The New Key Players: The Content Strategist
The Connected Generation Podcast: The New Key Players: The Content Strategist, Episode 58 
For 2008 we’re launching a new series called The New Key Players. Over the next five weeks we’ll cover the new roles (and opportunities) that have emerged in the modern marketplace and explain why they are a necessary part of your organization, regardless of size or budget. Here’s the line-up for the next five weeks: the content strategist, the community connector, the change agent, the visionary leader and the architect.
Excerpt from Mind Your X’s and Y’s:
The Content Strategist
Born storytellers and communicators, content strategists explore how company content intersects with user- and community-driven content. Strategists understand what people want to know, what they want to share, and how to connect the dots to build a clear roadmap for participants. Content strategists tend to work with everyone in the organization, but must collaborate closely with tech experts and high-level managers.
Content strategists assess all existing communication channels and materials (including websites, blogs, brochures, ads, podcasts, white papers, and video files), work with internal managers to envision new directions and possibilities (technologies, language, tone, new approaches) and create a workable plan to develop content that will cut through the clutter and deliver the brand messages in a compelling, authentic manner.
But content strategy is not just for marketers or PR specialists. It’s a critical philosophy and skill set that anyone who creates and distributes information simply must understand, including human resources professionals, publicists, copywriters, technology experts, managers, advertisers and beyond.
Content strategists are like internal auditors—analyzing, planning and often, creating the content from the inside out, in a way that defines the organization. Strategists see patterns and they know how to match big picture brand goals with specific content possibilities. They ask the hard questions and cut through the spin.
Content strategists’ core competencies include:
- clustering
- observing
- planning
- distilling
- storytelling
- writing
- assessing
- creating
Content strategists three-question toolkit:
- What do we want to say?
- How are we going to say it?
- In what formats will we say it?
This post was written by Lisa Johnson
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