DIRECTOR OF CONTENT

Step one, let’s talk about the roles of a director of content! You’ll learn about the responsibilities, challenges, and organizational structure. Then you’ll study successful examples of content directors.

• Introduction to the roles of a content director
• Education requirements
• Key responsibilities
• Case studies of successful content directors

Tackle your content strategy from all angles to align it with your company’s goals. Get into the swing of things by approaching content audits, message consistency, and tone of voice with strategic precision.

• Introduction to content strategy
• Aligning content strategy with company mission & objectives
• Content planning
• Consideration of brand, customer journey, jobs to be done, etc.
• Persona-based segmentation
  

Assignment #1: Content Strategy
Choose a company, and analyze its visual style, core values, unique value proposition, target audience, and competitors.

Consistency is key! Use it to synchronize your brand’s presence across multiple mediums. Find out which brand elements need to be maintained and how to adjust these elements to match your brand’s vibe.

• Ensure a consistent brand identity
• Brand elements: logos, color schemes, typography & brand voice
• Creating brand-compliant content
• Multi-channel consistency & cross-platform guidelines
  

You have a target audience – but how can you get to know them better? We’re going to dissect research methods and define target audience segments today! Virginia has some great case studies and methods lined up for you to help you tailor your messages to specific personas.

• The importance & methods of audience research
• The importance of segmentation & defining audiences
• Demographic & behavioral research
• Case study: Customizing content for younger audiences
• CTAs
  

Assignment #2: Brand and Persona Development
Choose a brand, and analyze its personality, voice, and offerings. Research to understand your target audience and create key personas with demographics, psychographics, and behavioral traits.

Work SMART-er not harder. Learn how to use SMART principles to steer projects and complete content calendars. By the end of today, you’ll have the right tools, templates, and strategies needed to launch your content planning.

• Setting clear content goals as a director (SMART)
• Mission & values in content planning
• Leadership in content calendar development
• Cross-functional partnership models
• Intent framework
  

Assignment #3: Define a Content Campaign
Define a content campaign by outlining 5 pieces of required content and use the SMART criteria to support your goals.

Familiarize yourself with the nuances of different content channels and types of media. This will lead you to understand the pros & cons and distribute content more strategically. Couple that with the tools for content syndication and amplification – and you’ll be off to a great start with even greater results.

• Strategic planning & channel selection
• Types of media (owned, earned & paid)
• Content amplification & syndication
• Alignment of content with channel & audience behaviors
• Content atomization strategy
  

Assignment #4: Content Distribution Plan
Create a strategic plan for distributing campaign content, including amplification, atomization, and syndication.

Set the foundation to ensure your content has the best outreach. There are so many forms of marketing available: content, digital, social media, influencer, email, SEO, event, affiliate, brand & guerilla. As a director, we’ll focus on the roles you play to optimize your content strategies.

• Introduction to the marketing landscape
• Types of marketing
• Content optimization strategies
• Link-building & backlink strategies
  

Time to put in work! We’ll kick off this workshop by discussing the importance of brand strategies, global trends, and adaptation. Then we’ll break off into groups to ideate a marketing solution based on a short brief.

• Content director role & responsibilities
• Marketing solutions & implementation
• Market considerations
• Optimizing content for best outreach
  

Assignment #5: Competitive Brand Analysis
Assess a competitor’s campaign by describing its name, objectives, CTA, success, message, and alignment with brand identity.

Train your brain to keep up with the way generative AI is transforming content creation. Aside from learning how to use AI tools responsibly, you’ll understand how this might impact careers in the field, both positively and negatively.

• Overview of generative AI tech used in content creation
• Balancing AI-driven & human creativity in content production
• Generative AI vs. job roles & skills requirements
• Preparing for an AI future in content creation.
  

Manage your content from a high-level view. Content governance is important, but why? Delve into strategies that ensure content quality, consistency, and compliance hit the bullseye across all platforms & channels.

• Establishing content standards & guidelines
• Creating a BOM
• Content lifecycle management
• Roles & responsibilities in content governance
• Tools & technologies for content governance
  

Enter the world of data! We’re going to learn how to use data collection tools such as Google Analytics. These insights will help you review your reach, and by the end of class, you’ll learn how to communicate these findings to your team.

• Key metrics & KPI for content
• Data collection and tools
• Dashboard creation
• Report creation & communication
• Internal promotion & self/team marketing
  

Jump right into the role of a content director with practice leading. Add tools to your arsenal that help manage teams and resolve conflicts. You’ll get the full picture of what it’s like to build teams and assign tasks based on roles.

• Roles & responsibilities within a content team
• Potential challenges in managing content teams
• Strategies for maintaining open communication channels
• Encouraging a creative culture & motivating teams

Assignment #6: Building and Leading Content Teams
Define your campaign team structure, cross-functional teams, external resources, and gaps to write a persuasive note to your CMO.

You’re about to be a next-level content director. There will be challenges. There will be conflicts. There will be a team looking up to you. Prepare yourself to leverage KPIs & performance expectations to promote skill development. Get ready to build and keep your team uplifted!

• The director’s role in team building
• Team formation & leadership styles
• Setting performance expectations (KPIs & metrics)
• Promoting skill development
• Challenges, conflicts & conflict resolution
  

End the course by starting to make a name for yourself in the industry. Figure out if you want to be a specialist or a generalist and perfect your personal brand. You have an instructor and peers to network with, but you’ll learn how to expand it wider to benefit your job search.

• Job market insights & skills in demand
• Case studies: successful career paths
• Personal branding & thought leadership in the industry
• Specialization & generalization
• The importance of networking & strategies
  

Assignment #7: Director of Content Cover Letter
Research the job market for director of content roles, find a job listing that interests you, and write a cover letter highlighting your skills and experiences.