Whatever you do, your team is your key to success. You can’t do everything by yourself.
It is especially true for content marketing which is becoming increasingly fragmented and harder to scale.
Let’s see how we can build a good content team!
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About Kayleigh
@KayleighToyra is the Creative Director at @SeekerDigital
She is multilingual writer and content marketer specializing in search and outreach.
Check out @KayleighToyra’s own content agency here
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you become a content marketer? Please share your career story!
I ended up in digital after doing a Masters in English Lit. I literally went from Shakespeare to SEO! Totally by chance, I fell in love with content on the way 😉
I started as a Digital Copywriter, then left to found my own agency @SeekerDigital where I still write, but I now also manage a team of writers & marketers. We specialise in commerce & SaaS and have grown loads in 3 years.
I love the diverse nature of content marketing and all the new channels, but I’m also still a massive fan of blogging and tutorial content. I love writing and wordplay, so written content appeals to that.
Sammmeeeee – never a boring day #vcbuzz https://t.co/Jv54iGcDZa
— Kayleigh Töyrä (@KayleighToyra) February 26, 2019
That’s what I love about content marketing: it attracts people from all sorts of backgrounds and disciplines. There is no right or wrong way to end up here. It’s all about the journey.
9 years! wow! #vcbuzz
— Anna Fox (@manifestcon) February 26, 2019
@LauraSlingo It's a fine balance! It should both creative AND structured! Takes a lot of time figuring it out! #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 26, 2019
A1: I finished uni a year and a half ago – last year I bagged myself an interview for an in-house SEO agency… had to Google what SEO was, however I got the job. Here I am now, working with the fabulous @KayleighToyra as an Outreach Exec! #vcbuzz https://t.co/5rFv3wH1oi
— Daisy (@_daisysawyer) February 26, 2019
Q2 Why a good content team is important? Who should it consist of?
A good content team is a massive asset: you will be able to create better user stories, engage more customers; even attract talent with better copy and content! A great team can do both reactive and complex content and brings you massive ROI.
My team consists of copywriters, editors, designers, and strategists. I think you need to place a big emphasis on data and visual content, and broaden the scope of ‘content’.
A great content team doesn’t have to be big: find people who can multitask. Researchers are also incredibly important. You can also encourage everyone in the business to create more content.
A2 Content Dream Team: writers, proof-reader, editor, video creator, graphic artist, social media expert, SEO. But most only have a writer who wears a lot of hats. 🙂 #vcbuzz
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) February 26, 2019
Ultimately, a great content marketing team is collaborative and should have access to stakeholders. A great content manager and editor will help channel all that creative energy, so invest in them.
A2: A good content team can be big or small, there is no set structure. As long as your team have drive, passion and are not afraid to jump in, you will succeed. #vcbuzz https://t.co/avUcM2y55c
— Daisy (@_daisysawyer) February 26, 2019
Q3 How to keep your content team always inspired and motivated?
Content marketers and writers tend to find inspiration in their work, so I see it as my duty to generate interesting projects and bring in fun clients. Meaningful work plays a big part.
Variety is the spice of content. I like to mix it up and ensure people are always working on different things. It’s important for personal development reasons to not silo people either.
A3: Listen to your team, find out their aspirations and goals and see how this can be fulfilled in their roles. Knowing that your in a team where you're supported, you will be motivated to keep going! #vcbuzz https://t.co/m8Z9kJLFHY
— Daisy (@_daisysawyer) February 26, 2019
Regular face time, chats, and feedback are essential to ensure team cohesion and happiness. Also, bonus schemes and career progression: standard, but important. Be on the same journey as your team!
Learn what ACTUALLY motivates THEM. Try to find out what inspires them. Creatives are individuals and have different ways of seeing the world. Celebrate that and find strength in diversity.
A3 The most important thing for any team is to be kind to them. Be honest, but not hyper-critical because if you make them feel bad their work will suffer. Criticism can paralyze them into inaction. #vcbuzz
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) February 26, 2019
Very true with creatives – be encouraging and transparent. Make it into a collaborative, iterative process.
Q4 How to evaluate your team’s success?
We have quotas and editorial standards to help keep things transparent. This is really just basic KPIs to help us track our output. Success can lie in other things than output, though!
Meetings and personal development plans are important when it comes to tracking personal success. Presentations and workshops can help demonstrate meaningful progress. I love seeing writers develop & come into their own. It’s the most rewarding part of the job!!!
Client results! Make sure everyone gets to hear about the amazing results that their content is driving. Celebrate successes together.
Success is about persevering and pushing through when things are hard. Look at content projects that were challenging and learn from those. Celebrate success in terms of team milestones and growth
A4: There is no easy way to measure success – it's important to measure up with KPI's but just as important to make sure that the team are hitting their personal targets and that they are happy with the work they're producing #vcbuzz https://t.co/9CNVlfhwna
— Daisy (@_daisysawyer) February 26, 2019
Happiness is so important!
A4. There are two main parts to this. On one hand, evaluate team performance in line with business or client KPIs. On the other, weigh up their performance in line with their personal development plan + goals #vcbuzz https://t.co/8LYu4nZHLf
— Laura Slingo (@LauraSlingo) February 26, 2019
Q5 What are your favorite digital marketing tools?
Loads of great content tools, but I find myself not using THAT MANY on a daily basis. GSuite & @googledocs are great for content production. I love the integrations & that you can collaborate on edits!! Also stuff like @evernote never gets old for quick inspo
A5. I have so many! If I had to pick the top few that help my writing and content marketing strategy, I’d choose @ahrefs + @BuzzSumo. Highly recommend reading @HubSpot, @CoScheduleBlog + @MarketingProfs’ blogs too! #vcbuzz https://t.co/L7NIAVAvvf
— Laura Slingo (@LauraSlingo) February 26, 2019
I think @ahrefs is a content marketing powerhouse, and I like to use @pitchboxapp for outreach (another big element of content marketing). They also integrate, making data sharing easy! All about the easy life with my tools 😉
A5 My favorite tools today: @textoptimizer @serpstat @BuzzSumo #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 26, 2019
@BuzzSumo is good for content research and is always a great way to find content ideas. I also think @Quora and @reddit are great places to help you tap into the content zeitgeist.
https://twitter.com/GenePetrovLMC/status/1100450270591488001
I love to learn about/test new tools out, but I find myself returning to basics. You can find out a lot from just analysing a SERP or picking the brain of a technical colleague. To organise myself and my team, I like @toggl @Wunderlist @asana @trello
@JanetteSpeyer I check Google Trends when researching seasonal content #vcbuzz pic.twitter.com/dsMoakhm7T
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 26, 2019
I do actually. Very useful and can be used as an interesting data source for infographics.
yes! Google trends is amazing and not used by nearly enough marketers. It is basically a massive free data source, try and use it as much as we can. Use alerts for every campaign that goes out – will never die! #vcbuzz
— Daisy (@_daisysawyer) February 26, 2019
A5 It is really important to have a process for assigning and tracking your work. A free @Trello board works great. If you need more advanced functions, use @Wrike #vcbuzz
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) February 26, 2019
Our previous content marketing chats:
- How to Update Your Content for More SEO Benefits with Joe Hall @joehall #VCBuzz
- How to Build a Digital Street Team: Creating a Distribution Network Twitter Chat with @Tinu #VCBuzz
- How to Become a Better Marketer by #BeingABetterPerson: with Bernie Fussenegger @B2the7 #VCBuzz
- How to Become a Good Leader: Tom Reid @_TomGReid #VCBuzz
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