Do you ever get bored of B2B content?

Marketers are tasked with creating authoritative content, but often we are just poking around on Google to find answers to questions we aren't experts in.

What if there was a way to boost the content creation process with content that offers detailed explanations and real-world experience?

That's where subject matter expert (SME) interviews come in.

Today I am going to take you on an SME interview journey. We are going to learn:

What SME Interviews are.
Why your company should invest in them.
Tools you need to make these interviews happen.
How to prepare for these interviews.
The step-by-step process for turning these interviews into stellar content.
...and so much more!

Who's ready to take this journey with me? 🙋🏾‍♀️

What Is A Subject Matter Expert Interview?

A subject matter expert interview is a conversation with someone who has experience in your niche. Typically, this person has a few years of subject knowledge and can speak on a topic at length.

Marketers build subject matter expert interviews around a specific set of questions. These interviews are brief. Since experts are busy people, you typically spend just 30 minutes on an SME interview. You might be able to swing 45-60 minutes, but half an hour should be fine if you create decent questions.

The best companies turn these interviews into stories. Stories allow you to weave expert quotes and outside research into a compelling narrative. You might interview several experts for a piece or focus your attention on one expert. How you conduct your SME interviews is up to you.

Why Should Your Company Invest In Subject Matter Expert Interviews?

Subject matter expert interviews take a lot of time to put together. As a result, most companies skip SME interviews because it takes forever to find great experts, arrange schedules, and get on a call. SME interviews also extend the writing process because you must balance research, quotes, and paraphrasing what the expert shares. So with all of these hoops, why would you invest in expert interviews?

Experts Help You Draft Better Educational Content

If you are like most marketers, you aren't necessarily an expert. Sure, you might be great at writing, researching, and editing, but you might not have the real-life experience necessary to draft an influential article. Experts help fill in the gaps that research often leaves.

Experts Typically Come With A Built-In Promotional Engine

Many experts have an audience built on sites like Twitter or LinkedIn. Some of your audience members may even have a website with a lot of viewers or an email list with a ton of subscribers. If you pick the right expert, they can share your content with their audience and let their followers know about your site's existence. Working with an expert won't automatically lead to sales, but you might grow your social accounts or newsletter.

Experts Help Your Content Stand Out From The Competition

Everyone is writing the same dry listicles these days. We have access to the same SEO data driving our content pipeline. Knowing what works is helpful, but this isn't exactly inspiring for marketers or readers. Experts help you shake things up by creating articles that stand out. If you want to create something that your competition doesn't have, start by creating unique questions and talking with an expert who has a different point of view.

5 Tools To Help You Conduct Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Conducting an SME interview can be challenging if you don't have the right tools. Here are five helpful sites that will make completing your next expert interview easy.

1) Qwoted

Finding a great expert can be difficult. Digging through sites like LinkedIn can help, but they don't have the best filtering tools that you need to find an expert. Lately, I've been using a site called Qwoted, and it has been the best use of my time.

My favorite part about Qwoted is that I can dig into their expert database or list the kind of professional I am looking for and let experts pitch me. Either way, it's easy to find a great expert in less than half an hour on this site.

Qwoted is also free for media, so you can easily find the expert you need for your next article on this site.

2) Calendly

Once you find an expert, you need to get some time on their calendar. Experts are busy people. Often you are interviewing company executives and leaders. Getting time on their calendar between the excessive meetings on their calendars isn't easy. Calendly makes your calendar accessible to experts to pick a time that best works for them.

Have you ever tried scheduling a meeting over email by just proposing times? You can easily wrack up a dozen messages and not get anywhere. Calendly integrates with your calendars to ensure that you don't overbook yourself. Experts will only see spots within a window that don't conflict with your schedule. You can also integrate with tools like Zoom and Google Meets to automatically create meetings on those platforms.

Calendly has a free plan, but it's limited. I have the Essentials plan, which is currently $8 a month billed annually or $10 a month billed monthly.

