Just how much are organizations investing in content marketing? Well, B2B companies plan to hire an additional 2-5 “content marketing specific employees” by 2015.
Business leaders realize that producing quality content leads to new business growth, and hiring budgets are being allocated accordingly.
But now marketing leaders are asking some tough, new questions. Namely, “Who the heck do I hire?” and “what kind of person is right for the positions my company needs?”
To answer these questions, we surveyed over 500 marketers, interviewed industry pioneers, looked at emerging trends and strategies, and identified the roles, responsibilities, and qualities of content marketing team members.
The results can be found in a new eBook Recruit the Dream Team: The Content Marketing Hiring Handbook, which you can get here.
Right off the bat, we found some consistent lessons across organizations when it comes to hiring content marketers. Here are 9 of them.
9 Takeaways for Hiring Success
1. Hire a strategist first.
This person leads the charge. Appoint someone with a good vision and the ability to coordinate content efforts between people, platforms, and personas.
2. Hire a “doer” second.
Your doer is the guy or gal that makes the content. If your strategist is the conductor of the orchestra, your doer is the first chair violinist.
3. Content marketing is not the same as social media marketing.
Before you make a hire, be sure you’re solid on the responsibilities of the role. Content and social might intersect, but don’t assume a social media maven will beef up your content, or vice versa.
4. 83% of B2B companies say finding talent for content marketing is “somewhat difficult” or “difficult.”
Not surprisingly, trying to find talent for a relatively new discipline—especially with few resources available—was rated difficult by a majority of marketers. We hear this time and time again, which is why we created the new eBook—to address those challenges.
5. Identify who is responsible for doing the actual hiring.
According to our survey, typically a director, VP of marketing, CEO/president, or content marketing manager does the hiring. But it’s important to establish that role and responsibility so that efforts are cohesive and the resulting team complementary.
6. When interviewing candidates, focus on their new business metrics.
Because these are the metrics that matter. For example, understanding how many qualified leads your candidate produced through his or her infographic is more important than the number of “favorites” a tweet drummed up.
7. Identify your “sweet spot.”
This requires aligning content initiatives with corporate goals, areas of expertise, and the challenges facing your primary audiences.
8. Hire a writer.
94% of B2B marketers hire a “writer or editor” as the first member of their content team. Why? Because it’s on the shoulders of the content team to carry your company story.
9. Joe Chernov warns: Don’t hire a jerk.
‘Nough said.