Creating a Content Marketing Team: A #CMWorld Chat with Michele Linn

For those of us that aren’t sole proprietors or solopreneurs, we have an opportunity to create a content marketing team within our organizations. Great news, right? It is…but making sure the team is built best for your company and your customers’ needs is a critical step toward success.

At CMI, we’ve been fortunate to build our content marketing team from the ground up, and our VP of Editorial, Michele Linn, shares some insights we’ve learned along the way, coupled with some CMI research for you to take back to your management as you begin creating your team.

Check out our Storify recap for some great conversations, and read some of our favorite highlights below.

What comes first? Who comes first?

What a daunting task this is, so how do you get started? Do you find a person to lead the charge, or do you work with management to build a strategy on what you’re looking for? Do you hire someone full-time or bring someone in on a trial basis?

A2: An excellent editor. You can interview people to create raw content, but you need to have someone to shape it and polish it. #cmworld

— Maureen Jann (@MaureenOnPoint) June 20, 2017

A2: Hire someone to lead the strategy + plan. This person should ideally also write and edit #cmworld

— Michele Linn (@michelelinn) June 20, 2017

A2) A Content manager to oversee planning and liaising with people in the business should be first before production staff #CMWorld

— Ben Hollom (@benhollom) June 20, 2017

A2: You also need someone to focus on promotion and distribution: Social and email are critical. Influencer mktg is a plus, too #cmworld

— Michele Linn (@michelelinn) June 20, 2017

A2 #1 thing when forming a #content team is to figure out what kind of content you need. Then figure out skills and resources. #cmworld

— Tod Cordill (@todcordill) June 20, 2017

When interviewing, ask the right questions.

 And “right” doesn’t mean the same as everyone else. Think of creative questions to see if a candidate fits the personality of your team, of their potential role, and of the industry. Think of how this person will work with others, find out what makes them tick, and what energizes them.

A6: Describe a time a project you worked on failed. How did you react? What would you do differently? #cmworld

— Michele Linn (@michelelinn) June 20, 2017

A6: My favorite interview question:

What’s one question you’ve had throughout your life and never been able to answer, and why?#CMWorld

— Jeff Reno(e) ? (@Renoe) June 20, 2017

A6: My favorite interview question:

What’s one question you’ve had throughout your life and never been able to answer, and why?#CMWorld

— Jeff Reno(e) ? (@Renoe) June 20, 2017

A6) We design specific competency based questions for each role. Some highlight skills, some personality #CMWorld

— Ben Hollom (@benhollom) June 20, 2017

A6) We design specific competency based questions for each role. Some highlight skills, some personality #CMWorld

— Ben Hollom (@benhollom) June 20, 2017

There were so many great ideas tweeted in today’s chat not included in this blog post. Check out the Storify link above to create your team, your interview questions, and so much more.

Good luck as you begin, expand, or fine tune your content marketing team. Watch the CMI blog for more insights on teams, operations and processes as well!

Speaking of teams, we’d love to see you and your team at Content Marketing World. Teams that build and execute their strategy together are the most successful!. Code SM100 saves you $100 at checkout.