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Have you seen the latest job opening for a "Project and Content Manager (Work from Home)"? As an industry veteran who has hired and managed many talented content teams, let me fill you in on this cutting-edge opportunity.
The employer is STH, short for Software Testing Help – an online publication boasting over 1.5 million monthly readers. Here‘s an inside look at what they‘re looking for in a remote project and content manager to lead their team:
The Role
STH needs an experienced manager to lead their team of writers, freelancers and instructors creating high-quality articles and digital courses on software testing, development and other tech skills.
You would oversee and optimize their entire content production process, ensuring excellent content that attracts readers and drives purchases of premium offerings.
Key Responsibilities
- Assign writing tasks and manage the testing/QA author team
- Work closely with leadership on website and course content
- Execute content strategy and identify trending topics
- Produce and edit technical articles on relevant software skills
- Recruit top writing talent as the team grows
- Drive the quality and quantity of blog and social content
Must-Have Traits
- 3+ years managing content and/or QA testing teams
- Strong writing, editing and content production chops
- Excellent communication and project management skills
- Passion for creating high-quality, technical content
This is your chance to take the lead on content at one of the top software testing websites, with ample growth opportunities. But it‘s no easy job in the fast-moving world of content creation and promotion. Allow me to be your guide as you consider taking the plunge into this rewarding but complex role.
The Explosive Growth of Content
Consumer demand for online content grows by the day. 53% of consumers say they view more than three hours of digital video content per week. 70% of B2B buyers consume over five pieces of content before even talking to a sales rep.
No wonder an incredible amount of content now gets created every minute:
- 500 hours of YouTube videos
- 350,000 tweets
- 70,000 Facebook posts
- 60,000 Instagram photos
Little wonder that 91% of marketers say their content marketing budgets expanded over the past 12 months. Or that Hubspot forecasts content marketing costs growing well over 11% annually through 2025.
| Year | Content Marketing Spend |
|---|---|
| 2023 (Expected) | > $140 billion |
| 2025 (Projected) | $161 billion |
Clearly, content is no longer optional for brands – it‘s an essential strategy for engaging digitally-empowered consumers.
But with content volume skyrocketing across platforms, keeping processes, teams and strategies aligned becomes exponentially more challenging.
This is where project and content managers come into play…and why competent ones are so sought after.
Why The Role Matters More Than Ever
With content production and complexity ballooning, skilled project and content managers serve as the glue holding ambitious content strategies together.
You ensure that creativity and consistency can scale hand-in-hand. And that purpose-built content reaches its target audiences across the buying journey to deliver ROI.
Let‘s examine why this multifaceted role is utterly irreplaceable in the modern marcomm engine room:
You Translate Business Goals into Content Plans
Armed with deep audience and industry insights, you architect cohesive editorial strategies designed to achieve growth objectives – whether raising brand awareness, generating targeted leads, educating customers or boosting retention.
Content informs, inspires and moves audiences to action. You determine what formats and topics will accomplish objectives for each persona and buying stage.
You Enable Ideas To Become Exceptional Content
Between idea generation, production, feedback and distribution, you handle the entire assembly line – making sure content machines are running smoothly.
The best managers motivate teams toward a unified vision. You oversee writers, designers, developers and editors executing on ambitious content campaigns.
You Ensure Quality and Consistency
When producing high volumes of content, it‘s vital that the output remains on-strategy, on-brand, and on-message.
With an eagle eye for details and standards, you safeguard against inconsistent quality or messaging across channels. Careful review and optimization preserves integrity.
You Distribute Content Thoughtfully
Getting content seen by the right audiences when they need it most requires science and artistry.
You become a master at mapping content to platforms and segments for optimal exposure and engagement. Promoted posts, influencers and personalized pushes help you match content to mindsets.
You Connect Data Dots
How content performs offers a goldmine of insights to strengthen future plans. By monitoring metrics across funnels and platforms, you learn what resonates and what requires rework.
KPIs ultimately help you produce higher-converting content. The data doesn‘t lie!
You Build Future-Proof Strategies
In dynamic times, the hazards of standing still are greater than the risks of making progress. Complacency kills campaigns.
Visionary managers anticipate changes in platforms, trends and tech, rapidly testing new content types, channels and techniques to stay ahead of the curve.
