You will need the support of a great team to build and carry out an effective content marketing strategy. Taking into account how the world is developing, it is essential to have different individuals working on specific roles. It doesn’t matter whether you outsource the work or hire internally; the quality of the content will only be good if the employees are highly skilled. If you can afford an in-house team, here are several excellent practices for hiring content marketers:
Use Various Techniques in Recruitment Ads
For your company to attract top entrepreneurial talents, don't neglect your job ads. Like every other company, you probably post ads on different websites that make it easier to find candidates to fill up digital marketing jobs in the organization. Instead of making a regular business post, use a filtering technique. Instead of spending hours going through each application, you can use that filter to narrow down the list.
Many recruiters use words like eggs that don’t even fit the title of the job and tell people to include that word in the subject of the email they send. This will help you sort out the creative individuals from the people that simply use ‘eggs’ as a subject. For example, a girl named Carolina could write “Carolina and X company go well together like bacon and eggs”.
Other ways to find great talent are to use social media during the recruitment process, work with freelancers, hire a recruitment agency or maximize staff augmentation vs hiring in-house.
Many recruiters use words like eggs that don’t even fit the title of the job and tell people to include that word in the subject of the email they send. This will help you sort out the creative individuals from the people that simply use ‘eggs’ as a subject. For example, a girl named Carolina could write “Carolina and X company go well together like bacon and eggs”.
Other ways to find great talent are to use social media during the recruitment process, work with freelancers, hire a recruitment agency or maximize staff augmentation vs hiring in-house.
Ask for Samples
After you narrow down the best candidates, ask them for samples of their work. It can save your company’s valuable time interviewing people who are not suitable. However, try not to hold everyone to the highest standard. Not everyone can be a team leader or senior marketer. Just because their work lacks the quality of a world-class writer’s, doesn't mean their abilities are useless. You can train and mold them according to the needs of your firm.
Assess Their Abilities
Once you have a general understanding of a candidate's abilities, assign a sample exercise to figure out if they can actually do the work. Depending on what their responsibilities might actually be at the company, ask them to perform an edit test, complete a writing task, or anything that is related.
You should make sure that these are old assignments that your company has already carried out. Using these individuals to complete current jobs would be unethical. Similarly, it is not fair to ask them to complete an exercise that can take hours to finish. These candidates probably already have jobs and are also interviewing with other companies.
You should make sure that these are old assignments that your company has already carried out. Using these individuals to complete current jobs would be unethical. Similarly, it is not fair to ask them to complete an exercise that can take hours to finish. These candidates probably already have jobs and are also interviewing with other companies.
See What Questions Do They Ask About their Test
Every good content marketer will ask at least a series of questions, unless specific instructions are provided. It is important not to give vivid details, but a general topic for the assessment. After that, wait and see if they ask any questions. A good writer will ask the 5W’s and an H, they are popularly applied in journalism but they can make any article more targeted to a specific audience. The 5 W’s refer to who, what, when, where, why, and the H stands for how.
An experienced writer will not randomly start typing when you ask them to write on a particular topic. If they ask who, they want to know about the audience; what will tell them about the subject; the date when the article is being published can also be crucial for particular pieces; where will help them understand the website it will be posted on; why will help them explain the need of the article; whereas how can help them write better material.
However, all of these questions might not be relevant to every topic. Certain subjects can be written on with answers to only one or two of them.
An experienced writer will not randomly start typing when you ask them to write on a particular topic. If they ask who, they want to know about the audience; what will tell them about the subject; the date when the article is being published can also be crucial for particular pieces; where will help them understand the website it will be posted on; why will help them explain the need of the article; whereas how can help them write better material.
However, all of these questions might not be relevant to every topic. Certain subjects can be written on with answers to only one or two of them.
Carefully Construct Your Questions
You might already have a standard set of questions they like to ask every candidate, like other companies, but considering changing or adding a few more. It is essential to construct your questions in such a way that it makes it easier to know how well they can work in the team. Take these questions as an example:
● What makes good content? How do you know if a piece of content is doing well?
Their answer will help you understand if they line up well with your business strategy.
● How many projects can you manage at once? How do you organize and prioritize your work?
The responses to these questions will help you figure out their speed to carry out a task effectively.
● What content marketing strategies can you implement to make our company prosper?
Their reply will help you understand how they can make your brand internationally successful.
● What makes good content? How do you know if a piece of content is doing well?
Their answer will help you understand if they line up well with your business strategy.
● How many projects can you manage at once? How do you organize and prioritize your work?
The responses to these questions will help you figure out their speed to carry out a task effectively.
