Should a content manager have knowledge of my industry?

Many companies looking to hire a content manager run into the question: how do I find someone who has both the right skills and knowledge of my industry?

Ideally, then, they also need someone who doesn't live too far away (and thus can work in the office a few days a week) and, of course, the content manager must also fit into the team.

This can be quite a tricky search.

At Buzzlytics, we assist companies in our TAYA Mastery process with hiring and onboarding a content manager. So we know exactly what qualities a content manager needs to be successful.

Spoiler: knowledge of the industry is not one of them.

In this article, we address:

• Why a content manager doesn't have to have knowledge of your industry
• Why this also applies to content managers who write for healthcare or legal or financial services
• Which skills are more important than knowledge of your industry

After reading this article, you'll know what to look for to find the ideal content manager for your business.

Lucas Doornhein is They Ask, You Answer coach at Buzzlytics and helps companies hire and coach and train a content manager. He has coached several content managers and has seen that the most successful content managers did not come from the industry they wrote for.

Luke says:

Knowledge of your industry may even get in the way of your content manager. This is because a content manager with an outside perspective can better put himself in your customers' shoes. He can ask questions that wouldn't even occur to a seasoned content expert, but that your customers are asking.

The most successful content managers are not from the industry for which they write.

"But what about health care and legal and financial services?", I hear you ask. "Surely a content manager can't write on behalf of a doctor?"

Good point.

Indeed, there are some industries in which references are important because inaccurate information can have major consequences for readers (these are also called YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics).

This applies to the following industries:

• Health care. If your content can be considered medical advice, make sure the information has been reviewed by professionals. On WebMD, which is widely visited and highly regarded, each article lists who wrote it and who "medically reviewed" it. If you then click on the name, you can read more about the author and reviewer.
• Legal services. If you have a law firm, have everything on your Web site reviewed (or written) by a lawyer. If casual readers might interpret it as legal advice, it should come from someone with a legal title.
• Financial Services. Anything coming from a financial services company must come from (or be reviewed by) a certified financial expert.

But the content on these types of sites does not necessarily have to be written by content experts.

In any industry, there are two ways you can arrive at an article:

• You have content written by a content expert with extensive knowledge of the topic, and this content is then edited by the content manager.
• Your content manager interviews the content expert and acts as ghostwriter. The content expert then meticulously checks the article for content accuracy.

At Buzzlytics, we recommend always putting the name of the content expert above the article, regardless of whether that person wrote the article themselves and regardless of the industry in which your company operates.

After all, it inspires confidence in any industry if there is a content expert's name above the article.

Of course, it is important that the content of the article is correct. So a ghostwritten article should always be checked by a content expert before publication. For the content expert himself, it is also nice to know which articles are published on his behalf.

But this applies to every industry; not just health, legal and finance.

To return to the question: even if you are active in one of these three industries, it is not necessary that your content manager has knowledge of your industry. So long as you make sure the content he writes is checked by a content expert.

So knowledge of your industry is not necessary. So what knowledge and skills does your content manager need to have?

Glad you asked, below I share the four most important ones.

Chances are, your content manager needs to be a jack of all trades. He'll probably focus primarily on content for your blog, but he won't stop there. He will also have to write web copy, buyers' guides, social media posts, emails, and so on. So when hiring a content manager, make sure he can write different types of texts.

Google rewards websites that are updated regularly. If you want to be seen as a reliable company, you need to publish content regularly (we recommend two to three new articles per week). So the person responsible for this must be able to handle deadlines well.

An additional advantage of a writer who goes well on deadlines: he can also move quickly if, for example, sales needs an article on a particular topic as soon as possible.

A good content manager must be able to handle deadlines well.

Your content manager should regularly interview content experts on a variety of topics. To do this, it is important that he ensures that the content experts enjoy being interviewed.

This means your content manager:

• Must ensure a thoughtful process
• Must build rapport with sometimes as many as dozens of colleagues
• Must be able to confidently transform a transcript into a publication-ready piece of content

Your content manager may work on his own. In that case, he must edit his own work.

There may also be several internal and external writers. In that case, he edits the work of colleagues or freelance writers.

In either case, the content manager's editing skills must be top notch. You don't want a site full of errors.

A content manager's editing skills must be top notch.

In addition, the content manager must have an eye for relationships. A content manager editing the work of his colleagues cannot simply grab a (virtual) red pen with which to go through the text. Coaching and encouragement are just as important as giving critical feedback.

A content manager does not need to have specific industry knowledge to perform his role well. On the contrary, a fresh, external perspective can be very valuable.

Therefore, it is more important that your content manager has the right skills than that he has knowledge of your industry. He will gain that knowledge as he goes along.

At Buzzlytics, we have coached and trained content managers in a variety of industries, and we have seen time and again that content managers who had never written for a specific industry before can be very successful in their role.

Are you excited about They Ask, You Answer and want us to help you, too, find, train and coach a top content manager for your business? Then schedule a consultation with one of our They Ask, You Answer consultants today.