Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a content writer and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A content writer writes a wide variety of unique materials for blogs, social media, magazines, and websites. He/she also works with marketing teams to produce engaging content to market particular brands.

A person in this position does not need much education qualifications, but they must have a good command of language and a thing for writing. Other specific duties include researching ideas and facts that relate to the concept assigned by their client. He/she selects ideas that could be used to make creative pieces, which would meet the intended need, is mandated to write original content although informed by research and also manages the company's social media presence.

Core Skills Required to be a Content Writer

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A content writer should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Writing Skills:

Written Communication involves the interaction that makes use of the written word with precision and logic making it the very common form of business communication.

A Content Writer must necessarily learn and stay updated on effective written communication skills that involve the construction of a logical argument, note taking, editing and summarizing as well as incorporating new ways of writing presentations.

Interpersonal Skills:

Interpersonal Skills are a set of abilities that enable a person to positively interact and work with others effectively while avoiding office disputes and personal issues with each other.

A Content Writer must learn the importance of these skills in the workplace and emphasis on every employee possessing them to build a more cohabit able and productive workplace with the help of each.

Delegation:

Delegation is assigning responsibility or authority to another person a junior or subordinate to carry out specific activities while remaining accountable for the outcome.

A Content Writer must be equipped with skills on how to make the delegation work correctly to save the organization time and money and to allow the subordinate make wise decisions, skills, and motivation to become better and grow the company.

Enthusiasm:

Enthusiasm is an intense enjoyment or a lively interest in a certain thing with a zest and a strong belief that can be felt by those around you.

A Content Writer ought to be enthusiastic as well as create a friendly atmosphere that makes the staff comfortable with the surroundings, with the other employees to create a less passive working place.

Self Confidence:

Self Confidence is the ability to know who you are and what you are capable of doing which shows in your behavior, your body language, how you speak, etc.

A Content Writer must be confident enough to inspire confidence in others while encouraging them to handle daily tasks and their personal lives with self-confidence that will, in turn, produce a well-rounded individual.

Conceptual Thinking:

Conceptual Thinking is the ability to recognize a situation or problem by identifying patterns or connections while addressing the underlying issues.

A Content Writer must be a conceptual thinker who has a keen understanding of why things have to be done the way they are; he has to think at an abstract level and apply his insights to the situation across all facets to compete in the diverse and growing economy.

Personal Drive:

Personal Drive is a combination of desire and energy in its simplest form directed at achieving a goal in whatever you have set your heart to accomplish.

A Content Writer needs to creatively design ways that drive the staff to carry out their work without wasting time by helping them understand and develop their self-motivation skills that assist them to take control of many different viewpoints of their life.

Organizational Skills:

Organizational Skills is the ability to make use of time, energy and resources available in the most efficient manner to achieve their goal.

A Content Writer should organize the work for the employees to ensure overall organization, planning, time management, scheduling, coordinating resources and meeting deadlines is handled most efficiently by each employee for both personal and professional growth.

Quality of Work:

The quality of Work is the value of work or products produced by the employees as well as the work environment they are provided with.

A Content Writer needs creativity in assisting all teams in identifying characteristics that will result in a quality product and lead to greater efficiency and increased productivity by following the four critical outcomes of employee retention, customer satisfaction, profitability, and productivity.

Technical Skills:

Technical Skills are the abilities and knowledge mostly related to mechanical, IT, scientific and mathematical needed to perform specific tasks in the workplace.

A Content Writer ought to hire employees with particular talents and expertise that helps them perform certain duties and jobs that other skills like soft skills cannot perform to grow both the business and the employee and bring in productivity.

Hard Skills Required to be a Content Writer

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A content writer should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Content Writer: Hard skills list

Administrative
Analysis
Author Meetings
Blogging
Budgeting
Business Storytelling
Communications
Computers
Content Development
Content Management
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Content Review
Contracts
Copyright Laws
Copywriting
Copy Editing
Creative Writing
Desktop Publishing Software
Developmental Editing
Devise Structure
Digital Content Editing
Digital Media
Distribution
Drafting
Editing
Editorial
Electronic Design Specifications
Eliminating Jargon
Establishing Tone
Fact Checking
Feature Writing
Final Manuscript Production
Formatting
Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation
Grant Proposals (write grant proposals)
HTML
Identifying Audience
Identifying Theme
InDesign
Indexing
Interpersonal
Interviewing Techniques
Journalism
Journalist Ethics
Language
Layout Creation
Line-by-line Editing
Magazine Writing
Manuscript Creation
Marketing Communications
Marking Color Breaks
Marking Head Levels
Mark-Ups
Mechanics of Style
Media Writing
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Word or Word Processing
Mock-Ups
Newsletters
News Writing
Online Editing
Online Research
On-line Search Techniques
Page Layout and Composition Techniques
Pagination
Presentation Writing
Print Writing
Project Editing
Project Management
Proofreading
Proofreading symbols
Proposal Writing
Publishing formats and Technologies
Research
Report Writing
Revising
Rewriting
Rhetorical Triangle
Rough Manuscript Edits
Social Media
Social Media Marketing
Spelling
Story Development
Strong Vocabulary
Structure
Structural Editing
Style
Style Manuals
Stylistic Editing
Substantive Editing
Technical Writing
Terminology
Tone
Typesetting
Vandyke Checking
Verbal Communications
Vocabulary
Voice
Web Content Writing
Web Publishing
WordPress
Working Sketches
Written Communications
Writing
Writing & Procedures & Documentations

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