Digital marketing is a huge industry now. It can help engage customers, drive traffic and generate leads. Many digital marketing jobs are available today as the area is growing rapidly.
Brands today have employed marketers with digital expertise to ensure their products or services are seen online. To become a digital marketer, knowledge and qualifications in digital marketing and creativity skills are a must. If you want to become a digital marketer, then a good start is understanding the skills required to become a digital marketer.
What Does a Digital Marketer Do?
Essentially, a digital marketer is responsible for using a variety of digital channels to convert users and build brand awareness. These digital channels include:
- Social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
- Company websites.
- Search engines.
- Email Marketing.
- Online Display Ads.
- Mobile apps such as Whatsapp.
- Blogs.
A digital marketer may look after all of these or specific channels depending on the size of the business. Smaller companies tend to have one specialist, whereas larger corporations can spread the tasks across an entire team or departments. A digital marketer must also use measurable analytics to search for weaknesses and find ways to improve these channels.
Skills Required to Become a Digital Marketer
Depending on your specialist area, you’ll need to learn a range of both technical and interpersonal skills. Digital marketing jobs will require you to master some of the following skills:
Video Marketing
The main goal for a digital marketer is to get the attention of potential customers. A great way to do this is by creating online videos. They are easy to digest rather than reading a big blog post. There is also room for a more creative approach.
You should understand how to tell a story through video. Funny videos tend to leave a lasting impression and get shared more online. The campaign will have more chance of succeeding if you can create an emotional response from the viewer.
You should have strong editing skills in video, and you will also need to be able to storyboard your ideas and collaborate with others to create a script.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search Engine optimisation (SEO) is the process behind improving the rank of a website within the search results. SEO involves many factors.
If you boost your ranking, you can drive more visitors to your website. This will lead to more sales and profits. SEO is vital in any marketing campaign.
SEO can be better than other digital marketing channels as you can target customers actively searching for your product or service. Traffic from target keywords converts into sales more than banner ads or pop-ups.
You should know about both on-page optimisation and off-page optimisation techniques. That includes the following:
- Title Tags
- Meta Descriptions
- Sitemaps
- Breadcrumb navigation
- Keywords
You will also need to build backlinks for your website and promote it across all digital channels.
Content Creation
Content is key to any digital marketing role. High-quality content attracts users to a website, watch a video, or follow a social media page. Blogs, guides and case studies would all fall under the umbrella of content marketing.
A digital marketer should know how to create high-quality content and understand its effectiveness as part of a digital strategy. You should know how to research content topics and create content with which your users will engage.
Email Marketing
Email marketing has been around for years and is still a great way to communicate with your customers. You can build valuable email lists to promote your products or services. Email marketing is more successful when you’re providing value to the user. For example, you can send a monthly newsletter and include a 10% discount code on all your products.
There are many ways to improve the open rates of emails, such as writing catchier headings and including a call to action. There are also tools to help with email marketing campaigns, such as MailChimp and SendPulse.
Key Responsibilities of a Digital Marketer
There are many key responsibilities a digital marketer may have as part of their role. Responsibilities depend on the digital marketing job they have and how specialised it is. Some examples of responsibilities are below.
SEO/ SEM: A digital marketer is responsible for ensuring that the target audience of that business can easily find the website. They must optimise the website for search engines and use paid online ads to help drive traffic to the website.
E-Commerce: A digital marketer is responsible for converting website visitors to online sales. They are responsible for generating more leads. You can achieve this by improving the shopping experience and introducing special deals when necessary.
Content Strategy: A digital marketer is responsible for all the website content and for creating and implementing the content strategy to meet online targets set by the business.
Social Media: A digital marketer may be responsible for managing the online presence. A digital marketer will take over social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, etc. These platforms allow businesses to engage with consumers and build brand awareness. You may have to post on social media, schedule posts, communicate with customers and much more.
Digital Marketing Qualifications
As a Digital marketer, you are expected to keep up with the trends as the digital landscape constantly evolves. Like other industries and roles, a digital marketer will need a qualification in marketing, media or communications, although some may have a background in IT or web development. For marketers looking to specialise in digital marketing, many universities offer courses and these may be needed for more senior digital marketing jobs.
Digital Marketing Jobs
There are many different career paths available to digital marketers. Learning about each area can help you decide on your future career. Here are some of the most popular digital marketing jobs:
Social Media Manager
As a social media manager, you represent the company online on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You are the company’s voice, so you must adhere to brand guidelines. You need to schedule posts and monitor your messages. Social media can help build brand awareness and generate more sales. Interaction is key to building loyal customers, so you will be offering support, running giveaways and much more.
SEO Manager
You will need to learn how the Google algorithm works to boost traffic and sales online. You should enjoy the challenge of ranking higher in the search results. As an SEO Manager, you will be leading your team and taking responsibility for building high-quality inbound links, performing keyword research, brainstorming content ideas, measuring results, and reporting to senior management.
Digital Marketing Manager
As a digital marketing manager, you will manage the overall content strategy and marketing campaign. Your main goals will be to generate new leads, drive traffic to the website and build brand awareness. You also need to look at existing customers and how you will keep them happy. You will develop a marketing plan which includes budgets, goals, deadlines and resources. The responsibility of the campaign will fall to you.
Content Marketing Specialist
For creatives, this is the role for you. You will need to create content ideas and develop them into blogs, videos, infographics and much more. Your role may see you working with the SEO team to learn about relevant keywords so that users can find your content. You will need to know and understand how to engage with customers and how to keep them coming back for more.