Whether you've been a content marketer for years or you're looking to get hired for your first content marketing role, you're in luck. Here, let's explore the skills you'll need to hone to excel as a content marketer in 2022 and beyond.
These are just a few skills you'll need to master as you level up as a content marketer. Ultimately, the ability to remain flexible and figure out the needs of your own company's unique goals is critical to succeeding as a content marketer for the long-haul.
Content is king,” as Bill Gates wrote back in 1996. “No company is too small to participate.”
Content marketers are more than writers.
Yes, they create relevant, consistent, and high-quality content that helps businesses build owned audiences — and nurture them into leads.
But the best content marketers can do more than craft blog posts, pitch decks and website copy. They also know how to track report analytics for different types of content, and think strategically about distribution channels.
Here is 6 mandatory skills for you to be a content marketer:
Copywriting
More likely than not, the vast majority of your role as a content marketer requires you to create content that converts leads and drives sales. To do this successfully, you need to be a good copywriter.
However, it's important to note — copywriting for marketing purposes requires different skills than it might if you were writing for non-business purposes.
For one, copywriting for a business requires a consistent commitment to writing in a brand's unique voice
Editing Skills
Along similar lines as copywriting, it's vital you become a proficient editor if you want to succeed as a content marketer.
Good, clear writing can be powerful enough to persuade hesitant prospects to buy. And, on the flip side, messy, error-prone writing could cause new visitors and prospects to abandon your site entirely.
In short, the ability to edit is the difference between mediocre writing and compelling, engaging, high-converting content.
SEO Skills
This skill was a tricky one for me to master, but it is vital for ensuring my content ranks online and reaches the right audience when they need it most.
As a content marketer, your role isn't just to create high-quality content. It's also to create content that converts readers, listeners, or watchers into customers.
And to do this, you need a basic understanding of SEO.
A Talent for Interviewing
As a content marketer, you're often tasked with creating content around unfamiliar or complex topics.
It can feel daunting to do the research necessary to create an informative, helpful piece of content on a topic for which you're a novice at best. This is where interviewing can help you level up as a content marketer.
Data & Analytics Skills
If you don't have the skills necessary to analyze how your content is performing, then it will be difficult — if not impossible — to iterate on your strategy over time and achieve new levels of growth.
A content marketer's role includes the ability to analyze industry trends, keep up-to-date on your audience's preferences and behavior, and use all that information to make strategic decisions and expand your brand's reach.
Collaboration skills
86% of executives and employees report that lack of collaboration and teamwork is the primary cause of failure in the workplace. So, it’s no wonder why this is one of the critical skills that they look for when hiring a content marketer.
But as more companies are building remote teams, you can expect your collaboration skills will be tested to its limit.
If you want to be a successful and efficient content marketer, you need to take the initiative to learn more about the background and values of the people you’ll work with. This helps you minimize miscommunication and misunderstandings, which can reduce the efficiency and quality of your teamwork.