Content strategists can play an integral role in the success of your business, making it important to find a content strategist who understands your industry and can step up your overall marketing content game.
Finding a good content strategist may take careful planning and research, such as determining the ideal candidate profile, conducting interviews, and knowing when it’s the right time to hire.
Sometimes, finding a content strategist on your own can be challenging, taking up too much time and money. In that case, we recommend booking an appointment with an experienced marketing broker to help you find the perfect fit from their extensive network of vetted agencies and partners.
What is a Content Strategist?
Content strategy can be loosely defined as the planning, development, and implementation of content across your business’s various channels. For example, your business might consider uploading Use Cases or Case Studies to your blog, helping clients and prospects to understand how your business helps.
A content strategist is the one responsible for making these decisions, choosing how you will use content to grow your brand and reach new eyes.
How to Become a Content Strategist?
There are many ways to become a content strategist and a successful one at that! Nonetheless, we’ve put together a few tips you might consider following when looking to enter a role as a content strategist.
- Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent: Information management, technical writing, marketing, creative writing, journalism, and English are all credible degrees that could help you land a job as a content strategist!
- Gain experience: Most companies and businesses are looking for content strategists that have experience producing content and leading the strategy behind it; consider volunteering, applying for internships, or junior-level roles to gain experience in the field.
- Analytical Thinking: Content strategy often involves tracking and collecting data based on the results produced by your content or looking at the content strategy of competitors. Many businesses will seek strategists well-versed in writing and those able to spot trends and analyze the collected data.
What Skills Should a Content Strategist Have?
A good content strategist typically has a greater understanding of the many facets of content marketing but a niche specialty within those buckets. For example, one might have a firm grasp of copywriting with a more limited understanding of SEO.
Therefore, when asking ‘how to find a content strategist,’ you may first want to understand these different buckets and where your current strategy lacks. Working with an experienced broker like CJAM gives you access to someone who understands marketing, business, and the strategists your business may be looking to hire.
Nonetheless, we’ve compiled a list of some of the skills that you might want to watch out for when looking to hire a content strategist:
- Content Creation & Management: A strategist should be capable of creating and managing your brand’s content output.
- Project Management: Content strategists will lead campaigns, which generally involve many moving parts, making it important to have strong organizational and project management skills.
- Research Skills: Research is a huge part of creating content, evaluating competitors, and learning about the best marketing practices.
- Copywriting & SEO Knowledge: Writing is a huge part of creating content, making it important your strategist is skilled in copywriting and SEO for things like blog posts or case studies.
- Technical Skills: It can be useful for a content strategist to have a basic understanding of technical skills like HTML, CSS, and CMS to help manage and publish content.
- Creativity: It may seem self-explanatory, but you want a content strategist that likes to think outside the box! Someone creative and able to help you step up your content marketing game.
- Communication Skills: Content strategists should have good communication skills when coordinating with the other team members, such as Marketing Analysts, Engineers, Writers, etc.
The Different Types of Content Strategists
Content strategists generally come in two different types, and having both can mean huge results for the growth of your business.
Front-End Strategists
Front-end strategists are generally more customer-oriented. They are concerned with the customer experience, identifying the target audience, choosing content that fits the brand, and determining if it engages the audience correctly.
Back-End Strategists
Back-end strategists spend more time on content organization and the processes in place. They are more likely to make recommendations about the technology and tools being used by the business; if they are meeting your business’s needs.
How to Find a Content Strategist?
If you want to know how to find a content strategist, you should start by creating a compelling job description, compiling interview questions, and, ultimately, knowing what a good strategist is.
How to Write a Great Job Description
A good job description should be appealing but accurately portray what is expected of the candidate should they get hired. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when writing the one for your business:
- Job title
- Summary of the position
- Responsibilities, i.e. content strategy, copywriting
- Requirements, i.e. educational, years of experience
- Benefits, i.e. compensation, benefits
Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Content Strategist
Determining the right questions to ask can be challenging but remains an important step to evaluating if a candidate will be the right fit. Here are a few questions to consider asking:
- What are some of the first things you consider before initiating a new content strategy?
- What steps do you take to improve an ineffective campaign?
- What is your approach to competitor research?
- Can you share a portfolio of previous work and experience?
A good content strategist may also ask some of their own questions to understand your business and its goals. Here are a few you might be happy to hear:
- What are some examples of brands that you like and would like to recreate in some ways?
- Are you experimental in your content strategy? Open to change?
- What do you consider when delivering content and reaching your target audience?
- What processes do you use to document your strategies and their effectiveness?
Why Should You Hire a Content Strategist?
Simply put, a content strategist will evaluate your service, product, competitors, and audience to determine how to use content marketing best to achieve your brand’s goals.
What Does a Content Strategist Do?
We have already briefly explained some of the qualities and skills a content strategist should have, but here is a more detailed list of some of the day-to-day activities they may be performing:
- Researching competitors and what they are doing well versus poorly
- Creating and strategizing on content pillars and sub pillars
- Tracking ROI
- Planning a content calendar
- Creating content that attracts your target audience
- Evaluating current content strategies to determine if they are effective or not
- Overseeing content-creating projects, i.e. writing, recording, and various other forms
- Determining brand tone and style
- Help create content to be used for educational purposes, like manuals to help teach and strengthen relationships with vendors or product guides for customers that have made purchases
- Using tools like Canva and Adobe to create graphics and imagery for promotional uses
Signs Your Business Needs a Content Strategist
Content marketing remains one of the most prevalent methods of reaching your target audience, increasing sales, and building brand authority. If you haven’t already invested resources and time into the practice, it may be time to get started!
We have compiled a list of a few warning signs that might indicate you should start pumping out content and recruiting an effective content strategist.
- You don’t know who your target market is: A content strategist can help to evaluate your brand and determine your target audience.
- You don’t have a content calendar or scheduling process: If you’re posting content at a whim, it may lack the strategy necessary to engage your audience.
- Your blogs lack SEO or don’t even look like real publications: Your blogs should cater to your audience, bringing them in and answering questions about your business and industry.
- You’re not repurposing content: Repurposing content saves the time and investment it takes to create new ones constantly. Every piece of content created can be repurposed to fit other mediums and into new forms.
- Your strategy lacks automation: Sending emails, posting TikToks, and manually uploading Instagram posts take too long; automating these practices can ensure that content goes out consistently and to your business’s standards.
Find Your Perfect Hire With CJAM
CJAM specializes in helping you to find the right person for your business. We have vetted hundreds of contractors, partners, and agencies to locate those who can hold to what they preach. Please don’t wait to start finding the right partners for your business, and contact our team at CJAM today!
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What’s Next?
Now that you know a little more about personal branding, it’s over to you so that you can put what you’ve learned today into practice. Of course, if you still need some help with developing and implementing your personal brand, we’ve got you covered there, too.
We specialise in helping people just like you to find the perfect agency to help them out, so reach out to us today to find out more. You can also leave a comment to keep the discussion going or follow us on your favorite social networking sites for more. We’ll see you soon!
