This tutorial will teach you how to become a content marketing specialist.
I'll describe what a content marketing specialist is, what skills are required to become one, what jobs are available, and how much money you can make as a content marketing specialist.
What Is a Content Marketing Specialist?
A content expert (formerly known as a "Content Marketing Specialist") is an individual who writes, edits and develops content for digital marketing.
Content marketing specialists collaborate closely with SEO and digital marketing specialists to make sure that the content created is in line with the overall aims of a digital marketing campaign.
The content marketing specialist work might vary depending on your talents and experience.
This also determines the career path of a content marketing professional in large corporations.
The essentials are:
- Content Marketing Specialist – Researching and writing content.
- Content Marketing Strategist – Developing a company's entire content marketing strategy.
- A content marketing manager or Director - Responsible for the seamless operation of the content marketing department.
- Content marketer or content marketing expert - Professionals with many years of experience in content marketing campaigns. Work in a company or as a freelancer.
- Content marketing consultant - Experienced content marketing professionals that consult companies on how to leverage content marketing to boost traffic and sales.
Which Skills Should Content Marketing Specialists Need to Possess?
You must possess the following qualifications and skills to become a content marketing specialist:
College degree - If you wish to work as a freelancer, this is optional, but it is required if you want to work for a company. A Bachelor's degree in marketing, journalism, or communications is necessary.
Content marketing certification - Optional, but might improve your chances of landing a job if you lack experience or success stories to highlight on your Resume. A content marketing course is the greatest approach to becoming certified.
Writing skills - Because you will be spending a significant amount of time creating content (whether it be blog posts, video scripts, or ad copy), it is critical that you have fundamental writing skills and, of course, love writing!
Keyword research knowledge - The process of writing for the web begins with a keyword. To be a successful content specialist, you must understand how to do keyword research to determine the content demands of online consumers so that you may generate content that meets their intent.
Basic SEO knowledge - If you work as part of a content marketing or digital marketing team, the SEO specialist will most likely be in charge of optimizing the content for the web, but you must have some basic SEO knowledge.
If you want to work as a freelance copywriter or content marketer, you must understand how SEO blog writing works and how to develop SEO-optimized content.
Web analytical skills - This is an important skill for content marketing managers and consultants to have. They understand how to assess data and campaign performance, as well as how to develop reports to deliver their findings to management or clients.
10 Steps to Becoming a Content Marketing Specialist
Here are 10 steps you need to become a specialist in content marketing, which are:
- Know what content marketing is and how it works
- Enhance your writing skills
- Learn how to use content marketing tools
- Master the keyword research process
- Learn SEO copywriting
- Start blogging
- Apply to work in a digital marketing agency
- Work as a content marketing freelancer
- Publish your written work on reputable websites
- Keep up with the newest content marketing trends
1. Know what content marketing is and how it works
To start working in content marketing, you must first know what content marketing is, how it works, and why it is such a crucial process for all types of internet companies.
If you're new to content marketing, you might believe it's the same as blogging or creating web content, but it's much more.
Content marketing is a continual activity that entails analyzing your target audience and developing content that can meet their intent at various stages of their journey.
As a content specialist, your role is to make sure that anything you write or generate has a defined purpose and aim, rather than merely throwing words on a page and hitting the publish button.
To do so, you must first understand the broad picture, which is the driving force behind any online marketing strategy, which is digital marketing.
A company's digital marketing plan will establish the content requirements for each channel participating in a campaign. The plan is designed by the digital marketing manager, and the strategy is implemented with content by the content marketing manager.
These positions are clearly defined in huge companies, but if you operate in a small team or as a freelancer, you will have to play both.
Hence, if you want to go into content marketing and advance from a content marketing specialist to a content strategist or even a digital marketing expert, you must study digital marketing and how to develop online content.
2. Enhance your writing skills
As a content marketing specialist, you will be expected to write content for a variety of consumers and channels. You must have strong writing abilities to complete this homework effectively.
This requires a solid command of the English language (or the target language of your audience) as well as the ability to write content free of spelling and grammar errors.
This is a skill that, in my experience, can be improved with practice. Some people are born to be writers and can produce great content with minimum effort, but for others, it’s a tedious task.
The greatest way to learn how to create quality content is to study other blogs or books in your industry and write a lot.
It may take 3-4 hours to produce 1000 words at first, but as you gain skill, this rate will substantially increase.
