Hiring the right Content Creator for your business

4 interview questions you must ask new content creators

Today, when content marketing is absolutely essential for all companies to thrive, creating the perfect writing team is absolutely essential.

This is why hiring the right content creator is of the utmost importance as you do not want to be stuck with a content writer who has no idea how to write interesting, relevant and well-written articles. Some companies seem to get it so wrong that they often end up with Content Creators who don’t even have basic writing skills.

Content Creators can be split into Content Writers and Designers since content can be both textual and visual. James Carson has identified other related roles such as community or outreach manager as part of his post on who you need on your content marketing team.

Given content skills are important, specialist skills it makes sense to assess potential candidates carefully when recruiting.

A Content Creator should be able to take responsibility and should be accountable. It goes without saying that a Content Creator must also be highly creative and must be able to create original content with ease. More importantly, a Content Creator must be truly passionate about content and content marketing.

Selecting the right Content Creator

He/she must be well aware of what is happening in the world of content marketing and must actively keep himself/herself updated with the news of the world. So how can you select the right content creator for your company? Here’s how..

• 1. Ask potential candidates for work samples

This may seem very obvious but there are many companies that miss this step. Companies and their recruiters often require potential candidates to take tests in grammar but they never ask for written samples.

A candidate may have very good command over the English language but may not be able to write very well. A good content writer must be able to create interesting and eye-catching content that keeps readers hooked.

Whether you are looking to hire a Content Writer or a Designer, always ask for samples of previous work. This will help you figure out if they will be fit for your company. Moreover, you can gauge the range and depth of the content creator’s work and also be able to figure out the tone and style that the content creator is most comfortable with.

You need to match your content with the tone and personality of the company and a Content Creator’s portfolio is the best way to hire content creators to create the type of content you want.

• 2. Ask them about their favourite authors and websites

Knowing more about a Content Creator’s interests can help you understand if he/she will be good for your brand marketing and building efforts. Don’t make the rookie mistake of hiring a Content Creator that does not have an interest or passion for creating quality content.

A potential candidate who is truly interested in the art and science of content creation and content marketing will definitely have various role models in the content marketing world. Ask potential candidates about their favourite brands in terms of content and the authors that they follow religiously.

You can also ask them about specific articles that they like and why they liked these articles. It goes without saying that you must also check up on the information that the potential candidates are giving you.

You may not know of all the famous people in the content marketing world. So check up on all the names and articles mentioned by the potential candidates to you.

• 3. Ask them about SEO or Search Engine Optimization

Content creation is not only about being creative and original your content should help people find your website easily. One of the most important goals of content marketing is SEO, which means that most companies spend a lot of time, money and effort on content creation and marketing as they want to get more visibility and rank higher on search result pages.

Although companies and content marketers are advised on hiring Journalists as Content Creators, you must make sure that potential candidates know at least the basics of search engine optimization.

Apart from being able to write good articles and being able to find good topics and stories, Content Creators should be able to optimize their articles as much as possible to grab as many eyeballs as possible. They should also be able to make their content easy for search engines to find and crawl. An excellent Content Creator should also be aware of basic social media marketing concepts and should understand how to create content for social media websites.

If you have found a potential candidate that is well-versed in content creation, SEO and social media marketing, it will be wise to hire such a candidate.

• 4. Ask them how much they expect to be paid

This is another question whose answer will let you know if potential candidates are reputable or not.

A good content writer will be well aware of how much his/her peers are getting from other companies and will ask for a salary that is similar. On the other hand, a candidate who has very little experience in the industry and is only looking to make big bucks will ask for an exorbitant amount.