What Is A Content Engineer?

Delivering content requires more than the ability to write a snappy headline or put a funny caption above a gif. It demands even more than the skill to make videos that people want to watch and share. It requires a content strategy, a plan that works like a blueprint to create content that consistently generates customer engagement.

That’s a big demand, one that covers a broad range of skills. It’s a bit like turning to an architecture firm when you’re thinking of constructing new offices for your company.

You’d assume that the architects would have a good sense of design. They’d know how to make the building look stylish and impressive. They’d need to be up to date with the latest design trends, know which materials are currently in fashion, and they’d have to be able to innovate, creating a look that’s as unique and special as your business. But they should also have a thorough understanding of engineering and construction, know what kind of cement to use in the walls and how to create the foundations that define and support the experience of living or working in the building.

Those are two very different skill sets — math-based expertise more usually suited to engineers; and a creative aesthetic more usually found among artists — and we look for them both in the same profession.

Professional content engineers need to be equally well-rounded. We need to envision how the final product will feel to users. We have to put together the plans and the infrastructure that determine and support the content strategy. And we also need to make sure that the content works, that it can hold and deliver the key messages that the structure has been designed to communicate. We have to construct strong client engagement through content.

Engineering Content That Works

That content strategy will be based on a professionally planned UX and a carefully designed UI. It has to meet the expectations of the people who use it, people who know what sort of content they’re going to see, how to find it, how to use it — and why they value it.

The content will be planned with their needs in mind and in addition to creating the content, the content engineer will also have created processes that ensure that content can be produced consistently and in a way that speaks to the audience at which it’s aimed. That engineering is the only way to produce and retain customer engagement.

Content engineering is a very different profession to content writing, or copywriting — just as architecture firms are different to interior design firms and automotive engineers do more than roadside repairs. All play a role in creating an attractive, efficient environment but all rely first on the architect — or the engineer — to determine that environment first and to plan its construction.

That’s what we do at Astelo, and in this series of posts, we’re going to explain exactly how content engineering works, what it does, and what it can do for you.

If you have any questions or want to know what content engineering can for you specifically, just drop us a line at contact@astelo.com.

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