Investment in content marketing is on the rise, but not everyone believes they are effective at this type of advertising. Take heart: These four people may help assuage some of your content marketing woes.

The Big Ideas Person. With so many channels to write for and so little time, it’s hard coming up with enough fresh and engaging content. Your “big ideas” friend can be either a go-to for inspiration or a sounding board for even your craziest ideas.

Big ideas people may also be good at leading and fostering productive content generation meetings. A blog post from the Content Marketing Institute suggests creating an atmosphere amenable to open communication and using improvisational games like word associations to create stories.

The Data Analyst. With their ability to collect and analyze large amounts of information, the data analyst can help you determine the ROI on your content marketing efforts.

To avoid sending your content into a virtual abyss, a data analyst can assist you in measuring its impact. Depending on the organization, success may be calculated differently (e.g., increased web traffic, sales, or engagement), but understanding what content is doing well will help you create optimized content that your consumers find valuable.

“We have more and more data and analytics to help us get to know our customers as people so we can market to them in a way that is much more personalized,” John Kennedy, vice president, corporate marketing at IBM Corp., told BtoB Magazine. “In the B2B world, we are able to understand our customers as people when they are at work, understand how they make decisions, and provide information and services to help them become more competitive and run smarter enterprises.”

The Social Media Savant. This person, who is often tweeting, posting, pinning, “checking in,” or “hanging out,” can help you navigate the appropriate social media platforms fit for your organization’s needs. They can also advise you on getting the most bang for your buck in terms of disseminating your content.

Social media and content marketing go hand in hand. According to digital marketing agency BlueGlass Interactive, 74 percent of business-to-business content marketing is done using social media. And if you’re not creating social content, you’re probably creating content that should be shared. The savant can show you how to put your followers to work by getting them to repost, retweet, or link to your content, further increasing your audience.

The Copy Editor. This is the person who will take a red pen to your prose, uncovering everything from grammatical to factual errors, or politely let you know that your headline makes no sense.

“Nothing kills credibility more than inaccuracies, or even outright errors,” according to Brad Bortone, senior research editor at MECLABS, a marketing research firm. “Factual mistakes, grammatical errors, unnecessary length, or even minor typos—if any of these are present in your marketing, customers will notice, which could make them question the validity and professionalism of your brand.”

These are only four people you may have come to rely on as a content marketer—so tell us, what other types of friends have you found helpful?

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