After nearly a decade planning and running blogger interview campaigns for my own sites and clients, I‘ve seen firsthand how powerfully interviews impact growth.
Major online publications rely heavily on big name interviews because they capture attention and tap into existing audiences.
The good news? You can achieve similar results by launching targeted interview series that put your blog in front of influencer followings.
In this 2600+ word guide, I‘ll share the proven step-by-step blueprint for planning and executing high-impact blogger interviews from my industry insider experience.
Let‘s start with why interviews need to be central part of your 2023 blogging strategy.
Why Interviews Must Be Part of Your 2023 Blogging Strategy
Conducting expert interviews checks all the boxes for content that performs well:
🔹 Inherent Appeal: Humans are drawn to personalized advice and insider stories.
🔹 Built-In Promotion: Influencers actively push interviews they participate in.
🔹 SEO Value: Google ranks interactive content with expertise high.
🔹 Production Efficiency: Interviews create content with less effort compared to articles and videos.
Now let‘s review the major benefits blogger interviews offer at a tactical level:
1. Gain Access to Targeted New Audiences
Every influencer you feature gives your blog direct access to their engaged readership.
A single interview can deliver thousands of targeted potential new visitors to your site. String enough of these together and your traffic growth will explode exponentially.
| Interview Reach | Your Blog‘s Potential New Visitors |
|---|---|
| Influencer #1: 10k email subs | 10,000 |
| Influencer #2: 25k followers | 25,000 |
| Influencer #3: 50k YouTube views/video | 50,000 |
| Total Exposure | 85,000 |
And that‘s just from three interviews!
Keep scaling your outreach and soon you‘ll connect with audiences numbering in the hundreds of thousands through interviews alone.
2. Build Your Blog‘s Authority and Trust
Featuring respected leaders directly on your platform significantly elevates your blog‘s authority.
Visitors realize industry experts value your blog enough to contribute time and energy. This increases visitor trust while positioning your site as a credible destination.
3. Forge Meaningful Connections with Leaders
Interviews provide the ideal venue for establishing real relationships with influencers.
These bonds lead to recurring partnership opportunities, affiliate promotions, expert sources for future articles, podcast guest appearances, and more.
Many of my closest working relationships traces back to initial interviews. The same can happen for you.
4. Create Highly Shareable & Evergreen Content
A single well-executed interview can meet numerous content needs for months if not years to come.
For example, one 30 minute video interview can be transformed into:
- 3 x Social Teaser Videos
- 20-Minute Podcast Episode
- 4 Blog Posts (Transcripts)
- Slideshare Presentation
- Email Newsletter Highlights
Repackagingmultiplier effect means you create an expanding library of content from each interview conducted.
5. Expand Brand Visibility
Influencers want to spotlight occasions where they contribute expertise. As such, they actively promote interviews featuring them across their social channels.
Even a simple tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram story gives your blog, brand and expertise exposure to their audiences.
The value interviews bring is clear. Now let‘s examine the step-by-step process for planning and launching effective blogger interview campaigns.
Finding the Right Influencers to Interview
Your first milestone is creating a list of potential interview subjects fitting this criteria:
✅ Active on social media with an engaged audience
✅ Respected thought leaders in your niche
✅ Known for creating high-quality content
✅ Have an existing content distribution system
Massive names drive maximum attention. But also look for rising micro and mid-tier influencers in that 5,000 to 100,000 audience range.
These lesser known experts are more likely to accept interview requests and often have incredibly loyal followings.
Here are my go-to tactics for identifying relevant influencers to interview:
Check Competitor Blogs and Guest Posts
Study blogs in your niche and see who they feature and interview. This reveals respected experts who will likely say yes.
Smart Blogger and Thrive Global have interviews sections showing who they speak with.
Use Advanced Twitter Searches
Enter niche keywords along with "blogger", “author”, "speaker" etc. Filter by engagement and followers.
This Twitter influencer search shows potential interview candidates.
Identify Podcast Guests in Your Industry
Leading shows interview respected experts in your field. See who appears on top podcasts via Apple, Spotify and other platforms.
Connect with Influencers on LinkedIn
LinkedIn makes it easy to identify and connect with prolific bloggers, journalists, executives and thought leaders.
Use LinkedIn‘s advanced search to find influencers by industry, interest, company and more.
Attend Industry Events and Conferences
Events let you network face-to-face with relevant experts. Collect business cards and on-site interviews for bonus content.
Top conference examples include:
Check HARO for Quality Journalist Sources
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) connects journalists with niche expert sources. Sign up to connect with relevant influencers.
Prioritize 5-10 top influencers but build a larger list of 25-50 potentials to pull from.
Establishing Genuine Connections with Influencers
You‘ve built an "interview wish list" packed with exciting industry thought leaders. Now comes the outreach.
The biggest mistake is cold contacting influencers without any previous interaction. This rarely succeeds.
Instead, focus first on organically engaging with your desired interviews subjects before asking. Here is my simple 3-step game plan:
Step 1 – Actively Consume + Engage with Content
Start following their social profiles, subscribe to email lists, watch videos, listen to podcasts.
