Step into the digital age where compelling content is king, but crafting it takes more than just a creative mind. According to HubSpot, businesses that prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see positive ROI.
The complex process of finding and hiring an expert Content Strategist who will catapult your brand’s online presence forward.
Key Takeaways of Content Strategist
- A Content Strategist helps plan and craft strong content. They draw in customers, create sales, and boost your brand online.
- It’s key to know what you need before hiring a Content Strategist. Make a clear job listing so the right people apply.
- Look for hard skills like SEO know how and soft skills like good team work when picking a person for this role.
- You can go to online communities or freelance websites to find skilled Content Strategists looking for work.
What is a Content Strategist?
A content strategist is a key player in businesses today. This role, also known as a content marketing specialist, plans and runs the creation of unique content. A good strategist makes sure your business stands out by making engaging material tailored to your company’s goals.
The duties of a content strategist are more than just writing. They use critical thinking skills to spot trends, analyze data, and gauge how well their strategies are working. They work closely with a team to plan, design, edit and publish relevant materials for your company.
It’s their job to help you reel in leads and keep them interested with top-notch content strategy.
Why Hiring a Content Strategist is Important
A content strategist plays a major role in your company. This expert can focus on inbound marketing. With their help, your business will attract more customers. They also nurture leads to make sure they turn into sales.
Your team gets an upgrade with a content strategist. This pro gives other writers support. That means better content all around. They use their skill and know-how to hit the mark with different groups of people.
Job titles are not as important as true talent. A great content strategist has real-world skills and work experience that matter most for your needs.
Understanding Your Company’s Needs
First, it is vital to know what your company needs. This helps set a clear path for the recruitment process. The goal might be to boost content marketing strategy or change team dynamics.
Each company has unique needs and goals.
Next, identifying likes and dislikes in past hires can help prevent hiring mistakes. It also gives insight on what works for your company culture. This aids in finding a candidate who will blend well with the existing team and work towards achieving the company’s objectives.
Writing an Effective Job Description
A good job posting gives clear details about the role. For a Content Strategist, it includes planning content and making creative ideas. The job ad needs to show what is special about your company culture too.
You want to make sure you stand out from the rest.
Include in the job requirements what kind of skills are needed for this type of work. Focus on things like hard skills and education. Also, talk about past work done by the person you want to hire.
This helps get interest from people who might be right for your team. Make sure that your job ad leaves a good first impression as it’s very important.
Skills and Qualifications to Look for in a Content Strategist
When hiring a content strategist, seek candidates with hard skills such as SEO proficiency, understanding of analytics, and familiarity with content management systems, soft skills like critical thinking, communication abilities, and creative problem-solving and qualifications including relevant degrees or certifications.
Hard Skills
Hard skills are key in finding the right content strategist. They need to know about content marketing, planning, and creation. Content optimization and management are also vital parts of their job.
A good hire should have a strong handle on digital strategy. This includes SEO and social media tactics as well as content analysis. These skills help businesses grow online while ensuring that their message is getting across correctly.
Writing for the web or running a personal blog can show these hard skills in action.
Soft Skills
Soft skills are key for a content strategist. These are the traits that help them work well with others and solve problems. They need to be good at working in a team and talking to people.
This is called having strong interpersonal skills.
A good content strategist can think on their feet. We call this being adaptable. They should also be smart thinkers, able to see the big picture and make hard choices quickly analytical skills.
It’s also very important that they manage their time well, can lead others, speak well in front of groups presentation skills and handle many tasks at once project management.
Qualifications
A content strategist must have certain skills. They should have about five years of work in digital content. This could be as a manager, writer or editor. The job needs skills in the fields of strategy, marketing and digital content.
Good communication helps them work well with teams and other people who are important to your company. They also need to know how to talk to your target audience and build a great plan for success.
Where to Find Skilled Content Strategists
Discover the best sites, online communities and freelance networks where you can find highly skilled content strategists who will elevate your brand’s digital presence.
Online Content Communities
Online content communities are a gold mine for skilled content strategists. Many industry experts hang out there, sharing tips and tricks about digital marketing and content creation.
Platforms like Mayple or Upwork host these communities. These hubs are full of freelance professionals waiting to show off their talents. You can get a sense of their skills before you even post a job listing. It’s not just about finding the perfect fit, it’s also about spotting job market trends and staying ahead in content marketing trends.
