- Step 1: Determine The Type Of Content You Need.
- Step 2: Writing A Job Posting.
- Step 3: Select The Best Application.
Content is gold. If you have been keeping up with the trends within the entertainment industry in the last few years, you already know how important content is to consumers' decisions regarding a brand. Here’s what to know about finding the right person who'll create it for you.
Step 1: Determine The Type Of Content You Need
Each of the online platforms requires a different approach to the content - from blogs and emails to social media like TikTok or Instagram. Using the same thing for every single one of those is impossible.
While using professional actors and influencers is part of a great marketing strategy, for the most part, they don’t create the content you see in brand advertising. This means hiring such a person won’t be enough in any case, especially if you don’t have everything ready at hand.
Content creators focus on creativity and quality over simply getting the highest statistics numbers; that’s why the end result of their creations is more genuine than simply making an influencer or actor flash your brand on their social media.
Of course, there’s more to being a ‘content creator’ than just announcing you have a vacancy for one. There are many types of content, and while many creators are advanced in more than one of those, determining what exactly you need from the get-go is your best bet in receiving the highest quality of results.
You might also be interested in:
Written Content
If you need written content, you should specify whether it’s for a blog, social media captions, or an online website. Even releasing it in print would be a different ordeal. While it’s true that all of these are quite similar, many content writers still could be specialized in just one of them, while the rest doesn’t play their strong side enough.
Video Content
If you need video content, it’s a whole different game. Not only you’ll need a person who's tech-savvy, but also the content creator has to be familiar with the specific type of video you need.
Do you need content for an advertising campaign, social media engagement boosting, covering an event, or simply regular video stories? Does the creator need to deliver you the videos daily, weekly or monthly? Not every video content creator will also have the necessary technologies, or even the potentially needed filming team at hand, so that’s another thing to consider here.
Photo Content
If you need photo content, the level of expertise of the author should depend on what exactly you are looking for - professional product shoots, reports from an event, or engaging content for social media, amongst other things. Each of these plays a different role for your brand, so a photography enthusiast with a smartphone sometimes simply won’t be enough.
Graphic Design Content
If you need graphic design content, it will have to be created from scratch. Most graphic designers are as skilled in making logos and banners as they are in crafting visuals for social media, but the quality of their work is what accounts for the biggest difference within the market. Also, it’s important to know from the beginning if you want your own ideas created or you’ll need the designer to use their creative mindset to present you with several options.
Audio Content
You can even consider options like audio content. Ever since podcasts are experiencing a massive and rapidly growing interest on various platforms, each and every single topic of discussion can find its audience in a major way. Your brand surely can benefit from it too.
Mood of Content
Regardless of whichever you choose to have, one thing all of those content types should really have in common is the overall mood. What is your brand’s image? What do you wish to achieve with the content you publish?
For example, with well-written and detailed blog articles, you can not only dramatically grow the organic traffic of the given outlet but also keep your consumers appropriately informed and embrace their reputation as experts in your field.
If you have a constant flood of news and updates, email newsletters will allow you to further attract consumers to your products and content, like the aforementioned blog posts. The content creator will know how to write the right headlines and make the email personal enough so it gets opened instead of sent to the trash bin or marked as spam.
Ultimately, video content will continue to be the preferred type of online user. By being able to use it relatively passively, you can keep the consumer's attention with videos far better than it could ever be with written content. It takes less time to get to the point, less acting on its own, and is generally more entertaining. Through it, you can not only connect with your loyal customer base but also simply gain more general attention while informing about the news.
Having a clear and consistent image within all of the platforms that your brand appears on will avoid confusing the target audience. Content is easily controllable, and the more options you explore, the higher the chances of reaching your brand’s goals.
Step 2: Writing A Job Posting
It might be too confusing for the content creators to receive complete freedom on a project and dangerous for you and your brand to reach the results you’re hoping for, so have at least some main strategy points ready. Once you have figured out everything regarding the first step, as well as determining your budget, start and end dates, and, of course, the goals for this project, it’s time to tell the world what you are looking for.
In the job posting, the four key things to include are the scope of the given project, the deadline for it, the budget or projected salary, and the way you’re planning to pay it. The latter is very important in the case of hiring freelancers since there are plenty of options: paying upfront, afterward, in separate payments, e.g., per piece of content, etc.
How much does it cost to hire a content creator?
The salary of a content creator will depend not only on the amount of work you’ll have for him or her but also on the hours expected and the experience. The experience of a content creator normally is divided into beginner, intermediate, pro, and expert, which plays the main role in the salary number requested. Also, the salary and the requirements will differ if you want the person to freelance or hire them full-time.
One of the best places to post your job listing is the allcasting.com casting network. Here you'll have access to nearly 2 million active talent based in the US and Canada with different backgrounds. You'll be able to easily connect with people who can provide you with all kinds of content that will suit your business needs. Most of the talent there already have industry experience and are comfortable in front of the camera, which means higher-quality content for you. The best part of allcasting.com is that you can post your listing absolutely for free!
Also Read: Is It Possible to Make a Living by Being a Film Extra?
Step 3: Select The Best Application
Finally, it’s time to go through all of the people who responded to the job opening by applying for it.
It’s crucial that your chosen candidate can relate and empathize with the brand’s target audience in the long term. You need someone who can play to your consumers' liking instead of trying to give them something radically opposite to what the creator prefers himself or herself all of a sudden. Not every candidate will be a good fit, even if their track record says otherwise.
Don’t base your decision only on what the candidates claim in their application. Have a close look at their previous working relationships and portfolios to learn how effective and consistent they have been to get an idea of what this person can bring to your brand if you decide to move further on with him or her.
In the case of choosing a content creator, you might as well take your time and research their own activities online or while working with different brands. See their content frequency, accessibility, and everything else you think is important for your specific project. Of course, don’t leave the candidates hanging for too long either, or you’ll possibly be the one who doesn’t get the right person for the job. The optimal time for such research would range from one to two weeks at the very most. The most in-demand content creators gain new offers faster than others, so by delaying the response, you are likely to lose this person to a faster-responding brand, possibly even your competitors.
If you liked more than the one candidate you chose, make sure to keep the shortlist for future projects of this sort. Nothing is certain, so it would be wise to avoid going through this process all over again soon. For your convenience, we advise you to use allcasting's easy-apply option when posting your gig - you'll be able to shortlist and decline talent on the platform quickly. Furthermore, you can save contacts of the talent that you want to save for your other projects.
While this is the most important part of the process, and it ultimately helps you decide whom you want to entrust with creating the brand’s content, it’s also the most relatively simple and direct one.
The end game of this whole ordeal is along the lines of increased brand awareness, higher social media channel reach and engagement, as well as better sales, and time saved for yourself and your team. Keep involved even after the hire is complete by giving meaningful feedback, tracking the content creators' results, and optimizing accordingly. Good luck!