Turning Founder Conversations Into Strong Content with Imelda Wistey, Compound Content Studio

This has been generated by AI and optimized by a human. 

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[00:00:00] Imelda Wistey: No experience is the same. You really have to lean on experience and then your thoughts about those experiences. That's something that we can't just mind read, and so the founder really has to kind of dig deep. And figure out what is it about my life that I can be willing to talk about or want to talk about.

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[00:00:22] Nicole MacLean: I'm Nicole MacLean and this is Content Matters created in partnership with Share Your Genius. This show is your digital partner for filtering the trends and focusing on the content that matters most, creating connection that drives results. Let's cut through the marketing chaos together. Imelda, welcome to the show.

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[00:00:43] Nicole MacLean: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Of course. Just to maybe tee up so we kind of know your background and, and your insights, like kinda where they're coming from. Can you just share a little bit like where you work, what you do, what does a, a typical day look like for you? 

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[00:00:56] Imelda Wistey: Yeah, so I work for a content agency called Compound Content Studio, A place I just joined, so still kind of getting that wrapped around in my head.

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[00:01:07] Imelda Wistey: I work as a content editor and what we do is essentially. Look at writing B2B. Founder led content, so mainly on LinkedIn, sometimes on X, but essentially get that, you know, founder led voice and let their story shine. 

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[00:01:25] Nicole MacLean: Yeah, we talk a lot about founder led content on the show, so it's very popular, so I'm sure we'll, we'll dive into it, but let's maybe start with.

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[00:01:34] Nicole MacLean: Your story. So what led you into content? How did you get back into the agency world? You know, maybe just kinda share a little path with, for us. 

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[00:01:43] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. So funny enough, I didn't start out in content, my professional career, should we call it, that started as an English instructor for university and. Uh, community college.

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[00:01:57] Imelda Wistey: It's funny because when I was in grad school, I was doing, you know, basically a mentor or teaching assistantship, right? Where I was teaching comp courses, business English courses, and I was doing that while pursuing my degree and I had the thought of, well, let me keep this going. Maybe I want to go on and get a PhD.

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[00:02:21] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. Wasn't really so sure. As I was kind of figuring it all out. So I got my bachelor's in English, and then I got my master's in English literature, so, wow. Yeah, so just going from, I wanted to be really an academic and pursue more of that kind of idea with stories, because storytelling has been my life.

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[00:02:44] Imelda Wistey: I love telling and consuming stories, and English just seemed the right route for me. Yeah. Especially with literary analysis and creative writing. So as I was pursuing my master's, I just kind of transitioned naturally into teaching the same, basically teaching the same courses that I was teaching while I was getting my master's degree for the same university I was taking classes from.

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[00:03:09] Imelda Wistey: That's awesome. It was just a natural transition as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and so did that for essentially a good like six or so years and the pandemic hit. Yeah. And everyone was moving online. I was teaching online, and then I'm like, I kind of wanna do something else. Yeah. What else can I do?

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[00:03:32] Imelda Wistey: And I was talking about content, I was talking about narrative frameworks and stories and setting up things for, you know, making it work in the market. So there's so many things that I was doing. I thought maybe I should go into content. So. I essentially started working for this small online business that was basically a fitness business, a lifestyle business, and I was doing everything from like paid ads to coaching calls.

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[00:04:03] Imelda Wistey: So it was very much a hodgepodge thing. And then I officially transitioned into content marketing in 2021. So I was doing a little bit of content marketing in 2020, but officially in 2021. I worked for an agency and then I was kind of able to figure out kind of the fast moving parts of everything as a copywriter and a content manager.

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[00:04:28] Imelda Wistey: And then officially was like, all right, let's, can I have something that's more full-time and was able to do content for a health and wellness company? And so officially was a content marketing manager there. And I was starting to really work on blogs and starting to get a sense of writing for not only customers, but also writing for the healthcare practitioners.

