Star Wars Episode 8: A New Jedi is out. And I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of fun watching the newest installment. I’ve really enjoyed Rey’s fierce character, and Finn is so easy a character to love. It’s fun to think about who I would want to go into battle with at my side.
After reading Ann Gynn’s Who Would You Add to Your Content Marketing Team? on the Content Marketing Institute’s blog, I started to think about which Star Wars characters I’d want on my content marketing team. Here’s what I came up with.
C-3PO For Analytic Prowess And Data Processing
When writing content that sells, it’s vital to know your analytics. How many page views did you have last month? How many of those page views converted to sales?
C-3PO could calculate percent increases in how many followers you have on Twitter, and he could tell you whether that one article you wrote helped or harmed your efforts. You could also ask him to analyze data from the competitors, handle your A/B testing, and put together a solid marketing plan based on facts and demographics.
Lando Calrissian For SEO Expert
Lando Calrissian is one of my favorite characters in the franchise. Before becoming Baron Administrator of Cloud City, he was a card player, gambler, and smuggler.
He would be the perfect person to slide those keywords into your content so that it would have a good search engine ranking – without reading anything like spam. In fact, you may not even notice that the keywords are right there, in the content, creating the value your audience is looking for.
Rey As Sales Manager
It’s important to have someone on your content marketing team that knows how to turn leads into closed sales. There is a very subtle art in taking someone who is inquiring about your products or services and turning that person into a customer or client.
Rey doesn’t miss a detail, and she is able to draw a lot of strength from the Force. In fact, she is so powerful that Luke Skywalker is afraid of her when she seeks out his assistance. She would make a very powerful ally out in the world since she would know what to say in order to close the deal. She is also far more personable than Luke, and her charismatic charm completes the package necessary for reeling in business.
Finn as Recruiter
It’s important to have a lot of talent on your content marketing team, and it’s just as important to have someone who knows how to talk to those who can do the job. Because of this, having a dedicated recruiter or human resources manager is a must.
Finn is fearless. He’s ready to sacrifice himself for the team, and that goes a long way toward inspiring the individuals that you’ll need on your other teams to complete everyone’s projects. He has great instincts, and he knows exactly what to write and when to write it to peak the interest of those who will be your team’s most valuable players.
Chewbacca As The “Face” Of Social Media Marketing
Chewy is a Wookie of few words, but is definitely personable and relates well to others. So while someone else creates the content, Chewy will represent the welcoming, friendly, come-and-see-us side of the content marketing team.
I mean, who doesn’t love a Wookie? He’s fun, he’s quirky, he peaks interest. He’s the perfect person to hold up a cog for a photo or to use for fun memes.
Yoda As Mentor For New Hires
Yoda is up on all of the best practices for making it happen while using The Force. He’s that guy you want to have on your team, even if his syntax is a little disjointed.
So, you put him in charge of helping the newbies get their bearings on your team and keep him away from actually creating content. He’d also be great at helping your team come up with groundbreaking stuff when their creativity takes a hit.
R2-D2 For Information Management
When things go awry, you can count on R2-D2 to have recorded everything that happened and play it back for you.
While C-3PO has your data analysis down, R2-D2 has all of your company’s information and best practices stored up in his memory banks.
If you need reminding of how you did that one thing that really worked well and got a ton of page views that converted that one time, he’s your guy.
General Leia Organa, The CEO And Caller Of All Shots
Stay with me. Princess Leia may have needed some rescuing, but General Leia most certainly did not.
Leia is a born leader, being the daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. She knows how to make things happen, is relentless in her pursuit of justice and doing the right thing, and strives hard to ensure that each mission is a success.
General Organa is the person you want leading your team because you know that your team will come out on top.
Poe as Project Manager
Planning out your content and other projects is just as important as being someone who knows how to market. It’s important to have someone on your team who can coordinate all the e-books, white papers, social media campaigns, and launches that your team will undertake.
Poe is perfect for this job. He’s cagey, he knows how to put together a great plan – even if that plan falls apart, backfires, and stabs him in the back. He’s not afraid of taking the big risks, and he doesn’t listen to the voice of reason. If you can get over the frustrations of having someone constantly question the CEO and managers, he’s the perfect guy for the job. He will, after all, have a whole new business structure and plan in place before you can finish lunch.
Han Solo As Content Manager
You totally thought I was going to put Luke in charge, didn’t you? You would be wrong. I get that Luke is supposed to be the hero, but he is far too whiny to put in charge of anything that actually represents the company. We’ll get to his job in a minute.
Han Solo has a cut-through-the-crap voice that gets results. This is the person who doesn’t mince words, who can break down technical steps into jargon-free explanations, and who knows both the front and back end of content creation. He’s also an expert at ensuring that the SEO works. After all, he and Lando go way back.
Luke Skywalker As Comic Relief (That Guy On The Team Because His Sister Is CEO)
Luke is that guy whose mistakes Han Solo constantly has to fix. He’s the guy who accidentally leaks new product information to the competitor because he is just that clueless and excited.
In fact, we all clean up after him, but if he weren’t on the team, we’d have nothing to talk about at the water cooler while we made him take out the trash. He’s a whiny pain in the butt, but he’s our pain in the butt, and we like to laugh at him attempting to navigate the marketing world.
Just don’t give him any responsibilities unless you have C-3PO and R2-D2 there to do the real work.
Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo as Managing Editor
Someone has to draw the line when it comes to ensuring that all of the content produced by your team is professional and hangs together well stylistically. After all, even editors need editors.
Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo has the strength and the fortitude to ensure everyone’s content is in line with the company’s goals and message. She even does a halfway decent job of keeping Poe in line, even when he attempts to go rogue on some project he hasn’t spoken to anyone else about and edit other people’s projects himself. It’s hard work holding down the fort as managing editor, but she’s just the person to do the job well.
Jar-Jar Binks As Social Media Coordinator
He annoys us all, but he gets the job done. Jar-Jar doesn’t stop talking, and while that’s an annoying quality in the office, it’s a great quality for the voice of our social media efforts.
He knows what’s effective, and he and Chewy make a great team when it comes to getting viral and effective social content up on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Obi-Wan Kenobi As The Content Consultant Guru Who Gets It All Done
While everyone is hanging out at the water cooler laughing about how Yoda convinced young Luke that he can get his computer to create content simply using The Force, Obi-Wan is over there getting it all written and scheduled for posting.
He’s the guy who can type up the topics talked about in the content creation meetings with both arms tied behind his back – or maybe our friend, Yoda, really is onto something.
Who Would You Pick And Why?
Choosing team members for your content marketing team should be done carefully. While it’s fun to think about what fictional characters one would add to a team, it’s important to think about what roles should be available on a content team.
Do you need a video editor? Do you need someone to handle customer questions? Do you need a “face” to your social media “voice”? By thinking out which team members you want to have to create content, you’re already getting an edge on the competition.
Meanwhile, take a moment and share with us in the comments section which Star Wars character you would want on your content marketing team and why!
Ronda Bowen is VP of Editorial Services at Creative Mindscape. She also provides editorial consulting services to a variety of businesses and individuals, runs a handful of blogs (including WiningWife®), and serves as Fundraising Director for JB Dondolo, Inc. In her downtime, she’s a distance runner, a foodie, a wine and coffee aficionado, seamstress and crafter, and board game enthusiast. Learn more about Ronda’s various projects on her website.