3) Zoom

The next tool that I use to conduct subject matter expert interviews is Zoom. While there are different meeting tools available, Zoom is the easiest to use. Many experts will likely have access to Zoom, and you can easily record conversations on the platform.

Zoom can get pricy. The free plan works perfectly if you plan to host mostly one-on-one meetings. If you think you need something more, go for the Pro plan, which is $14.99 billed monthly or $149.90 billed annually.

4) Rev

After you have a conversation, you need to transcribe the interview. Transcribing the interview after allows you to be present during the interview because you don't need to frantically scribble down the expert's words verbatim. There are a couple of transcription tools you can use. Rev is one of them.

I like Rev because there is a human transcription mode on the platform. If you decide to use this, you pay $1.50 per minute. Since most interviews are ~30 minutes, you should expect to pay around $45 for your transcript. You can also use Rev's Rough Draft mode for machine-generated transcripts at $7.50 for a 30-minute transcript. Since Rough Draft mode is machine-generated, Rev states that the accuracy is only 80%.

5) Otter.ai

The next transcription tool you can use is called Otter. Otter is an AI tool that helps you transcribe calls live or after the fact. It doesn't have a human transcription component, so you'll need to rely solely on the tool. Editing within the platform is easy. One of my favorite features of their editing tool is their summary keywords section. This part of their tool helps you spot trends in your conversation quickly, which is helpful when you start building a storyline from the conversation.

Otter has a limited free plan, but unless you want to transcribe live, you'll eventually need their Pro plan, which will let you import unlimited pre-recorded files. The Pro plan is $8.33 per month, billed annually. Otter will cost $12.99 per month if you want to bill monthly.

How To Create Questions For Your Subject Matter Expert Interview

Having your tools in place can help ease tension for new expert interviewers, but now you need to tackle the most important thing: the questions you ask. The questions you ask have a profound impact on how the interview goes. Will you look polished and professional? Or will you look unprepared and dry? Here are the strategies you need to hear to create questions for experts.

Start With A Theme In Mind To Help You Craft Your Questions

You are not doing a background interview. You are asking questions about a specific topic. You shouldn't craft questions before you pick a theme because you'll be wasting time and potential creativity. Hopefully, you've thought about the article's story before you picked the expert, so this should be easy for you.

When picking your first theme, think about what your company is known for. What story would make the most significant impact on the company while giving you some flexibility to be timely? That's a theme that you can dig into when crafting questions.

Keep Your List Of Questions Short

You don't want to overwhelm the time with 400 questions. Instead, keep your list of questions short, 5-8 questions long, so you can have time to dive deeper and ask follow-up questions. You want to have time to get to all of your questions, so limit what you ask, even if you have the best expert ready to answer all of your questions. After all, you can always use this expert again if the story does well.

Create A Mix Of Relevant And Timeless Questions

It's easy to focus on relevant questions that get your story seen immediately, but that's not great for long-term traffic. If you are in B2B, you are not a newspaper. You need content that will continue to answer audience questions and bring eyes to your website. If your story runs out of steam in a week, you can't continue to go back to and promote it. Make sure that most of your interview focuses on timeless topics that will provide value to your ideal audience.

Read Other Content From Your Expert

Before you craft a question for your expert, look at their work. Have they spoken before? What kind of topics are they passionate about? Are there any questions they seem annoyed to answer? If you can get video or audio, listen to a couple of interviews. You don't need to hear a hundred hours of content. An hour or two will do the trick.

Focus On Open-Ended Questions

When building out your questions, do your best to focus on open-ended questions. Your expert needs something to work with, and you won't get anywhere with yes, no, maybe questions. This is not a quantitative survey. Instead, give your expert something that they can sink their teeth into.

