A content moderator is a skilled professional who acts as a guardian of your user-generated content, handling all the submissions coming from an online platform.
They must verify if content creators understand the correct way of addressing an online community, by making sure they use proper language, no harmful statements, no copyrighted material, and the most important one – being at all points, legal.
On the other hand, they do block content that might harm different businesses or an entire community of people to make it a safer place for all.
Moving on – you might want to consider the necessary skills (or better called, the minor things which will help you stand out), if you wish to make a switch in your career and become a content moderator.
Here’s what you need to know.
Essential skills for a content moderator
Sharp analytical skills will allow you to determine user behavior in various online forums, such as blog communities or social media pages, and evaluate content performance accordingly.
Think of the overall community benefit as everyone wants a realistic decision maker within the team, without compromising the quality of the content.
Content screening can be an effortless task for you, future content moderator, if you have adequate knowledge of various platforms that brands and audiences use.
Knowing what type of content each forum or platform demands, you could easily improve the overall user experience, by customizing the end-to-end process. Not to forget about the meaningful interactions between multiple users in a safer and more effective interface.
On the other hand, besides the more technical side of this role, moderating content can be a long process and having patience can help you manage your day-to-day activities, without being stressed about various content issues.
Most companies have a clear way of describing inappropriate behavior on their online platforms or forums, making it easy for you to decide what content or user behavior is acceptable (the so-called terms of service). They often enforce the rules in an unbiased manner, and this requires integrity.
Integrity allows you to stay true to the company values and principles and revise or remove any policies or workflow practices that may not align with the company’s long-term vision and goals. Long story short – maintaining a good work ethic.
Staying open and curious about new content ideas and possibilities for enhancing brand image and transforming the use of user experience is an essential skill for a content moderator to stay ahead of competitors.
This role requires more than just evaluating images, content and videos for businesses. A content moderator needs to have multi-linguistic expertise to monitor the text-based content in various languages that can significantly affect the customers’ buying decision.
To sum up, the use of social media is vital. As a content moderator, you need to make sure that the content on a company’s social media account is appropriate and follows the company’s guidelines.
In terms of the way of working, we have a few insights as well.
Typically, in an office, telecommuting could always be an option. Working full-time, part-time or maybe weekends to keep up with the 24/7 nature of the internet.
What to expect in the future as a content moderator
In the end, a few predictions on how the content moderation world would operate in the future.
The growth of digital content is a trend that is having a major impact on the world economy. As more and more people turn to the internet for information, businesses are starting to realize the importance of having quality content on their websites.
This is where content moderators come in. By being more than just editors, in this ever-changing world of digital content, you need to be able to manage a wide range of tasks, including but not limited to copywriting, research, social media management, SEO optimization and video production.
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards collaboration between teams. This is since many companies now understand the value of cross-team communication, and how it can lead to better results.
