Who is the Content Marketing Manager? What does it do How much does he earn? Is content management a difficult job? Is the job attractive and promising or not?
The growth of electronic commerce (E-commerce) has changed the way of offering and selling goods and services, as well as finding and buying products. People first Google the product they want to buy or search for it in stores such as Amazon, Alibaba. They read product introductions and reviews and make decisions. Others get ideas and help from social networks to buy.
In addition, startups and internet businesses have created fundamental and important changes in the workplace and workforce skills. Employees of a startup may live in several different countries and perform their duties without having to be physically present at the workplace. If some jobs were lost due to online shopping, new jobs would replace them. Jobs that relate to both the real and virtual worlds and require a set of soft and hard skills from both worlds.
In this content, I will introduce you to one of those very attractive and challenging real and virtual jobs, content marketing management, and answer the questions posed at the beginning.
Table of Contents
Who is the content marketing manager?
Website design is one of those new jobs that became very popular and in demand with the growth of e-commerce. Web design is very important for internet businesses. Because if the user cannot interact with the site properly, he will not buy from it. In addition, the site has no value and efficiency without content. If the photos and features of the products are not written on the site, the purchase will not happen.
Social networks are the same. Social media is a platform for producing and publishing content. In fact
“No internet business can work without content creation. The content of the site and social media is a business that introduces its brand and products to users and answers users’ questions and problems. Brands attract and retain customers with content.”
So, producing content for businesses with the aim of attracting an audience (customer) is different from producing content for normal users for personal sites and social networks. Because those two types of content are different from each other and each one pursues different goals. For this reason, businesses need people to produce content with specific features for the site and social media and even offline media.
Content producer, content production expert and content marketing manager or content marketer are employees (workforce) who produce content for businesses. In order to get a clear picture of the job title of content management or content marketing management, it is better to explain briefly about all three job titles that are directly related to content production.
1. Content Creator or Content Writer
In a very general definition, anyone who produces content (text, audio, video) for any media (both online and offline) is a content producer or creator. That is, a reporter who writes an article for a newspaper and an expert who writes an article for an online magazine are both content producers.
But someone whose job is to produce content usually writes or creates content for the site and social networks of a business on certain topics, with the characteristics determined by the business (digital marketing team and site SEO). The business may hire the content creator or collaborate on a project with him.
A content producer may produce only one type of content (text content or motion graphics or podcasts). For this reason, the skills of content producers differ from each other. For example, the producer of textual content must master the principles of writing and grammar. In each case, it is the employer who determines exactly what skills he is looking for.
2. Content production expert
Content production expert or content expert is another name for the job title of content producer. In the job advertisement, the employer specifies what he wants from the content expert or content producer. But usually the task of the content production expert is to produce content based on the instructions that have been specified for him. Of course, some employers may want more work experience and skills from the content expert.
3. Content Manager or Content Marketing Manager
What businesses want from a content manager or content marketing manager is beyond and different from a content expert or producer. The content manager is the one who determines what kind of content should be published and distributed on which topics and with what features for the business, in which media, so that the audience (potential customers) of the business can get to know the business and be attracted to the brand.
The content marketing manager must make sure that each and every content produced for the business (even the tooltips and the text of the messages displayed on the site to the user) is in the direction of the goals and policies of the business, satisfies the audience (customer) and maintains its interaction with the brand, and It helps to increase sales. The content manager is a strategist, knows digital marketing and content marketing, and knows how to produce content.
What are the duties of a content marketing manager?
The duties of a content manager are diverse and related to several areas (marketing and advertising, management, digital marketing and SEO, design and user experience design). His job is content production and distribution. He is accountable to business managers. Its main task is to help the business achieve its goals. A very large business may require a content manager to adjust content creation efforts and strategy based on that goal just to keep loyal customers.
The most important duties of the content marketing manager are:
1. Research and analysis
The first task of the content manager is research, review and analysis. He must thoroughly examine and understand the macro policies and marketing and sales goals (short-term, medium-term and long-term) of the business. Examine the financial, human and technical resources of the business. Know the loyal customers of the brand and the audience (potential customers). Analyze the market and competitors (checking and analyzing competitors’ strategy and content plan). He is responsible for monitoring the performance of the content production team, analyzing the data related to the published content and preparing a report on the success or failure of the content strategy.
2. Elaboration of content strategy, program and calendar
His second task is to formulate content strategy (macro) and content plan (micro) for all marketing and content production departments and teams. The content marketing manager, in coordination with the goals and policies of the brand as well as its resources, determines what type of content each department produces and how and in which platforms and media to publish it. The production and distribution of each content is targeted and the manager specifies the criteria(s) for measuring the success of the content and schedules in the target program. In the content plan, advertising campaigns and advertising costs are also specified.
3. Supervision of content production, content editing and cooperation in content production
His third task is to produce content, supervise content production, edit produced content, and collaborate with web design teams, digital marketing, and any part of the business that needs to produce content. The content manager in big brands usually does not produce content himself. But it has the duty to make sure that all the content produced for the brand is fully aligned with the brand voice, brand values, brand goals and content strategy; And it is attractive, high-quality and original and engages users. In addition, the content manager should make sure that the textual content written for the blog site is SEO optimized.
It is not just the digital marketing and social media marketing team that produces content for the business. The product design team (UI/UX design) also has to produce short texts (UX Writing) in the site or application design. The content manager should collaborate with the author of those short texts (UX Writer).
4. Managing the content production team and finding creative ideas for content production and distribution
The content manager oversees the business content team. He may even have several well-known content writers and creators working on his team along with several content interns. He must coordinate all content producers and of course allow each to be creative in content production. The content marketing manager must constantly look for new ideas, new topics, as well as new media to produce and publish content. In addition, he should ask all his team members to look for new ideas.
How is the job market and content marketing management income?
It became clear that the content manager has a difficult job. But is his salary enough to compensate for his hard work? Is content management a good job market?
If we search for the job title of content marketing manager on the indeed.com site, we will reach something like 23,400 job positions (which includes other jobs related to content production). The basic monthly salary of a content manager in the United States is calculated from 4 thousand dollars, in England from 4 thousand pounds and in Canada from 5500 Canadian dollars.
What skills does the content manager have?
As it is clear from the wide and varied tasks of the content marketing manager, he needs a set of soft and hard skills related to working in the real and virtual world. Of course, the skills required for a content marketing management job, except for a few, completely depend on the employer and what he wants from the content manager. For example, an employer may require a content manager to have a university degree or work experience in a specific field.
But, in general, a content marketing manager needs the following skills:
- Full familiarity with SEO site and SEO content standards,
- Complete mastery of the principles and basics of management, marketing and digital marketing (especially its main sub-branches i.e. social media marketing and content marketing),
- Complete mastery of the language in which content is to be produced for its audience.
- Complete mastery of the principles of writing and editing.
- Getting to know the production and operation of various types of content.
- Soft skills: problem solving, time management, teamwork, cooperation and empathy with team members, negotiation and flexibility.