20 Questions You Can Ask A Subject Matter Expert

Are you stuck on the types of questions you can ask experts? Here are a few ideas to get you started on creating a list of prepared questions:

Can you explain your background as it leads to your experience with ______?
What is your number one strategy for excelling at ______?
How do you explain what you do with ______ to your friends and family?
What is the first step you take when you are brought onto a team to fix ______?
Can you describe the overall process for achieving ______?
What advice would you give to a person who is new to ______?
What misconceptions did you have about ______ that you found out later were false?
Are there any influencers in this space that you feel we should follow? Why do you enjoy their content?
Which companies excel at ______? Why do you think their strategies work so well?
What is the most challenging part of ______? What tips or tools have you used to make this part easier for you?
Are there any parts of ______ that people make unnecessarily difficult? What should they do to make these processes easier?
Can you describe a typical day in your life when you are handling ______?
What background makes you qualified to do ______?
Do you have any compelling stories about ______ that the readers may enjoy hearing?
Are there any books or podcasts on ______ that have helped you?
Is there any new research on ______ that you find helpful?
Do you have any controversial views that other people in the ______ industry do not have?
How do you measure success when it comes to ______?
What are the trends in ______ that you see making a significant impact on the industry?
Is there anything else you'd like to add that we didn't cover during our discussion?

8 Tips To Help You Nail Your First Subject Matter Interview

Now that you have your list of questions settled let's get into how to nail the first expert interview. The interview process can be complicated if you are new to this experience, but I have eight tips that will make this experience easy for you.

1) Send Questions Before The Interview

It can be challenging to come up with answers on the spot. As an interviewer, you only have a limited time with this expert. You don't want half of that time to be the expert thinking about an answer. There will always be random pauses in a conversation, but you can avoid a lot of dead air by sending questions in advance. Once you've decided on your interview questions, send them in an email to the interviewee. I like to send questions at least 24 hours before our call. If you can swing 48 hours, that's even better.

2) Put Your Guest At Ease

If you want to get an authentic answer to your questions, you need to start the interview by putting your guest at ease. Let them know:

How you'll be using the recording
When to expect a draft (if they'll get one)
When the story is expected to go live (if you have a date in mind.)

You need to assure the speaker that you have their best interest at heart and that they can stop/start/rephrase whenever they need to. You are here to help them tell their story, so let them know that you plan to help them look like the expert they are.

3) Let The Conversation Wander

Some of the best soundbites come when you let the conversation wander. As a conversation moderator, you have a lot of duties, but you can't stifle your guest. So let the conversation go in interesting niche directions, ask great follow-up questions, and build rapport. Before you know It, you'll have unique insight that others in your industry won't.

4) Keep An Eye On The Clock

While letting the conversation wander is important, so is keeping an eye on the clock. You want to be respectful of everyone's time. You know what questions you want to get to, so keep an eye on the clock, so you have time to get to all the questions on your list.

5) Listen Way More Than You Speak

You are not the expert here. You can do some speaking to clarify or build rapport, but you are not the expert. A subject matter expert interview isn't the same as a podcast, where you might be expected to be somewhat knowledgeable about the topic and able to provide personal anecdotes. You have a limited time with this person, so you want to ensure that you get their thoughts, not your own.

6) Watch Your Facial Expressions

Guests feed off your energy. If you are on a platform like Zoom or in-person, how you react to their comments affects the expert. Nodding your head in approval, smiling, or providing a quick affirmative word can go a long way. You want to make your guest feel welcome and make sure they know you are listening.

7) Give Your Guest A Space To Share Their Final Thoughts

At the end of the conversation, you should always give your guest a chance to share their final thoughts. Do they have anything else they'd like to add? Did a resource or strategy pop up after moving on from a question? Give your expert a few minutes to wrap up their thoughts. You might find a new piece to the story that you need to tell in this process.

8) Follow Up If You Need To Do So

Last but not least, don't forget to follow up if you need more information. Clarity is crucial, and if you have any questions, it's better to be safe than sorry. Taking a few moments to send a follow-up email to clarify the details will help you write a better story and keep that connection. You may be able to use this expert on a video, podcast, webinar, or other blog content in the future. You never know what will come from this relationship, so clarify to keep that relationship great.

