Content is Queen

Content managers are responsible for creating and distributing appropriate content. Agencies leverage the expertise of their employees in this area to design websites for companies or selected products and fill them with tailored content via CMS.

The all-rounder in the media sector

Content – valuable content that is designed to have an impact. Isn't that the essence of an editor's work?

If you're wondering whether there are any significant differences between this familiar job description and that of a content manager, the answer is no. With the constant change in the media world, individual job titles are simply becoming more differentiated.

In addition, content managers cannot ignore the ever-changing media landscape and the new marketing strategies that come with it: A few years ago, their main focus was on print media, but now it is primarily on online content.

The content pattern: it's all about structure

Content. This includes everything from pure HTML code to text and images—in other words, everything that makes up the overall picture of a website today. The more appropriate and carefully considered the content, the more accurate the result in terms of search engine optimization (SEO). While a website is being crawled (i.e., its content is analyzed and indexed by a software program), the program checks, among other things, the keyword density and examines the existing interaction possibilities. This is where the term content marketing comes into play, but more on that later.

In addition to the right keywords, the type, scope, and structure of the content are particularly relevant. It is also important to know how the content can be divided into different elements:

• First and foremost, there is the text. Text-based content is ideally peppered with words and phrases that have been thoroughly researched from an SEO perspective. The text should be structured in a meaningful way and provided with appropriate headings and heading sizes (H1, H2, H3, etc.).

• Images break up text-based content, but they cannot be identified by search engines on their own. Therefore, you should not resort to skilfully avoiding images and videos out of laziness and sending your readers into a wall of text. Instead, images should be provided with appropriate titles, descriptions, and alt tags, which are always displayed by search engines when the media file cannot be displayed.
   
• In keeping with the motto “display the right content,” you should also avoid duplicating content. So-called “duplicate content” is penalized by search engines and the website loses relevance. You should therefore always strive to present the reader with unique content that directly suggests relevance and added value. If the content is of high quality according to Google's principles, you can usually assume that the website will achieve a better position in the search engine rankings.

Everywhere & anyway: dwell time and conversion rate

If you design and structure your website according to the above criteria – and also use not only backlinks but also a comment function or a “call to action” button, for example – you will increase the chance of more website visits, longer dwell times and potential interaction by the user or users.

At the same time, this will also boost the conversion rate in the best case scenario... “Con... what?!”

The transition to content marketing is virtually seamless when this term is mentioned: if content is used to convert readers into customers and buyers, this is referred to as a sophisticated content marketing strategy.

A “key figure” for this concept is the conversion rate, which compares the number of website users to the corresponding sales.

A content marketing strategy also includes distributing text, images, etc. via social networks – in this case, we are talking about social media content. Content played out on various platforms is designed to encourage existing or potential new clients to interact with the respective website and network with the website operator – whose goal is to convey a unique advertising message.

Content is and will remain omnipresent

In conclusion, it should be said that the dynamics of the media industry will continue to be driven by digitalization in the future. However, one thing will never change: content will remain as essential to the survival of a company as water is to us as living beings. As a result, there will always be a need for experts who, like those here at DRIVE, are responsible for managing and maintaining content. Incidentally, there is no single true path to professional training for content managers. However, a background in journalism is an advantage. Agencies are therefore well positioned if they decide to fill a potential content manager position with a journalist.