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[00:04:57] Imelda Wistey: So I was finally kind of getting a sense of B2B, B2C, all of that, and then went a whole different route with my next content marketing gig. Yeah, with IT training. Oh wow. So, yeah, so it's funny to go from an agency life, which actually was a beauty brand business, and then healthcare and then it, and now focusing solely on B2B founder-led content.

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[00:05:25] Imelda Wistey: It's such a fascinating thing to look back on because if you would've told me back in 2016 that I'd be writing for. Uh, founders, founder editing content and yeah, managing all of that, I would've been like on, no, no. 

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[00:05:41] Nicole MacLean: Why would I be doing that? But here you are. Yeah, I, it's funny. Um, at this point I've been at Compose.ly for over three years, so, you know, it's fine.

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[00:05:50] Nicole MacLean: But I very similar. I always said I never wanted to work remotely, I never wanted to work for an agency. And here we are three years later, you know, and it's, it's great. But you, you know, it's always the things you think you don't want to do. 

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[00:06:02] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. We really don't know what we want. We're given what we are meant to have.

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[00:06:06] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. 

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[00:06:07] Nicole MacLean: Oh, I love that. We're given what we're meant to have. That's great. Yeah. We, 

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[00:06:09] Imelda Wistey: we go with that. I always say to what is meant for you will be there, what not meant for you if we'll pass you by. Mm-hmm. And when I was kind of figuring out where I was going with my life and my professional job opportunities.

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[00:06:25] Imelda Wistey: That was something I really had to kind of sit with. Mm-hmm. Because it's so easy to be like, why isn't this happening? But really it's leading you to where you need to go. 

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[00:06:35] Nicole MacLean: Yeah, absolutely. What are two or three things that you think really set good founder-led content apart? 

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[00:06:44] Imelda Wistey: I think 

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[00:06:45] Nicole MacLean: one 

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[00:06:46] Imelda Wistey: is your authentic experience.

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[00:06:48] Imelda Wistey: I know authenticity is a word that's been overused and it's like love, right? Oh, I love this. Do you really love it? Yeah, probably not, but I think no experience is the same. So you really have to lean on experience and then your thoughts about those experiences. 'cause everyone's going to have thoughts about your experiences.

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[00:07:08] Imelda Wistey: You have to have your own thoughts about your own experience. And that's something that we can't just mind read. And so the founder really has to kind of dig deep. And figure out what is it about my life that I can be willing to talk about or want to talk about. Mm-hmm. And I think that has made the difference with really good context.

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[00:07:29] Imelda Wistey: You can really just glean those details that maybe no one else could realize. And of course, AI won't realize because that's something that's very ingrained in the person versus something that could be just found anywhere. So, very much so like lean on your experiences and your thoughts about those experiences.

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[00:07:49] Imelda Wistey: And also not being afraid to take a stand. Doesn't have to be anything that's too crazy. But essentially, once you commit to what you're saying, stick with it. And then on flip side, if your ideas change or if your opinions change, then be willing to be. Open about that too, and be vulnerable about that. So I think the third thing is don't be afraid to have your quirky sense of humor or side come out, because that's what's gonna draw the first attention is that you're wit or you are like, oh, what's going happen to you today?

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[00:08:29] Imelda Wistey: Oh, well then it's gonna be this. And it's just funny because when I talk to founders and there's like humorous sense of humor comes through, I'm always like, can I use that? 'cause that's just so. So good. And no one can really replicate that either. So yeah, basically experiences and your also experiences, you know, taking a stance and not being afraid to do so, and then let, let your, let your quirky self shine.

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[00:08:54] Nicole MacLean: It's on that way. I agree. I mean that quirkiness, that authenticity comes through and you mentioned when you see that, you're like, okay, I wanna use that. But I think that's what often gets missed is when either founders aren't great at. Like they're leading businesses. You know, they're, they're not always the social media experts or the con webinar or speaking experts, but they have a lot to say, a lot of value to give.

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[00:09:19] Nicole MacLean: I think everyone's trying to figure out how to create like a repeatable motion, how to do this at scale. Like what has worked for you coming in as not just someone else at the company trying to do this, but actually a third party. Like what's the operational workflow that you've seen work? 

