Content: Interview Someone

Interviews can be a great option for your content. Interviews can offer your readers something different (and potentially expand your readership to third parties). Interviewing successful people in your niche is a great way to boost traffic to your blog.

Interviews can also be a great way to demonstrate thought-leadership. Interviewing other thought-leaders and experts can be a great way to align yourself with them and demonstrate your own expertise by asking challenging or thought-provoking questions.

An interview can also be done in a variety of formats. It might be written as a blog, or recorded as a podcast or video.

01. Write a list of Potential People to Interview

Start by finding potential people to interview. Interviews are only as interesting as the people being interviewed. And they need to be interesting to your audience, not just to you. So think about who is a good fit for you, your audience and your niche when writing a list of potential people to interview.

Create your own selection criteria /framework for identifying and choosing people to interview.

Once you have your selection criteria, start writing a list of potential people to interview – that meet your criteria! When brainstorming your list you might be thinking of people already in your network, you might be thinking of people you admire, you might be looking on Social Media for ideas.

02. Ask them

The next step is to ask them. If you already know them then this should be a straightforward ask. However, if you do not already know then when you reach out to them make sure you include who you are, how you know them, why you are reaching out, and what they should do if they are interested. There are four pieces of information you absolutely need to include:

03. Prepare for the interview

Great they have said yes! Next, you need to ensure that you are prepared for the interview. Prepare the questions in advance. you should have 5-10 questions prepared for your interview. Choose / Agree the time for your interview with your interviewee and how you are going to conduct it (e.g. by email, over skype or in-person).

04. Carry out the Interview (and create the content)

Finally, carry out the interview. Once you have carried out the interview you can also use the interview to create further content and you should include this in your content plan.

Further Reading:

• Have a Content Marketing Strategy
• A to Z Challenge: I is for… Interviews
• A to Z Challenge: P is for… Podcasts and PR Opportunities