh, what if I offend the church goers, whatever, I don’t know.

[00:15:01] But then again, you know what, then they’re not my people. Cause exactly. Okay. All right. This is all kinds of good here. Okay. So now being heard.

[00:15:10] Shannon McKinstrie: Like heard content is really that stuff that makes them go, okay, Kris knows what it’s like to be in my shoes, right? Because I, we want to, we’re going to invest in people who get it, who make us feel like, that’s why we try to find doctors who will listen to us.

[00:15:24] It’s why we try to it’s why we shop at certain stores because maybe the barista actually asks you about your day. It’s the same thing. Yeah.

[00:15:32] Kris Ward: It’s why you marry the guy you marry is, Oh, he gets me. He hears me. He knows what I mean when I say this, dammit.

[00:15:39] Shannon McKinstrie: Exactly. And so I know most people, empathy is the word, but I was like, when it really comes down, it’s what makes your person feel heard?

[00:15:45] So those could be, it could be client stories. It could be your own story. A lot of times I will do it cause I know my people don’t want to exhaust themselves on social media. There’s a lot of people like mind, whatever they can do that. But my people I know don’t want to live on the app.

[00:16:02] So my type of herd content is this is your reminder. You can unplug for a day and your people aren’t going to leave you. Yeah. For me would be what my person needs to hear. I, and I do a lot of that stuff actually in Instagram stories and every time I’ll like type out something, sometimes I’m actually writing it to myself.

[00:16:19] Okay. What I needed to hear that day. Or just saying how the solo entrepreneur life is really hard and it’s not, we didn’t choose the easy way out. And I’ll type that out if I’m feeling it that morning and people will DM me and be like, thank you for saying that I needed that. So anything that makes them go, Oh my gosh, I needed to hear that.

[00:16:35] And what I tell people all the time is that my goal for my clients, I want them getting comments on their reels or carousels being like, this is the account I’ve been looking for. I this account is my blank, right? If it’s their comic relief, if it’s their comfort, that’s the goal of your account.

[00:16:54] And those pillars will get you there.

[00:16:57] Kris Ward: And I think as which this is going to sound like the world’s silliest sentence, I think now we’re all overthinking it. Oh, yeah. So you take this so seriously and try to put structure to it. And that’s one of the things I tell my people, you people who are all listening.

[00:17:15] Some people will say to me, Oh, some people say, I’m not organized, Kris, I need more discipline. Listen, discipline will erode you. That’s not what you need. Okay. If you’re all over the map, then you need systems that will support you more. And then the others will say, okay, you’re so organized, or I have always been organized, but I’m here to tell you being organized, all you do is reorganize stuff.

[00:17:33] So I struggled for years because I was so organized. Just reorganizing things, right? Let’s color code them one more time. That doesn’t get anything done. And so what happens is we Fall into prey here. I’m saying, all right, I got to put a structure to my social media and then I make it too intense or too limited or too structured.

[00:17:54] So these three H’s are really important and you have a bonus H as well, which now you may have to, because I have given you the word hope.

[00:18:00] Shannon McKinstrie: I love that one. So last one is happenings. And these, what I like about these is like that you don’t have to force them. You don’t have to be like, Oh, I don’t have one for this week or something like that.

[00:18:10] Yeah. It’s really just recent happenings. Did you have a recent speaking engagement? Did you have a breakthrough? Did you hit a record month? I work with a lot of realtors and like happenings could be an event.

[00:18:21] Kris Ward: Oh dear Lord. May God have mercy on your soul working with realtors. They are all over the place.

[00:18:28] They are. And I’m all about systems. Listen, I did have one realtor, oh my heavens, and I wasn’t going to work with her. It was many years ago. But. Because you can’t, you can only control so much. But when you’ve got 24 hours to turn around and sell a house, listen, you do need structured systems, but it’s a whole different game.

[00:18:44] And this lady wanted to work with me and I, she had triplets graduating from high school. She had a husband with a medical, And she couldn’t organize herself to get to the grocery store. Now I will say she begged me to work and she will say that she worked half the time she ever worked in the 10 years before that.

[00:19:01] And she made double the income. But I was like, the wheelchairs, that is just a horrible way to live is all I can tell you. So if you can manage,

[00:19:11] Shannon McKinstrie: I bow down.

[00:19:12] Kris Ward: I’m like, no, then you’ve got it made. You’re doing awesome. Okay. So the happenings for the realtors could be anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:19] Shannon McKinstrie: And yeah, it’s just like anything behind the scenes that’s really doesn’t fall under any of the other categories.

[00:19:25] So again, it could be, or if you sell jewelry, something’s on sale. You could work that in. It’s Oh, big happening.

[00:19:34] Kris Ward: So right now we are we’ve created this certification program for the VA. So what happens is we’re not an agency. We’re very much not against agencies, but they, there’s a lot of problems with it.

[00:19:46] They find VAs for you and you’re not set up for them. So it’s not going to work. And then of course the VA gets like sometimes two, three bucks an hour and you’re overbilled and they have to sign an NDA and nobody knows how much anyone’s getting. We just happen to find VAs when people think they need one because Hiring is a whole thing on its own and we don’t want you to be slowed down with that learning curve.

