Day in the Life: Chief Content Strategist

Curious to know what a content strategist does? What is the job scope of a content strategist and how is a day in his or her life like?

Contrary to popular belief, a content strategist doesn’t just blog or create social media posts. Nor does it simply involve coming up with ad copy or designs.

Rather, a content strategist’s role covers a wide range of duties and responsibilities.

They include multiple disciplines such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), brand storytelling, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), web design, and digital analytics.

In this article, you will learn:

• What content strategy actually is
• What a content strategist does
• What a day in the life of a content strategist is like
• How content strategy compares with copywriting
• The similarities and differences between a content strategist and an online designer
• What steps you can take to be a content strategist.

Ready to learn what goes behind the scenes in a content-focused agency like Cooler Insights?

Let’s go!

What is a Content Strategy?

First, you’ll need to know what a company’s content strategy is.

A content strategy is the process governing the planning, creation, delivery, measurement, and control of content across all channels. These include online channels like websites, social media accounts, emails, and instant messages, as well as offline channels like magazines, annual reports, and newsletters.

A subset of your firm’s content strategy is its content marketing strategy. This is defined as…

“…a digital marketing strategy which involves producing, curating and disseminating valuable content through online channels with the purpose of creating brand awareness, generating business leads, driving sales conversion, or improving customer loyalty.”

In most companies, the content strategy is often intertwined with its communication strategy. Hence, the job of ensuring consistency in messaging across all channels is vested with the Corporate Communications/ Public Relations (PR)/ Public Affairs team.

As more firms embrace digital marketing, however, the roles of content strategy, PR, and content marketing starts to merge.

What Does a Content Strategist Do

Broadly speaking, a content strategist’s job is to develop the content strategy for a business or its clients and to execute that strategy.

This could involve the following job scopes:

• Establish the company’s online brand direction and brand stories
• Conduct research to establish the right SEO keywords and topics
• Develop a content calendar for the company or its brands
• Plan, write and edit content across multiple channels
• Publish and disseminate content across the different channels
• Measure the effectiveness of the content in terms of meeting specific KPIs

Occasionally, a content strategist may also do the following:

• Craft a content brief based on inputs from the client
• Manage content marketing and social media marketing campaigns, working with multiple partners
• Design and wireframe a website, focused on CRO principles
• Liaise with technical specialists (eg SEOs, PPC Advertising specialists, video production houses)

In most organisations, a content strategist works together with other specialists in a content marketing function.

Daily Schedule of a Content Strategist

So what is a day in the life of a content strategist like?

Here’s what a content strategist working in Cooler Insights would typically encounter in a day. Or at least, this is what I’d do!

• 7 am – 8 am: Exercise while listening to a content marketing/ social media marketing podcast
• 8 am – 9 am: Meditate and prepare for the day’s work
• 9 am – 10 am: Read through client/ company briefs as well as emails from boss or client
• 10 am – 11 am: Plan content calendar for Facebook/ Instagram/ LinkedIn for next month
• 11 am – 12 nn: Start drafting article outline for an upcoming 1,000 word article
• 1.30 pm – 2.30 pm: Meet client/boss to present performance reports of ongoing campaign
• 2.30 pm – 3 pm: Schedule upcoming posts for social media or publish blog article
• 3 pm – 4.30 pm: Brainstorm on content ideas for a new client together with team
• 4.30 pm – 5.30 pm: Arrange discussion with graphic designer to sketch out design ideas for upcoming campaign
• 5.30 pm – 6.00 pm: Check on analytics for the day or week (depending on whether ads are run)

This would vary from day to day, but yes, a content strategist does get pretty busy! Sometimes, our days do not end till late. But those days are rare.

For a Chief Content Strategist like me, I usually have to spend more time vetting and editing content as well as manage my team’s work. In an agency, this involves looking at the progress of different clients and establishing the actions needed for each.

Also, I spend a lot of time developing course content as I’m a course developer and trainer in Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Marketing Psychology, Crisis Monitoring, Storytelling and other topics.

To keep updated, I spend my evenings and weekends learning about the latest digital marketing trends, and capturing what I’ve learned in a blog article like this. If time (and energy) permits, I may also shoot a short video (or craft a short post) summarising key lessons to be shared on Instagram Reels, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and X.

