A Guide to Hiring a Top Content Strategist

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A Publication by Denhoff Media

10 Skills You Need in Your Content Strategist

A guide to hiring a top content marketing strategist


TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Community Builder 2. Education Driven 3. Writing Ability 4. Visual Content 5. Results Driven 6. Lead Generator 7. Social Enthusiast 8. Content Distributor 9. Search Engine Optimization 10. Story Teller


Skill One

Community Builder Attract and Nurture A strong strategist is able to build a community on the web that value great content and shares it with their personal following. A strategist is able to build an audience that is a competitive advantage for the business, and helps the business reach bottom line goals. Vice President of Marketing Insights at Exact Target, Jeffrey Rohrs, shares the idea of building a proprietary audience. According to Jeff there are three types of audience members. »»

Seekers: People who are regularly searching for information.

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Amplifiers: When your audience turns into your marketing. These individuals share your content once they have found their answers.

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Joiners: These are people who become apart of your community by giving you permission to contact them. Joiners are the ultimate goal.

“Audience development is a responsibility, primary to marketing.” - @jkrohrs


Skill Two

Education Driven Solve Problems An experienced content strategist understands the importance of educational content. Content that helps customers solve their problems. »» »» »» »»

Ask the audience what their problems are Listen to audience conversation Distribute educational content where your community spends their time Give your audience what they need; in the form they want it

“Remember, customers don’t care about you; they care about themselves and their problems.” - @JoePulizzi Content Marketing Institute


Skill Three

Writing Ability Persuasive and Entertaining Whether long or short form, being able to write copy that is intriguing and educational is essential for any piece of content. A content strategist must be able to write for the reader as well as the search engines. Written content needs to have substance and provide answers for the end reader. Written content on the web should include various forms of media. Images, graphics, and video can help enhance a written piece online. For examples of content writing select any title below. »» 3 Things I Learned from Microsoft’s CEO Technology is only a tool, not a solution. “Put the people in the right place and supply them with the right technology, you’ll be on your way to transformation,” he said. After our 15-minute discussion, Dave left me with three lessons. »» 5 Things Facebook Can Tell You About Your Candidates With just over a billion users, Facebook is the largest talent pool on the planet. In 2013, LinkedIn ran a global recruiting trends study that revealed recruiters find quality talent on social networking sites; second only to online job boards. »» The Brand That Transformed an Industry With grace and imagination, Cirque du Soleil has transformed the circus into a unique performing art. Their world-renowned shows captivate audiences and evoke extraordinary emotions. So what can enterprise businesses learn from one of the most creative brands in the world?


Skill Four

Visual Content

For print or web, a content strategist must be able to produce graphically appealing content. The strategist should stay up-to-date with design trends and be able to engage an audience visually. Great content strategists have experience with design for marketing print pieces, social media, eBooks, slideshows, infographics, and websites. A content strategist who has experience with the tools below can separate themselves from other candidates. »» »» »»

Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver. Infographic tool PiktoChart and cartoon video tool PowToon. Video editing tool Final Cut Pro


Skill Five

Results Driven

How are posts performing on social media? Which keywords and content topics generate the most traffic to my website?

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Social sites provide quality analytics including Facebook Insights, LinkedIn Analytics, Twitter Analytics, Hootsuite, and Buffer.

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Use Google Analytics on a regular basis. Analyze content traffic, visitor behavior, and conversions.

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Guide visitors through a funnel to an ultimate goal and conversion. This may be a form submission, landing page, or specific URL.


Skill Six

Lead Generator Attract and Convert While content can engage and drive traffic, it also needs to help reach business goals. A content strategist can start with business goals and work backwards. Create content that not only helps the audience, but also generates leads for the business. »»

By attracting your community with content, you are able to gain their trust.

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Once trust is developed, and you as a business are seen as an education source, your audience will provide contact information for more content and services.

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Create funnels through your marketing initiatives; send people to landing pages and contact pages that help generate leads for your sales team.


Skill Seven

Social Enthusiast Engage and Interact Social media allows people to connect with one another across the world. It helps bring friends, families, and professionals together. Facebook has over 1 Billion users, LinkedIn has over 350 Million users, and Twitter has over 230 Million users. »»

A business has the opportunity to socialize and communicate with their loyal followers in real-time. Providing customer service and education through content is essential.

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Providing followers with content and a story helps nurture relationships and improve customer relations.

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Businesses have the ability to amplify content to a much larger audience on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, and Google+.


Skill Eight

Content Distributor Time and Place Content can be distributed through print and web media. Using owned, paid, or earned media businesses can develop a relationship with their community and generate leads to drive business goals. Find what your community is searching for, where they reside on the web, and what time they need your support. »»

Owned Media: A channel under brand control. Owned media is used to build long lasting relationships with current and potential customers.

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Paid Media: A channel leveraged through payment by a brand. To attract and convert potential leads.

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Earned Media: When customers become your channel. If a company provides users with a great experience earned media can be very positive. Listen to earned media and respond.

Website | Blogs | Mobile

Display Ads | Search Ads

Reviews | Social Chatter

Owned

Paid

Earned


Skill Nine

Search Engine Optimization Drive Organic Traffic Search engine optimization is essential for all content on the web. While great content can be produced, it means nothing if it cannot be found. All content should be optimized for search engines and social media sites to find based on their algorithm. There are thousands of factors within search algorithms. Content strategists need to focus on a few main components of on-page SEO. »» »» »» »» »» »» »»

Page Title Page URL Headline Sub-Headline Meta Description Tags Links

No matter how optimized content is, it must be substantial and share worthy.


Skill Ten

Story Teller Personalize and Captivate A truly great content strategist is able to tell a story using text, imagery, video, and audio. Every brand has a story. A content strategist needs to tell the story of the brand and the people behind it. If you are able to tell a story and draw an audience, your audience members will begin to trust the brand. By trusting your brand, audience members join your community. People trust public opinion. If your community becomes a part of your brand story and shares your story and content with their personal audience, your community will continue to grow.

Once Upon

A Time


Looking for more information? If you would like to learn more about how to hire a content marketing strategist, contact Kyle Denhoff today. Some other resources include: Content Marketing Strategist Resume Template

LinkedIn.com/in/kyledenhoff @Denhoff_ kdenhoff@gmail.com

Speak with Kyle


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