Finding and hiring writers for your content marketing is essential if you want to get the most from your content marketing campaign. To operate a successful business in the digital age, it is crucial to produce and publish high-quality content consistently. Whether you’re drafting blog posts, informative articles, or email newsletters, you’ll need exceptional writing to grab your reader’s attention. There are thousands of content creators online, and finding great writers isn’t easy. Fortunately, this post details five steps to find and hire great writers.
Create your brand’s content style guidelines
The first step is to create step-by-step guidelines for your brand. The guidelines are a set of rules for how you present your content and presence online for your brand. If you do not have your brand’s content style guidelines, the overall presentation of your brand will lack clarity.
Without clarity, you will hire writers who will guess how to represent your brand in the content. Having clear guidelines for your brand gives your writers a roadmap to follow when writing content that matches your brand. If you want to grab your audience’s attention and retain them, maintain consistency and a personality to earn their trust.
Find the right writer
Now, it’s time to select your content writer from the list of applicants. To find the best writers, consider what kind of content you want. Start by making a list of potential candidates.
Once you have compiled a list, begin interviewing them by asking about their experience, writing process, and how they would approach your project. You can also see samples of their work and reviews from past clients if available. Remember to also talk about what you’ll expect from them after hiring regarding payments and deadlines.
Carry out a skills-based assessment
When hiring content writers, you need people who can write for the internet and have expertise in your niche. If you hire a writer who has no experience in your field, it will appear in your content and this will cost you. You need to give the applicants a real assignment brief, similar to the one they would receive if they were already working for you. Include the following in the brief:
- Word count
- Keywords
- Voice and tone to follow
- Some examples to follow for inspiration
The feedback you’ll get from the applicants after the test speaks volumes about their skills. Carrying out a skill-based assessment will help you identify the expertise you are looking for.
Be involved throughout the writing process
You need to be involved in the writing process if you want exceptional results. Though most business owners would want writers to run the writing process on their own, it would be helpful if you played the role of an editor if you don’t have one. If you entrust writers to do it all on their own, you will be disappointed.
Endnote
Hiring the right content writers is key to the success of your brand. Great writers don’t happen by accident, if you want to enjoy the fruits of content marketing in the digital age, you must invest time to find and train top candidates. Use the above steps to find and hire excellent writers and see growth in your business.
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