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Foreign. I am your host, Shannon McKinstry. Welcome to Good Content, the podcast where I remove the never ending content creation, guesswork and overwhelm so that you can actually enjoy being on social media again and growing your business with what has always worked. Good content. All right, today we are going to walk through a week of content for you to post. Okay? Because if I was your social media manager, well, I wouldn't call myself a social media manager anymore. Just in case anyone listening is in the social media marketing world like you create content, you manage, et cetera. I have noticed just the term social media manager, what it meant 10 years ago is totally different, right? It's like you're more than just putting pictures up with a caption and replying to comments, right? You're editing, you're doing trend research, now you're data mining. You're the creative, right? So just a little side note, for all my social media manager people out there, update your title to like chief content officer, head of content, content director, social media strategist, whatever it is. All right, I digress. So if I was and I managed forever and I still actually manage a couple accounts, meaning I post and create and edit, etc. The content for two other businesses other than my own and I always manage at least 2 to 3 because I want to be in the thick of it, right? Like, I don't only grow my own account, I grow others. But the reason the social media manager world has changed so much is again, social media has changed so much. It used to be like a client could just give me a bunch of pictures and I could just come up with witty captions and stuff and sure, that still works, but you really gotta get involved. Like if you have a social media manager, they're basically a team member at this point. So they're giving you ideas. You gotta. Gone are the days of just giving them stuff and walking away. It's like you gotta be involved because you are the face. Even if you are a corporation, we need the humans in your content. I talk about it all the time, right? A really good example of this. I see this girl's content pop up a lot. Chelsea Anderson, it's Chelsea Underscore explains. And it's really interesting because what I tell people all the time is that like if you look at any of her hooks, I mean the word I, my, me, whatever, is in every single one of her hooks. Almost every single one. Some re recent ones. She has my take on the loneliness epidemic. The most mortified I've ever been in my Life is another one I get to is the first words out of her mouth from her scripts and things. And there's a reason, right? Because we missed. I talk about it all the time in the podcast, but, you know, we missed the human side of social media and people's content for a long, long time. And we're so back. And I love. But she's a good person to kind of look at, to see what I mean. But again, a lot of you might be listening to this and you're like, well, Shannon, I sell products. Or again, I'm part of a huge corporation. Yes, we still need the human. And I've talked about that a lot in so many episodes. But once again, drive it home. The power of these hooks. Now, with that said, if I was your social media manager and you were a brewery or you were a coffee shop or you were, you're a realtor or you sell plumbing supplies, I don't know, right? This is what I would literally post for you this week if you would give me your phone. Now, again, this is. It's also to drive home if you are looking to hire a social media manager. This is the type of content that they need to be posting for you. Because again, you. But you've got to be involved a little bit. Just a little bit. Okay. I went through and found some really good reels. One, the first one I would post for you of the week. So Monday would be a random thought. And this is what I would ask you if I was your social media manager. I'd be like, what are some random thoughts you'd have? What, what are some things you would put on threads or tweets or tweets, Twitter, whatever it's called now. X. What are some random thoughts? And again, what I mean by random thought is like, even if it wasn't a real, it could just be a quote, graphic, something like that, or it would again would be on threads. So this one says, here's a perfect example of one that went viral when people ask what my type is, but my type is someone who naturally brings my inner child out, makes me laugh, and never stops flirting with me, right? That's like, it's just a Rand thought. And the, you know, the text is cute, the video is cute. So of course it performed really, really well. Another one, are you even a girl's girl if you aren't plotting your Christmas decor right now? Just a random thought. And then of course, it has some cute videos. So that would be the first thing I do. I would say, what is A random thought. And random thought could even be a hot take, right? What's a hot take on your industry? And then put it over some B roll with some trending over, call it a day. Okay, here's another one. Random thought. Of course