In these online spaces, you’re fishing off the longest piers, casting your net wide into a pool filled with talent.
Freelance Networks
Freelance networks are great places to find top content strategists. One popular site is Upwork. It is the best place in the United States and Brooklyn, NY to hunt for this talent.
Many skilled people who can build your content marketing plans live there.
Another good site is Mayple. This platform helps you pick a perfect person for your team’s needs. Here, you can see many profiles of folks ready to work with you on part-time or project-based jobs.
Another option is to check out more freelance websites that focus on remote work and independent contractors.
How to Choose the Best Candidates
Look for skills, not job titles. Focus on finding the right talent in your hiring process. It’s not enough to just know what a content strategist does. You need to know which skills make them good at their job.
Follow leaders in the field and watch for where there is lots of talent. Put effort into an extensive screening of potential workers. This will help you find the very best person out of a bigger pool of people who want the job.
Ask smart questions during interviews that target key skills and desirable traits needed for a content strategist role. These steps lead to wise choices when picking candidates who stand out from others.
Even though there are plenty looking for work, top-notch content strategists are still scarce, so choose wisely. Make sure you mark down all those special traits that could be useful at your company while looking through all possible hires.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Content Strategist
Steering clear of certain pitfalls, such as not defining role expectations clearly, discounting the importance of personality fit within your company culture and neglecting to prioritize adaptability qualities, can greatly impact the success of finding a suitable content strategist.
Unclear Role Expectations
Mistakes happen in hiring a content strategist. One big problem is unclear role expectations. This makes it hard for the job seeker to know what the company wants. It can also lead to wrong hires and poor work outcomes.
Avoid pitfalls in job descriptions by keeping them simple and straight to the point. Unclear role expectations cause hiring difficulties for strategic positions like these, so always aim for clarity.
Lack of Consideration for Personality and Culture Fit
Hiring the right content strategist starts with a clear role. Hiring managers often make a mistake. They don’t think about company culture and personality fit. This part of the hiring process is important.
Personality and culture matter for team dynamics. A wrong pick can hurt the whole team’s work flow. Managers should not just rely on first impressions to make this choice. They need to look at skills too.
But, they should not ONLY look at if someone fits well in their company’s culture either. It is good to have different kinds of people on your staff as well.
Failure to Prioritize Adaptability
Hiring a Content Strategist who cannot handle change is a mistake. Flexibility, creativity, and problem solving skills are vital. These traits show an ability to learn new things in the content strategy field.
Companies must search for candidates with these features. Doing so avoids issues down the road. It helps keep up with fast-paced changes in online tactics and trends. Hence, adaptability should top your list of desired qualities in a Content Strategist hire.
Using TestGorilla to Hire the Best Content Strategists
TestGorilla is a great tool for hiring content strategists. It helps bosses make quick, easy choices. They can make tests to see who is best for the job. This saves time and makes sure the right person gets hired.
One of TestGorilla’s tools is the Content Strategy test. This test checks if a person can make good web text that sells stuff. The Time Management test sees if they can sort tasks well, plan them and do them on time.
So, TestGorilla has lots of ways to check if someone will be good at their job. This includes jobs where you need to think fast like being a content strategist. Using these tests will help find the best people for your team.
The Benefits of Hiring a Content Strategist
Explore how hiring a content strategist can enhance your inbound marketing efforts, diversify your team’s skillset, nurture leads effectively reducing sales dependency, and ultimately strengthen your brand positioning.
Focus on Inbound Marketing
Hiring a content strategist helps your company to focus more on inbound marketing. This is key to drawing new visitors and potential customers to your platform. Your chosen professional can craft useful, engaging content for these people.
The right words attract the audience you want.
Inbound marketing uses things like blog posts and social media updates. Content strategists use their skills in SEO optimization too. Every piece of text pulls people toward your brand’s message and away from others.
In short, having a skilled person guiding your content creation brings more eyes on your business.
Enhance Team Composition
A content strategist is key to a winning team. They bring fresh ideas and shake things up. Their skills in strategic planning, user-centered design, and project management help the whole group do better work.
They can lead content planning efforts, tying together various roles within the company for an improved user experience. The right person also helps make your business strategy clearer and stronger.
