PR Training

Fantasy Draft: Selecting Your Ideal Content Team

It’s that time of year. Football season is upon us, which means tailgating, rivalries and, of course, fantasy sports.

Each year, millions of people play fantasy football, and just like it’s important for you to draft a winning team, it’s important for content marketers to recruit an all-star content team.

From data analysis to content planning, it’s crucial to make sure the right people are occupying the right positions. To help prepare for your fantasy content draft, here are the five key positions you’ll want to target:

1. Content Strategist/Quarterback

A football team needs a quarterback running its offense, just like a marketing team needs a strong strategist handling its content. Your content quarterback needs to see the whole field, including clients and all team members. In football, each play runs through the quarterback; in content, each project runs through your strategist.

Whether it’s idea generation, story development or charting goals, your strategist is going to be involved in nearly every one of the successful plays for your team, big and small. Like a quarterback, your strategist should be a leader, keeping your team’s big-picture goals in mind while guiding your squad to success.

2. Writer/Running Back

They may seem easy to find, but a talented wordsmith with a background in journalism is as valuable as a workhorse running back who can do the heavy-lifting in an offense. Like a running back, a good writer can put their head down and plow through a pile of work, churning out the perfect message while the rest of your team tackles the visual production.

Sure, sitting behind a keyboard may seem a bit different from running with a football, but both jobs require a specific set of skills that can’t be easily replaced. Find a reliable writer who can interview, copy edit and communicate effectively, and they’ll help you score.

3. Multimedia Expert/Wide Receiver

Often, wide receivers are the star of the show, making spectacular catches, darting into the end zone and celebrating with style. In the same way that receivers spice up an offense, your cameraperson and multimedia team add style and flare to your content with the visuals necessary for a successful campaign. Just like you can’t rely on a single receiver for your football team, you can’t just rely on one multimedia expert.

A squad full of talented people on your multimedia team is crucial, especially because the visual element of a campaign is 40 times more likely to be shared. If you build the right group of multimedia experts — or wide receivers — you can be sure they’ll get plenty of end zone celebrations in big wins.

4. Social Media Lead/Tight End

If you don’t draft the right tight end during fantasy football, you’ll have a major hole in your team. The same goes for a social media expert. There are now more than 2.3 billion social media users worldwide and a content team needs someone who knows how to reach audiences far and wide to amplify your message.

That’s where your tweeting tight end comes in; they can’t fill the same role as the running backs or wide receivers, but you’ll miss them if they’re not there. By promoting posts, managing relationships and organizing paid campaigns, your social media expert makes sure your content gets seen.

5. Data Analyst/Defense  

Most people don’t think about choosing their fantasy team’s defense in the early rounds, but a defense can win or lose a matchup. Similarly, a dedicated data analyst on your content team can make or break your operation.

They’re easy to overlook, but an in-house data analyst can improve your whole team’s strategy by providing more information on the success of your campaigns, the valuable metrics and the goals for the future. When selecting your content team, don’t forget to round it out with a data expert who can prove the success of the rest of your squad.

This fantasy season, get just as hyped for choosing your favorite quarterback as your own content marketing team members.

By combining the specialized skills of each of your internal players, you’ll have a balanced team who can take your content straight to the championship game.


Lisa Arledge Powell is president of MediaSource, an award-winning creative agency that specializes in content-focused public relations, content marketing and national media exposure for major brands. Connect with Lisa on Twitter: @LisaArledge

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Lisa Arledge Powell

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