This is one of the most frequently asked questions that I receive and somehow the way I like to approach this question is who is a content strategist? Possibly because of the simplicity in its answer which is: Everyone.
Yes, as per me, everyone is a content strategist of their lives, their stories and how they choose to share it with the world. And for those of you who are business owners or employees of an organization, then you are also the content strategist for your business.
Ok, so now that we have that one out of the way, the second question becomes what did you do that made me make such a tall claim? In fact, you didn’t even take any certification in content strategy 😛
Well, for the starters, you choose or decide–
- Which person or group of people you would like to interact or connect with?
- How would you like to connect eg. via which medium/ platform, frequency etc.?
- What would you like to build your connect over eg. the common topics of interests or problems etc.?
Basically, every decision to choose to make in relation to making a connection with the outside world, be it with your parents, friends, relatives, supervisor, office colleagues, online community, business prospects, potential employer or any stranger, makes you a content strategist.
But then the obvious question becomes “but what is the content here?” and my simple answer would be YOU.
Now take all the above questions and think it from a business’s point of view and they’ll look something on the lines of:
- What is your target audience?
- Where can you find the majority of your TA (the platforms/ mediums)?
- What would you like to build your connect over (your key topics/ themes/ stories, your value proposition)?
In addition to that just add one more pivotal question which in my opinion is a game-changer:
How would you like to build the connection i.e. developing the storyline?
…and BOOM! If you’re are aptly able to crack that code and device a method to keep doing that consistently then you’re officially a content strategist.
Before I end, let me try to throw some light on what makes this question particularly important. As humans we’ve our thoughts and then we have our personalities. While two people can share a same or similar thought but the way they will express it as an individual is bound to be different for obvious reasons, because they are two different people, two different personalities.
Now, put this in context of a brand, like even though two brands may have similar offerings but still, they’re two different brands and believe it or not, they have two different personalities which is what makes them unique.
Our job as a content strategist is one, and this is the obvious one, to bring out the value proposition with utmost clarity and two present it in the personality of the brand so that it attracts the right TA/ potential customers and makes a connection.
As I think of it, if any you ask me now what does a content strategist do? I would possibly say – he gives personality to a brand’s soul and inevitably, helps in finding its voice.
Find Your Voice 