WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING & WHAT DOES A DIGITAL MARKETER DO?

Digital Marketing is a broad term that includes all marketing channels and methods you can use to promote products or services on the Internet but also on electronic devices such as TVs, mobile phones and electronic billboards.

Digital Marketing has its own industry niche where the required qualifications go beyond basic marketing strategies and creative skills.

If you are considering entering the digital marketing industry, understanding the skills required and what digital marketers do is a good place to begin.

The Digital Marketer Defined

In general terms, a digital marketer is responsible for using digital channels to generate leads and build brand awareness. Digital channels include:

• Company websites
• Social media
• Search engine rankings
• Email marketing
• Online display ads
• Corporate blogs

Beyond this, the digital marketer must also use measurable analytics to identify weaknesses and find ways to improve performance across these channels. In this role, you can be responsible for all aspects of a company's digital strategy or just focus on one.

Smaller companies tend to have one general specialist or manager while corporations can spread the responsibilities around to an entire team or even across several different departments.

Common Digital Marketing Positions:

If you want to get more specific and explore the types of positions available in digital marketing, there are many career paths you can choose including:

• SEO Manager: In this position, you will use your skills as an SEO expert to help drive content and improve a company's content. Your input would be used to keep content creators on target with valuable insight into the strategy required to enhance performance on Google as well as social media.
• Content Marketing Specialist: In this role, you will be the creator of content coming up with a plan and often a strategy to ensure you increase traffic as well as Google rankings. You would create a plan for what material to use from video to blogging and social media. You might report to an SEO Manager or work in the marketing department using the SEO team's keywords to improve your content's effectiveness.
• Social Media Manager: A social media manager would focus on social media creating an effective schedule for posts and overseeing or, in some cases, creating the posts. Again, a crossover is always possible in which case you might work with a content marketing specialist, SEO people, and other digital marketers as part of an overall digital marketing strategy.
• Marketing Automation Coordinator: This position would deal with the effects and results of a marketing campaign. It is also a more technology-focused position in which you would be finding the best software to help discover important customer behaviors. You would be involved in measurement and statistics while tracking campaign performance.
• Digital Marketing Manager: In this position, you would oversee developing the overall content strategy as well as marketing campaigns. Your job will involve enhancing brand awareness while driving traffic with the goal of acquiring new customers. You will often be responsible for keeping up with new technology to optimize your digital marketing efforts. Analysis of your marketing efforts will also be required in order to track the results of your campaigns.

Leadership in Digital Marketing

Digital marketing sees constant change and requires a forward-thinking mind. You have to be a pioneer, continually championing the latest industry changes. You also have to have a collaborative spirit and be willing to work with other departments.

An appreciation for branding is also essential as you will have to build an online presence that reflects the brand. An analytical mind is helpful as you will have to look at data and learn how to extract the pertinent information that will keep your strategy strong. In a nutshell, you have to be tried and true in your beliefs that digital marketing reigns supreme, keep up to date to support your opinions, but also work well with others, so people want to help see your ideas come to fruition.