Should I be a content strategist?

Ever found yourself scrolling and suddenly falling in love with a brand you’d never even heard of five minutes ago? That was likely no accident — that was content strategy.

If you’ve ever wondered who’s behind all the content online that keeps us clicking, a content strategist might just be your future job.

Every company with an online presence needs to communicate with customers, new audiences, and the internet at large. So, they need a plan or strategy for what to say, how to say it, and when.

Content strategy is less about hands-on content creation and more about the big-picture plan behind what gets made, why, for whom, and how to structure it and keep it all organized.

Photo by Kaleidico on Unsplash

Here are some typical tasks a content strategist might do:

• Analyze content to see what’s working, what’s missing, and what needs updating by looking at different types of data

• Research target audiences, content topics, competitors, and trends

• Create content calendars so the right things get published at the right time

• Develop style guides so everything looks and sounds consistent

• Decide on workflows for how content gets made, organized, reviewed, and published

Content strategy often overlaps with other jobs and can have different specializations, so the role can look pretty different depending on the company you’re in. The two main flavors are:

• Marketing, social media & copywriting: growing audiences, running campaigns, managing social media, and building communities.

• User experience (apps and websites): making sure content and information inside apps and websites make sense to the people using them, and that the whole experience is relevant.

This means you'll find content strategists working across a variety of industries: tech, government, marketing, and advertising agencies, or any organization that sells products or services.

Most content strategists don't start as content strategists. It's a high-level role, so employers typically want to see real content creation experience first — which will definitely help make you a better strategist later!

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For junior roles, expect your responsibilities to include a mix of things. My first internship in the field was a mix of content strategy, graphic design, copywriting, and social media.

A relevant degree in something like marketing or communications is preferred, but what matters more is your experience and a portfolio of work that shows your skills in action.

In the US, content strategists earn between $71K–$120K a year (as of 2026).

• Average: $82K

In Canada, content strategists earn between $56K–$83K (as of 2026).

• Average: $68K

• You're a big-picture thinker. You don't just have ideas, you love getting organized and planning how to bring your ideas to life.

• You're equal parts creative and analytical. You’re a creative problem-solver but also not afraid to dig into data and analyse the details.

• You're a natural storyteller. You care about what you're saying and why it matters to the person reading it.

• You like understanding people. What do they need? What are they searching for? Why do they click on some things and scroll past others?

• You love making, not planning. If so, strategy alone might feel frustrating. You'll be deciding what gets made and planning future content more than making it yourself.

• You're not very organised. You'll need to be very strong at setting priorities and keeping track of things over a long time.

• You prefer working solo. Content strategists collaborate with lots of different people — they can't bring their plans to life on their own!

• You don't love data. You'll need a data-driven mindset and analytical skills to pull out insights from data.

  

Still in? If content strategy sounds like the path for you, then here’s what you can do next: