How to Entice Your Audience With Interviews

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The consensus is that the way to increase your web presence and boost your online reputation is with huge amounts of excellent-quality content. How do you get your followers to keep reading and craving more? Interviews are an excellent way.

There are many different types of content that you can publish and syndicate, which will attract a large volume of readers. One of the most effective ways is with interviews. There are several different types of interviews, including videos, podcasts, Q&A blog or article format, etc. Business people are continually looking for ways to let people know how unique their offerings are and that they are absolutely the only ones who can sell those particular products and/or services. The online interview is a wonderful way to convey that. If you share a well-presented interview with your online connections, you will make loyal fans out of them. Another great thing about interviews is that, if presented effectively enough, they have the potential to go viral. Remember to always present the information in a professional and polished manner.

You might not be certain about the types of questions that you should ask your interviewee so that the end product is exciting and fascinating and keeps your followers wanting more. Here are some that you will find helpful.

  • What do you consider the three or four top benefits to your target market and why? The content of your interview should focus on the needs of your followers, not your interviewee’s needs. In other words, you need to give your readers something that they can relate to personally. By using that angle, you will get a large number of people to be interested in what you are presenting and they will want to keep following you. The more easily they can relate to what you are saying, the stronger the effect of your content will be.
     
  • Tell me your life story? How has your success improved the quality of your life? When you ask the interviewee about his/her life, you are personalizing the interview for the person speaking and for the people who will be reading the interview. It goes back to your readers being able to relate on a personal level. The positive result that will ensue is that the readers’ comments and questions will be more substantive and more thought provoking.
     
  • What are the most frequently asked questions by your customers, readers, followers, etc? Which is the most frequently asked question? There are distinct advantages to this two-part question. First of all, you are forcing the interviewee to prioritize each item. The second part of the question gives you the opportunity to open up the discussion further but you will be armed with more knowledge at this point because the interviewee will have let you in to his/her thinking. Ranked lists are effective because a large number of your readers will react to your content from the top of the page down.
     
  • What are your most treasured tips (the ones that you only share with special people)? This puts the interviewee in a position of having to think somewhat unconventionally. The more information he/she gives you, the stronger his/her position will be as a subject matter expert. This will have a very positive effect on interesting your readers.
     
  • In your opinion, what are some pitfalls that are hard to spot but important to avoid? Everyone wants to know about pitfalls and how to avoid them. Closing in on the ones that are not obvious will make a lot of your readers extremely happy and will put you in a wonderful light.
     
  • Over the next 3 to 5 years, what do you think will be the biggest change in your industry? At this point, your interviewee will hopefully be creative when responding. The response will most likely not be a statement of the obvious. This will be compelling content for your readers.
     
  • What was your reaction when you read that article by XX? Any time you coax the person whom you are interviewing to share his/her opinion on someone else’s writing, you are bound to get interest on the part of your readers. What is said may be an interesting surprise.
     
  • Which two or three experiences have really given you strength in your career when you needed it the most? Your interviewee is now a guru of sorts. His/her response will be the product of experience and a long journey. The question is very powerful and the interviewee will react accordingly.
     
  • When thinking about our interview today, which things did you decide not to discuss and why? The response to this question will most likely prove to be very interesting. There is usually a very interesting reason why an interviewee chooses to exclude certain things. Your readers will be very fascinated to learn what those are.

Conclusion

There are many different ways to present content to your followers that is compelling, useful and educational. Using the interview as one of those ways will increase your website traffic and will make people feel that they want to interact and continue to be a part of the animated and exciting discussion. Interviews are powerful tools to getting more and more people to want to be a part of your social media professional world.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a complimentary assessment of your online presence, let’s have coffee.

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Author

  • Carolyn Cohn

    Carolyn Cohn is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Services of CompuKol Communications. Carolyn manages CompuKol’s creative and editorial department, which consists of writers and editors. Her weekly blogs are syndicated globally. She has decades of editorial experience in online editing, and editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.