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[00:09:37] Imelda Wistey: Well, it definitely comes down to that content interview call.

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[00:09:40] Imelda Wistey: I think you can really just have a conversation so the person themselves may not realize that they have that funny idea or that it's a hot take, or it's something that people actually want to listen to because their heads down in what they're doing, they, not everyone can be a founder. There. It takes a special type of individual to do what they do.

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[00:10:05] Imelda Wistey: It's absolutely, certainly does. It's absolutely amazing. I am sitting there, you know, kind of taking it all in, going, how do you do that? And so I'm inspired by them. You just have to, you know, write, ask the right questions, or at least kind of really dig deep in showing that. That's really cool. Let's talk about it and also acknowledge that not everyone can do what you do.

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[00:10:30] Imelda Wistey: Go ahead and say something that you like and it's okay if it's all over the place. I al I always, um, tell, you know, founders that I talk to and the more you give me, the more I can work with. It could be a hodgepodge of something, but we're gonna find a way to stream that together. That's my job, right?

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[00:10:47] Imelda Wistey: That's the job that we're doing to make sure that you sound most like you. So. I think once they kind of get an a sense of, oh, it's just a conversation and it's just showing that this is not what everyone does and people who will never do what, you know, what a founder does is still interested in seeing how they think because there are people that are trying to change the world at the end of the day and and their own little corners.

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[00:11:14] Imelda Wistey: We're all trying to make the world a better place than what it is right now. 

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[00:11:18] Nicole MacLean: How do you capture a founder's voice? You know, is that part of what you do well is okay, I, I really am a chameleon in, in my writing style and matching? Or are you almost creating the voice for a founder that's maybe not great at that to start with?

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[00:11:33] Nicole MacLean: Yeah, well, I, those are 

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[00:11:35] Imelda Wistey: good points to think about because usually I get a sense of their voice by talking with them and their cadence and. I like to say that I embody whatever they're trying to say, and if it's not clear, then I'll take in kind of that idea of what if this was a character in like a screenplay that I'm writing, and so how would you embody that character?

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[00:11:59] Imelda Wistey: Maybe I take this a little bit too. No, this is great. I like to think that they're characters of, I mean, they're real people, obviously, but I like to think that they're. Someone who has a backstory that maybe I might not know too much of, but like what is it that they're thinking of? So I try to kind of step into their shoes in that sense.

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[00:12:17] Imelda Wistey: And either they have a tone that I can kind of follow from content they've written before, idea that they've mentioned before, or I'll kinda let it start to flow. I know that's not a very tactical, precise. Yeah. But then I continued to like. Work at it and work at it and work at it and then discover, alright, this is kind of what we're going for.

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[00:12:44] Imelda Wistey: Then of course, talking to that founder again, is this what you're going for? And if it's on the money, great. If it's not, well then let's, let's readjust. Redo it. Exactly. But I like to kind of think from their perspective, there's some, like some custom, some psychology behind this of what could have been going on in their minds.

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[00:12:59] Imelda Wistey: Even if they didn't say anything in that moment, what's the feeling? 'cause they're human at the end of the day. What is it about their human experience that I can relate to as best as I can from my human experience? And then kind of see where the road goes from there. It's a journey for me too. So I'm wholly invested in these, um, individuals because again, their stories are what make themselves so like such unique and captivating people to, to kind of follow.

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[00:13:30] Imelda Wistey: So I learned a lot and I feel like I've. Been able to educate myself on things that I never thought I'd Yeah. Educate myself with. And AI is helpful with that kind of giving the TLDR on, okay, if I, you know, was this type of person, what would I need to know? Um, where before I was Googling and Googling and Googling, I'm able to kind of like, can you just gimme a, a rundown?

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[00:13:54] Imelda Wistey: Then of course I'll go in and do some more research, but just, even just getting that sense. So yeah, embodying who they are and. Kind of in essence because they're human at the end of the day, living a human experience, but they're doing something that I will never do, but I can get a sense of like, alright, we can try to capture this.