Helpful Strategies To Help You Get Over Specific SME Interview Barriers

When you are on a call, you might realize that you have a conversation situation on your hands. Your expert might not be as camera-ready as you hoped they'd be. Here are some helpful tips to make it easier for you to move past these issues.

My Guest Is Talking Too Much

Ahh, you've got a talker. This is great because you have someone who is passionate about the topic and excited to share.

Unfortunately, you have limited time and a list of questions to get through.

Here are a couple of tips that will help you reign in a talkative guest:

Combine Questions

If I realize that my time is running out, I might combine questions to make it easier to get what I want. The simple strategy of combining questions will make your life easier. You aren't doing a quantitative study here. It's okay if specific questions don't get lengthy answers.

Interrupt When Needed

As a moderator, it's your job to guide the conversation, not the guest. Therefore, you need to feel comfortable interjecting and directing the conversation back to where it needs to go. Work on transitions so you can quickly move into the next topic of conversation when the expert takes an appropriate pause in their answers. Interruptions don't have to be rude. They are necessary to finish the discussion on time.

Follow-up After

Do you have one or two questions left after the interview is over? Consider sending a quick email to get a written response on the last two questions you want information on. It's your job to guide the conversation, so don't send a list of 5 questions that need answers because you didn't pull in a talkative guest. Instead, focus on 1-2 critical queries and scrap the rest.

My Guest Is Talking Too Little

Sometimes an expert is great on paper, but they may not be able to articulate everything that's happening inside their heads. I think the best way to solve for a guest who talks too little occurs before the call. Sending out questions in advance will give experts extra time to formulate great answers to your questions. Even with open-ended questions, some guests won't talk. Here are a couple of tips for dealing with that type of expert:

Focus On Passions

What part of the conversation does get this expert talking? Dive deeper into those aspects and gain valuable insights into that piece of the puzzle. You might end up with some very niche advice, but that might be what people in your industry need.

For example, you might speak with an expert who has a lot of knowledge in the marketing niche. Even if you want to create an industry-agnostic piece, you can let the expert speak in their marketing language and focus on making the language more universal in the editing process.

Acknowledge The Elephant In The Room

Next, you might want to acknowledge what's happening. Don't shame them. Give the experts a chance to shake their nerves out and reassure them that you are there to help tell their story. Finally, ask what you can do to provide more context and clarity to your questions. Think of yourself as a project manager trying to understand how you can help them succeed.

Look For A Second Source

Try a second source if you didn't get what you needed from the first source. If you liked some of the content from the first interview, you could create an even deeper article with advice from two experts! Looking for another source might delay your original article due date, but ultimately, it will improve your article.

How To Create A Story Based On Subject Matter Expert Interviews

After completing the interview, you need to write an article that utilizes the expert information you just collected. Writing an interview-based article can be difficult because you have to create a coherent piece that encompasses your interview, outside research, and your writing style. It's easy to look at an interview, get overwhelmed, and take forever to draft the story. Here are some strategies to help you craft a blog post from an interview.

Transcribe The Interview

Before you craft a story, you need to transcribe the interview. You can do this by hand, but transcribing is a time-intensive process that you can easily delegate using a tool like Rev or Otter.ai.

You'll need to listen to the interview once or twice to ensure that the person or AI transcribing is accurate, but using a tool to transcribe will make the process much easier than doing it 100% by hand.

Highlight Important Quotes And Themes From The Interview

When you look at the interview transcript, highlight important quotes and themes. Highlighting can help you understand what you need to focus on when you put together the article outline.

You can do a lot of highlighting in the tool you use to transcribe your interview. However, if you want to get specific and use color coding and bolding, you might have to import the transcript to a tool like Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

Create A Focused Outline Based On The Expert Interview

Once you have your article highlights ready, it's time to create an outline based on your initial theme and your interview.

If I could offer one piece of advice here: avoid the need to add every line of what you talked about. You don't need to use every line of dialogue that the expert has shared. You are not doing a Q&A blog.