[00:20:08] So we’ll find it for you and then we get into the real work, your team, your time and toolkits. But in that we train the VA with all these things, leadership program and stuff like that, and how to manage toolkits and all this other stuff. And so now we decided to turn that into a certification program.

[00:20:22] So I guess what you’re saying with Reals is I could be talking about different components instead of putting one big blast out about, boom, here’s all the things in the program. We can be saying, Oh, we did this week. And we did that. So I really do have some content that could last me a month. And traditionally I’d be thinking of that as one long dry post. Look, I told everybody go away.

[00:20:41] Shannon McKinstrie: No, I love that. Cause I, I tell everyone, again, during COVID and 2020, we were all basically every single reel and carousel we made like a full masterclass. It was just so much information. And I remember making carousels with so many words on them because that’s how everyone was doing it. Everyone wanted. Yeah. Now it’s just tell me one thing.

[00:21:01] Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:01] Shannon McKinstrie: I want to hear just one tip or one cool thing about your course or one, we don’t want to overwhelm. We’re all so overwhelmed. And we’re also overwhelmed because we’re following more people. There’s more people creating content.

[00:21:14] People are creating content multiple times a day. It’s just, it’s all lots. So the more you say, Hey, Here’s a quick tip. Here’s a cool product. Here’s a cool story. Here’s a funny ha moment. The more they’ll eat it up, plus you can overwhelm the better.

[00:21:30] Kris Ward: Okay. Awesome. This is awesome. All right. And then the happenings again, it could be speaking engagements, new stuff in your office behind the scenes. It could be anything. Yeah.

[00:21:41] Shannon McKinstrie: Yeah. I even do sometimes I’ll do like my family and I for the hall for a little behind the scenes, like what we did winter break, things like that. It’s yeah, it’s where I just like to go rogue. If it’s something I’m excited to share, I’ll just share it, or my, I get really excited to share those.

[00:21:54] Kris Ward: And I think it took me an incredibly long time also to understand, like my team was always saying, and first of all, I always feel the need to tell people a team is a philosophy, not a number. You can have a team of one, but anyhow. So my team. My social media person was like, Kris, we have to have you, we have to have more personal stuff about you.

[00:22:14] What do you do? And I’m thinking, Oh my gosh I live a very quiet life. Like these lockdowns really didn’t affect me much. And I was like, I don’t, and so when something would come up, it’d be like, all right, at least I can video this cause they’ll get off my back. But the reality is in the grocery store, I’ve seen you do posts where you just turn and look at the camera and you’re in the car and you just raise your eyebrows and then something’s over the b roll and you’re like, yeah, like the b roll is huh.

[00:22:37] Huh. See these eyebrows? I told you. And I’m like, Oh, that was so simple, but so powerful. Cause we all recognize that expression of, I, this is silly. And and so we think that we have to have, and then sometimes we envy people like you, it’s Oh, you know what? You got a toddler. Or somebody gets a new baby.

[00:22:53] I don’t want a new baby, but that new baby is going to serve you. When we see all these damn baby bitches, right? Do I need a dog? What am I looking for here? So I don’t want to get a dog or, adopt children because they do better in the feed. So for the rest of us, we’re like, Oh, I don’t really do anything.

[00:23:10] And now I’m into rock climbing, which is fine. At least I have something. But previous to that, it’s you don’t want to see me work out in the basement. How many times can I show you on my bike ride? So it’s a full life for me. I quite enjoy it, but it’s doesn’t, I’m not all over the world doing global things.

[00:23:26] So I think we also expect that they have to be much bigger things when really they’re just relatable things like going to the grocery store.

[00:23:36] Shannon McKinstrie: Or I do a lot of mine in my car. I always joke with people. I’m like, if you are struggling with engagement and yes, you haven’t gotten a puppy, you engaged talk to the camera in your car.

[00:23:48] There is something about the car videos. I always joke with people. I’m like, I think it’s because we feel like we’re with the person. It feels a little more intimate. I see so many talk to camera. There’s one girl that every time I see her is it’s viral and she’s just giving her two cents on something and she’s just sitting in her car. So I I do a lot of my carb also, cause it’s a lot more quiet than my house.

[00:24:10] Kris Ward: And then I got one of those toddlers that she can drag on social media,

[00:24:13] Shannon McKinstrie: never know when she’s coming around the corner. And then. Yeah. I also will do them in my kitchen just because everyone knows I love my oat milk. So I’ll make my cup of coffee.

[00:24:21] I love my wine. I’ll pour a glass of wine. And then I work in a coffee shop. So that’s basically the only places I ever record. So it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. And, but again, I lean on good copy and good messaging. Yeah. Everyone should. And if and especially service providers, right?

[00:24:37] I tell all the social media managers I’ve mentored. I’m like, look, if I was still only doing management, meaning I wasn’t actually teaching it, I was providing it. I was like, I wouldn’t be giving tips. I would just be like, here’s what I did for my client today. Here’s what my client doesn’t have to do today.

