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Takeaways
- You don’t need to be the expert in every topic to share valuable content.
- Adopting the reporter role can help you share meaningful insights by interviewing others.
- This approach is great for executives and founders who want to expand their influence without needing to “know it all.”
- The leader, the discoverer, and the reporter are three simple ways to structure your content and connect with your audience.
- You can mix these roles to share ideas, stay relevant, and create content that people actually want to engage with.
Reading time: 7 minutes
Why your content strategy matters more than ever
If you’re leading a team, growing a business, or managing a brand, you already know how important it is to stay visible. But here’s the challenge: content takes time. And even when you make time, it’s hard to know where to focus or how to make your content stand out.
I’ve been there. When you’re balancing a million responsibilities, the last thing you want is to stare at a blank screen, wondering what to say. That’s why I use three simple roles to guide my content: the leader, the discoverer, and the reporter. These roles keep me focused and help me create content that adds value, without draining my energy or making me feel like I have to know everything.
Let me break them down for you, starting with one of my favorites: the reporter.
What it means to be a reporter
The reporter role is a game-changer, especially if you’re exploring topics outside your expertise. Here’s how it works: instead of trying to be the expert, you go straight to the source. You interview the people who are the experts and share their insights with your audience.
Think of it like being a journalist. You don’t need to know everything about the topic, you just need to ask the right questions and frame the answers in a way that’s helpful to the people you’re speaking to.
This approach is powerful because it builds instant credibility. When you bring in insights from industry leaders, your audience doesn’t just trust you, they trust the people you’re learning from. And let’s face it, when you’re running a business or leading a team, being able to leverage someone else’s expertise can save you a ton of time and energy.
An example I admire: Chris and the reporter role
One of the best examples I’ve seen of someone nailing the reporter role is a guy named Chris (I wish I could tell you his last name, but his results speak louder than his full bio). Chris is a senior at Yale, and while he’s never built a startup, that hasn’t stopped him from sharing valuable insights about startups.
How? He interviews the experts.
Here’s one of his tweets:
“I just interviewed the man who invented Amazon Prime. Started a business worth $40 billion today and served on Amazon’s board for 15 years. Here are lessons from Bing Gordon that’ll save you years of mistakes.”
This tweet exploded. Thousands of likes, retweets, and comments. And it makes sense, he shared advice from someone with undeniable credibility.
Another example:
“I’ve interviewed five founders of billion-dollar startups. Here’s what I learned.”
Chris doesn’t pretend to know it all. He positions himself as the person who gathers the knowledge and brings it back to his audience. And that’s why it works. His followers don’t care that he hasn’t built a billion-dollar startup himself, they care about the value he’s delivering through his interviews.
How I use the reporter role in my own work
I’ve started using the reporter role when I want to expand into areas where I don’t have firsthand experience. Here’s the process I follow:
- Find people who are ahead of me
I look for leaders who are doing what I want to learn, or what my audience wants to learn. This could mean reaching out to CEOs, industry pioneers, or even people in my network who have mastered something I’m curious about.
- Ask the questions your audience is dying to know
I focus on practical, actionable takeaways. What lessons can this person share that will save my audience time, money, or frustration?
- Distill the insights
After the interview, I break everything down into a simple format. Maybe it’s a tweet, a LinkedIn post, or a longer article. The goal is to make the information digestible and valuable.
- Add hooks and proof
I learned this from Chris, use a strong opening line to grab attention, and back it up with the expert’s credibility. For example, “I just interviewed [Expert’s Name], who [impressive achievement]. Here’s what I learned.”
- Share it with confidence
Even if I’m not the expert, I know I’m delivering value because I’ve done the work to bring in someone else’s perspective.
Balancing the leader, the discoverer, and the reporter
While the reporter role is incredibly effective, it’s just one tool in the toolbox. Let me explain how the other two roles, leader and discoverer, fit in.
- The leader
When I’m the leader, I’m sharing what I already know. This is where I lean on my own expertise and experience. If you’ve built something or achieved something, this is the role you play when you pass that knowledge along to others.
- The discoverer
The discoverer role is all about doing the research. When I don’t have direct experience, I study the heck out of a topic, books, articles, data, you name it, and then share what I’ve learned with my audience.
The reporter, in contrast, involves less studying and more connecting. It’s about asking the right people the right questions and letting their expertise shine.
Why this approach works for busy leaders
If you’re a founder or executive, you already have a lot on your plate. You might want to share more content, but maybe you’re worried you don’t have enough time, or worse, you feel like you don’t know enough to write with authority.
This is why the reporter role is so effective. It lets you deliver high-value content without needing to be the source of all the expertise. Plus, it’s a great way to grow your network. When you interview industry leaders, you’re not just creating content, you’re building relationships that can lead to partnerships, collaborations, or even mentorships.
My takeaway for you
If you’re serious about creating content that resonates, try adopting the reporter role. Find experts, ask great questions, and share their wisdom with your audience. Whether you’re posting on LinkedIn, sending a newsletter, or hosting a podcast, this approach can help you stay relevant and add value, without stretching yourself too thin.
And remember, you don’t have to stick to just one role. Mix and match the leader, the discoverer, and the reporter to keep your content fresh and engaging.
At the end of the day, it’s not about having all the answers. It’s about showing your audience something worth learning. So, which role will you try next?
Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:
- I can handle your LinkedIn for you: You’re busy. I get it. That’s why we take LinkedIn off your plate entirely. From creating content to managing outreach, we drive visibility, build authority, and fill your pipeline with qualified opportunities, so you can focus on growing your business. Here’s my Calendly.
- Get Flow AI: The AI Tool for LinkedIn (like no other). No time to write posts? Flow AI converts your ideas into high-performing LinkedIn content in just 60 seconds. Built with a proven strategy, it takes all the headache out of growing your audience, drive traffic, and generate demand, without lifting a finger. You can start free here.