Create a narrative and stick to it. Draft an outline with the most effective and relevant tips and strategies you uncovered in mind.

Look For Outside Resources To Complete The Narrative

If you haven't already acquired some outside research as you were getting ready to interview your expert, find more data to beef up your article. Experts can provide relevant information, but it never hurts to find relevant stats and stories to back up what they are saying.

Sometimes your expert will reference different studies they've seen on the call, look those up, or reach out to get more details.

After you've gone over the resources they offered you, you can easily dig on popular sites in your industry or use Google to find more data.

Create A Draft Based On The Interview And Outside Resources

Now that you have your outline, quotes, and resources on hand, sit down and write the post. Since you've done the work to organize everything, writing the blog should be easy for you to do. You've done the hard work by preparing in advance. Now fill in all the pieces, and connect the dots with relevant transitions, data, and information.

What To Do After You Hit Publish On A Subject Matter Expert Interview

Yes! You have a stellar piece ready to publish on your site. But, hitting publish is just one step. All of the work you've put into this article means nothing if you don't promote the post. So, let's dive into some ideas you can use to get eyes on your new SME interview:

Produce Promotional Material To Support The Interview

One of the first things you'll want to do is produce promotional material to support the interview.

Promotional Imagery

You can easily use a tool like Remove.bg to remove the background of a headshot. From there, you can take the headshot, upload it to a tool like Canva, and create all sorts of promotional images for the piece.

Promotional Content

Once you have imagery down, create some promotional content of different lengths to post on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites and forums.

Put It All Together

Once you have images and content, put them together in an easily accessible way. For example, you can create a Google Drive folder that you can easily share internally and externally to continue promoting the piece.

Reach Out To The Expert To Co-Promote The Post

The expert you worked with to create the piece makes the perfect person to co-promote the post. Send them the promotional materials you've put together to make it simple for them to grab content, images, and links to make a post. Your job is to make this process as simple as possible, so the expert has no reason to avoid posting.

When you are sharing on social media, be sure to tag the expert so they can interact with your content and boost your posts. You should also interact with any content that they post.

Add The Interview To Relevant Articles On Your Site

Once you've published the piece, go on an internal linking spree. Google wants to see that this article feels well-connected to the other pieces on your site. If someone is searching for a similar topic, why wouldn't they be interested in the expert article next? If you have an article that is doing well, try linking the interview if it's relevant.

Other Promotional Strategies You Can Use

Create a promotional pop-up or banner on your site linking to the piece.
Share the article in an email to your newsletter list.
Cohost a webinar or event with the person you interview.
Post the interview in relevant groups on Slack, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Add quotes from the interview to other articles and eBooks.

Related Reading: 27 Ways To Repurpose Content

Working With A Freelancer To Produce SME Interviews

As you can see from today's article, writing SME interview-based content takes time and requires nuance.

There are many moving parts to putting together a stellar piece. Many organizations lean on freelancers to find/speak to experts and write content based on their conversations.

You might also decide to rely on a freelancer for any step of this process. For example, maybe you love talking to experts but hate writing the article afterward. If you find a great freelancer, you can offload any part of this process.

Did you know that I provide SME interview-based content as a part of my content offerings? I would love to speak with you about how I can power your SME interview content engine. Check out my dedicated SME interview and article writing page. You can contact me for information from there.

Are you a solo marketer trying to decide how to find a freelancer and offload some of these tasks? Then, read my article How To Hire Your First Freelancer As A Solo Marketer.

SME Interviews: B2B Marketing Content That Your Audience Will Love

We've certainly gone on a journey today. Subject matter expert interviews can be a stellar way to beef up your content in a world where everyone creates bland B2B content. Invest in SME interviews if you want to build up your content authority with compelling narratives and the answers your customers are looking for. This journey won't be cheap, but the ROI you'll get out of this experience is worth it. Now, create some compelling content that will keep your readers on their toes!

The Ultimate Guide To Conducting Subject Matter Expert Interviews