This adds value to what your team does every day leading to performance improvement in everyone’s tasks.
Nurture Leads and Reduce Sales Dependency
A content strategist is your key to more leads. They use targeted marketing to find the right people for your product or service. The goal is a smooth sales funnel that turns leads into customers without much work from your sales team.
This method can boost your conversion rate optimization and improve customer relationship management. It helps you focus on other parts of your company while the strategist takes care of growing business.
Strengthen Brand Positioning
A content strategist helps make your brand strong. They create, sort out, and share content well. This makes more people know about your brand. Your place on search websites gets better too.
This is good for how people see your brand. Content strategists can also help you build good ties with design leaders. These ties will push your company to success. They know a lot and have done this job many times before.
So they add value to companies wanting to make strong marketing plans. With their help and guidance, you can reach your content goals like making the brand known or selling more products.
Finding the Right Content Strategist for Your Needs
When looking to hire content strategists for your marketing team, it’s important to understand the core duties and skills required for this role. Though job titles ultimately vary, content strategists focus on developing and executing your brand’s content strategy across digital platforms.
An effective content strategist will have a mix of creative, technical, and organizational skills. They will be well-versed in content creation and content delivery, with expertise in areas like:
- Creating content assets including blog posts, social media updates, emails, and more
- Managing content marketing campaigns across social media channels
- Conducting keyword research and executing search engine optimization (SEO) best practices
- Leveraging data analytics and visualization tools to track content performance
- Maintaining the organization’s content management system and editorial calendars
The right content strategist for your team will understand your overarching business objectives and know how to use relevant content to generate leads and raise brand awareness with both new and existing customers. They will stay up to date on the latest trends and tap into consumer insights to connect your brand voice and key messages with your audience online.
Whether you’re looking to bring a content strategist on full-time or fill this role with a freelance content marketer, be sure to assess candidates based on both their strategic abilities and hands-on content skills. With the right person driving your content marketing strategy, you’ll be well on your way to content success.
Frequently Asked Questions about Content Strategist
1. What Does a Content Strategist do?
A content strategist plans and manages all written, visual, or other content types for a company.
2. What Should Look For When Hiring a Content strategist?
When hiring a content strategist, seek someone with good writing skills, creative ideas, an understanding of target audiences, and knowledge in SEO tactics.
3. Where Can I Find the Best Content Strategists to Hire?
You can find top-rated content strategists on job websites like LinkedIn or industry-specific sites such as ProBlogger and MediaBistro.
4. Do I Need to Hire a Full-Time Content Strategist?
It depends on your needs, if you produce lots of regular content online it’s better to have one full time, otherwise freelance or part-time may work too.
5. How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Good Content Strategist?
The cost varies based on experience level and scope of work but expect anywhere from $50 to $100 per hour for high-quality services.
Conclusion and Summary of Content Strategist: How to Find and Hire the Best
Crafting a stand-out content strategy is no simple feat in today’s crowded digital landscape. Businesses must tap into the expertise of skilled content strategists to make their brand heard. By leveraging data and insights to create targeted, engaging content across platforms, these professionals help shape an effective inbound marketing approach.
To build a dream team of creative marketers, focus on identifying candidates with sharp strategic thinking, versatile writing skills, and expertise in areas like SEO, social media, and analytics. The right content creator will understand your business goals and know how to connect your brand story with your ideal audience through relevant, multichannel content.
With a content pro guiding your message, you’ll be well positioned to boost brand awareness, generate leads, and drive growth. So take the time to find a content marketer who can marry strategy with creative content skills to take your digital presence to the next level.
Image Credit: Fizkes / 123RF.com (Licensed). Photo Illustration by: Doctor Marketing, MD.
Doctor Marketing, MD™ is a leading content creation, distribution and marketing agency. The firm works with Top Doctors and Surgeons, Healthcare Companies, Medical Professionals, Private Practices, Medical Groups and Clinics, Hospitals, Executives, and Leaders in the Healthcare Industry and specialty Medical sectors. Doctor Marketing, MD™ has built a world-class content writing team of award-winning writers, SEOs, copywriters, wordsmiths, and ghostwriters. They’ve perfected a proprietary content assembly line process, and further specialize in large-scale content production through well-crafted blog posts, articles, and medical content pieces that attract new patients.
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