Every founder and brand wants a director of content right now. I have thoughts …
👋 Welcome back to Content to Commas. If a new content hire is anywhere on your 2027 plan, or you want to be that hire.
read this.
I have been a director of content twice and at each company it means something different.
In order to lead content it's not just about doing your job well.
📍 In this issue:
the ingredients and skills needed
the shifts in content in 2027
Come hear me yap on October 29th (free tix)
a message from our friends @ SproutSocial
On Thursday, Oct 29 Sprout Social is putting on two hours of digital sessions about how to read those signals earlier and make more confident decisions with them.
The lineup is good too…
Jay Schwedelson opens with the keynote, "The Proof Is in the Signal"
Josh Rangel (Ogilvy) and Tulani André (Zalando) on how to tell a lasting shift from a passing trend
Paige Walker (The Hershey Company) and Bianca Shaw (Artisan Collectif) on turning what social sees into something the rest of the business uses
And I'm closing out the panels with Lia Haberman, founder of ICYMI, Ari Berkowitz, Head of Creator Solutions @ PMG, and Cory Weaver, Head of Creator Marketing @ Gap Inc.
Ours is called "Borrowed Trust, Real Impact: The impact of creator and employee voices" We're getting into why you trust employees, creators, and everyday advocates more than a brand handle alone, and what it takes for a brand to act on that without making it weird.
The summit runs 8 to 10am PT (11am to 1pm ET). We go on at 9:30am PT.
🧾 THE 2027 SCORECARD
One point for every line that's true today.
They think in clips. Long-form gets planned to be cut.
They build platform gravity. Two or three platforms, owned.
They kill more than they post. Volume isn't a flex anymore
They own the money. The finance team has to love you.
They care who's watching more than how many. Audience first, always.
They know what not to AI. they understand AI do's and don'ts and what their audience wants to see
They run AI like a team and keep the judgment. Agents do the grunt work.
They come with a team and say no. Ideally with data.
↑ that's giving you some information, but let me cook for a second…
if you want the job, you're going to want to do this.
if you're looking for someone, you're going to want them to know this.
1. They think in clips
Whatever you're recording, the good ones already know it's getting chopped up, so somebody's marking timestamps while you're still in the room. My own editor makes sure that I have a YouTube short going live daily. (that's right … daily.)
If your long-form dies after one upload, you paid full price for one post.
And no, the clipping tools don't pick the moment that stops a scroll.
That still takes taste.
2. They build platform gravity
Being everywhere is how you end up mid everywhere.
So the good ones pick two or three platforms and get stupidly sticky there, native formats, native jokes, talking like the people already on it.
3. They kill more than they post
Nothing gets made because the calendar has a hole in it, and "we haven't posted today" isn’t a reason.
AI made us think volume was the goal.
A good content lead asks one question of every piece, and I mean every piece: what is the one job this post is being hired to do?
Move attention, build trust, or make money.
4. They own the money and the support inbox
The 2027 Director of Content gets graded on revenue and the support inbox.
That means a finance meeting where they defend the spend without hiding behind "brand awareness".
5. They care who's watching more than how many
A huge post can still be a terrible business post.
If the people engaging are other marketers, students, and tourists, you just taught the algorithm to send you more of them.
and what good is having a huge following that never pays, buys, or cares.
Now let me be fair, views still matter. They just come second.
6. They run AI like a team
They've got a handful of agents, one reading last week's numbers, one digging through sales calls for ideas.
Me personally, I've handed mine a lot of the grunt work.
They're not impressed by the AI social media managers either.
P.S. steal these AI Agents…
By the way, if you want AI agents built for content, I’m giving a few of mine away for free.
🔍 How to find this person
Finding the person is harder, because anyone good enough to do this well is good enough to go work for themselves.
So here's how I'd hunt….
Start with people who already post because it shows you their judgment in public before any interview does.
Hire for taste over platform mechanics, since mechanics can be taught and judgment takes a lot longer.
If all they want to talk about is views, you're looking at a creator, which is a great hire for a different job.
Here are 7 interview questions you should definitely add to your next chat.
What exactly did you own on that account, and what did someone else own?
Walk me through a normal week, day by day.
What did you change between your first month and your last, and what happened?
