The content manager is one of the key professionals in today's world. In the digital world, companies, institutions and the media, amongst others, generate tens of thousands of contents on a daily basis.
I'm not just talking about blog articles like this one, but also from videos, infographics, social media posts or podcasts for business. Increasingly broad content in more formats, which must respond to a strategy and be coordinated jointly.
The content manager is in charge of creating order in this chaos. Not only is it usually the content creatorbut also the professional who plans, manages, supervises, coordinates and optimises.
Depending on the size of the organisation, the content manager may be responsible only for management and organisation and not for production. However, in small and medium-sized enterprises it is common for a single person to combine both roles.
Moreover, due to the progress of artificial intelligences specialised in content productionthe content manager becomes the person who uses the prompts and coordinates the production of these AI tools.
As we move further into the digital age, content management is becoming more and more relevant. It is not just a matter of guaranteeing quality standardsbut also a consistency between the different formats in the organisation's production, irrespective of the type of content we are talking about.
What is a content manager?
First of all, the content manager is a digital professional. A new profession that has developed hand in hand with other digital professions, such as the UI-UX expertsthe SEO manager or the paid specialist.
It is also a growing profession. As the flood of digital content becomes more and more unmanageable, the more essential this professional becomes.
In the early days (and even decades) of the internet, this figure was not as well defined or necessary. Content at that time did not have the strategic importance it has today. There was not much of it, competition was low and quality often left something to be desired.
It was a time when, if someone wanted to position a page, they would resort to Black Hat SEO as repeat the keyword infinite times or link from link farmsfrom unrelated content. However, Google took matters into its own hands and its new algorithms detect and penalise these SEO tips.
At the same time, the proliferation of blogs, social media and other multimedia platformsThe companies were shown that the content was going to be king. With it, they could attract and retain customers, as well as improve their brand awareness and brand equity.
It had to be everywhere and this flood of multimedia information had to be managed and coordinated. The content manager emerged as a solution to this new digital challenge.
Although it was originally focused on text, today it manages the whole of the content. Audiovisual pieces, infographics, podcasts, surveys, articles, etc. Manages, plans, develops and optimises content to align with the brand voice, mission and objectives in an efficient and effective way. balance between creativity and strategy.
What does a content manager do?
The functions of a content manager allow you to find out more specifically what this professional does and what his or her value is.
Firstly, it is worth mentioning the content creation and planning. We are not only talking about drafting (sometimes he does not write) but also about decide what kind of content should be created, when and how. To this end, it will draw up a editorial calendar that ensures the coherence and relevance of each piece with respect to the overall strategy of the brand.
Here you will have to collaborate with the SEO manager so that the content strategy not only respond to branding criteria, but also function in intention to search.
This brings us to the second function, which is to coordination with other departments. Not only at the SEObut also with the rest of the marketingdesign, production, development, etc.
After all, content is not an island. In order for the overall strategy to function, each article, video or graphic must be aligned with the company's overall vision and meet the needs of the audience.
In this regard, the content manager has to have notions of types of SEO and SEM to optimise results. No matter how good the content is, it is useless if no one sees it. So, not only will you have to coordinating the content strategybut also to ensure that the technical side of things works well with fast loading timesrelevant words or a backlink strategy meaningful.
Finally, you have to measure and analyse what you are doing. The metrics analysis and content performance will show what needs to be improved and what is the way forward. In this way, you will be able to take data-driven decisions and not in sensations.
Hard and soft skills of the content manager
One of the key skills of the content manager is know how to write and know how to edit. If you don't know how to produce clear, concise and engaging content, you won't be able to commission or identify it correctly either. The ability to convey complex ideas in a simple and understandable way will take your company's content to the next level.
This, of course, is in addition to the more technical knowledge of the tools, both of SEO or SEMas of analytics o content management systems (CMS). The content manager You have to know how content is created, but you also have to know the tools where it is placed and how to get maximum visibility for it.
On the other hand, there is a lack of knowledge in the main analytical tools and creating customised dashboards. It's not only about knowing how to use them, but also about knowing how to select data The most important and be able to interpret them successfully, separating the relevant from the irrelevant.
With regard to the soft skillsgood communication and team management skills are a must. The content manager Not only will you have to convey a very specific vision to a multidisciplinary team, but you will also have to mediate when these teams come into conflict. For example, if the design of a landing page is not fully optimised for SEO and the SEO and UX managers have conflicting visions, the content manager will be the one to try to create a balance.
As the leader of a team, which is often horizontal, the ability to leadership is also essential. This is the only way that everyone will be pulling in the same direction. conveying the voice of the company through content.
What is a content manager NOT?
As important as knowing what is a content manager and what its functions and skills are is to understand what it is not. Nowadays, many people confuse professions such as this with others such as copywriter, social media manager o SEO manager.
The copywriterfor example, is the specialist in the drafting of texts. Mainly, he is dedicated to writing those claimsThe text and messages aimed at selling or converting, in a clear and attractive way.
The content managerfor its part, goes further by overseeing the overall content strategyanalysing it and looking at it beyond its persuasive aspect (e.g. checking that it also works for SEO o aligning messages as the corporate culture).
It is also commonly confused with the community manager o social media manager. In this case, we are dealing with the professional in charge not only of creating and curating content for social networks, but also of dynamising communities, interacting with and responding to users, etc.
In the case of the content managerdoes not interact with the communities, although it can create the guidelines to be followed by the communitys in their publications and interactions.
In front of the SEO managerthe content manager is differentiated by its holistic and content-focused approach. The SEO manager goes beyond content by focusing also on the technical side, while the content specialises in all messages that originate from the organisation, even if they are not intended for positioning.
For example, what is talked about in a podcast is the work of the content managerwhile the SEO manager will have to optimise that episode on the platforms by working the SEO for podcasts.
If you need a content manager to optimise and convey your company's voice and mission, we can help you.