3. Learn how to use content marketing tools
You MUST know how to use tools to be a content professional.
In fact, knowledge of tools is so vital that it is listed as a necessity in the majority of content marketing job postings:
There are many tools on the market, and each company has its own set of marketing tools, although some tools/platforms are universal, such as:
- Microsoft Office Products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
- Google G Suite Products (Docs, Sheets, etc.)
- Google Analytics
- Google Trends
- Google Keyword Tool
- Google Data Studio
- Google Search Console
- Grammarly
- WordPress
Some common tools used by most businesses and freelancers involve:
- Semrush
- Ahrefs
- BuzzSumo
- Moz
- HubSpot
- MailChimp
4. Master the keyword research process
Topic and keyword research is an essential skill to learn. Keyword research results are used at all phases of the content marketing lifecycle.
Keywords play a critical part in the success or failure of a campaign, from campaign design to content creation.
Below is an outline of the process to give you an understanding of what we mean by keyword and subject research:
Find content topic ideas - You develop a list of topics that are compatible with your digital marketing goals by analyzing your competition and using a variety of tools.
Do keyword research - You thoroughly research each topic and discover the real search keywords that people use when searching for your topics on search engines, social media platforms, and forums.
Examine the user intent - Determine the type of content required to fulfill the user's intent for each of the keywords discovered during keyword research.
5. Learn SEO copywriting
You do not need to be an SEO expert to work as a content marketing specialist, but you must have excellent SEO copywriting skills. The practice of writing content that search engines can understand is known as SEO copywriting.
There are several approaches you may apply when writing for the web to assist search engine spiders in understanding what your content is about.
This does not imply jamming keywords into your content, but rather using keywords strategically in a way that makes your work more user and search-engine friendly.
The most significant SEO writing concepts 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 to 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 use the aforementioned rules while creating page content, you boost your chances of attaining high search engine ranks for your chosen keywords.
Even if you aren't the one authoring the content, you should understand how SEO copywriting works.
As a content marketing manager or consultant, you will be responsible for reviewing and approving content before it is posted.
6. Start blogging
Another way to master content marketing is by developing your own blog website where you will regularly publish content from time to time. Doing that will help you understand a lot about digital marketing not to talk of a content marketing specialist.
Starting a blog can give you a variety of advantages, such as:
- You will gradually improve your skills as you write, becoming faster and better
- It's an excellent technique to demonstrate your skills to potential clients or employers.
- It's an excellent method to earn money online.
- You'll have a website to test various SEO tactics and tools on.
Furthermore, when trying to get hired as a freelance writer, potential clients will need examples of your work.
If you do not have any other experience, displaying blogs from your website will assist you to land the job.
Read about:
7. Apply to work in a digital marketing agency
Content professionals are constantly in high demand by digital marketing agencies. I know this from personal experience. Several agencies are constantly looking for dedicated content marketing specialists, and they may occasionally consider applications even if there are no job openings.
Regardless of your experience or job title, there are several benefits to working in a digital marketing agency:
If you're just getting started, you'll get to experience how content marketing works in practice - Established agencies have systems in place as well as designated job positions for each assignment, which can assist you in understanding how content marketing works.
You can climb the economic ladder and earn more money.- You may start as a content marketing specialist and work your way up to become a content strategist and, eventually, a content marketing manager.
If you don't want to work for someone else but want to be your own boss, consider starting your own digital marketing agency. If you're new to digital marketing, it's not simple, but it's also not impossible.
8. Work as a content marketing freelancer
One of the most common methods to begin a career in content marketing is to work as a freelance content writer.
You may find hundreds of article writing gigs on the job posting sites like FlexiJobs, UpWork, and Problogger Job Board. It's possibly the most searched job on the market right now.
Also becoming a content marketing freelancer has some benefits such as:
- You'll make money, possibly a lot of money, depending on how quickly you work.
- You have the option of working from home.
- If you opt to join a company or agency, you can create references for your CV.
- You'll get the knowledge and expertise required to secure larger assignments.
- This is the initial step in establishing your own content marketing agency.
Here are three tips that I will also tell you:
1. As previously said, while applying for a position, you will be required to show examples of your prior work, so make sure you have some excellent content published on your blog.
2. Apply for job openings as soon as possible and submit the proper information. When you advertise a job in content marketing on any website, you will receive hundreds of answers in a couple of hours. Respond as soon as possible and answer any questions accurately to maximize your chances of being selected for the position.