[00:24:51] Cause I did it. Here’s what my 2, 000 package looks like, here’s what’s included in my blah, blah, blah, overhaul. It would be stuff like that because, and that’s so easy for service providers. Cause a lot of people don’t realize what VA’s actually take off their plate or things that like, Oh yeah, I guess I don’t actually have to answer emails.

[00:25:10] It’s giving them that permission. So it doesn’t always have to be like, Oh, here’s a cool Canva tip. Sure. That might, they might enjoy that. At the end of the day, you’re going to be doing Canva for them. They don’t need to know that.

[00:25:21] Kris Ward: Yeah. And that’s a good point because there’s Oh, I always tell people there’s always pre and post work to what you think is your job starts to swell.

[00:25:30] So this center, think of it like a, I don’t even know, I don’t, I can’t give a solar example cause I don’t know the solar system well enough, but I don’t know where earth is, but let’s see.

[00:25:40] Shannon McKinstrie: I think that’s where we are.

[00:25:41] Kris Ward: I know where I am. I don’t know where it is compared to everything else, but almost. What I would say is it’s like you have this ball of content in the middle, that’s whatever it is you do.

[00:25:51] And this is your area of expertise. And then it starts to swell because it’s pre and post and pre and post work that you have to do. And you start thinking that’s your job, but it’s not. And I see things all the time with my own team, nevermind my clients, where I realize why am I doing this? Like constant, if they do this, it takes 10 minutes off my, my hour and times that by eight hours a day, but I get caught up in the mechanics of it. Like when I’m sending out videos to clients for different reasons, or I’m doing a pitch to be on somebody’s podcast, I do a video and I do it in a very purposeful way. Previously, I was stopping the video and then at the end, putting the name on them.

[00:26:28] Whatever, but I’m holding up the person’s name in the video because it catches their attention. It’s a really good tool. La. Then I realized I’m holding up their name and then my assistant gave me the list of people to reach out to. Why am I taking the phone off the thing, plugging in their name of the video so that she can pull them up later?

[00:26:43] I realized she can go into BombBomb on the computer. She sees I’m holding up the name. She knows the list I gave her. She can just put the name on them and send them out. Why am I doing this? So that also stopped me from switching in and out of recording video to fussing with my phone and getting the name on.

[00:26:57] But again, that’s taken three minutes to tell you this story. And so what I’ve done in the past is over complicated it and have to tell this preamble story before I tell the story to explain how much time you save. But I think you’re right. If we say, okay, let’s come up with a list of things that the VAs do for me.

[00:27:15] Or my clients and just simplify it. And even if we just have a B roll, we list all the things that they did for me today, I think we’re thinking to, again, I’ve been thinking too much.

[00:27:25] Shannon McKinstrie: Yep. And even I love the POV rails because they’re so easy when you’re just like, I need to get something up or I need to make a sale.

[00:27:32] Like POV it’s seven o’clock. The digits are away. What does their life look like with you? They can actually laptop, watch jeopardy, scroll their phone without worrying about work rates. And that that’s what, again, what I like to tell people is VAs, what do you do for people?

[00:27:48] Oh, I do all their systems, but like why does that matter to them so that they can’t play their kids soccer game so that they can’t write because if without my VA, I’ve got no life. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s what you’re selling. You’re selling the fact that this person can have their life back and yeah that’s where you create those POV reels of what life will feel like.

[00:28:08] It’s all about those experiences and whether you are sharing something helpful or humorous, you’re giving them that experience of what it’s like to work with you, follow you and be a part of your community.

[00:28:17] Kris Ward: Yeah. I think breaking it down has been really helpful because I think we look at this all in terms Like, two I would then have to give a five minute master class on the misconception of what a VA does and then the pre and post work and then here’s some things they can do.

[00:28:35] But if I just say, here’s my client, they’re so excited, here’s seven things the VA did for them today. Boom. Here’s the list, right? And I think we get the curse of knowledge and we just think, oh, you need this whole arc of a story for me to, and for me to tell you what I really want to tell you at the end.

[00:28:51] Fantastic. Oh my gosh. Okay. Where can people find more of your brilliance Shannon?

[00:28:56] Shannon McKinstrie: Oh, that’s nice of you to say. I’m on Instagram a lot more than anyone should be. But again, that is my job. So I’m on Instagram, Shannon McKinstrie. I also love LinkedIn. Love TikTok. Yeah. And then my website’s just Shannon McKinstrie.

[00:29:10] So if you’re, If you ever need…

[00:29:11] Kris Ward: we will put all of that in the show notes. My gosh,

[00:29:13] Shannon McKinstrie: I’m easy to find on those platforms for sure.

[00:29:16] Kris Ward: Okay. For sure. Everyone please share this with one business buddy. Don’t have them suffer bouncing around by themselves. That was really valuable content here today.

[00:29:24] Really some insightful stuff. So share it with at least one business buddy or friend and Shannon, thank you so much. We appreciate you and we will see you all in the next episode