● What content marketing strategies can you implement to make our company prosper?
Their reply will help you understand how they can make your brand internationally successful.
Ask for Reference of an Editor
It is necessary that you ask for references. Their past employers can give you a summary of their character and what they did for the company. Their previous manager can provide more in-depth insight, as they might know more about each employee working under them than the CEO. But the essential reference would be their former editor.
An editor knows all the faults in an article, as well as the good things. They will be able to provide extensive information on your interviewee’s writing skills. They will also be able to tell you whether or not that writer could efficiently work on your team.
An editor knows all the faults in an article, as well as the good things. They will be able to provide extensive information on your interviewee’s writing skills. They will also be able to tell you whether or not that writer could efficiently work on your team.
Use This Checklist to Understand their Expertise
Depending on what you need them for, it is important to ask every candidate where their expertise lies. Many writers simply nod and say yes to every question you might throw at them, which is why you should ask them to elaborate further. They should be able to give a small description of how a particular type of article is written. Here are a few you might want to ask:
Blog Writing
People that write blog posts are generally trying to inform their readers informally. They mimic a logbook, which is digitalized. They will also give you an idea of how they might catch a reader's attention. Using headings and making the article easy-to-scan, for instance.Website Content
A website content writer will be able to provide articles specific to a particular site. They will be able to accurately target an audience and give the best pieces to attract business.Social Media Copywriting
Any experienced social media copywriter should be able to write, edit, publish content specific to the target audiences on any given social platform. They can strategize and write engaging content that doesn’t bore the reader using at least 9 or more ways.Sales Collateral
Sales collateral is a collection of content used to support the sale of a product or a service. They are used to boost sales. They could be brochures that give readers a summary of what a particular brand is about, for instance.Technical Writing
Technical writers are experts in a specific niche. They can provide directions, instructions, and explicit explanations on any topic in their field. They also need to know all the extensive terminology, like medical terms if they specialize in writing medical related technical articles.Product Description
An experienced product descriptor will be able to write attractive descriptions of any product. They must know how to use the unique features or a particular product and make them stand out to buyers.Review Writing
Reviews are critical pieces usually of appraisals of a particular book, movie, play, performance, and many other numerous things. Top reviewers are also referred to as critics since they thoroughly examine their target and aren’t afraid to speak their minds.Editorial Pieces
An editorial is an article that represents the majority view of the editorial board at a magazine, newspaper, or any written document organization. Editorial writers are known to present a knowledgeable and legitimate argument that supports their view, with which they try to convince their readers to think similarly.Prefer In-House Experience
While looking at the experience part of the resume, look into how they previously worked. Whether it was as a freelancer or an employee in an organization. It is essential because freelancers might not be used to working every day or meet daily deadlines and work hours. Freelancers work on their terms, and their content only affects their name. Furthermore, they work with no supervision.
On the other hand, an employee in a corporation will know how to work with a team, report to a supervisor, and keep up with company standards, among other attractive features.
For all the above reasons and many more, you should consider giving more importance to in-house experience rather than freelancing work.
On the other hand, an employee in a corporation will know how to work with a team, report to a supervisor, and keep up with company standards, among other attractive features.
For all the above reasons and many more, you should consider giving more importance to in-house experience rather than freelancing work.
Final Thoughts on Hiring Great Content Marketers
Getting some information on their previous team members will give you vital knowledge of what their environment was like. A good team will be full of experienced writers who share essential information and advise other members during difficulties. It would help if you contacted the candidate’s former team leader, as they can tell you how valuable a team player you candidate can be. A treasured member of any team should be one of the following:● A contributor
● A collaborator
● A communicator
● A challenger
Growth Hackers is a renowned content marketing agency. We have some of the best content marketers and copywriters coming from all over the world. If you want the best possible content for your marketing strategy, send a message to Growth Hackers today!
Jonathan Aufray
I am the co-founder and CEO at Growth Hackers. I help startups, SMBs and entrepreneurs grow with digital marketing and growth hacking. I help them drive traffic, generate leads, improve conversions & increase their revenue with data-driven growth strategies. I am passionate about startups, growth hacking, inbound marketing and entrepreneurship. You can follow me on Twitter: @jonathan_aufray or connect with me on LinkedIn.
2 Comments
We send the candidate a test before considering an interview to see his writing style. During the hiring process, the interviewee has to complete at least 2 more writing tests. If he passes, the probation starts immediately. Surely, we need to check the skills set and review his works many times to make the right decision. Thanks for the post. I do enjoy it.
Hiring is definitely one of those tricky parts of running a business. With experience, one gets a lot better at it.