Key Skills and Attributes for Success
Producing standout content, leading multiple projects simultaneously and guiding teams requires an extensive mix of hard and soft skills.
On the hard skills front, proficiency across the content life cycle is a must, including:
- Writing and editing: From producing posts to giving feedback, strong language skills are non-negotiable.
- Tools and tech: Mastering key software for planning, creation and analytics. Stay on top of new resources and features.
- Research: Know how to tap trends, leverage competitive intel and incorporate audience insights from surveys to listening tools.
- Data analysis: Extract lessons from metrics to build smarter plans and maximize ROI.
- Project management: Juggle tasks, resources, budgets and timelines seamlessly. Identify dependencies and bottlenecks quickly.
Now let‘s talk key attributes for this management position:
- Organized: With countless moving parts, structure and prioritization skills enable actualized strategies. Detail orientation ensures optimal quality and consistency too.
- Decisive: The volume of decisions can seem endless. Trust your expertise to greenlight creative ideas decisively, improve processes and solve problems.
- Collaborative: Guiding teams to excellence requires leading by influence more than authority. Foster access, transparency and input to unlock discretionary effort.
- Adaptable: In dynamic times fixed plans fail. Stay open to experimentation and constant optimization across goals, formats, channels and segments.
- Motivational: Passion, vision and encouragement enable teams to produce their best work. Make aspirations clear and progress visible.
Without the right blend of specialized skills and universal attributes, even the grandest content plans risk fizzling out. Hone these fundamentals.
Keys to Unlocking Content Success
With research showing 60% of marketers struggle to create engaging content consistently, how do you stack the odds in your team‘s favor?
Here are eight tactics – from strategy inception to post-publication – to set your content marketing firing on all cylinders:
1. Know Thy Audience
Too often brands create content before fully grasping buyer journeys. Immersing yourself in audience motivations, barriers and micro-moments across segments is the foundation for relevance and results.
2. Co-Create Content Plans
Rally stakeholders early on to shape charters guiding strategy and creative execution over quarters and years, not just months. Outline overarching vision, KPIs, recurring pillars, guidelines and guardrails to enable autonomy within a common direction. Reviews help spot gaps and opportunities.
3. Build Future-Ready Teams
The pace of change only intensifies, especially around platforms and skills. Recruit and train talent capable of excelling across emerging formats like podcasts, VR and live video. Foster a culture of learning.
4. Set Clear Standards
Document and demonstrate what desired quality looks like across content types and buyer stages, spanning assumptions to distribution. Standards plus examples (and counter-examples!) boost consistency across creators.
5. Keep Creativity Flowing
Structure without inspiration stifles innovation. Carve out resources for R&D and experimentation. Stay on top of trends but also incorporate unexpected formats that cut through the noise.
6. Optimize and Repurpose Aggressively
With extensive content investments, maximizing discoverability, shareability and conversion potential is non-negotiable. Keep testing permutations across platforms, segments and stages. Reformatting and updating evergreen content also pays dividends.
7. Automate Everything Possible
Mundane production and monitoring tasks slow high-performing teams down. Tap tools like AI writing assistants, collaborative dashboards and automated alerts so talent stays focused on high-level strategy and creative challenges.
8. Let Data Steer Decisions
Continuous performance data offers fuel for future plans. Instrument every milestone from content output to audience behavior metrics. Analyze results collectively and stay on top of emerging platform insights. Then regulate strategies accordingly.
The Future Looks Bright!
Hopefully this guide illuminated why compelling content is so critical amid information overload. And how project and content managers align teams to produce cutting-edge campaigns that captivate audiences consistently.
With demand intensifying for digital content – and managers able to execute skillfully at scale – huge opportunities await.
Just remember: In times of rapid change, master fundamentals like audience empathy, creative vision and analytics fluency. Align your team around a north star. Set a culture of quality plus constant learning and optimization.
Do this and you‘ll assemble content that inspires action today while building an adaptable machine ready to capitalize on tomorrow‘s trends.
Now go ace that STH interview! And if you have any other questions about maximizing success in this role, don‘t hesitate to reach out. This content whiz has all sorts of tips to share from the front lines.