Author: Sujan Patel / Source: Entrepreneur If you're hiring a new content marketer, there are a few obvious qualities you already know yo
If you’re hiring a new content marketer, there are a few obvious qualities you already know you need to look for. Your new hire needs to be a good writer. He or she needs to love data — both reviewing it and acting on it — and also needs to be tuned-in to the changes that are constantly affecting the competitive landscape of digital marketing.
But the truth is, there are loads of web writers out there that know how to read a Google Analytics report. Anyone with access to an industry blog can be considered up to date. Which factors, then, can you use to distinguish decent content marketing candidates from the rock stars who are actually going to move the needle for your company?
Here are six underrated qualities I recommend looking for when you’re hiring content marketers.
1. Curiosity
According to Lorraine Twohill, head of marketing at Google, “You need to be curious to identify problems worth solving, and then come up with new solutions.”
The problem is that, in interview situations, the natural tendency of candidates is to make themselves sound as though they know everything — as though they already have all the answers. Content marketing demands just the opposite.
Instead, this discipline is an ongoing process of deepening your connection with your audience members, as well as observing the changes they undergo as they evolve. If you aren’t curious, you won’t think to ask the questions that must be asked regularly to maintain this intimate level of awareness.
You’ll miss new trends emerging, and you’ll struggle to maintain your connection with your followers — all because you failed to be curious.
2. Candor
Recently, Kathleen Murphy published a popular essay on why candor is an underrated quality in business in general, but I believe her words also apply for content marketing. “To thrive,” Murphy writes, “businesses need leaders at all levels of the organization (together in headquarters and the front lines) that understand the core mission, inspire passion and commitment around the mission and empower their people to take…
COMMENTS