The Top 5 Career Paths in Content Marketing

Education & Career Trends: August 21, 2024

Curated by the Knowledge Team of  ICS Career GPS

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• Excerpts are taken from an article published on makeuseof.com.

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There’s a wealth of content available on the internet today. Internet users constantly get bombarded as brands and organisations struggle to get content on their respective consumers’ radars. This intense competition has created the need for several varieties and branches of content marketing.

That said, how much goes into marketing content to the target viewers and audience, and what career paths are available to you as a content marketer?

In this article, we will focus on some of the best content marketing careers and give you a well-rounded overview of each.

1. Social Media Management

This branch of content marketing focuses on structuring content specifically for social media audiences and increasing awareness, engagement, and sales through social media. Given the copious amounts of information on social media today, successfully capturing and retaining the attention of numerous people takes much more than random posting.

It involves creatively developing tailored content, building trust, and establishing a relationship with your target audience.

With these responsibilities, what skills should a social media manager possess?

• First, you must be adept in research, marketing, and communication.
• Your knowledge of your audience’s needs and your ability to reach them differentiate you as a professional from an untrained social media handler.
• You’ll also require minimal design or photography skills as social media is largely image or video content.
• Lastly, understanding SEO is necessary to become a social media manager. You need to understand the inner workings of hashtags, links, and trends and how to use them to your client’s advantage.

2. Copywriting

Although copywriting is a mainstream field in the content space, most people are unaware of its major role in content marketing. Sharp images and a great social media campaign go a long way, but your marketing is incomplete without accompanying compelling text.

So, what is copywriting?

Copywriting is crafting persuasive advertisement messages to convince a buyer to make a purchase. A copywriter appeals to the audience’s pain points and promises a solution with brief, concise, eye-catching words.

Advertisement aims to increase sales and conversions, so, as a copywriter, you need certain skills to ensure your copies convert.

• The most important of these skills is creativity.
• The average reader’s attention span is just 8 seconds, implying that your work must hook your readers from the first word.
• Boring or overused copies are less likely to convert and will reduce your chance of success.
• Additionally, you’ll require good research skills to determine the needs of your target audience, SEO writing, and communication skills.
• Understanding how to infuse keywords that can boost your copy’s ranking while maintaining fluidity and flexibility is vital.
• One upside of copywriting is that there are several types of copywriting careers, and you can work across different industries and organisations depending on your strengths and preferences.
• For example, you can write copies for social media posts or websites, create advertisement jingles or online ads, and even construct business proposals and emails.

3. Content Writing and Editing

Content writing is undoubtedly the most familiar field in the content space today; hence, it’s probably not strange to you. Every content marketer must possess basic writing skills, irrespective of their preferred niche. However, you could also focus squarely on writing and specialise in it to increase your earning potential.

So, what is content writing, and how does it differ from content marketing and copywriting?

• Content writing or editing deals exclusively with planning, writing, and editing written web content only.
• In other words, unlike content marketers, content writers aren’t involved with promoting the written content.
• On the other hand, with content writing vs. copywriting, content writing intends to inform, whereas copywriting aims to influence and persuade.
• Because content writing aims to educate, you must be knowledgeable and well-versed in deep research to excel in this profession.
• Additionally, you must have a flexible writing style, original ideas, and master SEO for high-ranking articles.
• Attention to detail is also a huge bonus and comes in handy in writing and editing.

4. SEO Specialist

How do search engines select the first search result or website? The answer is simple—SEO. Search engine optimisation increases website traffic and visibility, boosting its search ranks to draw the reader’s attention.

• An SEO specialist is any professional with expertise in SEO that can enable a website to stand out among its vast competitors.
• Search engines have specific algorithms and principles with which they select and prioritise websites. Thus, SEO specialists fine-tune websites to suit these principles.
• This may sound complex, but learning how to become an SEO expert is simple and needs no severe training.
• With a few courses to explain the basics of fundamental skills like keyword research and link building, you’re ready to begin your career.

5. Content Strategist

Coming in last on this list of careers in content marketing, we have content strategists. Compared to the career paths mentioned above, this field is less known but subconsciously practised by almost every content marketer. Also, it is one of the top high-paying social media jobs in the tech space today.

• Marketing without a pre-planned strategy is more than likely to cause misdirection of efforts and, consequently, fruitless results.
• So, content strategists are responsible for drafting a detailed marketing plan with specific job descriptions for other content marketing careers.
• This also involves identifying the organisation’s goals, audience, and buyer personas and deliberating on the company’s tone and suitable advertisement platforms.
• Finally, content strategists ensure better resonance with the target audience and, more importantly, stronger results.
• To stand out as a content strategist, you’ll require top-notch research, presentational and organisational skills.
• You’ll also need a fundamental knowledge of user experience and strong copywriting and SEO skills.

Find the Right Content Marketing Niche for You

Content marketing is a wide, accommodating career with numerous specialisation options and fields available to explore. Each area has its merits, demerits, and features that determine if it’s the right fit for you.

So, carefully compare and contrast each career path and make a choice that best suits your talents.

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Have you checked out yesterday’s blog yet

4 Critical Soft Skills You Need to Enhance Your Career

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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)

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