Working-from-home is now the new normal. People are finding ways to have a source of income at home like online jobs to protect themselves from the virus. But what can you do?
If you’re a writer or you have a knack for words, becoming a content editor might be the perfect career for you.
Content editors write and scrutinize content for marketing purposes like blogs, webpages, white papers, and so on. They are integral in the company’s inbound marketing strategies, and they make sure that all the content is error-free and within the company’s brand guidelines.
But how do you do it? Here are the 9 essential skills you should have to become a successful content editor.
Know Your Audience
As a content editor, it all starts with knowing who your brand is targeting. Who is your audience? What are their demographics? What content do they respond best to?
You oversee the cohesiveness of your client’s content. You check if the content is easily digestible by your audience. You must know this fundamental skill so that you can cater to your target audience better.
Experience as a Writer
As the adage says, experience is the best teacher. And if you’re a writer back then, editing content might actually be easier. You know the creative process. You know what tools writers use. It will come in handy when you put yourself in their shoes (or pens) and correct mistakes they might have.
Strong Command in Grammar
When content writers write content, they might mistakenly forego certain grammatical rules. It might be because of time constraints. But for whatever reason, no one’s perfect.
Yes, there are tools like Grammarly and all, but it can only do so much. Nothing beats a content editor with strong command in grammar. You can check the basic grammar rules while assuring the content is cohesive enough for your brand’s standards.
Attention to Detail
As a content editor, attention to detail is probably a 90% prerequisite. For all writers under your quality control, you should have the ability to spot their mistakes and correct them the best way you can.
Adaptable: Different Writing Styles
We all have our writing styles. But one style can’t be used for every media. For example, a blog can be conversational and entertaining, but a press release might be more straightforward. And it doesn’t end there.
There are different voices for different types of content. Is it better to make your content authoritative? Or a calm friend-like tone is better?
As a content editor, you should know different writing styles to adapt to your client’s needs.
Up-to-date
Marketing involves riding the current trends and practices that are effective for your customers. As a content editor, you should be up-to-date with this information. It should reflect the current content your team is churning out.
It’s your job to suggest or implement such changes. In this way, you can position your company to capitalize more exposure.
Basic SEO
Content Marketing revolves around people building engagement and authority for specific topics. And to make you visible to many, companies need to adopt SEO strategies. It allows them to be visible with particular keywords in Google search.
As a content editor, you need to understand Basic SEO and apply it to all the content you are editing.
Collaboration Skills
You will not be working alone. Content editors work hand-in-hand with writers, graphic designers, and marketing specialists to create the most effective content for your goals. You need collaboration skills to collate all the ideas and work with them well.
Analytics
What you don’t measure, you don’t improve. As a content editor, you need to interpret data like traffic and views to create better content. You should not be clueless with these numbers.
You can use these findings to prepare a plan and improve everyone’s writing under your team.
Conclusion
There you have it! Here are the skills you need to become a successful content editor. Do you want to be a content editor? Check out this link for open opportunities for your career. Good luck!