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[00:14:14] Nicole MacLean: Yeah. I was going to ask how AI has maybe helped or hurt in this, and the research is a really interesting point, but have you used it for tone or if you know, maybe someone does a webinar to redo it or even saying like. Can you read this? Does this sound like this person? You know, where, where have you found it to help?

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[00:14:33] Nicole MacLean: Where have you found it? To hurt? 

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[00:14:35] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. Oh, when it, it's like any recorded content, I'll always put transcripts. Mm-hmm. And just to kind of get a sense of like, these are their words that they talked about, and to kind of follow whatever that cadence is, just to be aware of, you know, what they said or what they didn't.

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[00:14:51] Imelda Wistey: I think what has helped is just kind of organizing and kind of putting into a folder like, all right, this is what they've said. Let's keep like a running tab on that. Where it's hurt is when it starts to make up things that didn't happen. It wasn't what I was trying to go for. And then to recalibrate, because I've noticed that people change their mind.

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[00:15:16] Imelda Wistey: So even if they might have said something in a content interview or even in a webinar, and then you put something out there and then they said, nah, I don't like that. So to be aware that the nuances can make that difference and to kind of, as best as you can predict that, 

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[00:15:31] Nicole MacLean: I will say as a, as a leader who sometimes is like.

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[00:15:35] Nicole MacLean: But you said this was okay like two days ago and I was like, I know, but now that I see it, like it's different. Right. Right. We're bad with that, but it's real. 

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[00:15:45] Imelda Wistey: Right. And I think that open communication is also important when talking. Mm-hmm. To someone who you're actually, you're trying to kind of, you know, put content for.

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[00:15:54] Imelda Wistey: I've learned to just keep that open communication and just know that. I also changed my mind. So it, it is a thing. And to also make note of like, well, they actually wanted this. And you can kind of push, push the levers a little bit one way and then the other way and you start to gauge a little bit more.

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[00:16:11] Imelda Wistey: So it's never a done process. You just have to know when to stop. And that's something that I have learned throughout my writing career is just, okay. I think that we, this is a good moment to stop and. We'll go from there. I think that's what founders need to realize too, like. At some point, you're going to have to just kind of take a pause and be like, this is fine.

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[00:16:33] Imelda Wistey: Let's get it out there. We can always adjust on the next time. There's always another opportunity to clarify your voice even more.  As a sales and marketing leader, I'm always interested to hear about a team's tech stack. At Compose.ly, we use Apollo with HubSpot to fuel our outbound outreach. My team loves it. It consistently provides accurate contact information and is incredibly user friendly.

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If you're thinking about changing your data provider or just want to hear more about our experience, connect with me on LinkedIn or check out the link in the show notes of this episode. Improve your inbound, increase conversion, and keep your marketing database squeaky clean with Apollo.

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[00:17:13] Nicole MacLean: So what do you think are some of the things to avoid or like the biggest faults of people who are trying to get into founder-led content? 

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[00:17:20] Imelda Wistey: I guess the false, going into founder-led content is assuming that, you know what founder-led content is. Even if you've been writing for how many years, it's a whole different approach because you have to take yourself out of it.

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[00:17:38] Imelda Wistey: Now there's gonna be lingering instances of you. I think that just always happens, but to know that, alright, this is something that is, needs to be done, especially for on LinkedIn in, in a concise way, in a packaged. I like to think of it as like a, like a packaged folder, and you have to craft it in a way that's not going to take up someone's time, but also allows that person to spend the time on.

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[00:18:07] Imelda Wistey: But the fact is, what you know about storytelling, what you know about creating content and writing the ideas are the same, the frameworks are the same, like having that strong hook, having that kind of characterization and plot point, and then like a satisfying conclusion to close the loop. It's going to be very different unless you start doing it.

