This Fall’s Lineup: Building a B2B Content Machine

We’re all-in on Owned Media. Before heading out to Las Vegas last week for TSIA, I put together a programming lineup meant to capture and sustain the attention of the customer support industry through long and short-form video. Inspired by brands like Lavender and Zuora, the focus is on creating the most valuable content possible for a specific niche.

To get this rolling, my aim is to create a wide array of series with as little lift as possible from the rest of the company. We must leverage their expertise, but keep their time commitment to a minimum. They have actual jobs, after all.

After workshopping with folks that fit the ideal audience over the last 3 days, the ideas around what folks would find most helpful crystallized. In summary, people at all levels of the industry want an inside view of how their colleagues are handling AI, how SupportLogic’s products can help them, and what’s working with regard to cross-functional collaboration and people/process/technology.

Before diving in this content machine - at startups, resources will always be limited. It’s important to start off inefficient, get wins, and THEN scale toward efficiency. Don’t purchase technology if you haven’t proven a process - this goes for any size industry or project. Scaling bad just means more of the bad. Learn to play one song right before you learn another 100. In these early days, wins are defined by views and visitors.

SX Live Library

SX Live started as an annual, multi-day virtual event bringing customer support and success leaders together to discuss a wide range of topics. Since 2022, it has expanded to include city tours and this summer we put these sessions on the SX Live Library for the customer support industry to reference and continue to draw value from.

Now we start phase 2 - installing the consistent cadence and fresh programming values I mentioned two weeks back. Great content must be either helpful, provocative, entertaining, or educational. With this fall lineup, we’re using a series to hit each of these.

Short-form video content

Short, easily-consumable content should take up a good portion of new programming, aligning with the content style of rented media channels like YouTube. In creating processes for quickly making short content, I’ve found the biggest roadblock to be thumbnails.?I don't like putting text on a thumbnail, but I could be swayed. Currently I'm deep into thumbnail making bootcamps, because a big magnet for short-form video content lies in the quality of the thumbnail. Here are the short-form series planned for the next several months:

• 15 Minutes with Judi - A biweekly series with Judith Platz , a star in the support industry and a personality folks trust and want to hear from. Judi’s presence is magnetic, she’s the perfect channel for sharing hot takes, giving advice to subscribers, and having guests on for quick chats. 15 minutes means no filler - helpful, provocative, and entertaining. Cadence: Every other week.
• Ask Max: SupportLogic Tips & Tricks: Short, specific problem/solution sessions done with Max Greene - a power user of SupportLogic’s products. I was hesitant to run content like this for fear of it being too promotional, but users overwhelmingly asked for this. It makes sense. Creating content that shows how your product solves problems also gives new visitors to your media site a glimpse into the benefits customers are getting. Come join the SupportLogic party - when you’re ready. Cadence: Every other week.
• Take Five: Quick Win Stories: Because full SX Live sessions don't align with everyone’s bandwidth, we must create bite-sized versions of the same content. This series consists of 5-minute highlight clips pulled from the archive of long-form sessions, highlighting a key learning or moment of value. Cadence: Every other week.

Long-form video content

The short-form content draws from archival material or employees. Long form opens up the opportunity for outside experts to share their opinions and join the conversation.

• SX Live Sessions: Long-form presentations and panels held both virtually and live that draw from expertise across the industry. These sessions will continue to be segmented by audience across Support Experience, AI Technology, The Convergence of Support + Success, and Agent Experience. Cadence: Monthly.
• Solution Deep Dive: A 30-minute biweekly series that addresses one job to be done from across the support industry, hosted by me and featuring an expert on that particular solution. This series is broadcast live and features the “name a GIF, get a gift” contest to make it fun and sustain attention.?The live/on-demand mix of this series means we can broadcast one week and then post the session the following week - giving us two moments to reach an audience. Cadence: Monthly.

Last Words

With this lineup, there’s the potential for personalities, moments of fun, education, real thought leadership, and the buzz of consistent content. The consistency is key to building an audience, and that extends to the days of the week sessions are posted. I’m a believer in posting on Monday and Thursday, with a subscriber email going out on a separate day.