How to Create Outstanding SME Content

If you find yourself in the B2B content marketing world of LinkedIn, you’ve probably heard many marketers talk about “Subject Matter Expert Interviews.”

As a content marketer who hasn’t yet made use of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), this might sound a bit intimidating.

It’s easy as a writer to stay inside of your comfort zone and not have to speak face-to-face with other people.

(Any introverts out there?)

After all, wouldn’t it be faster if you involved fewer people in the content creation process?

Although you can easily have “too many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to creating content (which leads to diminishing returns on effort)…

Using SMEs is like having a head chef in your content kitchen.

For our agency Stat Digital, this has led to more unique POVs, way fewer edits, and overall higher-quality content.

In the age of AI, this means all the difference between ranking on Google OR having customers care about your content at all.

Are SMEs REALLY Necessary?

There’s not an industry that comes to mind that wouldn’t benefit from having SMEs help create content.

Yes, the process might be simpler and easier for you NOT to include SMEs.

But is it worth it?

The folks at Google have been increasingly stressing the importance of creating unique content.

5 years ago, you could simply create content that “has more information and answers more questions” to rank higher than the competition.

Those days are dwindling.

But let’s even zoom out (who knows if we’ll be using Google in 10 years?).

Most importantly: What would your customers want?

Do they want a Google research paper?

Probably NOT.

They want real-world insights from experts who’ve experienced their world.

That’s how you can build a brand that people will remember.

Which means:

More trust. More authority. More revenue.

How to Find Subject Matter Experts to Interview: Internal vs. External SMEs

There are 2 ways you can start to use SMEs.

1. Use one that’s already part of your company (this is the most ideal situation because they’ll better be able to tie their insights to the company mission).
2. Find a 3rd party SME (less ideal but WAY better than no SME).

If you have people in your company who are already experts in your industry, you should first try to work with them.

It’ll likely be less expensive, and they’ll better understand your mission. This will likely be the easiest option.

But let’s say your company doesn’t have internal SMEs. This is where you’ll want to hire or reach out to a 3rd part SME.

Hiring a 3rd party SME can be a bit more tricky and expensive, but it’s certainly doable.

There have been 2 cases where my company hired 3rd party SMEs for our clients.

One was a CPA for the hospitality industry (the client is in the hospitality accounting space).

The other was a Salesforce Marketing Cloud consultant (the client was a performance marketing agency).

We hired both from Upwork. (If I were to do this today, I would likely start by asking for recommendations from my existing LinkedIn network.)

If you do go the 3rd party SME route, I recommend being very selective with who you hire based on relevant expertise.

How We Work SMEs in with Our Content Process

Now the fun part.

I’ll give you my current process, but keep in mind that we’re always looking for ways to optimize this process. 

This process has worked well for us thus far, but any process can always be improved.

Here’s what the process framework looks like:

1. Come up with topics based on customer pain points, then find relevant keywords for those pain points. Then for each topic:
2. Create a content brief with questions to ask your SME and create an outline based on your current knowledge and research (the outline will be subject to change after your SME interview).
3. Questions you should probably ask your SME (customize these based on your industry and topic):
   1. Who is likely going to be interested in learning about this topic?
   2. How aware are they of the solution to this topic?
   3. What 1-3 problems can we solve by discussing this topic?
   4. If interviewing an internal SME: What is the goal we’re trying to achieve with this content?
   5. What are the stakes of not solving these problems?
   6. What would cause someone to take action to solve these problems?
   7. What might stop someone from solving these problems?
   8. What solutions do people usually try but aren’t the best?
   9. If interviewing an internal SME: How do we solve this problem, and why is our solution best?
   10. If you want a template and SOP to help streamline this process, send me a DM.
4. If you can, fill out the answers to these questions based on your current knowledge.
5. Schedule and hold a 30-minute to an hour-long interview with your SME to ask them your questions and to have them check your outline.
   1. If you don’t understand their responses, don’t be afraid to ask what or why questions to dig deeper.
   2. Ask if they have any ideas on how you could improve your outline.
   3. Edit your outline as necessary based on the interview.
   4. DON’T FORGET: You should be taking notes, but do RECORD the meeting. Especially if you’re outsourcing the writing.
6. Write, edit, and polish your article.
7. If possible, have the SME do a quick review of the final product.

Here’s a sample of notes we took from an SME interview using our template and SOP.

9 Tips for Getting More Out of Your Interviews

I’ve found interview skills to be very similar to the skills you’d need to do a good discovery on a prospect.

Getting good at interviews takes practice, but here are some tips I’ve learned to help the process go smoother:

Tip #1: Explain the process – Before you dive into the content creation process, make sure you explain the steps of how it will work and what you expect from them. This will help ensure that they understand what is expected of them and are able to give their best effort during the process.

Tip #2: Try to send questions to your SME ahead of time to get them thinking.

Tip #2: Ask open-ended questions (What…? How…? Where…? Why…?). Doing so will keep the interview responses more natural. And you’ll be able to avoid bias in your questions that could suppress the real narrative.

Tip #3: If your SME ever says something that makes you think, “What, why, where, or how?” — that’s a sign you should ask them one of those open-ended questions.

Tip #4: If your SME starts going really deep into a subtopic — let them. This is where you can uncover a lot of nuances that only an expert could know. Your open-ended questions will help them go deeper.

Tip #5: Let the conversation flow (as long as you’re on topic). Don’t feel the need to rush the interview and force every question if you’re already uncovering unique POVs from digging deep into a subtopic.

Tip #6: Your customers care about solving problems. So make sure to ask questions to dig deep into common problems regarding a topic. These could be problems they’re trying to solve, problems that stop them from solving their original problems, or problems with common solutions.

Tip #7: Listen to your recordings back to notice anything you could do better as an interviewer. (Perhaps, you’re rushing your SME, or not digging deep enough into their answers.)

Tip #8: Follow Ryan Paul Gibson on LinkedIn. His posts have given me numerous tips on improving my interviews

Tip #9: Establish a rapport – It’s important to build a good relationship with your SME so that they feel comfortable providing their insights and expertise. Make sure to ask them about themselves, listen attentively, and be respectful of their time and experience.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve enjoyed these tips, please feel free to connect and message me on LinkedIn.

You can always ask me any questions there.

And if you’ve tried this process before — let me know how it went! 😎