In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Content repurposing best practices.
- How to get the most out of interviews.
- How to maximize the impact of your content with critical thinking and active listening skills.
Being Your Authentic Self on Social Media
Content marketer Tina Donati is marketing lead at Fuel Made, part-time freelancer, and venture scout at Clearco. So it’s safe to say that social media plays a huge role in her day-to-day operations.
When asked about how she feels about staying authentic in social spaces Tina explained that she never wants to be seen as an untouchable entity on social media—no matter how big she gets. She wants her followers to recognize her as an accessible, helpful, real person with her own life and struggles.
[01:30] “I try to just be my realest self on Twitter. I think it’s easy to get caught up […] So I’m not afraid to talk about maybe some of the sad parts [of life]. Like I’ve shared when my dog’s been sick, just to be more than just Tina the writer or Tina the DTC marketer—but also, I’m Tina the person and I have a life.”
Building Connections Through Storytelling
Tina explains that her journalism background is so helpful in what she does. Through journalism she has gained interviewing, researching, and storytelling skills.
Interviews are important information pools that are often left untapped in favor of a quick internet search. But going that extra mile and finding an expert, a person who has a unique perspective, Tina says, can make all the difference in the story you’re trying to tell.
[09:59] “Getting to actually talk to those people, asking them questions, hearing their side of how they did what they did, their opinions behind it, how they were able to achieve that, their feelings as they were achieving that. All of those things are what make up a really good story—when you have that emotional connection, the history in it. […] to me that’s what story is, it’s about connection.”
How to Have a Great Interview
Any good interviewer knows it’s not just about booking the interview and asking some questions. Tina shares her interviewing process.
Start with research. Tina always starts by researching her interview guests. TIP: Start with keyword searches to see what people are asking about your topic.
Read about your topic. What are the top ranking articles about your topic? What isn’t being covered? Can you fill in those blanks?
Talk to an expert. Tina uses the Twitter and Slack communities to make connections and identify the right expert to consult on a given topic. After getting their perspective, she can then pull quotes (with permission) from their interviews to include in her articles.
Small talk. If an interviewee isn’t opening up very easily, or seems uncomfortable, start off your conversation with small talk to ease them into it.
Give context. Provide your interviewee with the topic, what you want to know, what the interview is for and how it will be used.
Ask “why?” Follow up with “why” questions until you get as clear of an answer as you can. If you don’t understand something clearly, ask for more information. (TIP: Make sure to read the room. If your interviewee appears uncomfortable, be sure not to push them beyond their limit)
Are You Listening?
Critical thinking and active listening are two things Tina is very passionate about. These should be incorporated into every interviewer’s process.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking allows you to look at something and analyze it to the greatest extent of your ability. Critical thinking allows you to understand what you’re writing about and portray that information in a clear, concise, and non-harmful way.
[21:00] “To me, critical thinking is the ability to see something and hear something and be able to question it […] just being a better listener and questioner. And I think that’s really important as a writer.”
When talking about critical thinking, Tina’s main concerns are harm reduction and empathy. The lesson here is really just don’t be a jerk.
Active Listening
When someone is talking to another person, it’s very rare that the other person is actively listening. Instead, they’re most likely just thinking about how they are going to respond—and their response is usually self-centered (whether intentional or not). The problem is, you’re not actually listening to what the person is telling you. Active listening allows you to really digest what the other person is saying.
Have your listening ears the best that you can. Don’t feel bad if you have to take a moment to respond to someone, Tina says. The person will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to consider what they’ve said and come up with a thoughtful answer.
You should always be actively listening in the interview process.
Best Practices for Content Repurposing
If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you know we love content repurposing. As a content marketer, Tina has to ensure that her content is efficient and effective—repurposing content is an integral step.
Tina’s Content Repurposing Ideas
- Repurpose a long article into smaller content like social posts.
- Use articles you’ve written in the past as talking pieces for podcast guesting.
- Take chunks from past work and find new ways to incorporate that into new content.
[41:45] “That article is still good! Bring it back in again in a couple weeks or a few months. Share it again. Share it in a different way. Share it with a different angle. It will feel different, it will feel fresh. […] you can use it in a couple different ways, you can use it more than once.”