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[00:18:26] Imelda Wistey: So going into it, I say no, you have to practice that kind of focus and the way that maybe founders talk and understand that it's gonna be very different to how you talk. Well, maybe the same, just depends. Mm-hmm. And to train, it's a, it's a new type of training, it's a retraining. And that's something that I got a glimpse of just by even just immersing myself in.

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[00:18:49] Imelda Wistey: More of that type of content, even before I was doing solely just founder led content, was just the ideas, kind of the high level focuses that you have to really take yourself out of. Because as a writer, you're really kind of narrowing in and making sure like all the words are lined up nicely in the sentences are where they need to be, but now you can, the rules are kind of out the window depending on how the founder is going to be talking.

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[00:19:16] Imelda Wistey: Lean on the writing skills that you have, but know that it's a whole different type of approach when you haven't done it before. So something that even what I've done in the past was copy working where you kind of mimic the kind of style and write out, which I've been doing something in high school since high school.

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[00:19:36] Imelda Wistey: And so what's funny is that when before I started my job at Compound, you know the CEO, there was like. Oh yeah, I do copy working or I study different types of writers and I'm like, oh my gosh, I did that too. So it's one of those things where it's okay to kind of go back to those like fundamental and foundational skills that AI can't just hand to 

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[00:19:55] Nicole MacLean: you.

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[00:19:57] Nicole MacLean: Right. So pivoting a, not, maybe not away from founder content, but just thinking about content in general. You live and eat and breathe content. You know, obviously our show is content matters. We have a lot of folks who touch content on the show. But sitting in a, a content lead, a content writer role, you're seeing kind of everything in a really tactical execution way.

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[00:20:21] Nicole MacLean: What is your take on the perception of content in the market? Do people still value it? You know, is writing still a skillset that people, I mean, we all know it's needed, but do you think people still think that it's. Valuable enough, you know, is it, are there different skills we should be leaning into?

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[00:20:40] Nicole MacLean: Like, I'm just curious, your take content has changed 

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[00:20:44] Imelda Wistey: in the last couple years. You know, even looking at SEO and how that's been kind of going on different rails, I think the value of content has gone up, but to the point where it's almost a need for overproduction. And the problem with reduction is that you're seeing the same thing over and over and over again.

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[00:21:08] Imelda Wistey: I'm talking kind of in just across all platforms. Right, and that's my concern because people have found a way to, of course, automate the content, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're doing with it. It has become more saturated, but there's still a lot of value because people want to find the human.

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[00:21:31] Imelda Wistey: And all the noise. And so the ones who are succeeding are the ones who are allowing more human eyes on what's going out there and are seeing that content is a way to generate those views and those things to kind of get to kind of show up more and then, and then go from there. I think when it comes to skillset.

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[00:22:01] Imelda Wistey: That I guess from, I know, of course, my opinion, I'm like, he, uh, skills first people not. Right. Right. But I think, I guess as a whole, I'm wondering if it's become less looked at until they realize it's starting to sound the same. And then when people get to that point of like, wait a second, no, this is not how, this is not how it should read.

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[00:22:28] Imelda Wistey: Then they're like, we need someone with skills. And that's something that I'm still trying to struggle with because, and kind of going back to the whole teaching thing, I wonder if, you know, again, what's that crutch that people are looking, especially with, you know, AI and LLMs, what is it that they're taking away from the practice, the training, the knowledge that it, that we essentially had to do throughout our schooling.

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[00:22:55] Imelda Wistey: I, I worry about the approach, honestly. I do worry about it, but. I think the ones that are seeing the value more and more, 'cause I think everyone sees content as a, as a needed thing, but the value of how much to kind of place in human input. I think there are different camps on the involvement and I know that a lot of teams are wanting to be leaner because of the processes are, you know, are expanded, you know, 10 times, a hundred times.

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[00:23:28] Nicole MacLean: Well teams and, and leaders, I think. Yeah. So I mean, there are people who just see the opportunity and want to find efficiencies and, and we should be doing that, but I also think a lot of it has been forced. 

