Last Updated on October 20, 2021 by Rovamedia
It is not enough for online content to read well and be free of spelling and grammar errors. Content marketing managers must also have search engine optimization skills to make sure that web searchers can find their content and that it appears on the first page of Google and other search engines.
But it’s not just grammar and typos you should look out for. The importance of creating snackable pieces that can be easily scanned and consumed on the move is crucial as Content Writer.
Content marketing is all about using content to attract and retain visitors and eventually turn them into customers. And most people who use it know it’s effective.
There’s just one problem: content marketing can be seriously hard work.
If you’re running content marketing campaigns, day in, day out, it can be difficult to consistently come up with new ideas and keep the momentum going.
What is a Content Specialist?
A content specialist (also known as a “Content Marketing Specialist”) is the person responsible for writing, editing, and developing content for the needs of digital campaigns.
Content marketing specialists work in close co-operation with the SEO and Digital marketing professionals to ensure that the produced content is aligned with the overall goals of a digital marketing campaign.
Depending on the skills and experience, the content marketing specialist role has different variations.
For big companies, this also defines the career path of a content marketing professional.
To become a content marketing specialist, you need to have the following qualifications and skills:
College degree – Optional if you plan to work as a freelancer but a requirement if you want to work in a company. Usually, it is required to have a Bachelor’s degree in marketing, journalism, or communications.
Content marketing certification – Optional but can increase your chances of finding a job when you have no experience or success stories to showcase in your CV. The best way to get certified is to follow a content marketing course.
Writing skills – A large portion of your time will be spent in content writing (whether this is blog posts, video scripts, or ad copies), and thus is important to have basic writing skills and of course enjoy writing!
Keyword research skills – Writing for the web starts with a keyword. To succeed as a content specialist, you need to know how to do keyword research to find out the content needs of online users so that you can create content to satisfy their intent.
Basic SEO skills – If you work as part of a content marketing or digital marketing team, then most probably the SEO specialist will take care of optimizing the content for the web but nevertheless, it is necessary to have some basic SEO skills.
If you plan to work as a copywriter or content marketing freelancer, then you need to know how SEO blog writing works and how to create SEO-optimized content.
Web analytical skills – This is a critical skill for content marketing managers and consultants. They know to know how to analyze the data and effectiveness of a campaign and how to create reports to present their findings to the management or clients.
LinkedIn Expert Akinbamiro Akinniyi, explains five ways to do this job well.
How You Can Excel
Here are five ways to beat it:
- Learn Elementary: No one can start building a duplex from the rooftop, you need to start from the foundation, so learn the elementary part of Content marketing first.
- Long-term Plan: You shouldn’t be in a haste to know everything overnight, you need to have a long-term plan on how you want to acquire all the relevant knowledge on Content Marketing.
- Be Patient: You need to be patient enough when creating content, quality content will always supersede quantity, ensure you have a deep reflection on what you want to showcase to your target audience.
Quality content well created by a content marketing specialist or content writer can attract millions of potential consumers and many clients around the world. - Use Imagination: Don’t be afraid to play around with what goes on in your mind, if no one has used a particular style of content marketing previously and you have it, kindly go ahead and use it.
Your mind when in good condition can provide you with shocking results, I have seen this work efficiently and applauded repeatedly by clients. - Monitor Your Contents: You also have to monitor the contents you put out repeatedly, you need to know what works for you from time to time, and what doesn’t work for you.
If you plan to work as a copywriter or content marketing freelancer, then you need to know how SEO blog writing works and how to create SEO-optimized content.
Chris Alex
One of the most efficient ways to learn any digital marketing discipline, including SEO and content marketing, is to practice.
Through a course you can learn the theory and go through examples, senior content marketing professionals in your team can help you with the process but the best way to find out what you really know is to start a website and publish content.
Creating your own blog will benefit you in a number of ways:
- It’s a great way to practice what you have learned in a course
- By writing, you will gradually improve your skills and become faster and better
- It’s a great way to showcase your skills to potential clients or employers
- It’s a great way to make money online
- You’ll have a website to experiment with different SEO techniques and tools
In addition, when applying to work as a freelance writer, potential clients will need to see samples of your work.
If you have no other experience, showing blogs from your website will help you a lot in securing the job.
Conclusion: To the Horizon
There’s nothing better than getting creative. As the digital marketing institute puts it, many people believe creativity is some kind of innate skill, but this isn’t true. While some individuals have more of an inclination toward creative endeavors than others, a creative spirit can be cultivated. Start by reading books, painting, or writing poetry–something you enjoy.
As a content marketing specialist, you don’t have to be an SEO expert but you need to have excellent SEO copywriting skills. SEO copywriting is the process of writing content that search engines can understand.
There are various techniques you can use while writing for the web to help search engine spiders understand what your content is all about.
This does not mean stuffing keywords into your copy but using keywords intelligently in a way that will make your writing friendlier to both users and search engines.
The most important SEO writing principles are:
- Adding your main keywords in the page title
- Including keywords in the page URL
- Mentioning your keywords in the opening paragraph
- Adding related keywords in your section headings
- Adding LSI keywords in your content
- Adding relevant ALT text to images
- Linking to other pages of your site using optimized anchor text
- Linking to other authoritative websites
When you apply the above principles while writing the content of a page, you increase your chances of achieving high search engine rankings for your desired keywords.
You need to know how SEO copywriting works, even if you’re not the person writing the content.
As a content marketing manager or consultant, you’ll have to review and approve content before it’s published.
Then take things up a notch. Many small companies are looking for content marketers who also have brand development and design skills. Not only must these marketers have a creative eye (which is necessary for almost any content marketing position), they must actually do some of the creative work themselves.
