How to become an Online Content Strategist?

So here I am, a Technical SEO Specialist, sitting amongst Content Writers, Copywriters, Social Media Gurus, Journalists, and even Editors, trying to get my head around what one needs to know to become an Online Content Strategist.

With Gillian, from Blue Magnet, heading up the Online Content Strategies Workshop, one of the first things I learnt was that a Content Strategist and a Copy Writer was not one and the same person. Yes both can overlap as the strategist will need to know how to copy write but they would need to have a more holistic approach by knowing the bigger picture. In other words the strategy for obtaining the goals.

Okay but what does an Online Strategist do?

• Research and Understand the needs
• Draw up a Content Plan with goals
• Communicate the Strategy
• Manage the Process from Pre to Post Production
• Evaluate and Learn
• Stay Accountable

So who comes first the Strategist or the Writer?

A little like Chicken or the Egg. The Content Strategist first needs to understand the purpose for the content and not just because Google says so or that your competitors are doing it. They need to know how to make the content achieve the business objectives by maximising the impact of content. So an intelligent strategy to outline the way forward comes first before setting out writing the content.

So there you have it in a nutshell. If a Technical SEO Specialist with writing skills of a frog can do it so can you. Ah! There you are Gillian, thank you for showing us how to become a Number 1 Online Content Strategist.