Use Customer Insights to Create Reels That Attract and Convert - Good Content with Shannon McKinstrie

Summary of Podcast Episode: "Use Customer Insights to Create Reels That Attract and Convert"

Podcast Information:

Title: Good Content with Shannon McKinstry
Host: Shannon McKinstry
Episode: Use Customer Insights to Create Reels That Attract and Convert
Release Date: March 18, 2025

Introduction

In this engaging episode of Good Content, host Shannon McKinstry delves into the strategic use of customer insights to craft compelling Instagram Reels that not only attract but also convert viewers into loyal customers. Shannon emphasizes the importance of understanding why customers choose your products or services and leveraging those insights to create authentic, viral content.

Harnessing Customer Testimonials for Reels

Shannon begins by revisiting the concept of making customers feel seen and heard, a foundational strategy discussed in the previous episode. She underscores that when customers feel acknowledged, they recognize the value in your offerings, paving the way for successful content creation.

Notable Quote:

"It's marketing. One on one. It's all we want to do is help our customers and clients feel seen."
— Shannon McKinstry [02:15]

Practical Application: Jewelry Designer Case Study

Shannon shares a real-world example from a Reels workshop she attended in Cary, featuring a female jewelry designer. A customer testimonial highlighted how purchasing matching necklaces fostered a deeper connection between partners—an insight the designer hadn't previously considered.

Key Steps Advised:

Capture Authentic Moments: Shannon advised the designer to create a video showcasing the necklaces being worn, possibly by a couple.
Utilize Trending Formats: She suggested using the "POV" (Point of View) format with trending audio to enhance engagement.
Leverage ChatGPT for Prompt Ideas: Although not perfect, Shannon demonstrated how ChatGPT could generate creative prompts to inspire Reel content.

Notable Quote:

"You're not just saying, hi, I have pretty jewelry. You're saying, my jewelry is an experience."
— Shannon McKinstry [10:45]

Developing Effective Reel Prompts

Shannon introduces two powerful prompt structures to transform customer feedback into engaging Reels:

POV Prompts:
- Example: "POV you found the perfect necklace that even your boyfriend likes."
- Purpose: Creates a relatable scenario that resonates with the audience.
Not to Be Dramatic Prompts:
- Example: "Not to be dramatic, but installing a saltwater hot tub will actually change your life."
- Purpose: Adds a touch of humor or relatability, making the content more shareable.

Notable Quote:

"Specificity, simplicity are the two magic things. And that's what makes shareable content that gets reach follows sales."
— Shannon McKinstry [25:20]

Diverse Industry Applications

Shannon extends her advice beyond jewelry, illustrating how businesses across various industries can utilize these prompts. She provides examples from a hot tub company, a realtor, and a business coach, highlighting how each can tailor their content based on unique customer testimonials.

Hot Tub Company Example:

Customer Insight: Customers desire full-service installation rather than a self-drop solution.
Reel Prompt: "POV you find a hot tub company in North Carolina and you're relaxing with a glass of wine after the kids go to bed, within a week."

Notable Quote:

"You take what your customers and clients are telling you and you put it into these prompts I give you every week here on the Rails lab."
— Shannon McKinstry [35:10]

Success Stories from Reels Lab Students

Shannon proudly shares the success of her Reels Lab students, noting that many have achieved viral success by implementing her strategies. One student, a baker, garnered over 3 million views and 3,000 new followers within two days using a simple B-roll video of her cookies combined with Shannon's prompt.

Notable Quote:

"My Reels Lab students are killing it. They're even taking the prompts and throwing them on threads and some of them are going viral."
— Shannon McKinstry [45:30]

Final Insights and Conclusion

Shannon wraps up the episode by reiterating the power of customer testimonials in creating authentic and effective content. She encourages listeners to interview past customers, extract meaningful insights, and seamlessly integrate them into their Reels. Emphasizing the importance of consistency, specificity, and simplicity, Shannon assures that these strategies will lead to increased reach, followers, and sales.

Notable Quote:

"When all else fails, look at those testimonials."
— Shannon McKinstry [55:50]

Shannon closes with enthusiasm, expressing her excitement for upcoming content and continued success for her listeners.

Key Takeaways:

Leverage Customer Insights: Use real customer feedback to inform and inspire your content.
Utilize Effective Prompts: Implement "POV" and "Not to be dramatic" prompts to create engaging Reels.
Tailor to Your Industry: Adapt strategies to fit the unique needs and experiences of your business.
Consistency is Key: Regularly produce content based on customer insights to maintain engagement and drive conversions.
Engage Authentically: Create content that not only showcases your products but also the experiences and connections they facilitate.

By following Shannon McKinstry's expert advice, businesses can create authentic, engaging, and high-converting Instagram Reels that resonate deeply with their audience, ultimately fostering stronger customer relationships and driving business growth.