From these articles, my team members will repurpose and package them into social media posts, emails, videos, infographics, and other content formats.

Content Strategist vs Copywriter

Is coming up with a content strategy the same as copywriting? Not really.

A content strategist would plan holistically for the content needs of a company, brand or specific campaign across all channels. She would manage the content calendar for the client, determine the best content format (text, photo, video, or infographic), write the content, publish the content, and monitor the results of the content.

Often, a content strategist works with other members of the marketing team to execute and implement a campaign.

A copywriter, on the other hand, focuses purely on the copy (text or writing) of the content formats she is tasked to write copy for. This includes planning and writing the content, liaising with the designers to determine the best layout, and following best practices.

You could say that a content strategist’s role is broader than that of a copywriter. While a content strategist often writes online copy herself, her mandate covers more than just the text in the campaign.

Content Strategist vs Public Relations Officer

What about the job of a corporate communications or PR officer? Wouldn’t that role be the same as that of a content strategist?

Yes and no. Let me explain.

A content strategist is concerned with how the content generated by a company influences its potential customer. This includes content that serves multiple roles — brand storytelling, marketing and sales, customer relations, etc.

Often, this covers the development and management of online content — website and landing page content, social media posts, social media videos, emails, Google Ads, and Facebook Ads.

A public relations officer, on the other hand, focuses primarily on managing the reputation of the company and its brands.

This means that her primary focus is on positioning the organisation in the best light possible, gaining positive media coverage, and ensuring that investors, board members, and other internal and external stakeholders are happy with the company’s progress.

In some cases, the chief content officer (or strategist) may also be the head of PR. In other cases, the chief marketing officer would be the chief content officer.

Content Strategist vs Creative Director/ Art Director/ Producer

Is there a difference then between a content strategist and creative director/ art director?

As someone who came from the old school of advertising before morphing into a digital marketer, this is what I’d say.

A content strategist tends to look at content holistically, across the customer’s buying journey. He may plan a content calendar that includes educational articles focused on specific SEO keywords, social media posts which ride on a trend, design a landing page to optimize conversions, or orchestrate a drip email marketing campaign.

On the other hand, a creative director or art director is primarily focused on capturing audience attention and interest. This may be done through the right combination of images, video footages, and copy, so that the right actions are taken by the target audience.

While a content strategist’s work normally involves all stages of the marketing funnel, a creative director’s attention is normally centred on the advertising aspect of content (ie Top Of Funnel).

How to Become a Content Strategist

Keen to consider a career as a content strategist? What are the skills needed to be a content strategist, and where can you pick them up?

Here are some of the essential skills that any aspiring content strategist should consider to gain:

• Project Management — ability to juggle multiple campaigns and clients, and work with different specialists
• Editorial Writing — a flair for writing content in any formats, but more specifically journalistic style writing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — basic knowledge and understanding of how SEO works, including keyword research, meta-tags, content length, and link building
• Social Media Marketing — good knowledge of how the different social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter work
• Web Management — able to work on Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Magento, or others
• Ad Copywriting — ability to craft short, succinct and action-generating copy for landing pages, emails, and other channels
• Video Scripting/ Storyboarding — ability to craft simple storyboards and scripts for short punchy social videos
• Data Analytics — can analyse and interpret the results of content marketing, SEO, and social media marketing efforts

Beyond these “hard skills”, strong content strategists also possess the following soft-skills:

• Curiosity — an insatiable appetite for knowledge, they consume the latest books, blogs and podcasts in their field
• Grit and Discipline — because it isn’t easy to do this!
• People Management Skills — the need to manage multiple stakeholders and parties makes this mandatory
• Humour — a pinch of this certainly helps
• Visual Thinking — good content strategists can think visually how their content pieces will be laid out

Conclusion

I hope that this article helps you to understand what goes into the job of a content strategist, how it compares to other content-focused professions, and what it takes to be one.

As you can see, it isn’t easy to be one. However, it can be one of the most fulfilling jobs you can do, especially when you get the hang of it.

Are you keen to be a content strategist or are looking for one to help your organisation? Let me know in the comments below!