Last week on #ContentChat, I talked with Rachel Moore about how to decide whether your company should start that B2B podcast.

One thing we kept coming back to was how much work goes into creating a podcast people want to listen to and engage with. There's the obvious work of recording and production. But before you ever hit record, you need to decide what you're going to talk about, why your audience should care, who should be part of the conversation, and how you're going to make the discussion worth their time. And someone has to own all that!

It got me thinking about #ContentChat—and how much my own approach to producing it has evolved.

#ContentChat started as a weekly Twitter chat more than 10 years ago. I didn't create the original chat (that was the amazing Jenise Fryatt), but I've been its host for the past decade. And during that time both #ContentChat and the way I approach it have changed significantly.

What started as a text-based, real-time conversation on Twitter is now a weekly LinkedIn livestream, podcast, and YouTube show. Some weeks I bring in a guest to dig into an area of their expertise. Other weeks, I use the time to explore something I've been thinking about or working on—like this summer's Content Foundations series.

This evolution wasn't just picking up the #ContentChat format and moving it from one platform to another. As we moved from a model where up to 100 marketers chimed in on a topic in any given chat to a one-on-one conversation, I also changed how I choose topics, prepare for conversations, structure the show, and think about what happens to the content afterward.

1. Start with a conversation worth having

I'm always thinking about potential #ContentChat topics. Sometimes they come directly from the work I'm doing with clients. Sometimes there's a question that keeps coming up in conversations with other marketers. Or I may see a post on Threads or LinkedIn that gets my wheels spinning.

At its core, #ContentChat is intended to be a conversation. That means I keep an eye out for a guest with a perspective I think the #ContentChat community would find useful. And sometimes, there's something I have a lot to say about myself. That's one reason I don't think every episode needs a guest.

This summer, for example, I created a series of solo episodes based on the chapters from my book Content Foundations. That allowed me to revisit the ideas in the book months after publication, in an audio format that worked better for the content than an audiobook would have. It also let me add context from what I'd learned since writing it and talk about how I was seeing those ideas play out in my work.

2. Prepare enough to build a foundation for the conversation

When I have a guest, I do my homework. It may look like I'm winging it, but I'm not.

I ask them for background on the topic and links to things they've written about it. I look at their recent work. I think about where their expertise intersects with the questions my audience is asking.

Then I create a conversation outline and use a structured instruction set to have AI check my work, ensure I'm interpreting the context, and make sure I'm not missing anything I may have overlooked.

I used to think of a set of questions primarily as the structure of each conversation. And that was 100% the case in the Twitter chat days. I'd draft 7-10 questions, share them in advance of the chat, and that was it.

Now, I think of the outline process, including some potential questions to ask, more as preparation that gives me the freedom to have a better conversation. I want to know where we could go without deciding exactly how we'll get there.

If a guest says something interesting, I want to leave myself the room to follow up on it. If we find ourselves really digging into an aspect of the topic I hadn't expected to spend much time on, I'm absolutely NOT going to cut off a great discussion because we might not get to all the questions I prepped.

In fact, I almost always don't ask at least one of the questions I spent time preparing. And that's OK!

The outline did its job by helping me understand the conversation we could have. It isn't intended to become a script.

3. Understand that hosting and interviewing aren't quite the same thing

This was one of the things I particularly enjoyed discussing with Rachel.

A good host isn't there simply to work through a list of questions.

You're listening for the comment that needs a follow-up. You're making connections between what your guest is saying and what your audience is dealing with. You're watching the time without making the conversation feel rushed. And you're trying to create an environment where your guest can share something more interesting than the answer they've given in a dozen other interviews.

4. The livestream isn't the finished product

Another significant evolution in my approach to #ContentChat is what happens after we stop recording.

The live conversation is still important. I love having people join us on Monday and add their questions and comments.

But I also know most of the eventual audience won't experience the conversation live.

They may listen to the podcast. They may find the video on YouTube. They may read a #ContentChat recap. They may see an idea from the conversation in my newsletter or on LinkedIn.

So after each episode, I think about how to make the conversation useful in those other formats.

That doesn't mean chopping every recording into as many pieces of "content" as possible. That's not my area of expertise, and it doesn't feel like a good use of my time.

Instead, I ask myself what was useful enough to carry forward. What were the ideas I want to make sure someone can find six months from now? What part of the conversation deserves more explanation? What might be useful to someone who will never sit down and watch the entire recording?

The episode gives me source material. The next step is deciding what's worth doing with it—like writing this article for today's newsletter

5. A weekly show needs to work for you, too

I think this is one of the things that's easy to overlook when you're planning a podcast or another recurring content series.

You can design an ambitious production process that looks fantastic on paper. But if you can't sustain it alongside everything else you're responsible for, it won't matter how good the plan was.

I've had to evolve #ContentChat in ways that make sense for my audience, but also for me and my consulting and speaking business.

That includes giving myself permission to host solo episodes when I have something I want to dig into, building series around themes that connect to my work, and using the conversations as inputs into other content I'm already creating.

After a decade of hosting #ContentChat, I don't think consistency means producing the exact same show. But it does mean turning up consistently for the community that has been part of the conversation over the past decade.

I love knowing that every Monday I'm going to have an interesting conversation where I can learn from my peers, and connect with other marketers to talk shop about what matters. That's what keeps me going.

So, before you start a podcast, I hope you ask the team involved this simple question: "What topic are we so invested in that we can see ourselves talking about it in three years? Five years? Longer?" If there's a topic that everyone can't wait to explore, you've got the momentum you need to create a podcast that lasts.

Coming Up on #ContentChat

Content Chat is my weekly LinkedIn Live video chat where I share expertise and ideas with the content marketing community. Join the conversation on Mondays at noon Pacific / 3 p.m. Eastern. RSVP for our upcoming conversations by clicking the chat date below to get a reminder and to access the chat.

• ​Today on #ContentChat, I'm talking with brand strategist Jennifer Cronin, founder of Truefold, about what it means to treat your brand as infrastructure. We'll explore what happens when teams think they're aligned but are actually working from different versions of the brand, why those unresolved decisions create friction throughout the organization, and how AI can amplify the problem. We'll also talk about the role human judgment and discernment play in building a brand foundation your team—and your AI tools—can actually use. Join the conversation today at noon Pacific.
• ​Next week on #ContentChat, I'm talking about how to Turn Your Content Foundations Into a Consistent AI Instruction System. Your brand voice, personas, style guide, messaging, content standards, and other foundational resources already contain much of the context AI needs. The challenge is making that context consistently available to everyone on your team. I'll share the approach behind the AI Instruction System framework I developed for my recent MarketingProfs training and discuss how to turn your existing content foundations into reusable AI instructions that support more consistent, on-brand content. Join me Monday, September 28 at noon Pacific.

Until next time, stay safe and be well!

Cheers,

Erika

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​Erika Heald, Founder & Chief Content Officer​
​Erika Heald Marketing Consulting​
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LinkedIn: @erikaheald​
Instagram: @MissErikaSF
​Threads: @MisserikaSF
​Bluesky: @erikaheald.bsky.social​​
​YouTube: @ErikaHeald​