3. Prepare to take part in a test project. When employing a content marketer, employers will request writing examples on their preferred topics, so be prepared to accept the invitation and provide the job quickly.
9. Publish your written work on reputable websites
You must get published by respectable websites if you want to distinguish yourself from other content marketing professionals and become a legitimate expert.
Posting content on your own site is fantastic, but it restricts your reach and reputation among your blog's readers.
Companies and clients want to deal with individuals who are acknowledged as experts in their industry, and becoming listed on well-known and large websites is one method to achieve this.
For example, if your work gets published in Forbes, Entrepreneur, or other prominent journals, it will be effortless for you to get employed by a firm or be paid more for your freelancing job.
The procedure is not simple, since hundreds of people need to be featured on well-known websites, but it may make a significant impact on your career.
Let me give you some ideas that will assist you in becoming listed on websites such as the Content Marketing Institute.
1. Look for websites that welcome guest author submissions. Search Google for keywords like "Write for Us," "Blog Contributors," and "Guest Post Writers" to find them.
2. Just start by presenting websites that are less well-known than Forbes or CMI. At this point, your aim is to get references so that you may progressively apply to larger websites.
3, Check their requirements thoroughly before applying to be a guest author.
4, Once accepted, create your finest material and submit it for review.
5. Once you've got a few articles published, attempt to obtain the contact information (email, Twitter, LinkedIn) for the authors and editors of the sites you want to be featured on.
6. Follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn, carefully read their author requirements, and email your proposal.
Some may not respond, but a handful will allow you to email them a sample.
If the preceding method appears to be excessively laborious, it is, but the end result can make a significant difference in how much you can get paid, especially if you operate as a freelancer.
Writers with a great track record may be paid $2000 for a 2000-word essay, while authors who have not promoted their brand may be paid $300.
10. Keep up with the newest content marketing trends
If you ask any successful content marketing professional what they do daily to keep ahead of the competition, they will tell you to stay up to date on the current trends in content marketing and digital marketing in general.
The digital marketing field is not static; rather, it is constantly changing. New content platforms have emerged, SEO ranking elements are shifting, and you must keep up to become more than just a content writer.
The easiest method to accomplish this is to subscribe to websites that cover advancements in the sector. You'll be the first to know if something happens. These are the websites I follow and visit daily:
How Much Money Do Content Marketing Specialists Earn?
A content marketing specialist's annual pay ranges from $35K to $62K. For a content marketing director, this might range from $59K to $139K.
Source: ReliableSoft
Content marketing professionals' salaries are determined by three factors: their skills, experience, and location.
The following is the average yearly salary of content marketing professionals by job role, according to payscale.com:
- The average salary for an online marketing content writer, copywriter, or web content expert is from $35k to $72k.
- A Content Marketer normally earns between $36k and $81k per year.
- A Content Strategist's salary ranges from $41k to $95k.
- A Content Marketing Manager's salary ranges from $46k to $98k.
- A Content Marketing Director's salary ranges from $59k to $139k.
What Jobs Can You Secure As a Content Marketing Professional?
When you search for "Content marketing jobs" on prominent job search sites such as FlexiJobs, Payscale, and Glassdoor, you'll see a variety of marketing jobs with various names.
To minimize misunderstanding, below are the most shared content marketing job kinds and their descriptions.
Web Content Specialist / Content Writer / Content Marketing Specialist – They need writers who can write, edit, and create website content.
When you search for "Content marketing jobs" on prominent job search sites such as FlexiJobs, Payscale, and Glassdoor, you'll see a variety of marketing jobs with various names.
To minimize misunderstanding, below are the most shared content marketing job kinds and their descriptions.
Content strategies - Content strategists usually create a content marketing strategy and manage a staff of content writers.
Content marketing Directors/ Content Marketing Manager - In charge of creating a content marketing strategy and liaising with other teams (SEO team, social media management team).
Final Thought
A career as a content marketing specialist is an excellent choice. Content marketing professionals can work as freelancers from home, start their own digital marketing agency, work for another digital marketing agency, or work in any business that uses content marketing.
The procedure is simple and can be broken down into three steps:
- Find how to create engaging content that internet audiences will like reading.
- Learn how to use content marketing tools and improve your analytical skills.
- Create a portfolio and position yourself as a content marketing professional.
When you perform the things listed above, you can acquire a job at any level of the ladder and earn a solid living doing what you enjoy.
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