When it comes to modern marketing and ꧂sales, I firmly believe that, othꦐer than buy-in from leadership, the biggest factor in success is the position of

Granted, thisꩵ position has many names in the business world today. I'm hearing such titles as:

• Content Marketing Manager
• Content Writer
• Director of Content
• Content Strategist
• Chief Content Officer
• Chief Storyteller
• Brand Journalist

But no matter what you call it, this person is vital to the success of your digital marketing, and if you’re going to take the steps to hire this person, it's not one to take lightly.  In this article, I'll explain why and how to go about finding the game-changi🐽ng content manager you need for your team. 

What is a content manager?

While the actual title and specific responsibilities of the person in this role may vary depend🍌ing on their experience and the 🍌size of your operation, but their purpose remains the same. 

In a nutshell, a content manager is the owner of a company's content marketing initiatives for driving traffic,♛ leads, and sales. They are the on🌺e who is accountable for getting content done and getting it done right. 

Why do you need a content manager?

have said they rely even more on content to research and inform purchase decisions today than they did in 2020. If you’re not giving t♎hem꧑ this information, they’re likely going to go buy from a competitor that is. 

Just think about all the questions your buyers ask during the sales p𝔉rocess, for example. There🐽 are hundreds if not thousands, all of which you should be addressing through content. 

To make sure you’re creating the consistent, high-quality content you need to drive traffic, leads, an𝓡d sales, you need to hire a full-time, in-house content manager to own your c𓆏ontent strategy.

Content production is a full-time job

I know what you may be thinking, "澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:Why d🦩o I nee🧜d to pay for a content manager? Can't I work with a freelance writer?" — but frankly that route won't cut it.

When you work with a third-party to create your content, you run the risk of not capturing your brand's voice or expertise effectively, facing slow or limited production due to conflicting schedu🐈les or contract terms, and even high long-term costs.

Ok, so, can you divide and conquer content among your teammates then? No sir. 

Content is a full-time job. It takes time to ಌplan, write, edit, publish, distribute, and analyze. It can't simply tacked onto the workload of an existing team member or members. When you add content to an already full plate of responsibilities, it's often🅺 the first thing to fall off the back burner and not get done.

Someone needs to be in charge of making suꦯre this doesn﷽'t happen and enabled to make sure it doesn't. That's your content manager. 

Over the last decade, we’ve empowered hundreds of companies to stop relying on third-pa💧rties to create their content and see better marketing sales results by creating and executing on their strategy in-house with a content manager. 

Not only will this content manager&nbꦬsp;ensure content is published r♒egularly without fail, but they will also:

• 𓄧Obsess over creating high-quality content that accurately reflects the true tone and spi🅺rit of your brand.

• Interview your company’s subject matter ꦰexperts and capture their insights (and your company’s unique perspective) and integrate it into your content.

• Work directly with the sales team 🔯and help them integrate content into the sales process, allowing them to c🎐lose more deals faster.

• Monitor your organ🐼ic search performance and routi🅰nely improve ranking and traffic results.

• Updat♒e existing content to ensure it remains relevant and effective.

• Oversee the other ar💮eas of your sales and marketing initiatives where content is critical (including your website, email, and social media).

We've also seen time and again that there's a direct link between marketing gains and hiring an in-house cont🌼en🅺t manager. 

澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:IMPACT client West Roofing ♊Systems is a perfect example — they hired an in-house content manager, began publishing articles answering their buyers' questions regularly, and saw a 1,200% increase in website traffic and an 828% jump in lead conversions (among other amazing results).

None of this was possible before they had someone spearheading their content strategy and creation.&💖nbsp;

What to look for in a content manager

Like any new hire, there are never guarantees, but over the years, we've certainly learned a lot about 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:whaℱt qualitꦡies to look for in a content manager for your company.

Of course t♛here ar🐎e several hard, tactical skills needed to accomplish the tasks we discussed, but at a high level you should look for a content manager who:

Industry experience not required 

Ultimatelyꦚ, for this role, you need someone who is a powerful writer and communicator. 

If you can find someone in your industry with the passion and skills toℱ write, great, but truth is, in many industrie🦩s where writing less prominent — that may not be super common. 

For that reason:🍃 Industry knowledge is a bonus for a content manager, not a requi📖rement. 

When someone is a trained writer and content creator, they have the research and interview skills need💯ed to create quality work. They don't need to have first-ha൲nd experience to get the job done.

You can easily turn a writer into an expert in your busi༺ness, but it's much harder to turn an expert into a writer.&🦄nbsp;

How to hire the right content manager

As easy as it is to see t☂he value of a content manager, hiring one may not be quite as ജsimple. Let's break down the hiring process.

Listing the job

To start your journey of hiring a content manager for your company, first download our 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:free c🐼ontent manager job description template and customize it for your organization.

As you're making edits, keep in mind the traits we outlined earlier and any unique tra🀅its or expectations you want a candidate to know.

For example, will you need to them to film and edit videos in addition to writing articles? Will you need them to manage a team of writers and prioritiz🀅e editing?

Have all of this information handy so you can set realistic expectations and 澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:attract quality candidates. 

Interviewing

Once you have a pipeline full of great potential hires, 🥂it's time to interview.

One of the most successful clients and content managers I've worked with, Krista Kotrla, formerly of Block Imaging, offered great a🎃dvice on this step of the h♐iring process.

澳洲幸运5开奖官网在线查询开奖结果:Some interview questions she always asks a content manager include:

• What’s been your favorite job so far and why?
• What job has been your least favorite and why?
• Can you describe a time that you failed at something and what you learned from going through that experience?
• What work accomplishment are you most proud of?
• Thinking back on your previous managers, can you describe a little bit about your favorite boss? And worst boss? How did you handle that?
• Can you tell me about a project you’ve managed before when you had to motivate people around an idea?
• Based on our personalities, we have the potential of being misunderstood in different ways. When someone misreads you, what is most common? For example — is there a misread that you have to guard against?
• From what you know about this role and our team, what do you think the biggest challenge will be?
• Do you prefer operating with a proven process or figuring out a process as you go?
• What are you known for? If I were to ask your current team members about you, what common themes or word would they use to describe you?
• Who do you look to as role models and why? (note: it doesn’t matter who they admire… it only matters why they admire those people)
• Can you describe a time when you had to teach someone something? How did you creatively help them understand the new concept?
• Any questions for me? (note: if they have no questions throughout the process then that is potentially a red flag. I would think a good content manager would be great at asking questions throughout.)

All of these questions are ope🧔n🦩-ended and help dive deeper into how they handle conflict or challenges and what they will bring to the table as a content manager.

Situation activity

After this interview, it's important to evaluate their skills, this should not only i🏅nclude a writing assignment, but conducting a subject matter expert interview.

You can see step-by-step details on how to go about this in our article: "How to Evaluate Interview Skills in a♋ Potential Content Manager."

Your content is only as good as the person behind it

At the end of the day, not just anyone can be a content manager. You can't simply task someone with the job of publishing articles and writing emails and land𒀰ing pages and expect to get good quality results.

You need someone who is passionate about the craft of content and what it can do for a business when d🍌one well. 

If you hire for the right skills — those we outline in this article — your content manager will quickly accumulate the knowledge and expertise you want them to possess simply by doing their job.

They'll become unstoppable.

I🐷'm not saying finding this star will be easy, but it will be worth the process.

Need more guidance on how to find a high-quality, effective content manager for your organization? Check out our free course, "" in IMPACT+.