Transcript

Shannon McKinstry (0:00)

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, how did last week's homework go? Did you do it? If not, don't worry, I'm still going to help you out today. If you haven't listened to last week's podcast, I'm begging you. It's. It's marketing. One on one. It's all we want to do is help our customers and clients feel seen. Once they feel seen and heard and supported, you know, and they know that your product, etc. Is the thing they need in their life. That's where the magic happens, right? So with the market research you did, you now know why people buy from you and why they invest in your products, your services, et cetera, why they follow you. All that good stuff, right? So now that you have that, we're going to have some fun today. We're going to take what you learned and throw it into some viral reels, prompts and hopefully get your content to do what we need it to do, which is attract your people, convert to sales, convert to them telling the world about you, et cetera. And I just got home from a reels workshop in Cary, Local here with some female business owners. And it was fun. One of them, she even said she designs jewelry. And she goes, you know, it's funny, she's like, I never realized this, but I got a testimonial the other day that was really eye opening. I was like, ooh, tell me. I was like, this is, I love. This is where we create the good stuff. And she said it was from a customer who said that she had bought these two necklaces. Necklaces. It was a boyfriend and girlfriend. And she said, I bought this necklace and now my boyfriend and I have matching necklaces. And this is something that the jewelry designer hadn't even thought about. She was like, oh my gosh, that one is very unisex. It works for whomever. And it's cute, it's. And you know, she does the whole like, non tarnish and they're affordable, et cetera. I was like, oh my God, let's work with it. So what I said was, you know, take some video. Cause she's like, well, what do I do? How do I show the testimonial? I'm like, this is exactly how you take your customers and clients words and infuse them into reels that will go bonkers ready for her because she can show it. She can actually demo the jewelry. I said, because she's like, I don't have a picture. I don't have a whatever of them. I go, no worries. Ideally, reach out and maybe see if they can create for you. But you would take the two necklaces, maybe like, let's pretend these two necklaces that I have on right now. It's like I would put one on this finger, one on the other, get some good lighting, and I'd shoot it. And I probably go like back and forth just to make it visually appealing so they can see it. Or I would get a boyfriend and girlfriend. Or maybe, you know, see if you can get like two friends of yours, suppose for your video, right? And zoom in close to them wearing the matching. Maybe zoom out. Maybe they go in for a kiss. Some cute like that. You guys, we are creating experiences with our products and services, right? We want to know what our life will look like, feel like we want to be given cool ideas. This is what I told her to do. Do that or get some sort of video of a boyfriend, girlfriend, you know, wearing it. And say, pov right? QC trending audio. Pov right in the center, middle one text box. So I put what I would. What I would say, and I actually just threw it into ChatGPT. So you can see how this is how I do this for the Rails lab every week to come up with industry specific. I come up with a. What I do in the Rails lab is I come up with really good prompts and then I tailor them to each industry. I've got dozens of industries represented inside. So I put. I said, you know, can you help me make this better? Pov you found the perfect necklace that even your boyfriend likes. So now you, you know, have matching necklaces. Blah, blah, blah. Chatgpt said, I really like this one. It's not perfect, but it's. It'll do. But this is what I mean. Pov. You finally found the perfect necklace so perfect that even your boyfriend wanted one, and now you're accidentally matching. That's cute. Let's see what else it says. Pov you found a necklace so good even your boyfriend borrowed it, and now you're unintentionally twinning. Pov. You get the perfect necklace so perfect that your boyfriend wanted one too. Matching era unlocked. Okay, so again, these aren't great. Obviously, we know that ChatGPT is not the answer to everything. I like this one. Pov. When you find the necklace. And your boyfriend actually likes it. So now you're both wearing one. I think I like pov. You find the find a necklace that's so perfect, even your boyfriend wants one. And then the caption, I kind of like, could say, matching era unlocked. That's cute. I'm obsessed. I love it. And then under that, you would say, this is exactly what our recent customer did. Here's what she had to say. And then you put the testimonial so on screen. This cute little visual with B roll and a cutesy little audio you now have created. Not. You're now not just saying, hi, I have pretty jewelry. You're saying, my jewelry is an experience. My jewel. My jewelry is a memory. My jewelry is now a connection between you and your partner. Do you see the difference between pov, you found a cute necklace. So that's what I mean. You now. Because she looked at what her customers had to say, she now has a reel. And she can repurpose that in so many ways. The other way she could do it. This is your sign to get matching necklaces with your boyfriend. Right? This is your sign to buy this necklace, because even your boyfriend will want one. This is your sign to enter your matching era with your boyfriend and get these necklaces. Do you see what I mean? And you keep doing it over and over and over again. Now, it's not just a necklace. It's beyond a necklace. Okay, so with that said, that's what I mean by taking. So that's one of your prompts for this week. You're now going to take what your person told you, why they buy it, and then you say, POV you find or POV you found. And we're not just gonna say they found the solution to you. What did they find? You found X, Y, Z, and then what. What the experience scenario is that's gonna help them. Okay, that's one. The other one that's going viral for a lot of my students right now. Like, crazy is not to be dramatic, but. And one of my Reels lab students already has 3 million views. She only shared it, like, two