Content marketing professionals generally have a high-quality work ethic – many of they can lead, design, and maintain your marketing campaigns, whilst also supporting all elements of content production.
But what exactly is a content marketing specialist, and what separates them from the rest? There are a few different criteria you may want to look for to ensure you’re hiring a specialist in your field.
What’s a Content Marketing Specialist?
It’s a good idea to think about content marketing specialists as creative idealists for companies. They can help to plan the future of your company by analysing what marketing methods would work best for your specific needs.
However, the truth is that the responsibilities of content marketing specialist may vary, which can lead to drastically different skillsets amongst content marketers.
Two people that have entirely different assets and experiences may both deem themselves to be a “content marketing specialist”. And depending on your needs, one is far more likely to be suited to your role than the other.
This is why it’s a good idea to understand what areas of content marketing a specialist may cover.
What does content marketing encompass?
Content specialists (also known as content marketing specialists) are the people that write, edit and develop content to satisfy the needs of your consumer.
This can cover the entire spectrum of the purchasing journey, from a users first interaction with your brand all the way through to customer retention.
It’s a wide field with many different areas of expertise, which is why it’s important to know that no two content marketers are alike.
This could be setting up a publishing schedule for your website. It could also be creating email marketing strategies to send to your current customer.
Or, it could also be implementing search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies for scaling your organic traffic from search engines like Google.
Running the social media accounts for a company can also be considered content marketing. Blog posts, site copy, social interactions and digital ads are all included under this umbrella term too.
Common skills of a good content marketing specialist
Writing
Writing skills take years to develop, which is why many copywriters and content writers can command a high rate for their words. One thing that most content marketers have in common is the ability to write to a high level.
Not only writing content, but other parts of the content creation process too. This could be the ability to proofread quickly and pick out errors, or it could be collaborating with other authors and freelance writers to create the content.
To create high quality content you need strong writing abilities at some point in the creation process. The power to convince the audience with no selling is important.
Creating editorial calendars and strategy
Content marketing is a long game that needs to make use of an editorial strategy to be successful.
You really need to plan your content as soon as possible, as this can allow you to create a full start-to-end strategy. As a content marketing specialist, it’s your job to establish relationships and keep them for the long term.
Video content creation
In today’s content marketing context, using platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo can be even more important than written content depending on your brand.
Whilst posting on your company blog s going to be important for driving organic traffic, video content can keep your potential customers engaged at a different level.
Qualifications
You don’t need qualifications to be a content marketing specialist. However, there are some qualifications that many experts do tend to have in common with one another.
Many content marketers have a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, or in some heavily related fields like Journalism, Creative Writing or Communications.
Graduates of other majors like History, English and Liberal Arts often find themselves to be excellent copywriters and content creators too.
Conclusion
Content marketing can be a very rewarding career. Content marketing professionals often work from home, either as freelancers, solopreneurs or as part of a digital agency, which is just one benefit of this occupation.
Also read: What does a content marketing consultant do?
Most of the time, experts in this field will produce content for digital marketing campaign creation. As long as they make sure all campaigns follow the goals set out above, you can consider a career as a content marketing specialist.