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[00:23:40] Imelda Wistey: Yeah. And it's tough when you think good content, the actual execution is very much involved even with those efficient processes, because I can look at a post, a draft of a post.

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[00:23:57] Imelda Wistey: Have Claude up and, and have chat GPT on another, another end, and then Googling at a different tab, and I'm still going to take an hour or so, right? Because I'm looking at it not from the machine's eyes, I'm looking at it from how this, is this coming across from a human standpoint, right? The machine is just going to mimic what reads well from a human standpoint.

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[00:24:27] Nicole MacLean: Well, and there's, you know, multiple tools that they're diff good at different things. Like I was just talking to someone this morning and they're like, okay. So I went into perplexity and did research and then I went into, I went into track GBT and created the article and then I went to Claude and said, okay, but now make the article sound like the brand profile.

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[00:24:40] Nicole MacLean: And yeah, there's so many different work streams to think through and, and how you create it too. If you were to give advice to a writer, you know, someone who's in a seat that needs to produce content, what would you say to them? I would 

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[00:24:55] Imelda Wistey: say know the fundamentals first, train on that. Even if you have to go back to pen and paper and understand the fundamentals of sentence structure, story structure, frameworks of the different types of phrasing you can use.

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[00:25:14] Imelda Wistey: But also, 'cause if you know the rules, you can. Not break them, but you can work with them. Right. And I know that in a lot of LinkedIn content, you can go off of tangents and you can have those incomplete sentences and it's still fine. And so studying writing by writing, not with any tools, even if it's just for yourself, just to kind of get that practice in just to, just to do that.

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[00:25:38] Imelda Wistey: So when I write for myself or for when I put content out on LinkedIn and even on substack, I will actually not open any of. The AI tools because I want to keep that muscle working and I, oh, sorry. I know, I know my brand maybe, but, you know, personal branding and whatnot. I think it's just being yourself as, as best as you can for as, as much as you want to put out there.

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[00:26:03] Imelda Wistey: And so maybe a sentence could have been streamlined more, maybe I could have used a different word, but at the time, that's what I wanted to do, so I just kind of pressed. Post and go from there. And by doing that, I've noticed that I'm able to keep those skills up, at least for me and un kind of work with that type of writing.

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[00:26:27] Imelda Wistey: And then when I go and work my job and use the tools to help me keep everything aligned and organize and organized and and outlined, I'm fall, I'm falling back on the skills that tells me. Wait that off. But Claude is saying, oh, this reads well, and I'm like, Claude, that's not what I was going for. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're right.

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[00:26:51] Imelda Wistey: Thank you. So I think being willing to take a step back from immediately using tools and creating content, even if it's just for yourself, even if you don't post it, if you wanna do writing or any type of content marketing, go back to those things that. It made you wanna do content and writing and that kind of social marketing in the first place?

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[00:27:18] Nicole MacLean: Yeah. I love two, I think really important things to call out is one, keeping the muscle, because you need experts to be able to vet and verify and use the tools, and if you lose that muscle, you no longer become the person who can do that. And then I think that framework. Is something we don't talk about as much.

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[00:27:41] Nicole MacLean: I, I heard it a lot more when Chee first came out or when it first was getting popular, but when it was doing its thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think we've lost that in some of the prompting. Like if you, like you said story structure and you know the different arcs and you know, good syntax and all of that stuff.

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[00:27:58] Nicole MacLean: You can also prompt better or like, you know how to go in and I think a adjust to say this is a great first draft, but. Can you go in and like apply this framework to it so that it reads better? And for just your standard person who maybe doesn't know those things, you're not gonna have those tools at your disposal to even use the tools more effectively.

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[00:28:17] Nicole MacLean: So I think both of those are important call outs, like you have to stay, you have to maintain your mastery so that you can be the person qualifying the output. And knowing those foundations, I think can make you better at using the tools. Thanks for listening to this episode of Content Matters Created in partnership with Share Your Genius.

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[00:28:38] Nicole MacLean: If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend. Otherwise, you can find all the resources you need to stay connected with us in the notes, so next time.