everything is falling apart. Your new life will cost you your old one. And what I love about random thoughts too is these types of content that it's kind of the herd category when I talk about the four H's. And it's really good to start the week off on a Monday. This is how I do things, right? I just, I, I love to think like throughout the week. Okay, Monday, kind of something lighter, something like less heavy, right? Just kind of like something light. But it also shows your core values. So that's what I would post on a Monday. Boom. Done. Easy B roll, simple text, a random thought. You could start this with, I don't know who needs to hear this but. Or you could start it with I wish more people knew. Sorry, that's one of my favorite, favorite all time oldie but goodie hooks. I wish more people knew. Like I've had so many people go viral with that. I just tell them, put. I wish people knew. More people knew. And put something really? Like what? Sometimes suddenly you want to like shake someone and be like, I wish you guys knew this. Like something like that. Great, right? Random thought done the next day. And I'm going to give you guys five because again, I don't, you don't need to be posting every day. So that would be Monday. On the next day I would post something, you know, more helpful, educational. So I would do a demo, meaning this reel. You're going to be sharing a tip, but you're also going to be showing them, right? We don't want to be told. We want to be shown. Like think show and tell, right? Old school days. What's something that you can show them but also demo. This one just went viral. This is a great example. Again, all these will be in the show notes. It literally the hook is perfection. It says, retired federal agent gives parking lot safety tips for when you're loading your car. And he's just 595,000 likes. Okay, so definitely is millions of years. So brilliant hook. And so that would be what I would do for you on Tuesday. You talking to the camera and, and demoing what you're talking about. If you're like, Shannon, I can't actually demo what I'm talking about. It's just like a whatever tip. Just make sure you've got What I would tell you as your social media strategist on your team, I would say make sure you're at least doing some sort of subliminal visual hook. Maybe you, as you're talking, you come in from the side or there's jump cuts. Right? This is all. These are all a little more technical. If you're beginner, don't worry. Just talk to the camera. And we all know just simply talking to the camera, like you're talking on Instagram stories, that's what this Chelsea, that account, it's. That's all it is. All her stuff looks like stories. And let me add here real quick. When you look at Chelsea's content, if you look at her grid, it's not curated. We don't want perfectly curated. We just want your knowledge, your tips, your experiences, your perspective, things like that. And again, we want to know your core values and things like that. But if you're someone, like, who's an interior designer, a photographer, and really your brand is an esthetic, go for it. Make your grid gorgeous and esthetic. Just know it's not necessary. Mine's definitely not aesthetic. I'm. I mean, look at me. I'm fresh off the beach trip, looking a hot mess. You guys know I'm not the prim. Proper aesthetic. I love aesthetic feeds, though. But for me, that wouldn't make sense for my brand if my grid was, like, perfect. But like I said, if you want to have it perfect, you can always lean on cover photos, gorgeous pictures, whatever it is. So just wanted to get that out of the way. Okay, so Tuesday tip talking, the camera, demoing, what you're saying, and make it very conversational, just like this gentleman did. Let me give you guys his handle just to make sure it is Scott at Bryson. Love it. He's a retired Secret Service agent, so really, really great content there. So again, talk to the camera demo if you can, and make it conversational. Keep it chill. All right, Next day, so we've got the random thought, which was kind of like the herd category, the helpful demo. Talk to camera. The third post of the week that I would have you do is a simple pov. And this POV would literally, if that guy was my client, the Secret Service guy, the POV would be some B roll pov. You start loading your groceries like this in order to protect your kids and you something like that in the parking lot. And so then it's like two for one. So whatever you post a Tuesday, we're gonna re. We're gonna share it again in A POV style. So you're gonna give the tip right there with a pov. If you sell beverages, if you sell jewelry, I would say something like, oh, here's a great one from Diet Coke. It's POV. Your out of office email is on, the UV is 9, and you just cracked a fresh Diet Coke. Done. All right, so that would be the pov. It's still helpful in a way. If it was for the Secret Service agent pov in a helpful way, it's like the POV is giving a tip for the Diet Coke, for jewelry, for whatever you sell. It could be more of like, hi. Like, this is a feeling that they're desiring, and you can go that way. So