days ago over, like, 3,000 new followers. It's just not to be dramatic. But. And her video is just simple B roll. She's a baker, so it's showing the cookies she makes. And I won't give away her prompt because it's. She did such a great job running with what I shared. But now that you know what your customers and clients say, those are gonna be the two you're gonna pov you found. And then the second is not to be dramatic, but. And what I love about these two prompts for you guys is that one, I know they go viral when done correctly. And two, they take seconds to make. Cause it's just B roll with text, right? Yay. Okay, and another thing, let me, let me go back a quick second. Another thing I told the ladies at the workshop today, because they all do different things. There was jewelry designers, realtor, there was business coach, right? So what I told them all, like, what a lot of us sell might be a luxury product that people don't really need to spend money on. Oh, yeah, Another, another woman there sells hot tubs. And I was like, yeah, and that's a luxury item. Like, you gotta sell the experience, right? So with the hot tub, Let me go through those two. She said how one of the biggest complaints that she gets, you know, is people think they're saving money buying their hot tub from Costco, but all they do, they drop it off in their driveway and they drive away. And now they've got this hot tub and they don't know what to do with it. So I'm like, there you go. This is what her customers are telling her. Her customers are telling her why we chose you is because you won't just. It's a full service, right? So that's what sets her apart from others on Instagram. So now that we know that the pain point is they know they want a hot tub, but they don't want to install it, they just want it in there. What is your timeframe? Let's say you're guaranteed within a week, or maybe it's a two week turnaround, right? So pov, you find a hot tub company in state, right? Because we love that Hyperlo in North Carolina. So pov, you find a hot tub company in North Carolina and you're relaxing with a glass of wine after the kids go to bed, within a week. And maybe in the, in the video it's again showing that it's like nighttime in the pool with your husband and a glass of wine. So again, not just that we got, we get to buy this product. What does the product do for us? What is the outcome? And that's what you get in your customers. And that would be in a testimonial. If that's true for her, the testimony would have said, within a week, my husband and I were sitting in our hot tub looking at the stars and our kids were in bed and da, da. Do you see what I'm saying? You Take what your customers and clients are telling you and you put it into these prompts I give you every week here on the Rails lab. So another example. So we already had the POV you find or you found. And then the second is the not to be dramatic. Not to be dramatic. And you guys know some of this. Not to be dramatic, but installing a saltwater hot tub will actually change your life. And it could be funny. You know, you could do something kind of humorous and cheeky or not to be dramatic. But this could be you after the kids go to bed this summer if you buy a hot tub. Not to be dramatic. This $10,000 hot tub is what will save your marriage. I don't get crazy. Right? And then you could kind of joke. Maybe that's what a testimonial said. My husband and I now we have our. Our us time every night after the kids go to bed. I don't know. Again, you take what your customers and clients say and you. There it is. So those are your two prompts for the week. I want you to do POV you found or POV you find. And then not to be dramatic. I will put in the show notes some examples of these two. But again, let's say what you do is online me, right? I could do one for my podcasts. Maybe I look at my podcast reviews. You guys are always get me teary eyed reading them. POV you found. The podcast gives you free viral hooks that you don't even have to pay anyone to help you. And maybe it's just me and I turn my computer around and show the podcast. You found the budget template that actually stopped your impulse shopping and got you out of debt in three months. Or and actually for the financial. For money. I'm actually gonna go into the reals lab because this was. This is a prompt this week inside the Rails Lab. If you guys telling you guys, my reals lab students are killing it. You know what's funny? They're even taking the prompts and throwing them on threads and some of them are going viral. It's awesome. Okay, not to be dramatic. What did I have? Ooh, here we go. For the finance, I put not. This is the prompt I gave them as an example. Not to be dramatic, but putting. And then you put the $100 into a blank account can have you out of debt in six months, right? Something like that. And then the caption, you talk about what it is and you expand on it. So again, you take your clients and customers words and experiences and you infuse them, blend them into these prompts. And that is why my Reels Lab students keep going viral and keep getting more followers and keep getting more sales. This is why my Reels Lab students are doing so well. I give them these prompts, they take the messaging from their clients and customers, put it in there and boom, they're done. If you're interested, the monthly live coaching call we do every week is where we talk about this sort of messaging thing because this is what changes everything for you. So now that you have your homework done from last week and now you have this week's homework, I cannot wait to hear how those prompts do. And like I said, there's a bunch of examples in the show notes so you don't have to overthink it. Remember, specificity, simplicity are the two magic things. And that's what makes shareable content that gets reach follows sales. All of it. I love you friend. I hope this helped. I had so much fun with those girls today and it was great to do this podcast right after. Cause now my brain is I got all these fun ideas. But remember, when all else fails, look at those testimonials. Interview a past customer client. Find out why it is that they're buying from you and what they're doing with your products or services and what your products and services have done for them and that and you create content from that. More next week. Lots of more great stuff next week. I love you friend.