What does a content strategist actually do?

A content strategist decides what you should be saying and why, before anyone makes anything. That means positioning, audience, the subjects you own and the ones you leave alone, and a publishing rhythm that fits your calendar. A social media manager runs the accounts. The two roles are often sold under the same name and they are not the same job.

How do I judge a content strategist before hiring them?

Look at whether they publish themselves, ask for a dated result with a client name attached, and ask what they would tell you not to do. Someone who has done the work has opinions about what to leave out. Someone who has only read about it agrees with everything you suggest.

Does a content strategist need to be in my industry?

Rarely. What matters is whether they can extract what you know and turn it into something a non-expert wants to watch. Deep industry knowledge in the strategist can even work against you, because the goal is translating your expertise outward rather than talking to peers.

Should I hire a freelancer or an agency?

A freelancer is usually cheaper and gives you one person's judgement, which is fine if you have production covered. An agency makes sense when you need the strategy and the filming, editing and publishing under one roof. The wrong pairing is buying strategy alone when the reason nothing gets made is production.

Hiring guide

How to find a good content strategist in Australia

I work as one, so weight this accordingly. The tests below are the ones I would use if I were hiring somebody else, and a few of them are ones I would rather clients did not know about.

First, the role

A strategist is not a social media manager

A content strategist decides what you should be saying and why, before anyone makes anything. Positioning, audience, the subjects you own, the subjects you deliberately leave alone, and a publishing rhythm that survives your actual calendar.

A social media manager runs the accounts. Both roles get advertised with the same words, and hiring one when you needed the other is the most common expensive mistake in this category.

The tests

Four things that separate real from theoretical

Do they publish themselves?

Not a full time creator, just visible. Someone who has never put their own opinion in public has not felt the part of this that is difficult, and it shows in the advice.

Will they tell you what not to do?

Strategy is subtraction. If everything you suggest gets agreed with, you are being sold to rather than advised. Ask directly what they would cut.

Can they show a dated result with a name on it?

Real figures come off dashboards and look like it, with odd numbers and specific dates. Round numbers with no source usually mean nobody checked.

Do they ask about the business first?

A good first call is mostly about your offer, your margins and where leads currently come from. If it goes straight to platforms and posting frequency, that is a tactician.

Where to look

Finding candidates in the first place

→Look at owners in your market who publish well, and find out who helps them. The work is the advertisement.
→Ask your network for people they have actually paid, not people they follow.
→Search for the specific problem rather than the job title, because the good ones write about the problem.
→Be careful with directory rankings. Many are paid placements dressed as editorial.

That last point applies to lists of best agencies too, including any list I might appear on. Check whether the ranking was bought before you treat it as a recommendation.

Freelancer or agency

Which one fits

A freelancer

Cheaper, and you get one person's judgement without layers. Right when production is already handled and what you lack is direction. Wrong when nothing gets made because nobody has time to make it.

An agency

Right when you need the thinking and the filming, editing and publishing in one place. More expensive because someone is carrying the labour every week. There is a fuller comparison in what this costs in Australia.

Local or not

Does the strategist need to be in Australia?

For strategy alone, not really. It travels fine over a call, and time zones matter more than postcodes. What does help is someone who understands the market you sell into, because tone that works in one country reads badly in another.

For anything involving filming, yes, because somebody has to physically be in the room. If filming is part of the engagement, local means shorter days and less travel built into your week. More on that in choosing an agency in Sydney.

Want a second opinion before you hire anyone?

Book a content audit. We go through your market and what is already being published in it. If what you need is a freelancer rather than an agency, I will say so.

Book a content audit Who I am