I make sure that POV either suggests an idea, provides a feeling, or shares a tip. Okay, so there you go. Your POV reel, the next one I would post for you for the week is what I love to call the that's me real, where literally the real is just saying, hey, this is what you're struggling with. This is what you desire. I'm over here. Welcome to my page. Okay, Something like waiting for the girls who don't love their arms, who have hips and boobs, Find me. I have all the outfit tips for you. If you're a restaurant waiting for all the foodies in D.C. who love whatever it is you serve to find us, welcome to the name of the restaurant. Mine would say something like, waiting for the newbie content creators or maybe the Instagram beginners, waiting for all the business owners who want to, you know, want to exit their content flop era and blah, blah, blah, blah. Welcome to my page. So that's the fourth reel I would post for you. Okay, and again, we're talking reels. The last one's gonna be a carousel. Get excited. So now we've covered a lot. We've provided that helpful content. We've provided, you know, giving them a feeling of what it's like to follow you and be a part of your world. Because that's what we do on social media. We're creating these worlds for people. Enter where they belong. Right, okay. And the last one that I would post for you, let's do a carousel for some fun. These are the types of carousels that are killing it on TikTok and Instagram right now. They're literally, if you're watching on YouTube photos and, like, screenshots and just. I mean, this. This was so easy for her to put together. 13,000 likes, over 300 shares, it says. Five articles that helped me Fall back in love with life. And you scroll and it has the articles that she found. Other version of this. I love this one. I can tell if you're a real leader by your emails. Let me show you how. And then. But what's cool about this is it starts with a very off the. Like I said, it doesn't have to be super polished or brand photography. Even though we need our brand photography, we need our brand photos for these carousels. It can be a selfie at your desk. And I'll. This is a perfect example of this. This creator's name, it's Leadership Heather. And so she goes, I can tell if you're a real leader by your emails. Let me show you how again, the word me. Let me show. And the word I, I can tell, right? Personal. And then it goes through and it gives you, like, X versus check. And then at least to a lead magnet. Beautifully done, carousel. So those are the posts I would do for you. Now, a bonus, because I know a lot of people get intimidated by the humor category. If you want to take a stab at it, if you love adding humor into your content, the last piece of content I would create for you would be a relatable reel. Something humorous. Something relatable to people either in your field or your target market. Okay. And I will feature myself for this one because I had so much fun with this reel. And let me tell you something, it's not going viral. I don't care. My. I know my audience is eating it up like we. Because I am the person in the friend group and I just got back from the beach, like I said, well, I look a hot mess with my girlfriends. And let me tell you, not one of them posted their own story. They were all reposts of my story. And we always joke like, you know, all my friends are always like, shannon, we'd have no Instagram stories if it wasn't for you. So I put. It's this funny, funny trend where essentially the whole thing is just to kind of highlight something that's kind of mediocre, nothing like crazy. And you're just, like, acting like you're just. Everyone's cheering for you, right? I've seen so many funny, great versions of this. But I put pov, the one friend who creates the Instagram story, the whole group will repost. And my girlfriends are, like, cheering, right? And I'm just like, you guys, come on. Right? And people are loving it. And people are tagging their friends. They're sharing it. It actually already has. Let's look at, it's got 148 shares and 4 reposts. So pretty good. I've only put it up not even a full 24 hours yet, but it's doing really well. And I what I love about this reel is it highlights my love of social media. So again, it shows like my core values. Not as for like deep core values, but it shows how much I love what I do. And I love being the creative director of my friend group and you know, everyone in the comments is tagging their fellow creative director and it's just something fun. So that would be the last one I would do. It'd be something humorous. It would be something that highlights something within your world that you and your audience will find funny so that you guys can bond. We love to bond on social. And what bonds is faster than humor? I don't know. Right. So those would be the five plus a bonus pieces of content I would post for you this week. And what I want to add is I know I talk a lot about the category happenings. Like happenings for me would be if I wanted to do like a photo dump of my weekend or, you know, recent speaking engagement I had and