Sharon Says So: Creating a Community on Instagram (#Governerds)
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In this episode you’ll learn:
- An Introduction to Sharon McMahan (00:52)
- How Much Did Sharon’s Community Raise? (1:54)
- Sharon’s Journey (3:23)
- The Need for Non-Partisan Information (5:10)
- Creating a Strong & United Community (8:22)
- Don’t Underestimate Entertaining Your Audience (21:00)
- Ask Your Audience Questions & Try It (24:10)
- How Much Time Sharon Spends on Instagram (25:36)
- Let Your Followers Ask Questions (29:18)
Today we are joined by Sharon McMahon, America’s (not boring) Government Teacher to talk about how she helped forgive over 56 million in medical debt, her journey towards educating the world on American Government, her best tips for building a powerful community, and so much more.
An Introduction to Sharon McMahan
It’s been a lot of fun to see Sharon step into her zone of genius as America’s Government Teacher – that’s not boring! She is also the host of Government Grownups. She was just featured on CNN and she is going places – her Instagram account is growing FAST.
How Much Did Sharon’s Community Raise?
Sharon has most recently raised $560,000 which will forgive 56,000,000 of medical debt – and it only took 5 days! Mind Blowing! Imagine receiving a letter in the mail that your medical debt was paid off in full?
Sharon’s Journey
When I first met Sharon three years ago, her Instagram account was called “3 Irish Girls” and her focus was on mentoring photographers. So much has changed since then!
Sharon owned a few different businesses, taught high school students, and for many years was a full-time photographer. Kelli was actually the one who told Sharon to change the name of her account to cover a more diverse topic and call it “Sharon Says So”.
The Need for Non-Partisan Information
Starting in October or November of 2020, she started to notice things creeping up on the internet surrounding the election. She saw SO much misinformation going around and as somebody who studied constitutional law, she saw people inventing things out of thin air that simply didn’t exist.
That’s why she started to create content all around the American political system! People were HUNGRY for it.
Creating a Strong & United Community
Sharon is a true queen of creating a community on Instagram. She has people literally creating cookies with her face on them – how cool is that?
I personally feel that a few of the key factors of creating a community on Instagram include:
- Giving them a name
- Involving them in the process and journey
- Adding value and going live
In addition to Kelli’s factors, Sharon believes that finding an identity inside of a community is key. Give them something to hold onto, become fond of, and develop an emotional connection towards.
Sharon also believes the following key factors are important in growing a community:
- Give people a reason to emotionally connect with you (human element)
- Don’t be too uptight and be sure to have a good time
- Mascots & Quirks (the little things that make people think of you, such as pizza)
Don’t Underestimate Entertaining Your Audience
People think that value is just educational content, but that is just one type of value. Another form of value is entertaining content, which includes being silly, having fun, etc, can sometimes be underestimated. Sharon provides more than just facts, and she combines it with fun entertainment.
Oftentimes your most popular content will be unrelated to your core topic. You never know what people will love until you try!
Ask Your Audience Questions & Try It
One thing that Sharon does so well is ask questions, which is a super important part of growing your community.
Questions such as “hey, what do you want to see in my next podcast?”
How Much Time Sharon Spends on Instagram
It’s easy to compare your chapter 1 to somebody’s chapter 20, so I wanted to ask Sharon how much time she spends on Instagram every day. It’s her full-time job and between all of the aspects, it’s between 8-9 hours per day.
Don’t underestimate that Instagram rewards your activity based on how much time you spend on the platform.
Let Your Followers Ask Questions
One of the reasons I believe Sharon has grown so much is because she puts up the question box and just started asking how she can help.
Episode Resources:
Thank you so much for listening to this episode! I’m honored and excited to be on this journey toward personal growth and greater confidence with you. If you enjoyed the podcast, I’d love to ask you to take 2 minutes to leave me a 5-star reviews on your podcast app, that way we can help even more women to join us as we #dropkickyourinnermenagirl together.
P.S. If you’re looking for ways to increase your confidence and silence your inner mean-girl, download by free workbook, 6 Ways to Dropkick Your Inner Mean Girl.
xo,
Kelli
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