Introduction

Heike Young from Microsoft shows how content built by employees can build trust and win people over. Her strategy puts real voices and strong opinions ahead of bland brand posts.

What's the problem it solves?

Most companies try to make content that only hits traffic goals or follows brand rules. Heike shows how to make content that actually changes people’s minds and helps teams work better together.

Quick Summary

Heike Young believes the goal of content isn’t just to bring views or clicks. At Microsoft Advertising, she’s working to shift how people think by focusing on trust, real voices, and team alignment. Instead of making top-of-funnel content or “ultimate guides,” her team shares bold opinions and stories that help convince people to choose Microsoft over competitors. That content lives in the middle and bottom of the funnel where buying decisions happen.

She treats content, creative, product marketing, and campaigns like four wheels of a car-if one is missing, the strategy stalls. By working closely with product marketers and using their customer research, her team can make content that hits the right audience. She also pushes her team to focus on content operations and analytics, not just writing. One of her strongest beliefs is that personal content from employees outperforms anything from a brand account. That’s why she’s building a program where employees become the face of the company on social media, especially through short videos. Her message to creators: Don’t copy-be yourself.

Key Takeaways from the article

• Content should aim to change minds, not just chase clicks or rankings.
• The best content happens when content, creative, product marketing, and campaigns work together.
• Strong opinions and personal stories are more powerful than safe brand content.
• Use product marketing's customer data as the base for smarter content planning.
• In-house teams should focus more on tracking results than writing everything themselves.
• People trust and engage more with real employees than with brand pages.
• Encourage employees to be their real selves when sharing content-it connects better.
• Content teams should invest in success stories and employee-led social posts to boost reach.

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