talk about it, that sort of stuff. But happenings, I always say, isn't definitely like a weekly thing because those type of things, you don't want to force a happening. It's really a about what's going on in business, what's going on in your life. But an example of it for me would be, and I'm gonna end end on this is it'll be in the show notes, the one about the beach house and how we bought the beach house and the story of that. That's a happening. That doesn't. That's not an Instagram tip. That's a lot of what I share. But I just wanna encourage you guys, there's so much chatter about niching down right. And how that has hurt so many people in our creative brains. And it's so true, right. When it comes to creating content. And those pieces of content that I would sprinkle throughout the week for you if I was your social media manager, chief content officer, et cetera, that you're allowed to throw in some random stuff like we want more from you than just your helpful advice or your hot takes and opinions. Right. That's why that girl, Chelsea. I'm going back to the beginning of this podcast episode. That girl Chelsea, I mean, she talks about all sorts of things, but what you get to know is who she is and what she loves and what her hot takes are, but you also get her humor in every single piece of her content. It's okay to take my four Hs and overlap. It's okay to put up whatever you want. Sometimes it's a funny trend and you just want to do it. You are allowed to have a messy grid, a non messy grid. You're allowed to engage with content you love. It doesn't have to be within your niche. All these rules have really made have really sucked the fun out of all this. So I just wanted to show you kind of the range of content I would create for you. Whether you're a food creator, you own a yoga studio, whatever it is, this is how content should go throughout the week. You know, like, it doesn't have to. There's no rules. But this is what I would do for you. And I hope this kind of shows you the range of what you can create with your content. And you don't have to stay in this one box because that is no fun anyway. I love you, friend. I hope this helped you kind of get some ideas for what to sprinkle throughout the week. How to help, how to relate, how to bond. So that's all I got. I know this is a little longer, but I just want to make sure you guys see how easy that content is. You can easily get five pieces of content up this week, and that is your challenge. I love you, friend.
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Host: Shannon McKinstrie
In this episode, Shannon McKinstrie offers a week-long Instagram content plan, breaking down post ideas day by day as if she were your “chief content officer.” Shannon discusses the evolution of the social media manager’s role, the importance of showing humanity online, and shares a practical, up-to-date blueprint (with real-life examples) for impactful, engaging posts anyone can adapt, regardless of their industry. The focus is on removing the overwhelm and making content creation fun and sustainable again.
[01:11]
“What it meant 10 years ago is totally different... You're editing, you're doing trend research, now you're data mining. You're the creative, right?”
[03:02]
“We missed the human side of social media and people’s content for a long, long time. And we’re so back. And I love [that].” — Shannon [03:36]
Shannon outlines her formula, giving a daily structure for posting and explaining the logic behind each type:
[06:10]
“What is a random thought...even if it wasn’t a reel, it could just be a quote graphic...It also shows your core values.” — Shannon [07:20]
[10:16]
“We don’t want to be told. We want to be shown...think show and tell.” — Shannon [10:40]
[13:45]
[16:02]
“We’re creating these worlds for people. Enter where they belong.” — Shannon [17:00]
[18:22]
“It can be a selfie at your desk...It doesn’t have to be super polished or brand photography...it can be messy.” — Shannon [19:15]
[21:50]
“It’s not going viral—I don’t care. My audience is eating it up. People are tagging their friends, they’re sharing it...” — Shannon [22:50]
[25:12]
“Gone are the days of just giving [your manager] stuff and walking away. It’s like, you gotta be involved because you are the face.”
— Shannon [04:10]
"I wish more people knew..."
— Shannon’s favorite viral hook [08:30]
“Don’t worry about perfectly curated. We just want your knowledge, your tips, your experiences, your perspective.”
— Shannon [11:22]
"We love to bond on social. And what bonds us faster than humor? I don't know."
— Shannon [24:00]
“All these rules have really sucked the fun out of all this.”
— Shannon, on niching and rigid strategy [27:08]
Warm, encouraging, and direct. Shannon uses friendly humor, personal anecdotes, and practical, jargon-free advice. She’s keen on demystifying content strategy, making it accessible and enjoyable for every creator — whether you’re a brand, business, or solo entrepreneur.
Summary prepared for those seeking real-world, usable Instagram content ideas—no jargon, just tactics and inspiration from one of the best in the business.