Preparing for Interviews

Content creation goes beyond sharing your own personal insights and expertise.

When blogging for your business, it’s not all about you. Sharing industry-wide news, tips and trends and taking advantage of your company’s subject-matter experts (read: Owning Your Story) are essential elements to build your blog’s credibility and brand. After all, whatever your expertise, there is always more to learn beyond your own insights and experiences. And so, aggregating relevant content can go a long way toward building your blog’s readership.

Another vital resource, of course, is tapping into available subject matter experts, especially when it comes to offering information about niche or complicated topics. That’s why your interviews with these SMEs are so critical. But remember, these interviews are much more than a simple Q&A. Whether you’re interviewing a subject-matter expert or someone you’re featuring in a longer-form article, it’s important that you approach them the right away and with sufficient preparation. Here are some tips for before, during and after an interview.

Do your research

While the purpose of this type of interview is to learn about a topic you may not be well versed in, you nonetheless should have a general understanding of both the subject matter and the person you are interviewing. Get to know their background – ask for their c.v. or check out their LinkedIn profile or even talk to folks who work with them. Researching this biographical information before the interview means you won’t have to take up time asking them these kinds of questions at the outset of the interview, and it will also show them that you’ve done your homework and are respectful of their time. And just as important, researching background information will help you develop more specific and thoughtful questions so you can dig deeper into the subject at hand.

Prepare the Logistics

Next, create a list of questions, based on your research as well as the kind of details you are looking for. The right research should make formulating the questions easy. If the topic requires some deeper thought, you may want to share your questions ahead of time so your SME has the chance to think through his response.

When setting the date and time for the interview, it’s always a good idea to set a time limit, which not only respects their time but also guards against the occasional SME that has way more to say than you actually need. That said, if you find that the subject is way more complex than you had anticipated, consider splitting up the blog you had intended to write into smaller, more specific segments. Generally speaking, the greatest value from SMEs comes not from their general experience or knowledge but from their more detailed and nuanced insights.

Engage in Conversation

Don’t be afraid to stray from your prepared questions, engage in conversation and ask for details and clarification. Record the interview (with permission, of course) so you’re able to focus on the conversation and capture those details later. And if you hear something intriguing or worth quoting, don’t be afraid to ask them to repeat themselves or to go into more detail.

And ask for additional resources. There may be images or video or links to another article that can complement the post, and these are the kinds of things that can enhance its virality.

Don’t Wait to Get It All Down

Don’t waste too much time between the interview and writing your blog post. Yes, you still have the recording to fall back on, but the fresher the information, the easier (and more accurate) the post will be to write. And if you need to follow up with the SME for any reason, it also will still be fresh in his mind as well.