Many companies are starting to realize the importance of adding a content marketer to their marketing department. In fact, a recent report from the Creative Group found that 27% of respondents expect to fill content marketing positions in 2017, making it one of the most in-demand marketing positions of 2016. As more companies start hiring for this position, it makes it more difficult to find a quality content marketer and you may feel pressured to hire someone who is not a fit. Don’t make the mistake of hiring the wrong candidate. Instead, discover what skills and experience you should look for when hiring a top content marketer.
Strategy
Today, there are many ways to get your content out to your audience. You can create videos, infographic, long form and short form blog posts, live streaming, images, interactive content and more. With all of these different forms of content, it can be easy to get swept up in pretty visuals and graphics, but aesthetics will do nothing to grow revenue if there’s not some strategy behind them. If you have a content marketer who can only create content but can’t tell you the reasoning behind what they’re doing, then that’s an immediate red flag.
Execution
If you’re looking to hire one content marketer, you need to be realistic about what you want them to be doing. You could easily fill an entire content marketing team just for creating and distributing content. Determine the minimum amount of content you want to be created in a week or month, and see if these expectations are in line with what the candidate would be able to produce. If they’re an experienced content marketer, they should know about how many hours it takes to write, research, edit and publish certain forms of content. Remember, you should focus on quality over quantity when setting these expectations and make sure your potential candidate knows that too.
Promotion
One of the biggest mistakes companies make it is hiring a content marketer to create in-depth pieces of content but then fail to get them read by their audience. This may include writing social media posts or reaching out to industry influencers. Make sure your candidate has experience using social media tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule out content and that they also have good communication skills when writing outreach emails.
A content marketer is an extension of your brand. They will be writing articles and posts that directly communicate your company’s brand and values to your audience. Don’t hire a content marketer who is not able to use strategy, execution, and promotion to effectively communicate to your targeted audience.
