Advice to new content managers
Posted February 9, 2021
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Director of Training Services, IMPACT
Hey all!
I'm writing an article that will provide actionable steps for new Content Managers to take within their first 90 days in order to set themselves up for success (and wow their boss!).
What advice would you give to someone stepping into the Content Manager role at a new company?
Let me know, thanks!!
Please note: I will use answers within my article and cite your name, title and company
I'm writing an article that will provide actionable steps for new Content Managers to take within their first 90 days in order to set themselves up for success (and wow their boss!).
What advice would you give to someone stepping into the Content Manager role at a new company?
Let me know, thanks!!
Please note: I will use answers within my article and cite your name, title and company
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As soon as you identify common struggles in your writing, they can be adapted into additional editing parameters.
In practice, it often means producing content while the foundations of great content marketing are still being built at a company. Don't have great lead magnets to include in your blogs and build an email list? No problem, use videos. No videos yet? No problem, use images. No photography budget? No problem, just focus on creating clear visual and conceptual hierarchy in your writing and supplement your work with free-use images if possible.
Fully integrated content calendars that incorporate different media types and multiple subject-matter experts are the same way. It's a great goal, but you won't be there on Day 1.
All of those things need to be built out in order for a content marketing machine to truly hum. But they're not required to start seeing great results.
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Hope those help, and shoutout to Kevin for suggesting I chime in!
1. Never forget that you don't write for you or for your company. You write for your customers. Focus on what they want to learn, what they're asking, what they're searching for, and provide it. It's very easy to get caught up in what you want a prospect to know, but that will never produce quality content. Whenever I plan an article I start with the questions that are now neatly provided in
2. Organization is critical. Keep a detailed spreadsheet of all the articles you write, and essential info about each. For me, that's the title, summary, hyperlink, date published, date updated, and if it contains pricing. We recently revised our pricing and this last piece of info saved me a significant amount of time and energy. This sheet also doubles as a resource for my sales team- they can do keyword searches for a topic and find the content they need to send to their customers.
3. Have a kick-ass coach like
I'd say be curious for the customer's sake, and don't be afraid to lean on the experts in your company. The best articles I've written have come from discussions involving multiple coworkers, often all out in the open on a big email thread. Discussions like this reinforce the idea that content creation is a team effort. So stay consistent in asking questions and involving the experts as often as possible!
But it's not a bad thing or a thing that should ever make you feel like your work sucks. I think that some people who are good writers (in their pre-Impact lives) might have gotten used to always getting full approval, a gold star, and a cookie every time they write an article. I haven't gotten any cookies yet so I don't know what's up with that . . .
I usually like to take a look at the suggestions, watch the feedback video if there is one, and then take a break from the information I have just been given. Frankly, sometimes I get a little bent out of shape when people critique my work *I blame my parents for this but that's another story LOL*.
When I take a breather, I can always see the value in the feedback I am given. It's always coming from a place of practicality and promoting a positive user experience for the reader.
The feedback is never arbitrary or "because I said so or want it that way" in nature. I really appreciate that aspect of these Impact+ Services.
I could definitely see a new person getting down on themselves if they don't keep the perspective of "this doesn't mean I am no good, it just means I can make it better for the reader."
My advice is to only handle one edit suggestion at a time, slowly and deliberately. Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed with the plethora of comments raining down on you. Hold on to your *positive reframing* umbrella and you will be just fine.
Suuuuch a good point, thank you!
P.S. Are you a chocolate chip fan? 🧐
Answer questions rather than attempt to sell products. Make sure your intros do not give away the main answer to the question so that the reader is compelled to read the whole article.
Your outros must guide the reader to another blog post on the same topic. You will want to find out what the average number of blog posts read is prior to a prospect becoming a client and attempt to get your readers to read that number of posts.
Make sure your title and H2s have the proper keywords targeted within (use SEMRush to find this information).
Hire a third-party consulting firm such as IMPACT to analyze your articles to ensure that the posts are properly written and optimized for SEO and technical correctness.
Build a team of internal SMEs and interview them. Take that content and write your post based upon their feedback.
Get comfortable with critiques from the SMEs and the consultants you use. Don't take negative feedback on your work from the SMEs or Consultants personally. It will take time to produce content that hits the mark and achieves your sales and marketing goals.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Expect success to take anywhere from 2-5 years and do not get down on yourself if it takes time to produce the quality of content you are trying to provide.