Look for opportunities to actively like, share and comment on content. Recommend pieces to your communities.
This organically puts you on their radar.
Step 2 – Provide Value and Start Conversations
As you engage, offer your perspective via comments and DMs. Share resources and recommendations. Start value-focused conversations.
Step 3 – Transition into Interview Request
With an open back-and-forth established, casually asking if they would be open to an interview. Clearly explain intended length and promotion plans.
This genuine relationship-based approach leads to dramatically higher response rates when you do propose interviews.
Optionally Leverage Blogger Outreach Tools
Services like BuzzStream, Mailshake, Ninja Outreach and Follow Up Then help manage complex influencer outreach workflows. Most offer free trials.
Optimizing Interview Questions for Maximum Impact
You set interviews with exciting industry thought leaders. Now develop questions that elicit fascinating responses.
Thoroughly research your interviewees including:
🔎 Existing interviews
🔎 Published articles
🔎 Books/projects
🔎 Social media profiles
Make notes on key topics and pain points they actively discuss. Then form questions that allow genuine expansion into new directions.
Guiding the Conversation Flow
Categorize your questions to guide the conversation flow:
Opening questions – Easy prompts that make interviewees comfortable.
Bridge questions – Transition into core interview topics.
Core Rapport Building questions – Questions that emotionally connect with the reader.
Core Questions – Primary prompts driving the interview.
Closing Questions – Final opportunities and call-to-actions.
Focus on "You" Not "I"
Word questions to keep the focus on the interviewee‘s experiences and perspectives using "you" instead of "I":
✅ What originally attracted you to blogging?
❌ What originally attracted me to blogging was…
This structure keeps the attention on your guest‘s insights rather than putting yourself center stage.
Apply Psychology Principles to Enhance Response Quality
Adapt principles from noted psychologist Robert Cialdini into your interview approach:
Reciprocation – Give value and assistance freely to encourage engagement
Consistency – Align questions with their known perspectives
Social Proof – Reference respected 3rd parties they trust
Authority – Cater questions to their specific expertise
Liking – Establish genuine connection upfront
Follow this formula arranging 8-12 core questions aligned to your content pillars and audience interests.
Conducting Interviews That Captivate Audiences
You put in the hard work finding amazing interviewees and refining smart questions. Now it‘s time to run the interviews.
Key Interview Tips
Match energy – Mirror their tempo and tone
Listen intently – Identify follow-up opportunities
Watch non-verbals – Note shifts in body language and eye contact
Close expressing gratitude – Send follow-up thanks
Take detailed notes and/or recordings for reference (with permission). This ensures accuracy once editing.
Repurposing Interviews into Multiple Formats
Each interview contains enough value to fuel blog posts, podcasts, YouTube videos, and shareable social clips.
For example, a 30 minute video interview can generate:
- 3x Social Teaser Videos
- 20-Minute Podcast Episode
- 1500-word Transcript Blog Post
- 500-word Blog Post Summary
- Square Social Images
- Email Newsletter Highlights
This multiplying effect expands your reach while optimizing production time.
| Content Format | Length | Promotion Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Social Video #1 | 90 seconds | YouTube Shorts |
| Social Video #2 | 60 seconds | Instagram Reels |
| Social Video #3 | 120 seconds | |
| Podcast Episode | 20+ minutes | Apple, Spotify |
| Long-form Post | 1500+ words | Primary Blog |
| Short Blog Post | 500 words | Space Filler |
| Email Highlights | Soundbite Quotes | Mailer |
Get creative with repurposing using interviews as the base content that fuels posts, guest contributions, media pitches and more.
Promoting Completed Interviews for Maximum Impact
You crafted an amazing interview packed with insights. But if left unpublished, no one benefits. Promotion is key to realize the value.
Provide finished pieces to your interviewee first. Ask them to share out across their own channels and encourage their network to read & subscribe.
Next, publish on your blog and aggressively promote across social channels. Create eye-catching custom graphics, teasers and highlights.
Send key moments in dedicated email newsletters. Embed memorable quotes in site sidebars and widgets.
And keep actively recycling evergreen interviews through seasonal greatest hits round-ups, Throwback Thursday posts etc.
If influencer shares drive big early traffic, double down on promotion to capitalize. Consider amplifying with paid ads.
Final Thoughts from My Expert Experience
As you can see from my decade in the trenches, interviewing respected influencers requires effort but delivers major traffic, authority and connection dividends.
The framework seems simple – identify relevant experts, connect genuinely, optimize engaging questions, repurpose responses, and promote aggressively.
But real success stems from experience – spotting ideal interviewees, establishing comfort and rapport, eliciting fascinating insights, positioning content for sharing, and analyzing performance data to continually improve.
In 2023 make a commitment to launching targeted interview campaigns focused on respected leaders in your niche. Let their insights and existing audiences rocket your blog upwards through the proven tactic of interviews.
The connections made can transform your influence and open new partnership opportunities. But you have to take the first step and reach out.
Here‘s to an interview-fueled year of exponential blogger success!