How would you know if our content is paying for itself?
What do our customers keep asking support, and how would content answer it?
When did you last tell a boss no, and how did it go?
See you next Saturday, Brandon
Brandon
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📌 ICYMI…
Each week, I share content on social, branding, and growth strategies. Catch up in case you missed anything.
Posts You Missed…
🎤 Posting every day is not a content strategy: my talk from Amsterdam is up, and the link drops you in right at the part I’d want you to hear first → Watch the talk
♻️ Same idea, different platform, different rules: how I recycle one piece of content across every platform without it reading like a repost → See how I recycle it
🎟️ I’m speaking at Sprout Social’s Social Intelligence Summit on October 29: free, two hours, online, and my panel is Borrowed Trust, Real Impact. Come hang → Save your seat
📰 Content to Commas is on LinkedIn now: this edition is the 5 cheat codes for the feed, Hook Vault included, so subscribe there if your feed is where you actually read → Read the LinkedIn edition
😴 Your content should be working while you sleep: the breakdown of what a post is supposed to be doing for you at 3 AM, long after you hit publish and logged off → Watch it
Keep Reading…
🔭 Think Like a Founder, Move Like a Creator: the homework questions that turn a creator into a founder, starting with what your content has already made easier → Run the 3 questions
⚡ The Inbound Engine: Turn Your Brand Into a 24/7 Sales Rep: content as the sales rep that never clocks out, the 3-part engine, and the Signals, Proof, Bridges grid that gives every post one job → Build the engine
🔍 The Year-One Newsletter Audit (steal this): 5 lessons from 52 issues, the real acquisition mix, the 3 questions I ask after every send, and why stances beat roundups → Steal the 5 lessons
🎰 How to Stop the Algorithm from Hijacking Your Brand: sort your last 30 days of posts into on-pillar, Bait, or Drift, then the 4 steps that put you back in charge, including algorithm insurance → Label the last 30 days
💼 Lessons from a $23M VC Founder: your story is your first piece of content, the Business-First Content Model, and the $10K "fundable" test that tells you if you built a business or a persona → Take the fundable test
Worth every penny…
The tools, equipment, and systems that power my content.
🐝 Beehiiv: This newsletter goes out from here every Saturday. Start yours and the list pays for itself → 30 days free + 20% off for 3 months
🧾 Collective: They run my S corp now, books and taxes included. Get yours off your plate → Get your first month free
🎙️ Wispr Flow: I talk, it types. Everything you write gets faster, no keyboard required → Talk instead of type
📝 Granola: Sits in on my calls and hands me the notes after. You never take meeting notes again → First month free
🧠 Notion: Where my whole business lives. One place for everything instead of twelve tabs → Free 30-day Plus trial, no card needed
💾 Notion: The hub. Every list, calendar, and system I run lives in here, including the Season Map → Try Plus free for 30 days
📅 Cal.com: Booking links without the Calendly price tag. Open source, and it just works → Lock in 20% off for a year
💬 Manychat: The "comment a word and I'll DM you the link" machine. Builds your list while you sleep → Build the flow, 30% off
🎛️ AI Fiesta: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok side by side on one $12 subscription instead of paying for five → Try all five for $12
🗺 Poppy AI: My content whiteboard. It knows my brand and can help me brainstorm with a visual template. → Try Poppy AI
📊 Gamma: AI presentations and one-pagers. Elite. Elite. Elite. → Try Gamma
Resources Built For You:
🗓️ The 2027 Content Calendar (free): 52 weeks pre-mapped by pillar, monthly themes, and a repurposing column so one idea becomes five posts. Plan the year in one sitting → Grab the calendar
🎯 The 2027 Goals Planner (free): quarterly goals, a revenue-goal section, and a review cadence built in. The whole year on one page → Get the planner
💼 The Brand Deal Tracker (free): the exact Notion CRM I use to log every brand deal, from first DM to paid invoice → Steal the tracker
✍️ The Ultimate LinkedIn Post Writer : a Claude skill that writes LinkedIn posts in your voice, with nine hook formats and a pre-flight check so AI-sounding filler never hits your feed → Get the skill
Brandon Smithwrick, Creator of Content to Commas
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