How to Craft Your Content Strategist Job Description to Find Winning Candidates

Here’s a job description template to help you call for the content strategist you are looking for. Feel free to edit it to best suit your needs. To assess potential candidates, do also check out our hiring guide for content strategists, as well as interview questions you might use.

Company Introduction

This is where you make one of the first impressions with prospective hires. You want to share a concise and memorable paragraph about your company and what candidates can expect from working with your team.

Here’s some information to include in your company introduction:

• Product and service offerings
• Company size
• Key clients
• Company’s mission & goals

Tip: While you want to excite the candidate with highlights of your company, refrain from painting an unrealistic picture of your company or you may attract candidates for the wrong reasons.

Alternate Job Titles

The title that you decide to list for the position will attract different types of candidates. A ‘Content Strategist’s primary role is championing the brand-oriented editorial direction for the blog, while roles like ‘Digital Brand Specialist’, ‘Marketing Data Analyst’ and ‘Social Media/SEO Strategist’ may bring more specific but related skill sets to the table. 

Content Strategist vs Digital Brand Specialist

Digital Brand Specialists produce photos, videos, branding collaterals, infographics and other related visual content that strengthens your brand’s storytelling strength. They may also take charge of the brand’s creative direction, and work with freelancers to produce the required assets for marketing purposes. These candidates are expected to be familiar with the Adobe Suite.

Content Strategist vs Marketing Data Analyst

Marketing Data Analysts are integral in leveraging content analytics to develop marketing strategy, and are in turn responsible for optimising existing assets and producing sharper campaigns as a result. While a Content Strategist is responsible for ensuring the delivery of content assets, the Marketing Data Analyst’s role is more specific, in particular with the ability to derive the ROI on content production. 

Content Strategist vs Social Media/SEO Strategist

While a Content Strategist may be a more general role that produces content across all the company’s channels, Social Media or SEO Strategists would be more familiar with producing and editing content specific to those two areas. Social Media Strategists may also play a role in community management, and SEO Strategists may also hold SEO marketing responsibilities.

Job Description

The Content Strategist is a vital element in constructing a cohesive content strategy with a focus on user or consumer journey and persona development. Working with internal and external collaborators, you will also plan, oversee and execute the strategy from start to end. Supported by a creative and editorial resources, you will be responsible for aligning our brand narratives with the team’s content strategies and editorial decisions. You will also play the role of a creative and an editor, as you conceptualise and produce content assets that resonate with viewers across earned, owned and paid platforms, with the aim of driving business goals. 

Responsibilities

• Cultivate content marketing strategies targeted at driving traffic, engagement, generating leads, delivering sales, retaining customers and building brand awareness. 
• Develop brand voice to ensure consistency across all content assets. 
• Work with internal and external collaborators and creative resources to deliver content assets that are coherent with our brand voice and strategy.
• Track and advance the editorial calendar, and regularly measure and distill progress results to apply data-driven insights to future content strategies.
• Apply SEO, content development, distribution and measurement to effectively tailor content to reach audience personas.
• Manage digital and social content channels including email or newsletter distribution, with the understanding of the best content practices on each channel. 
• Assist with integrating content strategy and time-specific brand campaigns to drive campaign goals. 
• Create and edit content, mobilising storytelling opportunities on all channels — owned, earned and paid platforms.
• Establish strategies for media relations, seeking placements in print, broadcast and online channels, and create the corresponding content including press releases, articles and presentations. 
• Build relationships with thought leaders and nurture brand awareness, while gathering knowledge of industry trends. 
• Test and implement innovative and relevant methods of measuring content, campaigns and tools, keeping in mind the purpose of the derived results. 

Skills and requirements

• A Diploma or Bachelor’s degree in journalism, communications or a related field. 
• Excellent oral communication skills, more spoken languages is a bonus. 
• Experience creating and editing digital content for target audiences across all multimedia and social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp, Tumblr, Kakao, Line, WeChat, Weibo, RenRen and Tudou.
• Skilled at writing and copy editing, including writing in different voices and styles, for a variety of target audiences.
• Skilled at graphic design, website design, illustration, UX, videography and photography. 
• Familiar with software including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign Adobe After Effects, Adobe XD, Sketch and Principle.
• A professional portfolio of work that showcases the above.
• Experience in project management, and public, media and influencer relations.
• Experience in Marketing, Communications or in a journalist, creative, or media capacity.
• Experience with digital marketing functions including SEO, Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, E-mail Marketing and PPC Marketing is a bonus. 
• Experience with SEO tools including Google Adwords and Keyword Planner, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Google Search Console, NetInsight, Omniture, WebTrends, DART, Atlas, Semrush and Buzzsumo is preferred.